Nº 44
11 €
• STUG III G HYBRID • JAGDPANTHER • SD.KFZ 184 FERDINAND • STUG IV • PIGMENTS, APPLICATION AND FIXING
Nº 40
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PANZER ACES Nº 44
2013
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SD.KFZ 173 JAGDPANTHER, 1/48 SCALE Tamiya’s Jagdpanther kit does in fact give the hobbyist0000 some room to recreate a number of color patterns. Jose Luis Lopez offers us one of the most unusual and attractive ones. Its impeccable work using the latest techniques and products make this a most interesting project.
SD.KFZ. 184 FERDINAND, 1/35 SCALE A powerful German AFV hunter, quite ahead of its time which did not meet the expected results because of its hurried production -and introduction- to the battlefield. Mario Gabàs does a highly realistic piece of work, successfully transmitting the true image of these “monsters”.
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STURMGESCHUTZ III HYBRID, 1/35 SCALE A rare kit obtained by mixing parts of different vehicles to recreate a Stug III. This unusual kit by Jari Hemilä is pretty much a unique piece and a very interesting creation
SD.KFZ. 167 STURMGESCHUTZ IV, 1/35 SCALE Alejandro Quintana’s kit has a number of peculiar features: Added armoring in the frontal area (some of it hinged), and the typical camouflage conveying the shadows of the central European forests confer it a singular appearance.
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MODELLING LESSONS: APPLYING AND FIXING PIGMENTS. Pigment painting can give us a range of finishes and textures by varying the application and fixing techniques as we can very well see in this review.
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By: José Luis López Ruíz Tamiya
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pictures of the author 1/48
For my taste, the Jagdpanther is the greatest exponent of the Panzerjäeger concept. This panzerjaeger is a perfect balance of mobility, armor and firepower (the powerful 8.8 Pak 43 from Tiger II) with aggressive and elegant lines at the same time. Yes, it s one of my favorite AFV’s.
1.-SOME HISTORY The Jagdpanther’s gestation started in late 1942 with a request for a heavy panzerjäeger using the 8.8 cm PAK 43 and the prototype designed by MIAG which was shown in October 1943 to Hitler.The concept was similar to other tank hunters’ designs. A well proven and reliable chassis form a Panther in this
case with a big and sloped casemate to house the huge Pak with enough spare space for the crew and spare ammo. Enough frontal armor was provided with a 80 mm sloped front plate and 60 mm for the side plates. . A single 7.92 mm Mg-34 machine gun for local defense was placed in a ball mount to the right hand side of the front glacis plate. The machine gunner was also the wireless operator. Based on the existing Panther Ausf G chassis, the vehicle did not suffer too many mechanical problems. It had an upgraded transmission (the Zf Ak 7400 heavy duty) - which had been planned for the Panther II - and final drive to counter the Panther's main weak-
ness. It was manned by a crew of six: a driver, radio-operator, commander, gunner and two loaders.Two main variants can be distinguished, the earlier (1944 model) G1 with a small internally bolted main gun mantlet and a modified Panther A engine deck, and the later (1945 model) G2 with a larger simplified, outside-bolted mantlet and a modified Panther G engine deck, though late G1’s also had the larger mantlet. Side schurzen were also provided for additional lateral protection.Jagdpanthers were deployed at heavy antitank battalions ( schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung like 507, 654, 559) and in other Herr and SS units, like elite s Panzer Lehr, Grossdeutchsland, SS Hohenstaufen panzer divisions (which deployed not less than 10 Jagdpanthers during the Hungarian campaign) and other top panzer
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2.-THE KIT Another hit from Tamiya s 1/48 catalog. The kit is not only easy to build but also has a reasonable level of detail, but not enough if you want to make a realistic replica of the real vehicle, I must confess; the weak point of the kit is, once again, the tools and the attachments, as the general dimensions of the kit and the level of detail on the upper roof, motor deck and so on is superb.Hauler sets HLX 48067 (fenders) and 48074 (general detailing) come to our rescue to help us
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get the best from the Tamiya kit. If PE sets are complex to manipulate in 1/35, imagine in 1/48!. Also a little bit of surgery is necessary in order to remove all the spare track supports provided in the kit at the sides of the vehicle and some care to fill all the holes located at the lateral plates of the tank to attach the plastic parts of the tool attachments. But the results, the delicate detail that these kits provide to our tank is indispensable if you want to make a detailed and realis-
tic Jagdpanther. I just added some more extra minor details like the notek wire and a metal gun form RB Models. The always nice Friulmodel tracks are the final touch for this beast.
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3.-PAINTING THE FELINE Although I found many attractive camouflages for the early type Jagdpanther during the Balaton Battle (all with zimmerit, by the way), I did not find any for late Jagdpanthers. I just found one monochrome example belonging to the
Panzer Lehr (not too clear if green or dark yellow) and a two color camouflage (dark green and dark yellow) of an exemplar belonging to an unknown unit in Hungary.I just found a picture of a destroyed Jagdpanther belonging to the SS Hohenstaufen Panzer Division with solid white
numbers as an evidence of a three color paint scheme. So, I decided to make a typical late war three color Jagdpanther camouflage, with the numerals of a command vehicle of any of the divisions and units involved during the Hungary campaign.
not only the granulated (dry paint) surfaces, but also smoothen the surface, a very necessary thing to get the best results when you re painting the tank. Just be careful with the PE parts or the
carpet monster will eat them without mercy. Look at the pictures and check the process and the difference between the cleaned and granulated surfaces.
3.1.-Priming the kit. Priming the kit is absolutely necessary when you re a painting a kit with so much “metal” in it. It s completely necessary to ensure that we have a primer coat that will not let paint peel off from the PE and metal parts of our kit. For this task, Tamiya s Primer is my best option. I apply it using my airbrush, not directly from the can for a better control. Anyway, you must be very careful in this step or you ll get a nicely granulated surface!. If you have this problem, you can commit suicide or just solve it. I strongly recommend solving it!!!. How? Using an ultra thin sand paper and tweezers you can remove
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3.2.-Preparing the base for the camouflage. As I want a not too dark kit once its finished, I ve looked for a close to white base before painting. In this case, I just added some dark areas here and there as I did not look for a zenithal light effect look. No pre-shading, just a bright base for the camouflage.
3.3.-Camouflage. For this task, I used the typical German camouflage colors Dark Yellow (RAL 7028), Dark Green (RAL 6003) and Red Brown (RAL 8017). For the first two, I directly used the Gaia Tank Colors from their military series special set, very thinned with Gaia s own thinner (80%). Red hull was made using a customized mix with Tamiya s red hull, red and orange.As I did not want to obscure the light grey almost to a white base coat, I just applied the different colors in their definitive place. So, I did not apply a general dark yellow coat and then the different color patches as usual. As you can see in the picture sequence, I first applied the yellow, then the dark green and finally the red brown. Remember to use highly diluted paint and do not try to make the patches immediately; take your time and paint them little by little in thin layers.
3.4.-Acrylic Modulation. In this step we start by using our paint brush for the first time. Using the same colors as previously used on each area of the vehicle but slightly lightened this once, I started to paint some details of the kit to provide a more contrasted color hue. Do not be shy in this step. You can always darken a color later on if you were too aggressive during this step, but trying to highlight a part of a kit later on is much more difficult and the results do not end up being satisfactory.The best places to use this acrylic modulation is on corners, edges, hatches, bolts, rivets and any prominent feature of the vehicle.
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3.5.-Chipping. This step makes the difference between a toy and reproduction of a real AFV. But it also makes the difference between a realistically weathered AFV and a full of ants and insects vehicle without any logic to it. So, it s a dangerous step were less is more.I have a trick for this. I imagine myself as a member of the crew on the vehicle and I think … if I have to climb up to the tank, which one is the easiest access to the upper part of the vehicle and hatches?. If I have to remove the tools to repair the tank, as I m pretty clumsy, I’ll ask myself where and how I d hit the nearby surface around the tools’ fastening. As I m not Fernando Alonso driving my own Ferrari, very careless driving is likely to happen, and just where and how will I crash my tank against walls, trees, buildings and so on is what I need to ask myself. These and many other questions will help you
paint the chipping in the logical spots on your AFV. The shapes of these chips are easy to see on pictures of the real vehicles or even on the construction machinery that you can see on our towns and roads. Just use your favorite acr ylic
paints, a mix of red and black or any other specific color from AK or any other brand, and with a fine brush and a sponge (with moderation), you ll get your nice chippings. But be very careful with PE parts!
