Conversion sets for various models and variants have existed as well. However, until recently there have not been any new tool M48s since the early s offering from Tamiya. Luckily, both Dragon and Revell have been releasing new tool M48s over the past couple of years, each offering different variants. Detail that were sanded away were replaced as well as some details such as bolt-heads being added that weren't there originally.
The weld seams were replaced by Archer Fine Transfer's resin weld decals. The lower hull has nice detail and comes in several parts. Once put together the parts didn't form a perfect match and a good amount filling was needed. The four pieces that make up the lower hull. While the hull parts have no actual fit issues, they do leave a very noticeable gap, which requires filling.
The tie-downs are moulded as solid 'blobs' and need replacing. The detail on the drive sprocket is decent, but better alternatives are available. The MG3 detail is soft and should be replaced. The smoke grenade launcher suffers the same issue that many plastic version do and have horrible attachment points to the sprues which make for a difficult clean up. Miscellaneous wiring for lights can be added.
While the kit-provided sprockets are decent, I found that the sprockets from Dragon have better detail. Luckily, I had a M kit which is great for providing spare M48 parts since that kit itself has too many issues that I found not worth fixing. What both kits are missing are the mud-relief holes. These were created by first marking where each one should be located on the sprocket. A pin vice was then used to start drilling out the opening and this was then smoothed out with Dremel bit.
Unit , Honeysome Ind Est. PE16 6TG www. Additionally, the sprocket from Dragon is slightly wider than the Revell offering. The tracks from the M were cut to the appropriate length and installed. If you don't have an M kit as a donor, the tracks provided with the M48 kit are fine to use, on the standard sprockets.
This can be a mixed blessing and can easily be overdone see any discussion about the recent release of AFV Club's M60A1. In Revell's case with the M48A2GA2, the texture itself is a bit too heavy but can be lived with in areas that should have cast texture, such as the lower hull and turret. Unfortunately, the texture has also been applied to areas such as flat metal plates that should not have cast texture.
This requires removal and the best way is sanding, which does result in some detail being removed; this can be re-instated later. In areas that should have the cast texture, such as the turret, I decided to lightly sand to tone down the moulded texture.
There are two options for painting the M48A2GA2. The first is a solid yellow-olive colour found on most West German vehicles up until the s when the three-tone NATO scheme was introduced. The second, obviously, is the three-tone NATO scheme.
I have seen photos of units with vehicles in both schemes in use simultaneously, so the choice really is up to the builder if you don't have specific reference photographs. U The lenses for the lights are moulded solid. The right hand light is coated black, so it was left untouched. The light on the left side is a standard clear type lens, so it was drilled out with the Dremel tool and a clear lens from the spares box was used as a replacement.
The M48 has a fair number of tie-down points on the vehicle which vary in size. Tiger Model Designs makes resin replacements that I felt worked well for the larger tie-downs found on the vehicles fenders. I made smaller tie-downs by gluing 0. These were cut and filed to shape and attached to the turret and engine deck.
The kit provided twenty litre fuel cans are adequate, but the moulded strap has just a blob that is supposed to represent where the straps overlap at the buckle. Instead of replacing the cans or completely removing and redoing the straps, I decided to drill out the centre of the blob as a quick and easy fix to give it a slightly more natural look. The kit does provide a power cable to go from the searchlight to the outlet on the turret.
Unfortunately, the cable is made of a rubber material and does not hold curved shapes well. The plugs were cut off from the cable and attached to a length of telephone wire left in its plastic sheath, which I find helps when bending wire to desired shape and installed. Copper and aluminium wire were used to simulate the electrical cables that feed the additional lights the Germans installed on the front and rear of their M48s. Also, the periscopes are moulded directly on the vehicle parts and lack detail.
The periscopes for the commander are relatively obscured by the machine gun ring but the drivers periscopes are in plain sight. I decided not to replace them, but did add the periscope cover plates to ones at the driver's station to improve the detail. I found a better moulding of the gun in Revell's Leopard 1A5 of all places, though there are even better ones available. A common problem I find with modern German vehicle models is the way manufacturers mould the smoke dischargers to the sprues.
Often, the attachment point is in the middle of the discharger barrel resulting in difficult clean up. These are very nice with one exception: the bases for the discharge tubes are not correct smoke dischargers included with other sets are , in fact noticeably so. I used the bases from the kit provided dischargers by cutting out the tubes and then fitting them to the metal ones.
