Blitzscales 2017-07
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July May2017 2017
Scammel Pioneer
A longly desired kit Finally in our hands
T-54B early The survivor
Two new gifts inside
T14 Armata Skoda Radschlepper Ost A step closer to Skynet
The odd tractor
30,5-cm-M.11-Mörser Bär Blitz blast
Spanish M-41
Sponsored by
Is published by Coronel Caramel S.l. CIF B54483052 Editorial office & administration Club de fútbol Hercules 6 03008 Alicante Spain Te: 965112833 Email: [email protected] Director: Federico Collada Editor: Federico Collada Design: Federico Collada Graphics: Federico Collada Models and photographs: Federico Collada
Editorial Ten years ago, when the main producers were releasing the same kits in different versions again and again I wouldn’t suspect that this tendency would turn upside down and modellers would be offered what it seems now an infinite variety of kits depicting all kind of military vehicles from all eras, countries and even some that never passed the design table. It’s amazing how so many new companies have shown providing excellent quality kits of previously unreleased subjects bringing some excitement to our everyday lives. In the times that Dragon and Tamiya reigned on the military modelling world nobody would have expected them to put their attention on many of the models that we can now build, even when many times lots of us have claimed for them. Luckily things have changed and today we can see new and exciting kits every month, provided by new companies that produce their first kits or other completely established in the market that prefer making their catalogue grow up with new and different subjects instead of making a new and subtly different version of the same tanks. This month, Blitzscales includes some brand new kits like the Bär, the T-54B early and the Scammel Pioneer, and some other ones not so new but presented with an alternative look than the one we are used to see them with. I hope you like them. Federico Collada
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Index
Page 6 Page 26
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6 - USSR base 8 - Blitzscales previews 26 - Sturmmorser Bär 34 - M-41 in Spain 40 - Scammell Pioneer SC2S 47 - Modern soda can crates 1/35 scale 50 - Skode Radschlepper OST 58 - T-14 Armata, the “steppe wolf” 67 - T-54B early
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Cut & paste 1- Print the opposite page, resize if you need to fit your wood base 2- Varnsh to protect the printing 3- Glue onto a wood base using white glue 4- Press softly with a sponge to eliminate any air bubbles
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Scale; 1/35 Producer; Amusing Hobby
The Sturmmörser Bär was a German heavy assault gun that could have been produced towards the end of the WWII, armed with a 30,5 H.L/16 gun, weighting 120ton and with a crew of six, the Bär was to be used in the same role as the SturmMörser but unlike this one, the Bär was never put into production.
An alternative history As the Führer predicted, at the end of 1945 the western allies teamed the axis against
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the growing communist evil that threaten the democratic values of the free world…. In 1946 a plan was conceived to raise the troop morale creating an “artistic” contest in which the Wehrmacht vehicles crew could use their inventive to elaborate free style camouflage schemes using the 3 official colours. The contest was a Hitler’s own idea as he always has had an artistic sense. The price would be given the 20th of April 1947 to celebrate the leader’s birthday and consisted in the retirement form the army. During the months that the contest was ongoing, the crew that applied for it sent photographs of their work to a special artistic committee that selected the best artworks to be shown to the Führer himself.
Is easy to see the size of the model when compared with a paint bottle we are all familiar. The Bär is certainly bigger than the Maus or any other German big cat.
The kit builds very easily and although the design is summary there are some well defined details that give the model a very convincing look. The traditional German armoured vehicles elements are all there, towing cables, tools, jack, etc. and some other like the commander cupola, MG ball mount, and periscopes are very recognisable from other famous tanks.
Amusing fantasy
A German dark yellow primer and a couple of lighter filters were enouhg for the “tall grass” decoration base. The zenithal illumination enhanced the vertical sense of ground and sky.
The Chinese company Amusing Hobby is specialized in paper panzer kits, their catalogue is full of never built or very short run vehicles, mostly German. This time they have released the enormous Bär and considering that is just an imaginary vehicle taken form a few drawings they have made a very good work. The kit is “easy-modelling” and includes some photoetched parts and a metal thread for the towing cable. Building it is a rather fast job as the parts are quite big and all of them fit smoothly. A small decals sheet with a few German crosses and some numbers in the classical red-withwhite-border is included. The tracks provided are made of separate links that comprises two parts each and should be functional when you build them. 27
Some more painting schemes shown in the contest
Back to the “history”
The three colours used for the bush camo scheme. I applied a coat of Vallejo dunkelgelb primer as a base and then a thin filter with 71107 US interior diluted at 75% and airbrushed modulating the colour upwards in the zenithal direction and at the edges of the bigger horizontal surfaces. A second filter with this colour mixed with 71119 white grey reinforced the illumination work airbrushed from above from a greater distance to cover the model uniformly. With the basic colour ready I proceeded to paint the bushes by hand using a small brush, first with 71029 dark earth and then71093 with field green. Seeing that the result was not as I expected I decided to add a third colour, 71094 Zinc green. I opted for using masks instead of the decals provided as I wanted the markings to look less striking so I used a 71251 NATO black tone to paint the cross, numbers and a horse as the battery pet.
As a fictional vehicle I decided to go one step ahead of what is the usual in this category and imagined a bunch of unusual camouflage schemes to paint the Bär and finally selected one that consists in rushes and junks that surround the vehicle. I built the kit following the instructions straightforward and left the wheels aside to start painting. The NATO black is a dark grey tone that conceals better with the rest of colours than pure black.
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Drybrushing and sponge for the rust effects.
Next step was to softly drybrush parts of the edges and other zones with a dark rust colour, to create some random chipping I used the same colour applied this time with a sponge. Having painted some vertical streaks with grey and earth colours I proceeded to paint the outer rim of the wheels with a steel colour to imitate the polished metal. Then I airbrushed the whole model to protect the pigmented shadows and prepared to place the tracks. After assembling the links in lengths that covered the whole wheels set, one from above and another below, I painted them with a dark brown primer to later test a new idea, providing the base with a rust texture using pigments the same way I did with the shadows, this is, mixing it with thinner and apply it as a wash. I covered the tracks with this mix and let it dry. The pigments provided a very convincing matt finish so I varnished the tracks and waited a few hours before going on.
A dark rust base created with a pigments wash.
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A filter with a reddish brown colour highlighted the most protruding details of the tracks and then another wash with pigments, this time with earth tones, created the dust and dirt accumulations at the recessed zones. The final touches were to paint some oil, grease and fuel stains here and there using special effects paints and some graphite rubbing at the edges and constant rubbing zones to imitate the polished metal. Paper panzer seem to be an endless field in the military modelling where you can change and alter any model depending just on your imagination, from camouflage scheme to a whole equipment providing lots of fun to those who don’t mind “breaking the rules” of history from time to time.
Some oil and grease stains makes the vehicle look operative.
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The red brown filter highlights the tracks details. Earth pigments wash provides a convincing dirt accumulation.
Special effects paints and pigments can be combines to get different results.