3.7.-General Wash. The main 1/48 scale s drawback is the lack of detail when compared with the 1/35 scale. Due to the size, many details of the kit are simplified on 1/48 kits and Tamiya s kits are the best example of this as their first kits had the tools molded over the fenders and had many other simplifications that forced modelers to remove them or look for other solutions. And the only option was sometimes a more aggressive wash and a more delicate and volumetric paint for these areas.So, a general dark wash used to be very necessary in this scale because it did enhance the details all over the kit, which is a very necessary step.For this task, there are many products available from AK, Mig Productions, and more recently, Vallejo s washes. For my taste, oils are the best option as they allow you to customize the color of your washes easily. In this case, I used a natural umber oil color. But don’t forget to apply previously a nice coat of acrylic satin varnish all over the kit (this varnish will also protect
the transfers we applied in the previous step). This not only helps to protect your base color from forthcoming aggressive weathering steps involving turpentine, oil spirit or any other kind of thinner, but
this also lets the wash run smoothly across all the kits recesses, slots and other molding details of you kit.
3.8.-Painting the accessories. It s a morally important step as it will allow you to see the final looks of your kit. I just painted a general base color to tell the different materials apart from the different pieces of the real vehicle. I always try to use different shades of brown for the wood in order to get a more attractive look and steel parts in different shades of dark grey and pure black. But most often times, I change these colors during the final steps when I paint them in the final and weathered way.
3.6.-Decals. I love Archer transfers and I use them as many times as possible. I choose generic iron crosses and outlined black numerals from their 1/48 transfer range. The main advantage is that they have nearly no thickness once applied. The main inconvenient is, that these must be carefully placed as you haven’t a second chance with them.
3.9.-Oils. The old and traditional, but highly effective oil “dot” technique is of full validity even when considered against the most recent and sophisticated painting techniques. As shown in the picture, several oil dots of different colors are randomly applied over the previously soaked -with White Spirit- surface. Approximate-
ly 15 minutes later, the dots are blended over the surface using a flat brush slightly damped in White Spirit. The result is a nicely faded surface with a very rich chromatic appearance, a subtle but effective step when you re weathering an AFV. Oils also help increase some light effects on the more prominent elements of the kit with a maximum exposition of
3.10.-Acrylic vertical weathering. For this task, I used acrylic paints because I do not want to spoil the previous work with oils. I always use a range of colors from buff to a nearly black brown shade. I strongly dilute this paint in water until I just have dirty water.Then, with a very fine brush, I select one color and after dampening the brush, I nearly completely dry the brush on a piece of tissue paper. Nearly dry, with several passes of the brush, I start painting the vertical lines that represent the typical washed out dirt over the vertical and inclined surfaces.When using this technique it is very important to draw the lines little by little as the best result is achieved when the dirt line is not solid but some kind of a transparency over the surface. The effect becomes more realistic if you use several brownish shades going from buff to dark brown as explained before. You can also use this technique with rust colors to simulate the drained rust. 10
light. In this case, I used white, Naples Yellow, light orange and green. Also, you can darken the hidden recesses of the tank, where you can use natural umber, black, blue or dark brown oils. These are applied in the same way, in dots but this time these are blended on the different surfaces with an almost dry and thinner paint brush.
3.11.-Painting the lower hull. Mud and dirt. Now, it s time for the lower hull and tracks. There are many products for creating nice looking mud on our AFV: Tamiya s texture paint and “Mud in a Pot” from Reality in Scale. For my taste, Tamiya s texture paint is more suitable for 1/35 kits, where it is the best available option. But in 1/48, the finesse of the Reality in Scale s product is unbeatable. I apply this product on the lower part of the kit with the help of a brush, trying not to get a homogeneous look, concentrating mud more on the rear area of the hull. Do not be afraid, this product will not peel off from your kit! And as it is an acrylic product, you can use your oils or other weathering products without any risks.Once applied, I airbrush completely the lower part of the kit with Tamiya s XF-72, a nice alternative to the typical Tamiya XF-52 Flat Earth. Adding some buff and black to this base color, I create different shades of mud.Then, once dry, I apply oil colors to get a more in depth mud effect using black, natural umber and dark brown. I always relate in my mind the exhaust pipes with the lower hull, so I always paint them in this step. First, I add some chipping here and there with the help of a sponge and finally, with oils, I blend it obtaining the final appearance of these items in particular. With black pigment, I create the typical smoke effect.For the tracks, I tried AK s Metal Burnishing product with a nice result. Friul tracks get an attractive look with this product, but not enough for a final weathering result. For this task, I added some pigments, also from AK (dark earth, European Earth and Nord Africa dust) to create the final earthy look of the tracks. I fix these with turpentine and make a wash using natural umber oil for additional deepness. And just by using sandpaper, I get the typical bare metal effect on the tracks, a great advantage of Friul’s tracks!
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3.12.-Final weathering effects. For the final dust effects, I used AK s products. First, a general “wash” using their Africa Dust effects wash. I do not apply this wash in a general or homogeneous way all over the kit. I just apply it in the more attractive (and logical) places, mostly on the horizontal surfaces.Once dry, I removed the excess product using AK s Odorless Thinner and using OIF&OEF s washes, I slightly change in a random way the color of dust to create more deepth in some places.I also made some splashes using these products on the wheels and the exposed plates of the vehicle. A controlled splash effect is one of the more realistic effects we can add to our kits. Just on the horizontal plates and fenders, I added some pigments to create texture and additional dirt. Do not forget to fix the pigment using turpentine or any specifically designed product for that task.During this step, I painted again the accessories, not forgetting to weather them like the rest of the vehicle.For the bare metal effects, my favorite HB pen, taken directly from my daughter’s case was used.And finally, natural plants and earth were added in debris like manner on some parts of the AFV. I do not do this very frequently but I must confess that I love the results!
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By: Mario Gabás Ruiz Dragon Models
Pictures: Rodrigo Hernández Cabos 1/35
This German AFV hunter has always been one of my weaknesses. I’ve always been fascinated by how massive it was and how it made its debut at such an early stage when the great “felines” of the end of the war hadn’t made theirs yet. 15
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I had been keen to make this kit for a while, because as I said earlier this is one of my favorite AFV’s. If my memory serves me correctly, this is the third Ferdinand I make. The first one I did was the old Italeri reference which as you all know is not actually a Ferdinand but an Elephant and I didn’t even paint it; it was left in the green plastic hue that those Italeri kits had back in the day. My second try was also with the Italeri kit, but this one was painted and I tried to copy an Elephant which came out in a publication which some of you might still remember: the “Cuadernos de Modelismo aplicados”. In one of these there was a diorama set in the Battle for Kursk. In it we could see some German grenadiers trying to take a line of Soviet trenches, while hidden
behind the considerable bulk of this vehicle. You can imagine the disastrous results I obtained and how little did my vehicle resemble the one from the diorama; the name of the vehicle was the only thing that matched… So when Dragon released this kit for the first time in 2001 I was anxious to acquire it, but it was actually my father who gave it to me as a present knowing how fond I was of this kit… and what happened during the twelve years which have gone by? Well, I simply kept the kit on a closet until I finally dared to build it. I guess that most hobbyists have a similar story to tell with a given kit. So I can only say that this is the first Ferdinand kit by Dragon and it does not have any PE sheets, the gun isn’t made
out of turned aluminum, it does not have any Magic Track tracks or any extra detailing kit. As far as I know, Dragon has manufactured two later versions with improved parts and a whole bunch of extra pieces including one with specific pieces for the Battle for Kursk. Before we begin with the assembly chores I leave some space for a historical introduction of this vehicle by my fellow association member and friend M Salcedo Oliver.