A casting mark was added to the right hand side of the turret from the Archer Fine Transfer line. Photos of West German vehicles in this time period tend to indicate that the green in the NATO three tone scheme has more of a bluish tone versus the yellow tone applied here. Somehow I managed to break the right side headlight guard and lose the right hand side long stowage box.
The replacement headlight guard was remade with strip styrene by using the lefthand side guard as a template. The M kit was used for spares, providing the replacement stowage box. This mix gives the slightly bluish tint seen in photos of German vehicles in the three-tone NATO scheme. Tamiya XF Red Brown was found to be a decent match after testing several other browns. A leather brown could have been a bit of a better choice, but I find that Tamiya paints are very dependable when trying to airbrush camo patterns.
Tamiya XF NATO Black completed the camo pattern and really brings out the correct tones of the other two colours when compared to photos of the actual vehicle. The metal parts of the track were painted by brush using a mix of Vallejo paints, with a bit of a rusty brown colour mixed in. Mud and grime was applied once the tracks were installed on the vehicle. Dark brown oil paint, in this case Abteilung Shadow Brown Mig Productions , was lightly brushed into the shadow areas and panel outlines of the tank.
The excess was wiped away with the remaining colour blended in to the base paint colour to begin the process of creating shadows. Some details that will require washes were painted such as the searchlight housing and jerry cans. In addition, lighter shades of the base colour were mapped onto select highlight areas to start adding some contrast to base paint colour.
A gloss coat made from Tamiya X Clear was applied to allow for the application of decals and provide a good surface for upcoming colour-washes to flow easily upon. The kit supplied decals went on with no fuss and had very minimal excess film area. Here we see the model after colour-washes and a satin finish have been applied. The combination of highlights and shadows along with the washes has provided a nice look to the model.
Vallejo paints were used to paint most of the remaining fine details. Graphite pencil was used to add some metal chips to hatches, add metal tone to the MG3 and colour the gun ring on the commanders cupola. The clear plastic lenses were fixed to the headlights. The various lights and periscopes were base-coated in silver and the periscopes were then painted with Tamiya X Clear Green.
The lights were painted with AMMO Crystal paints, but the only item I wasn't completely satisfied with at this point was the searchlight lens. I decided to continue with making the vehicle dirty while I decided what to do with the searchlight and also sought feedback from friends on what to do with it.
Mini Review Made from quality materials and with a precision cut, these are well worth adding to your tool drawer. This created the first layer of mud and dirt on the vehicle.
In this photo only the lower hull has received the application. Oversized spatter was removed or streaked with a brush wetted with mineral spirits. After allowing each layer to dry for several minutes, the excess was stippled with a brush dampened with mineral spirits.
This removes the excess and creates a varied dirty effect on the surface it is applied to. The Wilder Mud Spatter was used to create some streaking effects as well with a fine line painted on and the wiped away with a damp brush, leaving a subtle residue. This was then painted on to the desired heavy areas of accumulation of mud, such as the lower hull and the recesses of the tracks.
This was then blended with the earlier layer of airbrushed dirt by airbrushing a new layer of the Tamiya Flat Earth and Khaki mix. The solution came in the form of a mylar sheet used to reduce UV rays coming in through the windows of a house.
This is translucent and has a slight silvery sheen to it. I was also lucky in that the diameter of the lens was the same as a hole punch. A quick punch and trim and the replacement lens was installed on the searchlight. Now that the weathering was complete, I decided to revisit the searchlight lens's colour conundrum.
The more I looked at it, the more I realized it just looked like what it was, a silver-painted circle. Looking back, the best option would have been to drill out the solid lens of the and replace it with scratchbuilt item and covered it with a clear replacement lens.
Unfortunately it was too late to do this. The mylar lens over the silver painted lens really adds a nice pop to the model. With this fix the model was complete! The kit is good out of the box and with some relatively easy tweaks it will build into an excellent rendition of the real vehicle. For details visit www. So, some time ago I decided to stray from my usual armour and try a P and as someone that likes to model from a period photo, I started casting about for a good subject and soon came across the US Army Photograph of Lt Edwin L King standing on the wing of his PD covered, like his plane, in oil.
It was a very striking image and I knew it was something I wanted to attempt. On January 12th he was stationed near Pisa and had been strafing enemy gun positions near Brescia in the Po Valley in support of Allied ground forces. While strafing his targets, his oil line was cut by flak. Despite the near complete lack of visibility plus the knowledge that his engine could seize at any time or catch fire, he nursed the P47 over miles back to his home airfield and landed it safely.