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Scale 1/35 producer AFV
Born in the U.S.A…retired in Spain In order to provide the army with a substitute to the M-24 light tank, the Spanish government acquired 169 M41 tanks. The first 38 vehicles arrived Spain in 1957; another 34 of the A1 model were received a few years later and in 1970 bought another 97 from Germany. Although the M-41 was used in Spain mainly in the cavalry regiments, some of them were also deployed with the infantry ones like the “Alcazar de Toledo” nº61. The M41 remained in service until they gradually started being substituted from 1976 by more modern tanks like the AMX-30; the last ones were retired as late as 1991.
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The M41 options
The AFV kit is a joy of a model, very well detailed and easy to build.
The M-41 Walker Bulldog has been disposable in 1/35 scale for decades, the first one was the Tamiya kit, typical form the early 70s, the model was closer to a toy than to a nowadays kit, it had very few parts and was ready to motorise. Then in the new century beginnings Skybow released an excellent rendition of this US tank, a few years later, AFV released their own kit and offered it in a bunch of different configurations, one of them is the German version of the M41A1 which includes the Wegman smoke grenade launchers, the relocated secondary exhaust, etc. and is the one of the models purchased by Spain so no alterations are needed. I selected this kit for my M41A1 from the cavalry regiment RCLAC Numancia Nº9 as it looked in 1987.
Tasca accesories are a perfect option if you want your 50’ machine gun or the fuel cans.
Straight form the box, with a few extras. The AFV kit is really nice, the parts fit very well and has crispy detail, you can build it out of the box rather fast and although it doesn’t include any photoetched parts, the plastic ones are delicate enough to make them almost unnecessary. Just a few parts like the smoke dischargers are not up to the rest of the kit and present some evident mould marks. I built the kit following the instructions and just replaced the main gun for a turned aluminium one, the ’50 Browning and the Jerrycans for some Tasca ones and the vinyl tracks for a Friulmodel metal set. The painting process was rather standard with an Olive drab primer base followed by some highlighting using Vallejo 71250 bronze green diluted at 75% and airbrushed at some specific
zones of the tank to enhance the shapes. Then I airbrushed a second filter using 71081 Tank ochre from a zenithal approach to illuminate the whole tank and highlight the details. With the main colour and modulation ready I airbrushed a layer of gloss varnish to prepare it to place the decals. The necessary signs, numbers, shields, etc are all provided in my own decals set 35016 “M41 en España”
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Once I placed the decals I used a sponge to reproduce a subtle chipping in the paint, trying not to exaggerate as these tanks were always kept under perfect maintenance conditions. The AFV kit doesn’t include transparent parts for the periscopes so these have to be painted to imitate the glass, for this I used a mix of black and blue metal paints, once dry I applied 3 successive coats of gloss varnish. To represent a vehicle in manoeuvres I decided to apply a thick coat of dirt and dry mud, mostly at the lower part of the hull. For this I used the new Vallejo mud paints range, their texture and colour are very convincing and they can be applied by stencilling with a brush, any error or excess can be rapidly corrected with water. After the main mud application I waited for a couple of hours and then made a wash with earth tones pigments mixed with paints thinner, I insisted at the wheels and lower part of the hull and made a lighter wash on the upper side and at the turret. I placed the decals with the aid of the Vallejo decals medium and fixer to better adapt them to the surface. Highlighting with a couple of lighter green tones provides the model a richer tonal base and offer a better contrast with the further painting effects than the Olive drab. The chipping was very subtle, these tanks were under constant maintenance.
I rusted the tracks using bleach and vinegar as depicted in the book FCModeltips 2 so they were ready to be placed in just an hour. To finish the painting I made some oil and fuel stains here and there and mixed black pigment with dark brown paint diluted as a wash for the grease accumulations. I used black pigment applied dry with a brush at the exhaust escapes to imitate the burnt metal and as a wash to shine down the metallic tone of the machine guns. The kit includes the Browning tripod to be placed at the back of the turret; I replaced it for a rolled tarpaulin made of a glove’s latex and painted the same as the rest of the model. And with this I called the model finished and now I can think of my next Spanish tank to complete my collection.
The acrylic mud is easy to apply and has a very convincing look.
A metallic base and then some gloss varnish layers for the periscopes glasses
Mixing pigments with thinner for a precipitating wash.
Friulmodel tracks, fully workable and rusted in 30 minutes. Special effects paints and pigments for the stains on the engine cover.
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www.fcmodeltrend.com
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The Scammell Pioneer was developed in the early 20s of the past century as a 6x4 tractor unit to be used in the British colonies where the road conditions were often poor. Although it was not conceived for the military use, the British army purchased one vehicle in 1932 for tests purpose as a tank transporter, some years later the truck started being delivered to the army in its basic configurations as artillery tractor, recovery vehicle and tank transporter. In 1938 the heavy recovery model called SV1S was upgraded with a simpler extending crane which was produced until the end of the war with nearly 2000 units. The Pioneer was equipped with a 102 bhp Gardner 6 cylinder diesel engine that provided the truck with 102 brake horsepower (76 kW) at 1,700 rpm. The equipment of the Pioneer included a couple of tracks to provide it with extra traction power. The Pioneer SV2S remained in service after the war until the seventies.
Scale 1/35 producer IBG
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The many parts of the model builds rapidly and without problems.
All of a sudden the Scammells
The front suspension can be positioned to adapt the truck to uneven terrain. The engine block is made of few parts that adjust perfectly.
Military modellers have always missed a plastic kit of this iconic truck since no company had ever paid attention to it but this year it seems that is the turn of the Pioneers since two companies are releasing their own renditions of all the Scammells military versions. In January we could see the test sample of the IBG model at the Nuremberg toy fair and 6 months later we got the first of the 3 models to be released, and now the Chinese company Thunder Model is working on exactly the same 3 vehicles.
Everything in the kit fits very well so the building porcess is very amusing. There are many details inside the cabin, the photoetched parts provides the most subtle ones.
I received a sample of this kit a few weeks ago and I started building it immediately as I was willing to start with it since I saw it at Nuremberg. IBG has been producing very nice quality kits for years and this is a good example of their savoir fair. The box includes all the plastic parts provided in many modular frames, most of them to be common with the next versions, the photoetched fret, transparent parts and the decals for 5 different vehicles including a Soviet and a German captured one.
The instructions are very easy to follow and the parts fit very well and don’t need any preparation as they’re flawless so the building went straightforward rapidly until the moment when the cabin is to be fixed to the chassis, in that moment I stopped to start painting. My intention was to depict a very old vehicle that had survived the war but left abandoned in a park without maintenance so the paint was worn out little by little at the open air and the removed parts were never substituted. I started with an Olive drab primer base, I airbrushed all the group parts leaving unglued the cabin roof and sides, the back wooden bay, the crane, wheels and engine cover. Then I made a filter with colour 70610 Parched grass over most of the zones to imitate the worn out colour. I wanted the wood to be seen beneath the green paint so I started painting these parts with a light sand primer to later replicate the wood grain with a dragged veil using acrylic washes of many wood tones. Having protected the result with a layer of varnish I applied a chipping fluid coat.
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The different colours primers range are very useful to start the different parts groups.
I ussually make a couple of filters using lighter tones of the base colour airbrushed in different ways to provide both a detail enhancement and determined illumination.