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION This heavy and enormous German AFV hunter (65-70 tons) owes its exis-
tence to the request for a heavily armored assault gun which eventually received a different name. The need to assemble powerful weapons to fight the increasing number of well protected Soviet AFV’s, facilitated the choice for an 8.8cm KwK 43/2L/71 gun. Throughout 1942 evaluations for choosing the hull with the right configuration to bear this gun or other guns of a different caliber took place. The hull was taken from the discarded VK4501 (P), a competing project won by the Henschel Company which became known as the “Tiger” and then simply as “Tiger I”. For more information download pdf: www.euromodelismo.com
ASSEMBLY As I’ve mentioned earlier in the introduction, this is Dragon Kits’ first Ferdinand, so we’re going to need a few extras in order to give it an optimal level of detail; however if anybody wants to do this kit right out the box, they would also have a good kit in their hands. The kit was improved with A Voyager PE set, a turned aluminum gun made by the same brand and a Friulmodel set of tracks. The kit’s assembly is no harder than replacing the styrene pieces for the PE ones, paying special attention to the fenders which are made out of several PE pieces and need careful assembly. PE pieces allow us to make a number of different effects such as bumps and hits, so
I decided to leave the main part of a lateral fender out simulating its loss in the battlefield. The remaining PE pieces are used for improving the tool fastenings, the headlight supports and the principal support for the gun. Other than this and after having examined a number of period pictures I’ve observed that crews removed the tool box from its original location and relocated it on the rear of the vehicle. The Voyager set contains a fully detailed toolbox, so I get rid of the one which comes with the kit and place the Voyager one on the rear. Now I just have to put the impressive Voyager’s turned aluminum gun in place with the wonderful resin mantlet which has much better detail than the one in the kit’s box. Now the kit is ready for painting.
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PAINTING Before I finished the assembly stage I was already taking a look at the different color profiles and pictures of this vehicle and wondering what kind of camouflage pattern I wanted to reproduce. The first idea I had was to apply the typical dark yellow German camouflage with the small green threads which were very common during the battle for Kursk, but along came my friend Luis Fuster with a handful of “Ferdinand pictures” from the 653 heavy AFV hunters battalion and I saw one with a green spotted camouflage pattern which immediately caught my attention and made up my mind to reproduce. Once the vehicle was finished and after having primed its surface with Citadel’s white priming paint I began working and testing the new zenithal
light source technique, so I painted the dark yellow color with Tamiya acrylics doing a very smooth zenithal light source on the prominent areas of the kit which later on have so much eye appeal. I applied much lighter shades in the upper areas of the vehicle and darker ones on the lower areas. I also lighted up some areas with this lighter base color mixture such as the upper part of the frontal armoring, the upper part of the casemate and the upper part of the fenders. I was truly satisfied with the results obtained and a kit with such large vertical surfaces truly asks for it. When executing the green camouflage spots I first drew the contour of each spot and then filled it up with paint. This is a pretty tough job and you need lots of patience. I spent a total of six hours doing it, so patience –at least for me- was the thing to have along with an airbrush kit in perfect
working order, heavily diluted paint to work with and an air pressure of about 0.5 bars to apply it. I tried to apply a little of this zenithal light source treatment to the camouflage spots, but I was not too convinced with the results obtained so I applied a modest highlight in the center of the spots, leaving these other wise pretty much untouched. On my next project I would truly like to work with that on the camouflage spots. Once the kit has been fully painted with its base color, I seal its surface with gloss varnish in order to get a satin finish which will be very helpful later on during the application of the weathering processes. Varnish is also an excellent base for integrating decals perfectly. Now the kit is ready for the weathering or “dirtying” process; in a vehicle as big as this one with such large verti-
cal surfaces, you should carefully plan your work ahead and work on small areas of the kit at a time. By doing this we avoid getting tired or skipping some processes. I aged the kit by using a mixed technique; in addition to the typical “melting” of oil paints on the vertical surfaces I employed MIG Jimenez’s “Streaking” technique, which consists on melting paint vertically on all the vertical planks combining this with a personal touch involving a number of oil paint gradations that gave me an altogether pretty good time. I insisted however on working on a few small areas at any given time to avoid getting saturated with the work which would otherwise be pretty heavy. Once I was done with this, I did some general detail profiling on the kit using dark colored enamels. Then I worked on the paint chips and divided
these in two: The darker and deeper ones made with Panzer Aces 302, and the lighter and superficial ones which have a hue similar to the base color. The kit after all the treatments looked like it had a number of campaign hours behind it, so now it was time to seal this with Marabu matt enamel Varnish, leaving the vehicle ready for the colored pigments which followed. Overall dirt includes both MIG Productions and AK Interactive color pigments, especially present on the lower side of the fenders creating dry mud clusters consistent with the time of the year when the battle for Kursk took place. Using the same colors employed to apply mud on the lower areas I recreated mud on the tracks, which were previously given a rusty appearance with AK Interactive’s specific product for recreating rust on metal surfaces. Then
I did several Vallejo Panzer Aces acrylic washes and then I applied dirt with the color pigments. Once we’ve done all this, the kit is nearly finished; I only have some work left on details which bring the kit to life such as dampness, oil and fuel stains, painting the tools and doing some details to add some character to provide a personal touch such as the sign post written in Cyrillic lettering. On the chart with the materials employed for this kit I list all the colors employed and the color references as used in every step of the way. In order to get a livelier diorama I always like to include a figure or two; here I’ve used an Alpine miniatures reference and a Dragon Models reference. The Dragon figure was improved with a Hornet head and a number of PE pieces to add further detail to the figure. Luis Solanas painted both figures.
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COLOR CHART Base paint and camouflage • Tamiya Color - XF60 Dark yellow - XF2 Flat white - X-22 Clear • Gunze Sangyo - H-303 Green FS34102 Filters • MiG Productions - P241 Brown for Panzer Yellow - P245 Brown for Dark Green Oil paint gradations • MiG Productions - Abt 035 Buff - Abt 155 German Three Tone Fading - Abt 001 White - Abt 140 Basic Flesh Tone - Abt 092 German Ochre - Abt 040 Faded Green - Abt 050 Olive Green - Abt 090 Industrial Earth - Abt 080 Wash Brown - Abt 070 Dark Rust Streaking • AK Interactive - AK 012 Streaking Grime - AK 024 Dark Streaking Grime - AK 080 Summer Kursk Earth - AK 013 Rust Streaks - AK 016 Fresh Mud - AK 074 Rainmarks for NATO Tanks - AK 046 Wash for Light Dust Pigments (dirt) • AK Interactive - AK 081 Dark Earth • MiG Productions - P415 Light European Dark - P027 Light Dust - P414 Track Brown - P232 Dry Mud - P048 Faded Green - P030 Beach Sand Paint chips, scratches and dirt stains • Vallejo Panzer Aces Acrylics - 302 Dark rust - 313 stencil - 304 Track primer - 314 Canvas - 315 light mud - 305 Light rubber • AK Interactive - AK 711 Chipping Color Damp spots and fuel stains - 80 Bitume (Titán) - AK 025 Fuel Stains (AK Interactive) - Oil and Grease Stain Mixture (MiG Productions)
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Panzerjäger Tiger (P) Ferdinand (Sd.Kfz. 184), s. Pz.Jg.Abt. 654, 1º Batallón, 3ª Compañía, Kursk 1943. Colores: Dunkelgelb, Olivgrün y Rotbraun
Panzerjäger Tiger (P) Ferdinand (Sd.Kfz. 184), s. Pz.Jg.Abt. 654, Kursk (URSS), julio de 1943. Colores: Dunkelgelb y Olivgrün
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Panzerjäger Tiger (P) Ferdinad (Sd.Kfz. 184), s. Pz.Jg.Abt. 231 4º Batallón, 2ª Compañía, Kurks 1943. Colores: Dunkelgelb, Olivgrün y Rotbraun
Panzerjäger Tiger (P) Ferdinand (Sd.Kfz. 184), II/s. Pz.Jg.Rgt. 656, Kursk (URSS), julio de 1943. Colores: Dunkelgelb y Olivgrün
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By: Jari Hemilä pictures of the author CMK-Dragon
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I got idea for this project when I got copy of Panzer wrecks # 14 in my hands. There was a great set of pictures of very rare StuG III G. After looking and learning those six pictures, I found that this will be my next project. In pictures, you can see very odd features rarely seen in StuGs.