The engine seized within seconds of landing. After studying the photos I opted to get the block tread wheels from Barracuda Cast to match the photos BR I also decided to use the PD cockpit set from Model Design Construction cv as the kit cockpit was a bit basic considering the size and amount visible with an open canopy. Finally I also chose to use the Master brass turned barrel set I started with the cockpit.
The MDC set is pretty simple to put together, but I did encounter a couple of problems with placing a few parts. I did contact MDC for higher contrast pictures but sadly they did not get back to me. Walkarounds online eventually helped me place the two pieces that had me foxed. Other than that it went together really well, fit was superb and detail was outstanding.
The only other issue I had was purely of my own making! Trying to separate the delicate and very finely moulded seat U I damaged the beautifully cast and very fragile MDC pilots seat removing it from the pour block so I made a new one from spare brass sheet.
The seat was detailed with a minimum of scratch parts and the very nice details from the MDC set. ST27 The complete cockpit. The rich detail supplied by MDC really pops out with some careful shading and highlighting.
V from the casting block I managed to break it through my own clumsiness. To overcome this I resorted to brass sheet and using the MDC seat as a pattern cut one out of the brass then folded it together before detailing it. When the cockpit was more or less where I wanted it, I started work on the fuselage. I must confess I am only an occasional aircraft modeller, so I was very pleasantly surprised by the exact fit of the two fuselage halves.
This made getting it together, with some light filling and sanding a very easy task. Next I tackled the engine. The kit engine looked okay out of the box. I added a little wiring but other than that It looked good so I got it fitted to the fuselage and painted it so I could fit the cowling.
It was painted with Vallejo natural steel and aluminium and light grey. A pin wash picked out the details again.
I sought advice from a number of friends, and Andy Hills at Antics Model shop in Bristol was especially helpful in helping me get to grips with what I needed and how to use it. I started by priming the model and I made a faux pas here. One thing that did not sink in when I got all the advice, was the essential need to prime in black.
I primed, as is my habit, in Vallejo grey. I followed this up with spraying the whole in Alclad II aluminium as a baseline colour to work on. I gave this an hour or so to dry, but was impressed at Wiring was added to the kit engine.
The cylinders were painted with Vallejo silver and the block with Vallejo grey primer. The engine was shaded with a black oil pin wash. A homemade mask was made from Tamiya tape. The finished nose art after a couple of touch ups. I then printed it out thFG. I laid Tamiya tape over the print out and rubbed it down. When I lifted it the tape it had a print of the art. I laid it on a clean surface and cut out the areas for the blue colour, then repeated until I had a mask for each colour.
The result of the blue and white masks. The masks were applied one at a time and the nose are started to build up. A mix of black and burned umber oils were heavily diluted and used to colour-wash the model. The model was masked off thoroughly, and with more than a touch of trepidation, the oil, a mix of Alclad black primer and Alclad gloss coat was applied in around three thin coats. Streaks were applied by hand.
Further colourwashes were added to bring out the detail. However, when I came to inspect it I found it was a fair bit duller than I expected. It transpired this was due to my choice of primer. However, not for the last time on this build it turned out to be a happy accident as it gave the used, dulled aluminium look I wanted. To add variety I masked off most of the model leaving a few panels, some large some small and gave it another couple coats of aluminium which smoothed out the finish given those panels a bit more of a lustrous metallic finish.
Once that was dry I masked off again selecting new panels, and used dark aluminium. Using a new scalpel blade, and a toothpick to find them under the masking tape I cut out smaller panels on some larger panels and picked them out to add variety. I then turned the model over and used Alclad Burned Iron on the supercharger cover. Finally I used dull aluminium to add a third tone to the finish on more panels to get a deeper layer of variation of tone over the model.
I was very pleased with the finish having never used Alclad II before. Not only did I get a relatively subtle variation in colour but also an impressive range of textural tone from the three different colours from Alclad. I think its fair to say they have me hooked. I printed it out and laid strips of Tamiya tape over it and rubbed it down.
When I lifted the tape it had lifted some of the ink from the print and all I had to do was stick it down on a sheet of plastic and lightly cut it out with a new scalpel blade. I made several masks like this, one for each colour. I then picked out the eyes and teeth in white with a fine brush and the black outlines in the same way. While masking for the oil bath next I had something of a disaster. It turns out masking tape will lift decals off Alclad very readily and I now had a huge hole in the port wing stars and bars.