Next I used colours 71081 Tank ochre and 71106 Ivory to highlight the green colour with a zenithal approach insisting on the roof, wheels mudguards, etc. Time was now to start the chipping, for this I used the rust colours set starting with the darkest colour and applied with both the drybrush and sponging techniques, this provided most of the paint damage I was looking for the vehicle. Now I had the paint as I wanted it I proceeded to paint some white stars on doors and roof, I just wanted them to show faded, same as the rest of the colours so I used a stencilling mask and applied a light grey filter with the airbrush in order not to cover the green tone completely. Another thing I had in mind for my Pioneer was to make it look dusty so I started applying a Light stone wash soon before closing the cab and fixing the bay in order to have a good access for the weathering.
Combined with the chipping medium, the dragged veil technique is perfect to show the wood behind the worn camouflage paint.
The dragged veil technique (FCModeltips 1) is one of the easiest ways to replicate the wood grain.
The polyurethane varnish protects very well the previous work so none of the further weathering can spoil it.
Another thing I had in mind was to spare the engine cover sides so part of it could be seen so although I didn’t detailed it I did pay much attention on the painting; starting with a black base following with a dark steel layer. Then I applied a special rust effects paint wash insisting on the exhaust pipes. Then some different rust tones pigments washes to accumulate them at the recessed zones and around some details and finally some earth and dust washes. The rest of the vehicle received a similar treatment although not as intense as in the engine.
Drybrushing with acrylics for a rust chipping and stains.
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Photoetched masks to replicate the faded white stars.
The engine with a few pigments washes. Real iron produce the most realistic rust effect. I applied it both as a wash and speckled with a brush and a toothpick.
A heavily diluted acrylic paint wash provides a convincing dust accumulation around the details.
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The IBG kit has captured the SV2S shapes very well and builds into an impressive model that any Allied vehicles enthusiast would be glad to add to their collection.
Painting the glasses edges with a dark shadow is an old trick that every car modeller knows, this way it remains concealed within the windows frames.
To insist with the rust effects at some zones I opted for the “real rust” system, this is using iron powder applying it mixed with water as a wash or speckling it with a brush and a toothpick, then rust it with a bleach and vinegar mix. After painting some details like levers, mirrors, etc. I dirtied the model applying some earth tones pigment washes, insisting on the lower part of the truck and wheels. Then I glued the wheels, back body, seat cushions, engine cover and the side big basket. After accumulating some dirt at the cabin and crane bay using pigments mixed with some fine sand and fixing it with just turpentine I glued the cabin sides and the crane. Before closing the cabin I prepared the windows glasses painting the edges with a black felt pen and covering them with a dust colour paint filter, without using any kind of mask. The acrylic paint can be easily removed from the transparent parts by simply rubbing with a dry cotton swab so I just did it leaving a subtle trace around the borders as if just superficially cleaned.
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Once the glasses were ready I placed them with the aid of some white glue and then fixed the cabin roof. I added the hook and cable made of twisted copper wire, the lights glasses and a couple of left tarpaulins made out of vinyl and painted with acrylic paints. Now I finished the SV2S version I’m willing to make the tank transporter, it surely will be an impressive piece! And I have a bunch of tanks to put on top so I guess I could prepare a whole scene with it, let’s hope we don’t have to wait too much to have them with us.
The glasses received a dust colour paint filter and then were summarily cleaned with a cotton swab.
The pigments wash for the dust on the wheels.
The SV2S has been longly awaited by WWII modellers and now it seems that soon we will have the R100 and TRCU20/30 versions too.
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Gift 1/35 scale 12 soda can cases
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Scale 1/35 producer Riich models
Skoda type 175 Radschlepper Ost In June forces invaded Russia in what is known as the Barbarossa operation, although the German forces had surprised the Russian at the beginning of the campaign, they couldn’t end it before the estimated date and the Russian winter caught them unprepared, their lack of adequate equipment was one of the main reasons for their final defeat. As soon as the German realized that they would have to maintain the Eastern front during the winter Ferdinand Porsche was asked to develop a modern version of the previous M17 Goliath tractor, a vehicle that so good results provided during the WWI. The new Radschlepper Ost had larger wheels than the ones of the M17 and were all steel made due to the rubber shortage. The RSO was to be produced at the Skoda plant but after the first trials many problems arose; its 9 ton weight and the narrow wheels caused too much ground pressure, very low speed (just 15k/h) too much fuel consumption and was very hard to steer on ice. All this made it unsuitable for the Russian campaign but even so Skoda built 206 units between 1942 and 1944 that were instead deployed in Normandy and Holland.
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The kit builds very fast into an impressive vehicle, the engine is included so you can show it if you leave the cover opened. I preferred not to do it as I didn’t want to alter the RSO shapes.
The tractor size is quite impressive, larger than many tanks, and also too tall. The enormous wheels, typical from the agriculture tractors conferred a distinctive look.
The Chinese company Riich models have been producing kits for other Brands since many decades, this is one of the first kits released under their own brand some years ago and their saboir faire is evident, good design, perfect fitting, no defects, subtle details and very clear instruction for an easy building. I had this kit in the “unbuilt” pile for some years and finally I found some time to dedicate to it this last month, if I had an idea of how good the kit was I surely had tackled it before.
I built the model following the instructions until I reached the cabin closing stage, I prepared three big parts groups to start painting; the chassis with the engine, transmission and cabin floor, the cabin upper part with the doors, and the cargo bed. I primed all the parts with the Vallejo Dunkelgelb paint and made a subtle weathering inside the cabin, I didn’t insist too much at this point as I would close the cabin and not much would be seen through the windows when finished.
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The producer suggest five different decoration possibilities for the kit, all of them used in the Western front in 1944, I opted for one of them with dark green and reddish brown patches although I preferred to paint them in a different style, bigger and less than the ones seen in the instructions. I used the Vallejo colours set for German camouflage 1940-1945 that provides all the necessary paints in the model air range, perfect for airbrushing.
Once I had most of the parts grouped I started priming the whole model so I could reach every part with the airbrush. As I wanted to depict one of the vehicles used at Normandy I used the typical German 3 tone scheme camo.
First I used the dark yellow primer and then I applied a couple of lighter shades filters for highlighting and illumination. Then I painted the camouflage patches covering the whole model except the back canvas and then another filter with light yellow colours to create an “atmospheric” layer that softened the contrast between the main camouflage colours. Right after priming the main parts I focused in the interior, a subtle shadowing and somere weathering were enough as little of it would be seen with the dooors closed.
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After closing the cabin I proceeded to highlight the dark yellow base using a couple of filters using heavily diluted filters with lighter yellow shades. First I applied a filter focusing on bigger plain zones that I wnted to enhance, and then another filter with an even lighter zone form a zenithal position to mimitate this illumination.
I airbrushed large patches of both German official colours rotbraun and olivegrün over the dunkelgelb base and then applied a filter again with the light yellow colours to created the “blending atmosphere” that soften the contrast between tghe 3 colours.
Airbrushing the “atmosphere” filter, blends the camouflage colours softening the contrast and makes the vehicle look a little more worn and faded.