BACK-ROUND The vehicle seems to be pieced together from parts collected from different vehicles and topped up with field-made parts. The hull seems to be old regular Panzer III M tank hull with brake cooling openings and hatches without hinges in upper front plates of hull. The rear deck with towing cable clamps, driving light on left fender, tool box on right fender and spare wheel brackets bolted on rear part of fenders are typical Pz III M features. The casemate seems to be regular StuG item, the main gun is late model with Saukopf mantle but the roof is weird. For some reason, the commander’s cupola has been removed and replaced with split hatch of loaders. To beef-up vehicles protection, armor plates are welded in front of vehicle, in loaders
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front plate and finally driver got an armored visor. There are also concrete blocks on both upper front corners of casemate to give extra protection, as well as lot of spare track shoes for same purpose. Few details such rear deck rack and gun support in front plate are typical late model features of StuG III G. The same can’t be said of field applied Schürtzens with pivoting attachment. There are only 3 or 4 Schürtzen plates on left side of vehicle,
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on right side there are only those attachment points left. This very interesting vehicle was completed with a very fashinating three tone camourflage. On schürtzen –plates there is a nice cross pattern, the rest of vehicle seems to painted over hastingly. All this offered great subject for a great model, but also defenately required terrain base for model.
CONSTRUCTION Interior was needed. For engine bay, I bought a new CMK’s set for Dragon models. Construction was easy even for me, who is not so familiar with resin. Nice sharp castings but there were also some defects in CMK set. Those two longitudial frames under engine need to be tuned, new holes drilled, to allow torsion bars go
through them. Those holes were totally wrong places, but job was easily done. Maybe bigger issue is that there are not any detailing in batteries/ battery tray. It looks like there is a sheet metal lid over battery box but in reality batteries are visible. Batteries are marked in instructions but part itself is plain without any details…Old Aires driver’s area kit was a nice one, just enough details for removed brake inspection hatches. Set was designed for Tamiya kit so there was some
adjustments I had to do before fighting compartment interior was possible to set on place. I found it essential to plan and fit everything very carefully to ease interior painting and later attaching lower hull to upper one. For example the radiators were clued to engine deck to make sure that rear deck can be put in place after painting. Anyway, I found it busy enough with these modifications.
Exterior I took some parts from DML’s Pz III M kit. Hull front top-plate A22 was extra part so I took it, as well as those plastic tow-cable fasteners on rear-deck. Turned aluminum gun-tube with DML Saukopf mantle is from RB Models and Friulmodel trcks completed construction. I shortened two shock absorbers to get axles in upper positions and then glued all four on their places. I cut all location pins from swing axles to let them turn freely
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to ease installation on ground base. Mainly the construction was done by following instructions. The fenders were lightly modified by thinning them by grinding then underside, adding some needed details and making some cuttings on them. Concrete blocks were made of Magig Sculp in two layers. At first I made rough contour of blocks, let them dry overnight and continued next day with final surface of appr. 2mm thick. I kept surfaces quite smooth as seen in reference pictures. I cut Schürtzens from 0,25mm plastic sheet, drilled two attachment holes in center line and finally cut edges of in jig I made beforehand. Pivot axles were made of 0,8mm copper wire, plastic discs and rough putty weldings. In this particular vehicle, plates seems to be attached with washers and nuts, maybe welded in place. In other vehicles there have been washers and locking pin. Spare track racks on casemate sides were made of styrene strips. Some of the extra tracks were attached to vehicle by using welded and then bent track pins. This was made by 0,6mm soldering wire, superglued on place and then painted rusty brown.
I needed a late model roof with loader’s hatch opening to sides but without pilzens. I had only one DML later StuG roof available so I decided to reproduce new one from plastic sheet. It was quite easy task, some careful measurements and then cutting and gluing parts together one by one. After assembly, weld seams were made of Magic Sculp. Gunner sight device cover plate is from spare Aber PE-set.
I cut front part of DML’s top-plate away and replaced it with cutted front part of PanzerArts resin-part. Extra armor plates were made of plastic sheet and fitted around air intakes. Here I had to use some Magig Sculp to make tight fitting. The gun support was done from plastic struts and rods with Punch-And-Die –set bolt-head.
PAINT-WORK The RAL 8012 was a base color for my StuG interior. Everything was airbrushed with red primer, mixture of reddish Tamiya paints, then masked off and fighting compartment got it’s semi-gloss Elfenbein color. All sub-assemblies were painted separately and then assembled. All details were painted with paintbrush and different Vallejo colors. After painting completed, it was time for washes. I made some dirty grey brown general washes mixed from oil colors and then continued with darker pin-washes. After some touch-up with thinner, I applied dust pigments on floor plates, especially to corners where dust normally accumulates. When dusting was ready, I add some grease, oil and fuel marks randomly areas where needed. Braking system also got some metal pigment treatment in this step. The exterior painting started by airbrushing Panzer grey on parts “taken” from old Panzer III tank. The casemate got darker, mid-war shade of Dunkelgelb, as well as new parts like fenders were painted with primer red. Details were picked up with paintbrush. I searched color of concrete for a while in real samples and decided to use Deck tan avoiding bluish Blue Tack effect as seen sometimes when creating concrete in models. Some field applied steel plates got dark brown base color in this step.
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After these detail paintings were made, model was airbrushed with several thin layers of hairspray. Work continued with general layer of faded older Dunkel gelb. After drying for a while, I started to make chipping with warm tap water and set of stiff brushes and pair of tweeters. I removed lot of paint in lower hull areas to present old, maybe at field applied, Dunkel gelb paintwork made over dusty surfaces where paint won’t stick perfectly. After chipping was done, I sealed everything with few thin layers of semi-gloss varnish. Upper parts of vehicle were again airbrushed with few thin coats of hair spray. After drying, surfaces got very pale late-war version of Dunkel gelb.
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Upper structure was installed on top of lower hull for camouflage painting. The green and red brown camo colors covered quite large areas but were airbrushed quite thinly. The Schürtzen plates got quite funny cross pattern made with both colors. Plates were attached on wooden block with BluTack to get correct, continuing pattern but also to make small overspray effect where plates are overlapping. The gun tube was painted in totally different camo than rest of vehicle. The national insignia, and markings in generally, consisted only three black crosses, two in front upper corners of fighting department and one in rear upper plate. These were painted by paintbrush. After paintwork was done, I applied general wash with Mig Production Brown wash. Warm reddish hue turned overall appearance of vehicle exactly I wanted. I also used some darker pinwashes in details to add more interest and get details more visible. I increased chipping efects concentrating mainly on areas originally painted with Panzer grau. Chipping continued
with light sand and finally some rusty brown colors. As usually, this extra chipping was done at first with sponge and then continued with #000 paintbrush. Rusty armor plates were made totally using hair-spray technic. At first I made very dark brown mixture of Tamiya paints and then airbrushed it on primered surfaces. I add more interest and variance to
base color with speckling technic i.e. thinned mixture of enamel and oil-paint was sprinkled over painted surface with stiff paintbrush. I used both light and dark shades, both different than base colour. If you get too big sports you can remove them with turpentine if needed. After speclings were dried, I airbrushed couple of thin layers hair-spray over it. 33
The next step was to add lighter contrast color layer on. I used both light grey and blue paints to do effect. It doesn’t matter what color you use, I prefer blue because it adds more interest and shades
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to end result. Again, usin warm tap water and stiff short bristle paint-brush, nearly all light contrast color was washed away. When I was satisfied, I let it dry for a while and then sealed surface with
yes, few thin layers of acrylic varnish. Rusty surfaces got more hues by orange layer. After couple of hair-spray layers, I airbrushed orange color randomly over painted area. Some areas got thicker
layer, others only thin sheer layer of orange. I also used paper masks to produce sharper rusty marks caused other plates during storage. Orange color was again washed partly away and then sealed with varnish. I add more tones to rusty surface, now with oils, both from tube and also diluted with thinner. I added some marks of burned paint by airbrushing black color around welded and flame cutted areas. These seams were also treated with yellowish rust caused by heat during welding. The final step was to paint fresh weld seams with HU11.