The torso was largely rebuilt in Tamiya epoxy putty and the lower face was redone. A new parachute pack was made to allow me to post it behind Lt King as per the photos. His arms were also changed. The figure was painted and suitable oils splodges and stains added.
V helped with this. I carefully removed the very fine pieces of tape I had used to pick out the panel edges visible in the photos and inspected the finish. There was a small amount of overspray the masking and control had missed.
I masked off a couple of panels and touched them up with the aluminiums. Removing the masks had also removed the no step red panels on the flaps, so I masked and sprayed these back in with Tamiya flat red. At this point I could remove the masking in the cockpit. I masked off the glazing with homemade masks again and sprayed the frames, inside and out, then fitted them to the model and masking again for overspray, sprayed the oil mix from the direction the leak would have flowed to get it all over the canopy and pooled in the right places.
I also added splashes inside the cockpit and pools on the floor. This picked out the beautiful surface detail of the Hasegawa kit very well especially when I applied clean thinner to the panel lines first to assist the capillary action.
I then washed the PSP with a thinned black brown wash and rubbed it off raised areas then let it fully dry. I finished it all by rubbing in plenty of pigments in three tones to get a ground in dusty look. Finally I added a line of dripped oil and some scratched chocks and the build was finished. The Hasegawa kit undoubtedly made life a lot easier with its great detail and engineering.
Likewise the resin from Barracuda and MDC items were a joy to use. I certainly look forward to doing more projects of a similar nature in the future. Each binder holds 12 issues. In , the brand engaged in competition with the SL Coupe W This prototype had a body supported by a tubular frame and gullwing doors, but the latter configuration was not dictated by aesthetics, but instead was made necessary by the tubular chassis which prohibited the installation of doors with hinges at the front.
The Mercedes SL won in many races, but despite this success, the car never ran in Formula 1. The gull-wings doors and the six-cylinder engine from the prototype were retained, but Mercedes installed a direct-injection fuel system, a first for a production car.
The rest of the plastic was cut out with a sharp X-Acto knife and finished with abrasives. One must be careful not to go too far when cutting, so as not to deform the flat surface behind the openings. The recesses around the windows were accentuated with the back of a new blade X-Acto. The operation is done quite easily by following the contours of the glass, slightly overhanging the body, as a guide.
Be careful not to apply stress, the body is quite thin. These engravings will be used to represent the rubber seals on the outer contours of the windows only. Deepening the line around the boot was done again using the back of a sharp X-Acto blade; the same operation was performed on the contours of the door handles.
To paint the body, the author chose the classic metallic grey. After a coat of primer, body-colour paint was applied sparingly with a brush in places less accessible by the airbrush, mainly in the aforementioned recesses. The colour paint was applied in single strokes, without returning to the treated area in order to prevent the primer being dissolved, which would create a mess. These days, original, unmolested examples of the car can fetch huge sums at auction and it has become an icon of midth century automotive design.
And the tubular chassis trapped in the body lends itself wonderfully to this painting exercise, as well as the red leather interior. Observing the body of a real SL, we can safely say that Tamiya has done an outstanding job with this kit. Once the decals had set in their places, I over-sprayed again, using 'Future' polish before some dirtying-up could start.
Weathering over a 'black' surface can be a bit tricky, as it does not always show up that well. You could get around this by using a lighter shade of 'dirt', or simply apply more build-up. It could also be fair to say, that dirt would not show up as much on a dark surface in real life. I choose to do my usual burnt Sienna wash with plenty of white spirit to achieve some oil spills and dirt, trusting in the various shades of the topcoats as the visual variation.
Roundels were masked off, using thin tape over the ribs, and lightly sprayed with Tamiya Smoke to achieve a bit of blending in with the surroundings. Wing surfaces also got a wash of oils around edges and the ailerons.
The 'target' on the nacelle looks like it was over-sprayed on the original plane, so here I carefully blended it in with the background, using the same colour as the topcoat. Even though WnW, very thoughtfully, provided rigging holes, I choose to deepen these with a pin vice holding a 0.
Probably not necessary, but I really wanted to be sure nothing came loose later on. So a couple of evenings were spent just drilling around tiny hollows. I also choose to make my own rigging loops, using the finest copper wire I could get my hands on. This took another few evenings. All of this was carried out before any painting, to make sure I would not damage the surface later on. So once the 'real' rigging was underway, everything was already prepared to go.