I didn’t want my tractor to look aged or wrecked, just a little dirty so I didn’t insist on the chipping and just created a multicolour filter instead to make the paint look a bit spoiled by the sun. For this I speckled many different acrylic washes over the previously moistened with thinner surface of the model. I used the rust texture paint 73821 at the wheels outer rim to reproduce the severe damage that produces the constant rubbing on the metal. Then to add some tonal variety I used the acrylic orange and dark red washes. With that done I proceeded to dirty everything, first I applied a general pigments wash mixing a dust colour with much water and a mechanical sprayer to make it pour over the whole model. Once dry I retired the excess using a dry brush and airbrushed some turpentine to fix the pigment. Then I insisted on the lower part of the vehicle with another pigment wash, this one mixing it with thinner and applied with a brush alternating different earth tones. Finally I added some dry mud at the wheels using the Vallejo synthetic mud applied directly stencilled with an old brush.
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The last touch was to rub some surfaces like the wheels teeth and edges and every part suitable to be under constant rubbing to imitate the polished metal with graphite using cotton swab and a graphite pencil. The cargo bed is covered by a plastic piece imitating the tarpaulin, it’s very well detailed so I just painted it in a different colour than the rest of the vehicle following some zenithal illumination criteria and adding some dirt using paints washes and some pigments. The acrylic washes are ready to use filters that blur very well over a thinner moistened surface. Speckling diverse colours over the camouflage produce a subtle chromatic diversity that makes the camouflage look richer and less plain.
The Vallejo rust effect paint has both the right colour and texture and can be rapidly applied with a brush. The rough surface ensures a perfect base for further dusting, etc.
Another use of the washes, providing a contrast around the details and at the recessed lines, it can be a shadow if we use a dark colour, dust if we use the right tone or just a complementary tone to make the base one look more complex.
This has been the first time that I tackle a Riich models kit and I can say that it has been a very amusing weekend job, I’m sure that the next one won’t have to wait too much to be built.
Accumulating mud and dust at the wheels recessed parts was easy using acrylic special products, stencilling with an old brush to ensure not leaving traces.
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The back part tarpaulim cover received a drak green base layer and further lighter green shades filter to replicate the same zenithal ilumination than used at teh rest of the vehicle. Some dust tones acrilic paints washes provided the desired dirty look.
A subtle pigments wash for the whole vehicle, mixed with much water, no more than 3% pigment, at the mechanical sprayer and poured over the model. The pigments deposit naturally at the logical zones. This is probable the easiest way to apply a pigments layer, and once the water has dried, you can eliminate any excess by simply sweeping the pigment away with a dry brush.
k for some time and never found the occasion to start building it but these late months I was able to look for some kits to add to the magazine articles and luckily the Skoda typ 175 was one of the selected. Maybe if I knew it would be such a pleasant job I would have give it a chance before.
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Scale 1/35 producer Takom
T-14 Armata “the steppe wolf” A step closer to Skynet Lots of words have been already written about the new Russian tank, the T-14 Armata based on the T-14 Universal Combat Platform that is common to other vehicles such as the T-15 IFV. Possibly the main characteristic of the T-14 is the unmanned turret where all the armament and defence systems are located. Certainly the T-14 Armata it surely is the most advanced fighting vehicle nowadays and it looks like taken from a sci-fi film.
Some fastening was needed to align the bigger parts correctly.
All at once The T-14 has not be seen in manoeuvres yet but just at the Victory day parade in 2105 where it shown the standard parade painting scheme along with all the rest of participating vehicles. Many model companies have released their own version of the Russian new tank more or less at the same time; Takom , Panda hobby, Zvezda and some more to follow as the Trumpeter kit. Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to compare the available kits and Takom’s is the one I have used for this article as was the sample I was provided.
The Takom kit doesn’t comprise too many pieces, the building part of the project went quite fast.
I primed the turret interior housings begore gluing both halves.
The turret halves needed some fastening too. Using nitro solvent as glue ensures a strong enough union.
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The front and back flaps were substituted for others made with modelling foil.
The towing cable and its clamps are not worth, they can be easily made with twisted copper wire, the “eyes” form another Russian tank and some photoetched spare parts for the clamps.
Enjoying two hobbies Aside modelling other of my favourite hobbies is music, I’m always listening to music, no matter what style I have enjoyed it since I was a kid and I can’t work if I have no music with me. Sometimes I pick a concrete selection to serve as an inspiration for a project and this time I choose one of my favourite childhood bands discography, I thought that it would be fun to place the cds in the pictures as I was working so you could see what I was listening to in each moment. So clearly in the mood for rock&roll I started building the kit and considering the painting options for a fictitious T-14.
The Soviet dark green 4B0 is very similar to the modern Russian dark green.
The lighting filters can warm up or cool down the base colour depending on the tones you use.
First filter applied, here you can see the difference with the turret, still with the primer colour.
Second filter, again the contrast with the turret, still in the primer colour, is noticeable.
An enamel varnish layer to protect the model and provide a smooth surface for the further weathering process.
Although Takom kits have been often criticised lately due to their inaccuracies I wouldn’t say that is the case of this T-14 kit, I just found a few parts to be substituted due to their poor definition or excessive thickness. Aside this, I would have preferred they supply the main gun in a single piece or made in sections and not in two halves as they do. In my kit the larger parts were bent and wouldn’t fit correctly so some pressure was needed to align them taking care of not breaking anything. In spite of this the building process went straightforward very quickly and soon I started painting the parts with a dark green primer as I already had an idea of the camouflage I wanted to use with my model, a winter variant of the scheme used in the military fairs where the T-90MS is shown, a splinter painting that would include the basic dark green colour, black and white. During the building process I replaced the back and front mudguard flaps for others made of modelling foil, the bolts were reproduced by simply pressing the foil against the plastic part, then I fixed them with ciano at the proper places. The towing cable is not convincing at all, and the clamps are moulded with them in one single piece so they are not worth neither. I replaced them by ones made of twisted brass wire and “eyes” from another kit, the clamps were easily reproduced with photoetched spare parts from other kits too. I started applying the dark green primer before gluing both turret upper and lower parts as I wouldn’t access the inner housings later on. Having painted the wheels rim and outer rubber band I fixed them on the model and then covered them with the side skirts. With that done the model was ready for full priming.
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Masking and airbrushing the next colour, NATO black, a bit lighter than pure black.
More taping and the third colour, pure white, applied in a couple of thin layers.
As I always do, right after priming I proceeded to apply a couple of filters with lighter shades of green, the first one using Vallejo 71094 Zinc green chromate, airbrushed diluted at 80% at the centre of the bigger surfaces, then a second one with 71081 tank ochre diluted at 90% and airbrushed from above to replicate a zenithal illumination. A coat of synthetic varnish protected the base for the next phase, masking the parts of the model that I wanted to remain green. I cut several geometric pieces of masking tape and placed them on the model covering the surface randomly but maintaining large shapes, then I applied a coat of 71251 NATO black. I repeated the masking process, this time covering the parts that would remain black; finally I painted the model using 71119 White. A white acrylic wash acted as a filter to soften the contrast and cool down part of the former yellow filter. In order not to damage the job up to now I decided to try a different technique to shadow the details; instead of using oils, enamels and white spirit, I decided to use pigments. Applying a mix of dark brown and black pigments with thinner made them precipitate at the bottom of the recessed zones and around the details, once dry I cleaned up the excess with a dry cotton swab.