BASE The terrain base was totally new area for me but especially this model request it. I had resin section of cobble stone street. I cut it in better shape and made sides of terrain base from plastic strips and sheet. I filled the pot with thin layers of Styrofoam and add some wood beams and metal rods in it. I checked everything with model and then started to add Das modeling material to shape terrain. Before modelling material was totally dry, I sprinkled some real sand, pushed it on wet surface and sealed it with matt scenic glue. I let it dry few
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mixed together to get variance in ground work. I sprinkled bricks on needed areas and then glued them in place with scenic glue. The vehicle was test fitted once again to make sure that it will fit on its place later. The vehicle and terrain base were weathered simultaneously with Easy Mud products. Lower hull and tracks were weathered before attachment to base. I started with light dry mud colours and continued to darker ones. This was done
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days and then glued terrain base to wooden base I made beforehand. In this stage, I primered both wooden and terrain base combo with spray stuff and then painted sides with semi-gloss black. After masking, I first painted light grey
base color for cobble stoned areas. Ground work painting continued with sand colors, as well as I picked up cobble stones with different grey colors. I used Scale Supply’s pre-colored bricks. They came in three different colors which I
by both making thin washes and using thicker mud to get surfaces dirty and muddy. Washes were also used to create moistened terrain on left side of vehicle as seen in reference pictures. I secured the model to the base with epoxy glue
and metal pins. Thick mixture of Polyfilla and pigments was placed under tracks to ensure ground contact. I faded vehicle to the ground work with both Easy Mud,bricks and straws. The next step was tedious applying of mortar on bricks. I made a thick mixture of plaster, pigments and water, and with a small paint brush, applied mortar on bricks, on both sides and both ends, one by one... I also crushed several bricks and sprinkled them all over the base. The terrain base and vehicle were completed with several pigments and help of some oil and grease stains. The model was finally completed!
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By: Alejandro Quintana pictures by Rodrigo Hernández Cabos Tamiya
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The positive results obtained by the Sturmgeschutz III, led to the Stug IV which was in itself an improvement over the previous vehicle because of its larger combat chamber and therefore its added capacity for storing ammunition and more room for its crews.
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ASSEMBLY This Tamiya kit was manufactured in 1976, and does have all of the period’s features. You’ll wonder why I’ve built such an old kit, and the truth is that this kit had been lying around on a shelf for quite some time and I was not planning on throwing it away. If anybody wants to build the StuG IV, I would clearly recommend the much newer Dragon reference which is by far a much better kit. In order to improve this kit I had to use many sets and accessories, but I would have pretty much done the same if I had chosen to build the Dragon kit. The tracks should be replaced because those included in the kit are quite awful. It is also pretty much mandatory to change the lateral armored planks with either P.E. pieces or thin styrene sheet. Details such as the tools, all the other small odds and ends, the gun, the canvas, the frontal planks will always help you add a personal touch to your kit. The first thing you should do to these old Tamiya kits is to cover up the holes on the frame originally intended for inserting a small motor. Plasticard, putty and sandpaper suffice to get the frame ready. Another period flaw is the large gap left (large enough to let you see the inside) once you assemble the superstructure and the frame together. This gap however is pretty much concealed by the tracks and the lateral planks, but I chose to do some “extra handiwork” and covered it with some Plasticard and putty.
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ZIMMERIT I began building the vehicle by doing the zimmerit texture. For those of you which have never attempted to recreate it there is abundant literature on the subject and some practical reviews on how to do it in both Euromodelismo magazine, and Panzer Aces. Zimmerit was a paste applied on many German AFV’s, giving it its special texture with different tools. This paste was applied with a spiked roll in the factories, but in the battlefields the soldiers did what they could with what they had. I had to choo-
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1. First stage of the zimmerit process; drawing vertical lines with a separation of 3mm between each line. 02. Using the welding tool we do the pocks carefully following the pencil lines. 3. We cover the side of the vehicle and then we use on the zimmerit a brush soaked on styrene liquid glue. 4. We can correct a poorly made line with putty and work on it again with the welding tool. 5. The real zimmerit texture was pretty random and varied a lot between all the different units.
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se first the materials to recreate it with; and as far as I know I had three choices: 50% mix putty, P.E. pieces, and using a welding tool. As far as I was concerned I already had more than enough P.E parts on my kit so I went for the welding tool option to tackle the work ahead. The first step is to measure the pock marks on the zimmerit paste. I had a three millimeter measurement to bear in mind. With a small ruler and a pencil we trace the vertical lines on all the areas we’re going to work on. We should skip the areas where other pieces will be stuck later, because if we don’t, we may have some fastening problems later. There is for example on the left side of the tracks a couple of fuel intakes not featured in this kit which in this case were taken from a Panzer IV by Dragon to illustrate this point. The area where these pieces go should not get the zimmerit texture in
Two component Tamiya putty and a special metal zimmerit-specific Tamiya knife is used here for the job.
We spread the mixture on the metallic fender.
With the 0.7 knife we do the grooves conveying the print left by the real life rods
The separation line is about 3mm wide.
The 0.7mm knife has an end which can be used for doing the zimmerit strips one by one.
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order to be able to glue them properly in place. Once we’ve prepared it all we take the welding tool and begin to do the pock marks on the vehicle. These are done from right to left, exactly the opposite direction used when writing in English. These are done up and then down tilting the knife about 45 degrees. It isn’t necessary to do a perfectly accurate job. A perfectly accurate job can be considered in fact unrealistic; after having closely examined many pictures of vehicles with zimmerit I can assure you that not two vehicles look alike and all are far from being perfect. So if you get some crooked lines that would actually be OK. It is however always recommendable to run some tests on any old kit you may have around before you begin with your current kit. All this is in fact much simpler than it actually seems. I began with the track area, because if any mistakes are made here it is always easier to conceal it with either mud, snow or anything you may come up with. The job seemed easy enough all right, the first columns looked great and my confidence grew too much and then I blundered badly later on during the process. About halfway down the vehicle I was doing very sloppy work. Some pock marks were quite crooked, others not so much… basically a disaster. Not satisfied with this I remembered that later on you should put some styrene glue after the welding work to soften and get rid of some plastic “hairs” created during the process. That’s how I took the glue and spread it, covering all the zimmerit areas. On those areas where the job was better done and glue was used sparsely, the results were fantastic, but on the areas where the marks were poorly made I used greater amounts of glue bathing these surfaces completely, “erasing” the texture and melting the plastic surface away, leaving an a pretty sorry kit to see. Desperate, I tried to cover up the worst parts with Tamiya’s putty thinned down on acetone improving somewhat the disastrous results, because it covered up some defects and later on the welding tool could also be used on this putty and some mistakes could be corrected with this procedure. I began to fear that the whole zimmerit thing was going to get the best of me. However I was not going to surrender
Metal fender manufactured by Eduard which fits moderately well.
In order to fasten the tools we have to use the PE pieces manufactured by both Eduard and Aber, choosing the ones better adapted for each tool. Some pieces like the cranks have been made out of copper wire.
The Bosch headlight is a better quality metal piece. The one employed here is manufactured by M4 Model. 1The MG-34 will look far better if we replace the gun for a turned aluminum piece by Aber. The armoring for it is the Eduard make.
Friulmodel track links with a wire fastening.
The Aber hinges and periscopes are quite necessary in order to improve the commander’s cupola.
Another essential detail: The box containing the spare Aber wheels faithfully reproduced by this brand.
specially considering the hefty sum spent on accessories and other sets bought to improve the veteran Tamiya reference. With this spirit I ran and got myself another Tamiya StuG (thank goodness these are cheap). The way I see it I was actually thankful for not having ruined a Dragon reference and having a chance to get a fresh start on a “brand new” Tamiya StuG. Now I took the job seriously from the first line to the last one. It is actually easy to do it well, but you should not be caught with your guard down and rush
the work no matter how easy it may seem. Get the welding tool warm enough from the start and test it on another piece of plastic before you start a fresh line. I think that when I first screwed up, the welding tool was not warm enough and I was doing a good job in the meantime. The machine was warming up progressively but I was doing the same pock marks but the knife penetrated further into the plastic and that spelled disaster. The second time around the whole thing went much better and I didn’t have any major issues. In spite of the mistakes
and even after having bought a second kit, the results obtained were great in my opinion. With a very light layer of styrene glue I could finally admit to be pleased with the results and the welding tool. I still had to do the zimmerit on the fenders. Tamiya’s two component polyester putty and the PE pieces designed by this brand to recreate the texture had to do the job there. The fenders are small and flat, so all this worked out fine. While doing this I found out that the specific PE set was much too specific and saw that the fenders did not fit. The Eduard set isn’t that specific and worked much better. I actually used the Aber and Eduard PE pieces whenever either fitted best.