Before the top wing went on, the rigging lines were attached in their positions, to make things easier. I used 0.
At this stage the tail booms were slotted into position and rigged. Last station, apart from the odd control wire, were the outer wings. The kit was now a model! Well, Wingnut Wings really lived up to their reputation of excellent engineering with this one. Location holes and tabs are spot on and the tail can be assembled as a separate piece without difficulty or misalignment.
Rigging holes are already in place and although some details are perhaps a bit hard to interpret in the instructions, with careful reading, everything sort of falls into place. It's a blast. To set the finished plane off, I made a base with some grass and two figures. The walking chap is from Kellerkind, and the standing Modelcellar. The kit comes with separate doors and rolled up soft-top.
Back in TMMI December I built Tamiya's newly tooled kit , placing it in a Parisian street-scene, but otherwise it was an out-of-the-box build. Whilst on holiday in Normandy earlier this year, I was surprised to see a militarised Simca 5 on display in the Musee Memorial D'Omaha Beach and I just had to take some photos! These few shots show us how the Bosch headlamp was mounted on the wing, complete with its quick-release mount with internal wiring.
In the same view, we can observe the blacked-out main headlamp and its teardrop-shaped base. We can also see how the small bumpers are mounted directly to the lower edges of the front wings and where they are bolted.
Finally, we can see the detail in the Simca bonnet emblem and the mesh behind the grille bars. To make this fact clear, a large, circled US star insignia has been applied to both sides.
The tiny size of the staff car is apparent in comparison to the Dodge Weapons Carrier nearby. One of the vehicles offered in Tamiya's kit, here we see a Wehrmacht Simca WH of the 3rd Infantry Division and its weary-looking driver, somewhere on the Eastern Front in It was the day they took their flight back home after finishing their tour of duty in the rice paddies of South East Asia.
Soldiers with an approaching ETS where often referred to as 'short timer'. While the second is obviously still in progress, the first episode took place in my teenage years and came to an abrupt end in the early nineties when I found out about women and drinking. After learning my lessons with the latter, my modelling hiatus ended roughly ten years ago. The Tamiya kit is a release from and some of the sprues are even from the seventies.
Nevertheless I felt that this old kit can still be turned into a nice model. With the M ACAV the goal was to have fun, building a model that halfway captures the look of the original used in Vietnam, not caring too much about historical correctness, just like it was the case in my teen years.
They are available in various sizes starting from 0. This range offers all we need to add a little finesse to this veteran model. On the hull sides I drilled the holes for the attachment of the side skirts; the side skirts themselves were not attached as was the case on most Ms used in Vietnam.
There is an Eduard set available with photo-etched details designed for this kit, which helped to replace the shields and some of the more delicate items. The old-school rubber tracks were replaced with the omnipresent white metal tracks from Friulmodel and the set also includes a white metal drive sprocket which fits perfectly onto the tracks.
Surfacer and a stiff brush. A stowage set from Legend helped to add more items, which seemed to be typical for this era. While searching for more usable items in my spares box, I found a radio from Verlinden Productions. On the finished model you might notice that it is a bit too exposed and not secured, but I actually wanted it there, to be very prominent.
The radio sort of reflects the ambivalent attitude of the US forces in Vietnam, with critical music being one part of it. I obtained a resin. After finding out that the barrel was a bit warped, I searched for another, not too pricey alternative. I came across the. The M60 machine guns are the ones from the kit. Fine weld seams made of stretched sprue were added as well.
Thicker weld marks were made with the aid of wood filler which was textured with the end of a small drill. On the rear, the ramp hinges were a bit on the heavy side so I replaced them with new ones made of plastic card. All in all the few additions did contribute to a higher level of detail, but again, the aim was not to build the most accurate M ever. Stowage from Legend Production was used on the rear of the vehicle. In one case I came across a picture of an M with the ETS dates written on the side, catching my attention.
Care must be taken, because this effect is easily overdone. For fine scratches a scalpel blade can be used. Most elements of the M are made of aluminium, so, such a base-coat seemed to be a good start. In wartime pictures we can see that the crews over-painted the hull-side stars to avoid them becoming RPG aiming points. To re-create this effect, I simply painted crude stars on each side with a brush in a light tone of green from Vallejo. V Furthermore, it had some ironic slogans which I wanted to have on my M as well.