A white filter applied with a zenithal criteria softened the contrast of the three colours and highlighted the model.
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Pigments are an excellent option if you don’t want to use oils or enamels for shadowing. I wanted my Armata to look in perfect maintenance condition so I didn’t reproduce any chipping and went to the next phase. A general and subtle pigments wash using a medium earth tone provided the thin dust layer I wanted for my “steppe wolf” not as much as if it was operating on warm weather but on a snowy ground where the exposure to dust is minimum. The pigments mixed with water and poured with a mechanical sprayer covered the whole model and once dry subtly altered the tank look as well as provided an absorbent surface for the further stains. Some special effects paints provided the oil, fuel and grease stains that I speckled around the fuel intakes, engine exhausts, etc. I prepared some more filters using earth tone paints form the model air range diluted at 60%, moistened the model surface with thinner and immediately speckled them with a toothbrush over the side fences and lower part of the hull, this was the first dust accumulation that would lie underneath some more to follow. I repeated the process but this time with acrylic mud and without moistening the kit.
The pigments wash, the easiest way to dust a model. Applied over the wet mud, the pigments can create a dry mud crust.
Speckling the paitns filters with an old toohbrush for a quick light mud coverage.
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Acrylic paints are a mask themselves, just remove the colour from the glasses rubbing with a toothpick.
At this stage I begun painting the tracks, first I applied a coat of dark red primer, then a wash with the rust effect paint and finally a couple of rust tone washes. When it was dry I applied an earth colour pigment wash and after seeping the excess I rubbed with graphite the part of the links that is in constant friction with the wheels to imitate the polished metal. I added some metallic touches at the sprocket wheel teeth and outer side of the links connectors using steel colour paint. With the tracks placed in position I repeated the earth pigments wash, this time a little more subtle. I added some scratches on the paint to show the bare metal using a graphite pencil, drawing small lines at the edges and zones where the necessary friction could occur. The last touches were the oil, fuel and grease stains that I baldly spread over the engine deck and exhausts.
primer, rust effect and a wash, some graphite rubbing and then a pigments wash, tracks ready.
The last touches, a general earth pigments wash a the tracks and lower part of the hull, some graphite pencil scratches here and there and finally some oil, grease and fuel stains.
I must admit that when I started this kit I wasn’t too excited about it, it wasn’t until I had all the parts together that I begun liking the design and it was then when I thought about the decoration I wanted to use with it, since that moment everything went smooth and pretty fast and I was able to finish the model in a couple of weeks.
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Scale 1/35 producer Miniart
T-54B early Since the Soviet T-54 was first put into production in 1947 it went into successive upgrades until it finally led to the ubiquitous T-55. In 1955 a new design base don the existing T-54A included the new 100 mm D-10T2S tank gun with STP-2 “Tsyklon” 2-plane stabilizer, the L-2 Luna infrared searchlight, the TPN-1-22-11 IR gunner’s sight and an OU-3 commander’s IR searchlight. The new APFSDS ammunition also enhanced drastically the penetrating capabilities of the gun making it competitive against the NATO MBTs. This new version was designed T-54B and with 1625 units produced it was the last one before turning to the T-55. The first batch of the T-54B didn’t have the night vision equipment; this was added in the second batch and retrofitted to the first tanks as they were available. The T-54 B was exported to all the Warsaw pact countries and could be seen in almost any post WWII conflict, even the IDF used the captured Egyptian tanks to build up their TIRAN.
The kit is provided both with or without interior, I used the second otion as I didn’t plan to let any interior be seen. The building went straightforward smootly, just a little patience an soon I got all the main elements together.
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I always start the same with Soviet military vehicles, a coat of Russian dark green 4BO primer.
First filter with 71093 Field green.
God tank, better model Miniart keeps releasing their excellent T-54 tank kits covering all the versions, provided with or without interior, they don’t have competitor, their outstanding detail level and affordable price makes them the best available by far, one after another. Having made the T-54-2 recently with all the interiors, I decided to do without them this time and focus just on the outside painting. One of the best things of the Miniart kits is that you really don’t need any aftermarket upgrades as every tiny detail is included in the box so you can start building it immediately. I started considering different painting options as soon as I started gluing the first parts, I didn’t want to represent any of the offered in the instructions and try to make a very old tank that would have survived many battles along the years, maybe in Afghanistan, I checked many photographs of surviving t-54 and t-55 tanks and realised that most of them didn’t have any recognisable markings looking very anonymous.
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Second filter, a lighter green tone to emphasize the details and reproduce the zenithal illumination.
Drybrushing is an old painting technique that can be used with every kind of paint, the key is to dry the brush with a cloth as much as possible.
The drybrushing effect can be as subtle as you want, just remember to dry the brush very well.
Sponging can be a perfect complement to for the drybrushing technique.
Although the many parts involved building the Miniart kit is not complicated, just requires some patience as you have to wait for most of the parts to be perfectly glued before placing the next. With that advice in mind I started building the model following the instructions straightforward leaving aside the wheels, tracks and some of the photoetched details. I replaced the turret grab handles for other made of metal wire as I considered they would be less fragile, that was all I altered in the model. I started painting as I always do with Soviet military vehicles, using the Vallejo primer 73609 Russian green 4BO, then I procured a couple of lighting filters using colours 71093 Field grey and 71094 Green zinc chromate, I diluted these colours at 90% and airbrushed insisting first at the centre of the bigger surfaces and next from a zenithal position. One of the things I had in mind for my T-54 was to depict it as with some losing parts like the tools, some boxes, rear fuel drums and some of their fittings, another thing was to represent it as if having been repainted in some occasions but always in the same green shades, and finally I wanted it to show large surfaces affected by corrosion so with this idea in mind I applied several green tones filters washes and some sponging to create different tones patches. Then I used the Vallejo rust paints colours set to drybrush large surfaces of the tank, using first the darker colours and then the lighter ones over them in a more subtle way to add tonal variety to the effect.
A well diluted sand colour paint acted as a wash to reproduce a thin dust layer on the lower part of the hull and wheels.
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I applied some earth tones acrylic paints washes at the lower part of the hull to provide a dusty look over which I would later apply some mud and pigments. After that I glued the wheels in place. To reproduce a severe rusting at some parts of the side fenders I used real iron dust that I applied as a wash mixed with water and speckled over the hull and turret. As soon as the mix had dried I wetted the model with a mix of bleach and vinegar (FCModeltips 2) I waited a couple of hours to see the effect and repeated two more times until I got the rust tone and texture I was looking for. Next phase involved some shadowing to remark certain details and lines, for this I opted to use a local pigments wash that I had previously tested in other models. The key is using thinner instead of water as it provides a better medium for it to precipitate. Once dry you can clean any excess with a moistened cotton swab.
The hull drybrushed with rust colours.
An orange colour wash enhanced the rusted effect.
The real rust texture was provided by the iron dust.
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Pigments can be an excellent base for further weathering, here I applied a mix of black and brown colours with thinner to the tracks, then sealed it with a vernish layer.