TOOLS A good example is the wrench set. The Aber one is too Dragon specific and the Eduard one works only for Tamiya. Between the Aber and the Eduard sets I could put all the details on the kit. The PE work to be done actually doubled because of this situation.
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MATERIALS EMPLOYED - Kit: Sturmgeschütz IV de Tamitya ref 35087 - P.E. sets: Aber ref. 35044 Eduard ref. 35357 Schurzen Eduard ref. 35361 Schurzen Lionroar ref. 35051 - Aluminum gun: 7.5cm Stuk 40 L/48, Jb Model ref. 35B05 - Panzer Tracks: PazerIII/IV Ostketten, Friulmodel ref. ATL-83 - Tow cable grips: M4 Models, ref. 35013 - Tow cables: M4 Models, ref. 35001
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The appearance of this StuG IV is remarkable because of the detail brought by the PE pieces, the realistic appearance of both the tracks and the gun, the turned metal machine gun with its metallic armoring, all helping round up this realistic effect.
TRACKS
MANTLET CANVAS
Once the kit was almost assembled and the details had been taken care of I assembled the Friulmodel tracks which are in fact wonderful to work with. When I measured these I encountered yet another problem: The tractor wheels and the tracks did not fit together well. I sanded the wheels to find out if this worked, but I was not convinced with the results. I solved this issue by replacing the Tamiya wheels for Panzer IV wheels taken from a Dragon reference and it worked perfectly.
The real life StuG IV had a couple of factory glitches. One of these glitches was that water could get in the space between the casemate and the gun’s mantlet whenever it rained. Crews placed a piece of canvas in this space to fix this, and I recreated this with two component blue and yellow Kenadite putty. The good thing about this putty is that once it settles it still maintains its elasticity and can be well adapted to complex areas pretty much as is needed right here. The piece of canvas was maintained in
place with hooks and a fastener made out of 0.3mm copper wire.
ADDITIONAL ARMORING The other factory glitch was more of a design error. This vehicle was basically a StuG III casemate assembled on the frame of a Panzer IV. In order to fit both together, the driver’s post was moved forward exposing him way too much. The engineers came up with a rather ingenious solution. Some cement blocks were placed on the frontal area of the
Assembly pictures of Aber and Eduard PE pieces, the JB Models gun, Friulmodel spare track links and additional armoring made out of Plasticard sheet with hinges. Here we can also see the canvas covering the mantlet’s base made out of Duro. Copper wire in different widths is employed for making handles, fastenings, springs, etc.
AFV. The kit does in fact come with these pieces for assembly. Still, crews, much wiser than the engineers themselves decided to put on the vehicle sloped planks in order to protect better these vulnerable areas from shells. Crews also adhered whatever they could find of use in the battlefield. The plank on the left side had hinges in order to lift it and gain access to the transmission. These are made out of Plasticard sheet with dents along its edges done with a knife in order to convey the cut made with the welding iron. The hinges are two sections of a hypodermic syringe fitted one inside the
other with a piece of copper wire inside. The periscopes in this area are also newly made out of Plasticard and PE pieces and the handle is a piece of copper wire.
SCHURTZEN At this point I went and worked on the lateral armored planks or Schûrtzen. The ones that come with the kit are pretty thick so I went for the PE pieces. Both the Eduard and Lionroar sets can be used for this purpose. The hard thing here is to align these correctly. These were long suffering planks and were removed and reas-
sembled quite often by all the different crews. In fact, whenever the AFV had been out for a few months, these were often displaced bent and disarranged. Do not be discouraged if a given plank is slightly disarranged, because it was actually difficult to see a vehicle in service with every plank intact and in perfect arrangement. In fact, period pictures show us vehicles with a few missing planks and sometimes all of them were. Now we check the vehicle making sure that no PE pieces have been harmed or have been accidentally removed and we’re pretty much done with the assembly chores.
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PAINTING
There are four known variants of the RAL 7028 dark yellow color. In order to obtain one a little removed from the usual fare we use Tamiya’s XF-59 lighted up with white and adding some Buff X-57. With this treatment we will obtain one of the lesser known variants of this color, and bearing in mind that the remaining camouflage colors cover up about 70% of the vehicle we don’t need to work on the color modulation. The Olivgrûn RAL 6003 green is done with Tamiya’s XF-13 J.A. Green, and the brick red Rotbraun RAL 8012 is done with the brand’s XF-10 Flat Brown. As we can see on the research pictures, the red and green spots cover about 70% of the vehicle and are applied trying to convey the lights and shades of the central European forests.
AMBRUSS CAMOUFLAGE SCHEME AFV hunters of the period were painted with the “Ambruss” –ambush- pattern which was generally quite dark in order to conceal the vehicle with the shadows of the forests. Sometimes special small circular patterns were employed. We begin by applying the Tamiya acrylic base coat. First we’ll apply an overall layer of XF-59 to cover up the entire vehicle. Then this is lightened by adding some XF-2 and about a drop of XF-57 to the initial color reference. The green camouflage pattern is made with XF-13 J.A. Green. Brown is made with XF-10. Green is applied in a much more intense hue, and brown is a bit more diffuse. We finish the job by applying a diluted and lightened coat of our base color with smooth gradations intensifying the highlights on the rounded areas.
The Schurtzen get the same colors in a very diffuse way and in some instances we will leave the base color only.
The product range for the finishing touches is indeed wide, and whenever employed in an orderly and logical fashion the results obtained can be pretty convincing.
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Pigments used in the final stages will help you recreate the textures of dirt mud and sand which are quite necessary whenever we recreate an armored vehicle.
Small blots of oil paint colors are left on a piece of cardboard in order for it to absorb some of the oil and obtain a less glossy effect. A wide range of colors is used here in order to obtain a greater richness and a realistic effect.
PINTURA DE FALDONES SCHURTZEN The exterior side of the Schurtzen is obviously painted with the same three colors used for the outside leaving on some instances some planks with two colors and even just one color –the dark yellow base coat-. The overall oil paint treatment is done in a similar way throughout the vehicle. Towards the end of the painting process we do a few well faded smooth overtones by airbrushing Model Air’s 035 and some splashes with 983 and 984 (both Model Color references). INSIDE OF THE SCHURTZEN You don’t really need to work a lot here. The inner side of the Schûrtzen is usually out of sight, but in this case we will paint these, bearing in mind the mud splash effects created by the movement of the tracks on these. The best way to apply paint here in a direct way is to use a brush soaked with paint and blow it with an airbrush kit. Two brown acrylic hues are used here 983 and 984 both Model Color references. In order to mark the areas that need staining we’ll prepare some moveable masking. TOOLS Then we’ll paint the tools with Panzer Aces references 310, 311, 312, 301, 302 and Model Air’s 71072 and 057.
In order to recreate the splashes on the inner side of the Schurtzen we prepare some masking with a piece of cardboard with irregularly cut edges and we splash paint with the air jet of an airbrush kit on a paintbrush loaded with the chosen color. We do this again on the remaining Schurtzen (These have previously been taped together) with the area which we want splashed exposed matching both the tracks and the wheels. Vallejo acrylics 983 and 984 are used here halfway diluted. The splashes are smoothened with a lighter hue, obtained by adding some white paint to the 983.
RUST STREAKS AND RUSTY AREAS Now we take to the brushes and apply an overall wash with AK’s 012 throughout the vehicle insisting on the Zimmerit covered areas. On the upper areas without it and the gun I use oil paint Raw Sienna and a little Yellow Ochre both Titan references. I also used some German Grey Lights (ref 503) by Abteilung. The first rust effects and streaks on the hinges, joints and so forth are made. We use some Burnt Sienna for it and we accentuate it with AK’s 013.