The problem was that I wasn't quite sure how to paint these slogans. After telling my friend Harry Steen from MXpression about my plans, he offered to produce some self-adhesive airbrush masks. With the stencils to hand, the painting of the slogans was no longer a problem and I was able to capture the look I was after. Subsequently, MXpression has produced some extra Here is the result once the stencils and the tape were applied. To ease the handling I usually fix the model with Blue Tack onto a paint jar which can be used as a handle.
Another thing I have noticed while looking at references was that the crews often over-painted the big US stars applied to their vehicles. This appears to be a measure to avoid them being used as an aiming point for RPGs. After finding a reference on the internet, the markings were painted by brush.
No matter how small the detail may be; they will contribute to the final result. The straps are made from lead foil. Ms are mostly made of aluminium. I was then able to create fine chipping and scoring effects in the desired areas after the green base-coat had been applied, the green being a random mix of Tamiya paints. Once the base-coat was dry, Harry's masks came to into play.
All writing and markings for the M have now been applied. The standard markings were taken from an old Verlinden Productions set plus some markings from a set by Echelon Fine Details D When working with stencils of a small size, such as the 'Surgeon General' slogan, the 'counters' internal portions of the letters are a bit tricky and there might be some touching up with a fine brush required.
The rather plain green base-coat definitely needed tonal variations and that was when the dust came into play. In some areas of Southeast Asia the earth indeed is very reddish, but Vietnam earth has a wide range of earth-tones from ochre to almost black, of course with the red being a good part of this range.
I chose to use an ochre tone, because I felt it would look better on olive drab; The side skirts were normally removed leaving a thick line in a lighter shade of green. AK Interactive's 'Kursk Earth' looked just right to me. I also made a mixture of various pigments which matched the ochre tone of the enamel based product from AK. I applied multiple layers of dust and when all the markings and graffiti were on, another coat of chipping medium followed.
This time I used 'Heavy Chipping' effects. I decided to make my own self-adhesive mirrors. I obtained mirrored foil and applied a good coat of clear green. Then the mirrors were cut out according to the measurements I made from the model. Surely not perfect-looking, but it seemed to be an acceptable, easy and affordable option. Smaller details like the shovel were painted with various Vallejo paints. The headlights were replaced with offerings from AK Interactive.
This coat has been partially removed to create random dust accumulations. After the wheels had been attached, they also texture paint, followed by various pigments and finally some colour-washes. The pigments were permanently fixed with pigment fixer. The boot prints on the upper hull were made with the soft Vietnam boot stamps from Calibre After applying a light coat of pigments with a soft brush, the stamps were rubbed over the skin of my fingers to absorb some Another splash of colour for the all-green M; a folded North Vietnamese flag moisture.
When they are pressed into the pigments, the stamps will leave made of Magic Sculp and painted with Vallejo acrylics. The rubber cushions were painted by brush with Black.
Soon after the application, most of the Tamiya paint was removed with a wet brush again. After giving this ample time to dry, this process was repeated another two times, to achieve random layers of accumulated dust.
Each set contains a hard pair made of resin and a softer pair made of rubber. I always prefer the rubber type. After applying a faint coat of pigments with a soft brush, I rubbed the stamps over the skin of my fingers so they could absorb some moisture. Then they were randomly pressed onto the desired surfaces leaving realistic boot traces.
While working my way around the model, I started to paint the details as well. In most cases it is best to paint them separately before permanently attaching them onto the model. The CMI boxes strapped to the rear are made of resin and were painted by brush. It is important that you spend your time with such details as they really contribute to the final result. The tarps as well as the duffle bag were painted with the airbrush. Starting with an almost black tone, subsequent lighter tones were applied to create a shadowing effect.
Pretty much the same approach was used on the figure, which was taken from the Bravo 6 set B The last step was to add some oil and grease to some of the hubs. Try to keep this effect random. If the road wheels have been treated beforehand with pigments, the result will be very realistic. Taking this into account it is a bit surprising that we do not see more models of this machine at shows, in magazines or on the internet.
The basic shape might make it less attractive, but on the other hand there are quite a few interesting variants and conversions. But then again: While working on this model I really felt the ease and fun I had as a kid and I am really happy that I finally built this kit after so many years.
It took me back in time, when I spent countless hours in my modelling basement when life seemed to be less complicated. I think to a certain degree our passion of scale modelling is a refusal to grow up.