Oil and fuel stains on the engine deck, the special effects paints can be used mixed with pigments to get different results. This same trick was used to provide the tracks a dark rust colour and texture using black and reddish brown pigments mixed. Once dry I fixed them with a varnish layer. Over the previous pigments wash, already protected, I added a second wash made this time with earth tones, I insisted at the tracks and lower part of the hull and also at the corners of the mudguards where the dust could accumulate. I painted some oil, fuel and grease stains using special effects paints, sometimes diluted and others mixed with some pigments to add some dirt to them. The last touch was to rub the zones most exposed to friction with graphite pigment, mostly at the track links, sprocket teeth and diverse handles. I never get tired of building T-54/55 I got dozens of planned decorations for them and I’m just waiting for some of the announced versions to tackle them immediately. One of the best things about these tanks is that they have served in so many countries and conflicts that their setting possibilities are immense.
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Scammel Pioneer
A longly desired kit Finally in our hands
T-54B early The survivor
Two new gifts inside
T14 Armata Skoda Radschlepper Ost A step closer to Skynet
The odd tractor
30,5-cm-M.11-Mörser Bär Blitz blast
Spanish M-41
Sponsored by
Is published by Coronel Caramel S.l. CIF B54483052 Editorial office & administration Club de fútbol Hercules 6 03008 Alicante Spain Te: 965112833 Email: [email protected] Director: Federico Collada Editor: Federico Collada Design: Federico Collada Graphics: Federico Collada Models and photographs: Federico Collada
Editorial Ten years ago, when the main producers were releasing the same kits in different versions again and again I wouldn’t suspect that this tendency would turn upside down and modellers would be offered what it seems now an infinite variety of kits depicting all kind of military vehicles from all eras, countries and even some that never passed the design table. It’s amazing how so many new companies have shown providing excellent quality kits of previously unreleased subjects bringing some excitement to our everyday lives. In the times that Dragon and Tamiya reigned on the military modelling world nobody would have expected them to put their attention on many of the models that we can now build, even when many times lots of us have claimed for them. Luckily things have changed and today we can see new and exciting kits every month, provided by new companies that produce their first kits or other completely established in the market that prefer making their catalogue grow up with new and different subjects instead of making a new and subtly different version of the same tanks. This month, Blitzscales includes some brand new kits like the Bär, the T-54B early and the Scammel Pioneer, and some other ones not so new but presented with an alternative look than the one we are used to see them with. I hope you like them. Federico Collada
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Index
Page 6 Page 26
Page 34
6 - USSR base 8 - Blitzscales previews 26 - Sturmmorser Bär 34 - M-41 in Spain 40 - Scammell Pioneer SC2S 47 - Modern soda can crates 1/35 scale 50 - Skode Radschlepper OST 58 - T-14 Armata, the “steppe wolf” 67 - T-54B early
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Page 47
Page 50
Page 58
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Cut & paste 1- Print the opposite page, resize if you need to fit your wood base 2- Varnsh to protect the printing 3- Glue onto a wood base using white glue 4- Press softly with a sponge to eliminate any air bubbles
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Scale; 1/35 Producer; Amusing Hobby
The Sturmmörser Bär was a German heavy assault gun that could have been produced towards the end of the WWII, armed with a 30,5 H.L/16 gun, weighting 120ton and with a crew of six, the Bär was to be used in the same role as the SturmMörser but unlike this one, the Bär was never put into production.
An alternative history As the Führer predicted, at the end of 1945 the western allies teamed the axis against
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the growing communist evil that threaten the democratic values of the free world…. In 1946 a plan was conceived to raise the troop morale creating an “artistic” contest in which the Wehrmacht vehicles crew could use their inventive to elaborate free style camouflage schemes using the 3 official colours. The contest was a Hitler’s own idea as he always has had an artistic sense. The price would be given the 20th of April 1947 to celebrate the leader’s birthday and consisted in the retirement form the army. During the months that the contest was ongoing, the crew that applied for it sent photographs of their work to a special artistic committee that selected the best artworks to be shown to the Führer himself.
Is easy to see the size of the model when compared with a paint bottle we are all familiar. The Bär is certainly bigger than the Maus or any other German big cat.
The kit builds very easily and although the design is summary there are some well defined details that give the model a very convincing look. The traditional German armoured vehicles elements are all there, towing cables, tools, jack, etc. and some other like the commander cupola, MG ball mount, and periscopes are very recognisable from other famous tanks.
Amusing fantasy
A German dark yellow primer and a couple of lighter filters were enouhg for the “tall grass” decoration base. The zenithal illumination enhanced the vertical sense of ground and sky.
The Chinese company Amusing Hobby is specialized in paper panzer kits, their catalogue is full of never built or very short run vehicles, mostly German. This time they have released the enormous Bär and considering that is just an imaginary vehicle taken form a few drawings they have made a very good work. The kit is “easy-modelling” and includes some photoetched parts and a metal thread for the towing cable. Building it is a rather fast job as the parts are quite big and all of them fit smoothly. A small decals sheet with a few German crosses and some numbers in the classical red-withwhite-border is included. The tracks provided are made of separate links that comprises two parts each and should be functional when you build them. 27
Some more painting schemes shown in the contest
Back to the “history”
The three colours used for the bush camo scheme. I applied a coat of Vallejo dunkelgelb primer as a base and then a thin filter with 71107 US interior diluted at 75% and airbrushed modulating the colour upwards in the zenithal direction and at the edges of the bigger horizontal surfaces. A second filter with this colour mixed with 71119 white grey reinforced the illumination work airbrushed from above from a greater distance to cover the model uniformly. With the basic colour ready I proceeded to paint the bushes by hand using a small brush, first with 71029 dark earth and then71093 with field green. Seeing that the result was not as I expected I decided to add a third colour, 71094 Zinc green. I opted for using masks instead of the decals provided as I wanted the markings to look less striking so I used a 71251 NATO black tone to paint the cross, numbers and a horse as the battery pet.
As a fictional vehicle I decided to go one step ahead of what is the usual in this category and imagined a bunch of unusual camouflage schemes to paint the Bär and finally selected one that consists in rushes and junks that surround the vehicle. I built the kit following the instructions straightforward and left the wheels aside to start painting. The NATO black is a dark grey tone that conceals better with the rest of colours than pure black.
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Drybrushing and sponge for the rust effects.
Next step was to softly drybrush parts of the edges and other zones with a dark rust colour, to create some random chipping I used the same colour applied this time with a sponge. Having painted some vertical streaks with grey and earth colours I proceeded to paint the outer rim of the wheels with a steel colour to imitate the polished metal. Then I airbrushed the whole model to protect the pigmented shadows and prepared to place the tracks. After assembling the links in lengths that covered the whole wheels set, one from above and another below, I painted them with a dark brown primer to later test a new idea, providing the base with a rust texture using pigments the same way I did with the shadows, this is, mixing it with thinner and apply it as a wash. I covered the tracks with this mix and let it dry. The pigments provided a very convincing matt finish so I varnished the tracks and waited a few hours before going on.
A dark rust base created with a pigments wash.