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PROFILING Now we do some profiling throughout the vehicle with Titan’s PARDO TITAN, and we do a wash on the zimmerit areas with a mixture of Humbrol enamels H33 and H-98. Once we’ve let it all dry up for 48 hours we begin with the dry brush work. On the green surface I used Molak’s 1102 Army Green. For the brown surface I employed Humbrol’s H118 Matt US Tan, and finally on the yellow surface I used Molak’s 171 Oak mixed with Humbrol’s white enamel to lighten it up but only on the zimmerit areas. Pigments are essential for the lower half of the hull. In this case we’ve employed here Vallejo’s dark yellow ocre 73103, natural umber 73109, dark ochre 73017 and Mig Productions’ Brick Dust P239 and Rubber Dust P234.
Pigments in this section of the vehicle have been fixed in place with the Pigment Binder liquid product ref. 26.233.
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SPARE TRACKS For the spare tracks and the additional armored planks I wanted to apply a “recent” rust layer in order to convey the effect that both had been put in place recently. I did this with slightly orangey color hues, seeking contrast with the rest of the vehicle. The colors employed were Panzer Aces 301, 302, 303, 304 and Model Air’s 057. TRACKS I begin by applying Panzer Aces 304, several Vallejo brown shades mixed randomly, seeking the widest range possible. The shades used are 312, 984 and Panzer Aces Light Rust to lighten up things and 871 as well. I work on one track link at a time trying to mix up paint and avoid using the same mixtures not doing two links alike. Then we do some pretty diffuse stains using Light Rust, 851 and 935. The stains pile up one on
First phase for the application of oil paint colors, selected by following the needs of use: raw umber, burnt umber, naples yellow, cinnabar green, etc.
General rust effects and specific rust effects on the exhaust’s silencer have Panzer Aces Acrylics’ light rust, dark rust, yellowish rust and track primer.
In the motor area we combine oil paint raw umber, burnt umber, Black with Abteilung’s 503 AK German Grey streaks.
top of another and are applied quite randomly. The final highlights are given with a mixture of 935 and 877 both Model Color references. Afterwards we apply a Titan oil paint wash with Burnt Umber and use Vallejo’s Burnt Sienna pigments and Mig’s Fresh Rust plus Orange Rust. The finishing touches here are a couple of Oil paint washes one with Raw Umber and another one with Burnt Umber both Titan references. DIRT ON THE LOWER AREAS I begin by doing a wash with Humbrol’s H-98. Before it dried up completely, I did large color stains employing a mixture of Humbrol’s H-93 and H-121. This is done while the H-98 paint is still fresh mixing it along the edges of the stains. Then, and while all this is still fresh we put on the crevices, plank divisions and all such some Vallejo’s pigments to create some shadings with 73109 and 73113 to lighten it up.
The general paint scratch work is done with an old “haywire haired” paintbrush using dark rust, black and a touch of gray.
The spare tracks have received a treatment similar to the one applied on the exhaust but using more dark rust, light rust and yellowish rust all Panzer Aces references.
The ring around the commander’s cupola was the subject of some pretty extreme wear, the light stains are made with the yellow base color mixed with white a shade of gray, light rust and dark rust.
The piece of canvas covering the base of the mantlet is painted with Ger. Tkcr. Feldgrau I and II all Panzer Aces acrylics. Highlights from this color range are also applied.
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PIGMENTS ON THE TRACKS AND LOWER AREAS We also follow this procedure for the tracks but we don’t light these up so much and we include sand colored pigments applying these on a rather chaotic fashion in terms of color hues and intensity. The Vallejo pigments employed are 73103, 73106, 73107, 73110, 73108 and 73109. The Mig ones are: P029 Brick Dust and P234 Rubble Dust. These are also used on the track area, fenders, lower surfaces of the frame, and lower, frontal, rear and lateral areas.
The small porthole for the machine gun appears quite worn. Paint chips are done with the yellow base color, we also have some areas with Dark Dust, some Dark Rust, Track Primer and some touches of graphite powder or pencil lead. Comparison between the tracks with their base color on, with pigments and a slight sandpaper work which helps us reveal the metal underneath the Friulmodel tracks. A slight wash will tone down the gloss of the metal surfaces.
The tracks were covered with Panzer Aces’ IMPRIMACION ORUGAS and we randomly use an array of pigments fixed in place with Vallejo’s own pigment binder.
PAINT CHIPS The abundant paint chips and scratches on the Schurtzen are made with Panzer Aces Light Rust and Dark Rust both straight from the can and mixed up. These are applied both with a paintbrush and a small sponge.
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The fire extinguisher device on the gun is painted black applying some lights in it with a little highly diluted gray paint. The final effect intended is of an opera-
tional vehicle of 1944, reinforced with additional armoring painted with somber hues used for the camouflage patterns employed on the central European forests.
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COLOR THREE COLOR CAMO (Dunkelgelb RAL 7028) Base: XF-59 Desert Yellow (Tamiya Acrylics) Highlights: XF-59 Desert Yellow + XF-2 Flat White + XF-57 Buff (Tamiya Acrylics) GREEN CAMO (Olivgrun RAL 6003) XF-13 J.A. Green (Tamiya Acrylics) BRICK BROWN (Rortbraun RAL 8017) XF-10 Flat Brow (Tamiya Acrylics) WASHES Overall dirt and its hues AK012 Grime Streaks (Ak Interactive) Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Burnt umber (Titan oil paint) German Grey Lights (503 Abteilung) AK013 Rust Streaks SCHURTZEN Same colors as used on the AFV. Dirt on the mid to low areas. 035 Camouflage Pale Brown (Model Air Vallejo) Splashes: 983 Flat Earth (Model Color Vallejo) Inside of Schurtzen 984 Flat Brown (Model Color Vallejo) 983 Flat Earth (Model Color Vallejo) OIL PAINT Titan 82 Ivory Black 74 Raw Umber 90 Raw Sienna 96 Burnt Sienna 8 Naples Yellow 67 Cinnabar Green 78 Burnt Umber MIG 502 Abteilung Abt.015 Shadow Brown Abt.170 German Grey Abt.050 Olive Green Abt.040 Faded Green Talens Van Gogh 234 Raw Sienna 227 Yellow Ochre 105 Titanium White 629 Green earth 54
CHART ZIMMERIT AREAS Add a little white (Humbrol) to the dry brush hues. PROFILING Titan Brown (Titan oils) H-33 Black y H-98 Chocolate (Humbrol) Highlights dry brush RAL 6003 Green: Army Green 1102 (Molak) RAL 8017 Brown: Mattus Tay H-118 (Humbrol) RAL 7028: Dark Yellow: Dak 171 (Molak) PAINT CHIPS AND SCRATCHES Panzer Aces 301 Light Rust 302 Dark Rust 303 Yellowish Rust 304 Track Primer Model Air 71057 Black TOOLS Panzer Aces 301 Light Rust 302 Dark Rust 310 Old Wood 311 New Wood 312 Leather Belt Model Air 71072 Gungrey 71057 Black TRACKS Panzer Aces Base: 304 Track Primer 312 Leather Belt 301 Light Rust Model Color 984 Flat Brown 871 Leather Brown 851 Bright Orange 935 Transparent Orange 877 Goldbrown Track washes (Titan) 76 Burnt Umber 96 Burnt Sienna Pigments for tracks Burnt Sienna (Vallejo) Fresch Rust y orange rust (MIG)
DIRT ON LOWER AREAS Humbrol H-98 Chocolate H-93 H-121 Pale Stone Pigments Vallejo 73109 Natural Umber 73113 Light Slate FINAL TOUCHES ON TRACKS AND LOWER AREAS Pigments Vallejo 73103 Dark Yellow Ochre 73106 Burnt Sienna
73107 Dark Red Ochre 73108 Brown Iron Oxide 73109 Natural Umber 73110 Burnt Umber MIG Production P029 Brick dust P234 Rubber Dust PAINT CHIPS AND SCRATCHES Panzer Aces 301 Light Rust 302 Dark Rust 55
By: Rodrigo Hernández Cabos Pictures by the author
A pigment is a colorant in a pure state, without any agglutinant or thinner, it is color dust, and so even if you apply it, it would not adhere to any surface and it will stain your fingers when touched, or disappear when cleansing the object it is in. We start with a vehicle with previous dirt treatments and some very light dirt on.