At least in my case it is. With some strategic additions plus creative paint and weathering treatments, it looks superbly realistic. The souvenir NAV flag adds an eye-catching focal point, contrasting nicely with all those greens. The second reason was the deployment of the new Tiger tank, a nightmare for the Soviets. This weapon was capable of destroying the Tiger and Panther tanks and the Elefant tank-destroyer.
For this reason, the Russian army nicknamed SU, 'beast-killer'. A pleasant surprise for me was the inclusion of an engine in the box and I began construction with this area. Next I modified the top edge of the superstructure where there should be a raised edge using putty and added weld seams as shown in reference images. Trumpeter and Bronco kits have same problem. The model has nicely textured surfaces on its cast structures but nevertheless, I chose to stipple these areas with Mr Surfacer to amplify the effect.
The longest time was spent building the tracks; each link must be cleaned up at four points and is connected to the next track link with plastic pins. When I had the model built, I cleaned the dust from it and prepared it for the painting steps.
Tracks are individual-link type and take a while to assemble, but look highly realistic once painted. I mixed this by eye, as the greens on Russian tanks were often different for each tank. I immediately oversprayed these areas with Tamiya XF-2 Flat White, diluted with plain water in a very thin layers; it must be thin or the effect won't work properly.
After drying, I dipped a brush into some water and began rubbing off the white to reveal patches of the base green colour. I then used Vallejo matt white — diluted with water — and created irregular, white 'mapping' patterns on white background. This technique is a good way to mimic a worn whitewashed surface that would have been applied with a coarse brush in combat conditions. At this stage I also painted the vehicle numbers, tools and spare tracks and other exterior details.
The pick-axe handle was painted with Vallejo 'Wood' and using a toothpick I created a woodgrain effect with sand brown Vallejo sand brown. Over the wood colour, I applied an oil paint colour-wash brown to tone it down a little. The metal parts were finished in black with drop blue added.
The exhaust was painted with Vallejo Light Brown and 'smoked' with black oil colour. The model was then ready for weathering! The author added raised edges to the side armour plates, plus the cut-down areas in front of the vision ports. Once the model had been primed, the lower areas were airbrushed in earth-tones as an undercoat. Regular hairspray can be used instead of the AK product. The basic green colour was created with Tamiya acrylic paints. Tap water was used to fragment the thin layer of white, then Vallejo matt white was used to deepen the texture of the whitewash.
Weathering pigments were applied to the lower hull sides and running gear. V Further surface effects were created with oil-paint colour-washes. The whitewash on just the mantlet, barrel and fuel tanks gives the vehicle an interesting appearance, different to the usual overall covering. The streaks were blended in with a paintbrush to make the streaks more subtle. Further streaks were applied using pigments to providing variation in colour. I first used a lighter shade of the camouflage green followed by darker chipping colours from the omnipresent AK Interactive.
After the applications of the paint chips, I colour-washed the model using 'Dark Wash' from Mig Productions and removed any surplus with a brush moistened with thinners. The colour-washes were given a day to fully dry. I could then start to apply oil paints to the surface, creating fine dust spots, rust, shadows, further chips on edges etc.
This technique helped me develop a better idea of how to continue the surface weathering. I began by heavily pigmenting the chassis. For this technique I mixed my own blend of Mig Productions pigments in three shades; light, medium and dark, fixing them with Tamiya XA Thinner. The pigment mixes were sprinkled on the surface and fixed or stippled on wet. I always start with a light shade and work to the darkest.
Following these The assembled tracks were first base-coated in XF Pigments were allowed to settle behind external items and fittings, just as washed-down dust would in reality. U Settled dust was applied to horizontal surfaces in random patterns to look as natural as possible. The cumulative effect of the various surface treatments looks great on the big Russian tank-killer. Over this, a pre-mixed brown colour-wash was applied to start the rusting process.
A thinned mixture of Vallejo pale brown and water created further rust effects. Finally, the same pigments as used on the vehicle were applied to the tracks. CB The engine looks great in its bay, on show thanks to the separate access hatch. V techniques I could easily see what still needed to be added. Tamiya not only releases models but also produces various publications.
Some are periodical such as Tamiya News and Tamiya Model Magazine International, and allow modelers to stay informed about Tamiya's new releases and to learn tips and tricks to make their models even more realistic. For prices and availability, contact one of our local agents. Tamiya's Local Agent List.
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