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A filter with a reddish brown colour highlighted the most protruding details of the tracks and then another wash with pigments, this time with earth tones, created the dust and dirt accumulations at the recessed zones. The final touches were to paint some oil, grease and fuel stains here and there using special effects paints and some graphite rubbing at the edges and constant rubbing zones to imitate the polished metal. Paper panzer seem to be an endless field in the military modelling where you can change and alter any model depending just on your imagination, from camouflage scheme to a whole equipment providing lots of fun to those who don’t mind “breaking the rules” of history from time to time.
Some oil and grease stains makes the vehicle look operative.
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The red brown filter highlights the tracks details. Earth pigments wash provides a convincing dirt accumulation.
Special effects paints and pigments can be combines to get different results.
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Scale 1/35 producer AFV
Born in the U.S.A…retired in Spain In order to provide the army with a substitute to the M-24 light tank, the Spanish government acquired 169 M41 tanks. The first 38 vehicles arrived Spain in 1957; another 34 of the A1 model were received a few years later and in 1970 bought another 97 from Germany. Although the M-41 was used in Spain mainly in the cavalry regiments, some of them were also deployed with the infantry ones like the “Alcazar de Toledo” nº61. The M41 remained in service until they gradually started being substituted from 1976 by more modern tanks like the AMX-30; the last ones were retired as late as 1991.
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The M41 options
The AFV kit is a joy of a model, very well detailed and easy to build.
The M-41 Walker Bulldog has been disposable in 1/35 scale for decades, the first one was the Tamiya kit, typical form the early 70s, the model was closer to a toy than to a nowadays kit, it had very few parts and was ready to motorise. Then in the new century beginnings Skybow released an excellent rendition of this US tank, a few years later, AFV released their own kit and offered it in a bunch of different configurations, one of them is the German version of the M41A1 which includes the Wegman smoke grenade launchers, the relocated secondary exhaust, etc. and is the one of the models purchased by Spain so no alterations are needed. I selected this kit for my M41A1 from the cavalry regiment RCLAC Numancia Nº9 as it looked in 1987.
Tasca accesories are a perfect option if you want your 50’ machine gun or the fuel cans.
Straight form the box, with a few extras. The AFV kit is really nice, the parts fit very well and has crispy detail, you can build it out of the box rather fast and although it doesn’t include any photoetched parts, the plastic ones are delicate enough to make them almost unnecessary. Just a few parts like the smoke dischargers are not up to the rest of the kit and present some evident mould marks. I built the kit following the instructions and just replaced the main gun for a turned aluminium one, the ’50 Browning and the Jerrycans for some Tasca ones and the vinyl tracks for a Friulmodel metal set. The painting process was rather standard with an Olive drab primer base followed by some highlighting using Vallejo 71250 bronze green diluted at 75% and airbrushed at some specific
zones of the tank to enhance the shapes. Then I airbrushed a second filter using 71081 Tank ochre from a zenithal approach to illuminate the whole tank and highlight the details. With the main colour and modulation ready I airbrushed a layer of gloss varnish to prepare it to place the decals. The necessary signs, numbers, shields, etc are all provided in my own decals set 35016 “M41 en España”
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Once I placed the decals I used a sponge to reproduce a subtle chipping in the paint, trying not to exaggerate as these tanks were always kept under perfect maintenance conditions. The AFV kit doesn’t include transparent parts for the periscopes so these have to be painted to imitate the glass, for this I used a mix of black and blue metal paints, once dry I applied 3 successive coats of gloss varnish. To represent a vehicle in manoeuvres I decided to apply a thick coat of dirt and dry mud, mostly at the lower part of the hull. For this I used the new Vallejo mud paints range, their texture and colour are very convincing and they can be applied by stencilling with a brush, any error or excess can be rapidly corrected with water. After the main mud application I waited for a couple of hours and then made a wash with earth tones pigments mixed with paints thinner, I insisted at the wheels and lower part of the hull and made a lighter wash on the upper side and at the turret. I placed the decals with the aid of the Vallejo decals medium and fixer to better adapt them to the surface. Highlighting with a couple of lighter green tones provides the model a richer tonal base and offer a better contrast with the further painting effects than the Olive drab. The chipping was very subtle, these tanks were under constant maintenance.
I rusted the tracks using bleach and vinegar as depicted in the book FCModeltips 2 so they were ready to be placed in just an hour. To finish the painting I made some oil and fuel stains here and there and mixed black pigment with dark brown paint diluted as a wash for the grease accumulations. I used black pigment applied dry with a brush at the exhaust escapes to imitate the burnt metal and as a wash to shine down the metallic tone of the machine guns. The kit includes the Browning tripod to be placed at the back of the turret; I replaced it for a rolled tarpaulin made of a glove’s latex and painted the same as the rest of the model. And with this I called the model finished and now I can think of my next Spanish tank to complete my collection.
The acrylic mud is easy to apply and has a very convincing look.
A metallic base and then some gloss varnish layers for the periscopes glasses
Mixing pigments with thinner for a precipitating wash.
Friulmodel tracks, fully workable and rusted in 30 minutes. Special effects paints and pigments for the stains on the engine cover.
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www.fcmodeltrend.com
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The Scammell Pioneer was developed in the early 20s of the past century as a 6x4 tractor unit to be used in the British colonies where the road conditions were often poor. Although it was not conceived for the military use, the British army purchased one vehicle in 1932 for tests purpose as a tank transporter, some years later the truck started being delivered to the army in its basic configurations as artillery tractor, recovery vehicle and tank transporter. In 1938 the heavy recovery model called SV1S was upgraded with a simpler extending crane which was produced until the end of the war with nearly 2000 units. The Pioneer was equipped with a 102 bhp Gardner 6 cylinder diesel engine that provided the truck with 102 brake horsepower (76 kW) at 1,700 rpm. The equipment of the Pioneer included a couple of tracks to provide it with extra traction power. The Pioneer SV2S remained in service after the war until the seventies.
Scale 1/35 producer IBG
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The many parts of the model builds rapidly and without problems.
All of a sudden the Scammells
The front suspension can be positioned to adapt the truck to uneven terrain. The engine block is made of few parts that adjust perfectly.
Military modellers have always missed a plastic kit of this iconic truck since no company had ever paid attention to it but this year it seems that is the turn of the Pioneers since two companies are releasing their own renditions of all the Scammells military versions. In January we could see the test sample of the IBG model at the Nuremberg toy fair and 6 months later we got the first of the 3 models to be released, and now the Chinese company Thunder Model is working on exactly the same 3 vehicles.
Everything in the kit fits very well so the building porcess is very amusing. There are many details inside the cabin, the photoetched parts provides the most subtle ones.
I received a sample of this kit a few weeks ago and I started building it immediately as I was willing to start with it since I saw it at Nuremberg. IBG has been producing very nice quality kits for years and this is a good example of their savoir fair. The box includes all the plastic parts provided in many modular frames, most of them to be common with the next versions, the photoetched fret, transparent parts and the decals for 5 different vehicles including a Soviet and a German captured one.