So it is crucial to fix pigments correctly to the surface even if we sacrifice a little of the realistic effect sought when recreating dirt. In this review we will explain two different pigment treatment options: dirt generated by passing vehicles on a dirt road, and a second one which would involve the dirt and sand adhered to the lower areas of a given vehicle and form clusters generated by its mixture with grease water, oil etc. In order to distribute dirt evenly, we use a makeup kit, these are cheap and easy to find and can be purchased in 99c stores. We will also use a dropper and several old paintbrushes with irregular hairs and some cheap brushes, which can also be bought in 99c stores.
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Thinners and fixing products necessary for the color pigment treatments.
- Odorless White Spirit: used for fixing smoothly the superficial dirt layers on nooks and crannies and other surfaces. - Gravel & Sand: product used for fixing thicker dirt pigment layers, with or without some thin gravel, grass, etc. - Watercolor, charcoal and pastel fixing solution. This is very similar to the previous product, and it is designed to fix pastel, charcoal and even watercolor, so it is perfect for fixing color pigments on the lower areas and the sides of vehicles. - Pigment fixer: a product by AK. It has an oil base with an enamel resin, and
fixes pigments safely, takes a long time to dry up, and has a matt finish. - Pigment Binder AV: this is a Vallejo product and is therefore different from the previous product; it fixes pigments safely too, has a medium drying time and a matt finish as well. - Thinner/cleanser Humbrol: for enamels; it cleanses completely the pigments you apply, giving you the option of starting all over again if you’re not pleased with the results obtained.
Range of colors which can be used to convey thin dirt, superficial dirt, dirt clusters, compacted dirt. We’ll begin with these Vallejo references: green earth 73111, natural siena 73105, natural umber 73109, dark yellow ocre 73103 and light yellow ocre 73102. These colors give us the color range predominant in the Kursk area, a region with reddish and yellow sands.
The vehicle we’re working with has the basic colors and a light dirt patina.
Colors are placed in a palette, using eight of its compartments and leaving two blank ones to place the fixer and the thinner.
Two kinds of droppers, these will be used to apply a certain amount of fixer solution to the pigments applied without touching these.
Fixers and thinner used for this occasion, because we will treat here color pigments as if these were enamels.
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We’ll begin by soaking the lower areas with a coat of fixer, applied with a flat brush.
With an old brush and our soaked surface, we apply natural umber.
The natural siena color is brighter and can be used to lighten up some areas.
When wet, pigments are darker than what they’ll end up looking later. These areas are going to be blow dried now. We can repeat this operation as many times as we need.
The difference between a humid area and a dry one.
We apply green earth light which is a very luminous color which gives us color richness and chromatic variation.
The front area is done with the same colors we’ve used previously on the sides.
Once it’s all dry we brush off pigments which have not properly adhered to the surface using a stiff haired paint brush.
The rear area is done with the same colors and procedures. If we get some unwanted circlets we can eliminate these with a flat tipped paint brush soaked with pigment fixer.
Overall results of the dirt and weathering processes on the lower part of the hull. Some circlets have been left here purposefully in order to imitate what also appears on the research pictures of the period.
LIGHTER DIRT TREATMENTS ON THE TURRET AND THE UPPER AREAS OF THE HULL.
This pigment mixture is applied with a makeup brush.
In order to get a coat of superficial dirt we’ll use a range of light colors specifically: light yellow ocre 73102, dark yellow ocre 73103, natural umber 73109, natural siena 73105, green earth 73111 and light siena 73104. In this case we’ll use green earth 73111, light siena 73104 and light yellow ocre73102.
If we want to fix in place a greater amount of pigments, we’ll also apply with the dropper some Pigment Fixer product.
With the dropper we’ll apply a little bit of White Spirit in order to provide a soft fixing for small amounts of pigment.
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In order to convey dirt and a little sand around the features which stick out a bit, we apply the pigments first and then we soak the area with the Pigment Fixer product.
Another way of applying pigments is by using the sponge brush found in the makeup kit.
The vertical surfaces such as the hollow anti-explosive protectors, have a tendency to gather dirt in trails by the water that may leak in.
Using a well worn brush we apply pigments making good use of the awkward brush hairs.
In order to imitate this effect, we soak with fixer all the surface of the protection.
In the flat surfaces such as the spares box, pigments should be fixed in place without touching these with a brush; we’ll simply use our dropper to apply the fixer.
Dirt is shaped in stain like shapes and trails in a vertical and very realistic way.
Director Editorial Rodrigo Hernández Cabos Redactor Jefe Rodrigo Hernández Cabos Han colaborado en este número José Luis López Ruíz, Mario Gabas, Jari Hemilä, Alejandro Quintana
EDITORIAL The AFV hunter concept of “a vehicle without a turret” is born out of the need of the German Army to face the superiority of the Russian tanks creating an easier to manufacture instrument than a regular tank. Doing away with the turret and gaining some room for a gun of a larger caliber and a lower profile were the results obtained. This “improvisation” gave such good results that a string of vehicles with these features. Some of these are featured in this issue. Jari Hermilla shows us a vehicle of this characteristics; a Stug III. As usual, Jari shows us something rare and different; there is nothing usual in his Panzerjaeger: not the schurtzen, not its structure nor its casemate. Everything is unusual about it; even its paint. Once more we see how we can do some interesting vehicles with very common kits. The reports of the Russians concerning the “Ferdinand” hardly match the reports of its manufacturers in Germany. The Russians were surprised that none of the Ferdinands captured or destroyed was affected by shells hitting its combat chamber. Only once was the driver’s chamber hit by a shell coming via its tractor wheel. The Russians figured that once these minor glitches were fixed, this AFV hunter would become a tough weapon to neutralize. The complex manufacturing process of this vehicle was the real cause of its downfall. Mario Gabas has recreated one of the Ferdinands who fought in the battle for Kursk. The charisma of this monster of a vehicle has been perfectly captured here while undertaking the Zitadelle Operation. The production of the StuG IV was never massive because the Panzer IV took a lot of the manufacturing resources for itself. Most Stug IV’s first saw the battlefield in 1944. In this period the Russian Steppes were no longer the fighting grounds; the central European forests forced the camouflage patterns with dominant green, brown and yellow colors. Paint is altogether darker in order to mimic the lights and shadows of the trees. This is what Alejandro Quintana has sought to obtain mimicking to perfection the real vehicles. Here we can see the full effects of the camouflage pattern in the midst of an autumn diorama; an outstanding achievement for this hobby. The Jagdpanther was without a doubt the best AFV hunter of its time. These vehicles are credited with the failure of freeing the Arnhem Bridge. Jose Luis Lopez reproduces a vehicle with the three color pattern applied with the latest techniques for miniature AFV’s. The vehicle is in the 1/48th scale but the effects obtained, make it look larger. Consistent with the time of the year, yellow base color here is almost covered by the other camouflage colors. A base with a railroad track section rounds up a fine piece of work. Probably some of our readers will miss the larger Panzerjaeger; the Jagdtiger. Lovers of this vehicle will have to fetch the latest issue of Model Laboratory: Model Laboratory issue 5. We close this issue with a review of the ways to fix color pigments with different procedures, applicable depending on the results which we want to obtain.
Fotógrafos Rodrigo Hernández Cabos Fernando Cañellas Planchuelo Ilustraciones Rodrigo Hernández Cabos Diseño y maquetación KOMMAD S.L. Imprime Imprimia Artes gráficas Fotomecánica ACCIÓN PRESS, S.A. J. David Hernández Chacón Infografía J. David Hernández Chacón Redacción, Equipo Técnico, Administración y Publicidad ACCIÓN PRESS, S.A. c/Ezequiel Solana, 16 28017 Madrid Tel.: 913 675 708 914 086 135 Fax: 914 085 841
[email protected] Suscripciones Marisó Chacón y Fernando Cañellas Tel. 913 675 708 Edita ACCIÓN PRESS, S.A. Depósito Legal M-51328-2003 ISSN: 1886-4457 Queda prohibida la reproducción total o parcial de fotografías, textos y dibujos, mediante impresión,fotocopia o cualquier otro sistema, sin permiso escrito de la editorial. Panzer Aces no se hace necesariamente solidaria de las opiniones expresadas por sus colaboradores.
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