The instructions are very easy to follow and the parts fit very well and don’t need any preparation as they’re flawless so the building went straightforward rapidly until the moment when the cabin is to be fixed to the chassis, in that moment I stopped to start painting. My intention was to depict a very old vehicle that had survived the war but left abandoned in a park without maintenance so the paint was worn out little by little at the open air and the removed parts were never substituted. I started with an Olive drab primer base, I airbrushed all the group parts leaving unglued the cabin roof and sides, the back wooden bay, the crane, wheels and engine cover. Then I made a filter with colour 70610 Parched grass over most of the zones to imitate the worn out colour. I wanted the wood to be seen beneath the green paint so I started painting these parts with a light sand primer to later replicate the wood grain with a dragged veil using acrylic washes of many wood tones. Having protected the result with a layer of varnish I applied a chipping fluid coat.
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The different colours primers range are very useful to start the different parts groups.
I ussually make a couple of filters using lighter tones of the base colour airbrushed in different ways to provide both a detail enhancement and determined illumination.
Next I used colours 71081 Tank ochre and 71106 Ivory to highlight the green colour with a zenithal approach insisting on the roof, wheels mudguards, etc. Time was now to start the chipping, for this I used the rust colours set starting with the darkest colour and applied with both the drybrush and sponging techniques, this provided most of the paint damage I was looking for the vehicle. Now I had the paint as I wanted it I proceeded to paint some white stars on doors and roof, I just wanted them to show faded, same as the rest of the colours so I used a stencilling mask and applied a light grey filter with the airbrush in order not to cover the green tone completely. Another thing I had in mind for my Pioneer was to make it look dusty so I started applying a Light stone wash soon before closing the cab and fixing the bay in order to have a good access for the weathering.
Combined with the chipping medium, the dragged veil technique is perfect to show the wood behind the worn camouflage paint.
The dragged veil technique (FCModeltips 1) is one of the easiest ways to replicate the wood grain.
The polyurethane varnish protects very well the previous work so none of the further weathering can spoil it.
Another thing I had in mind was to spare the engine cover sides so part of it could be seen so although I didn’t detailed it I did pay much attention on the painting; starting with a black base following with a dark steel layer. Then I applied a special rust effects paint wash insisting on the exhaust pipes. Then some different rust tones pigments washes to accumulate them at the recessed zones and around some details and finally some earth and dust washes. The rest of the vehicle received a similar treatment although not as intense as in the engine.
Drybrushing with acrylics for a rust chipping and stains.
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Photoetched masks to replicate the faded white stars.
The engine with a few pigments washes. Real iron produce the most realistic rust effect. I applied it both as a wash and speckled with a brush and a toothpick.
A heavily diluted acrylic paint wash provides a convincing dust accumulation around the details.
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The IBG kit has captured the SV2S shapes very well and builds into an impressive model that any Allied vehicles enthusiast would be glad to add to their collection.
Painting the glasses edges with a dark shadow is an old trick that every car modeller knows, this way it remains concealed within the windows frames.
To insist with the rust effects at some zones I opted for the “real rust” system, this is using iron powder applying it mixed with water as a wash or speckling it with a brush and a toothpick, then rust it with a bleach and vinegar mix. After painting some details like levers, mirrors, etc. I dirtied the model applying some earth tones pigment washes, insisting on the lower part of the truck and wheels. Then I glued the wheels, back body, seat cushions, engine cover and the side big basket. After accumulating some dirt at the cabin and crane bay using pigments mixed with some fine sand and fixing it with just turpentine I glued the cabin sides and the crane. Before closing the cabin I prepared the windows glasses painting the edges with a black felt pen and covering them with a dust colour paint filter, without using any kind of mask. The acrylic paint can be easily removed from the transparent parts by simply rubbing with a dry cotton swab so I just did it leaving a subtle trace around the borders as if just superficially cleaned.
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Once the glasses were ready I placed them with the aid of some white glue and then fixed the cabin roof. I added the hook and cable made of twisted copper wire, the lights glasses and a couple of left tarpaulins made out of vinyl and painted with acrylic paints. Now I finished the SV2S version I’m willing to make the tank transporter, it surely will be an impressive piece! And I have a bunch of tanks to put on top so I guess I could prepare a whole scene with it, let’s hope we don’t have to wait too much to have them with us.
The glasses received a dust colour paint filter and then were summarily cleaned with a cotton swab.
The pigments wash for the dust on the wheels.
The SV2S has been longly awaited by WWII modellers and now it seems that soon we will have the R100 and TRCU20/30 versions too.
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Gift 1/35 scale 12 soda can cases
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Scale 1/35 producer Riich models
Skoda type 175 Radschlepper Ost In June forces invaded Russia in what is known as the Barbarossa operation, although the German forces had surprised the Russian at the beginning of the campaign, they couldn’t end it before the estimated date and the Russian winter caught them unprepared, their lack of adequate equipment was one of the main reasons for their final defeat. As soon as the German realized that they would have to maintain the Eastern front during the winter Ferdinand Porsche was asked to develop a modern version of the previous M17 Goliath tractor, a vehicle that so good results provided during the WWI. The new Radschlepper Ost had larger wheels than the ones of the M17 and were all steel made due to the rubber shortage. The RSO was to be produced at the Skoda plant but after the first trials many problems arose; its 9 ton weight and the narrow wheels caused too much ground pressure, very low speed (just 15k/h) too much fuel consumption and was very hard to steer on ice. All this made it unsuitable for the Russian campaign but even so Skoda built 206 units between 1942 and 1944 that were instead deployed in Normandy and Holland.
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The kit builds very fast into an impressive vehicle, the engine is included so you can show it if you leave the cover opened. I preferred not to do it as I didn’t want to alter the RSO shapes.
The tractor size is quite impressive, larger than many tanks, and also too tall. The enormous wheels, typical from the agriculture tractors conferred a distinctive look.
The Chinese company Riich models have been producing kits for other Brands since many decades, this is one of the first kits released under their own brand some years ago and their saboir faire is evident, good design, perfect fitting, no defects, subtle details and very clear instruction for an easy building. I had this kit in the “unbuilt” pile for some years and finally I found some time to dedicate to it this last month, if I had an idea of how good the kit was I surely had tackled it before.
I built the model following the instructions until I reached the cabin closing stage, I prepared three big parts groups to start painting; the chassis with the engine, transmission and cabin floor, the cabin upper part with the doors, and the cargo bed. I primed all the parts with the Vallejo Dunkelgelb paint and made a subtle weathering inside the cabin, I didn’t insist too much at this point as I would close the cabin and not much would be seen through the windows when finished.
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The producer suggest five different decoration possibilities for the kit, all of them used in the Western front in 1944, I opted for one of them with dark green and reddish brown patches although I preferred to paint them in a different style, bigger and less than the ones seen in the instructions. I used the Vallejo colours set for German camouflage 1940-1945 that provides all the necessary paints in the model air range, perfect for airbrushing.
Once I had most of the parts grouped I started priming the whole model so I could reach every part with the airbrush. As I wanted to depict one of the vehicles used at Normandy I used the typical German 3 tone scheme camo.
First I used the dark yellow primer and then I applied a couple of lighter shades filters for highlighting and illumination. Then I painted the camouflage patches covering the whole model except the back canvas and then another filter with light yellow colours to create an “atmospheric” layer that softened the contrast between the main camouflage colours. Right after priming the main parts I focused in the interior, a subtle shadowing and somere weathering were enough as little of it would be seen with the dooors closed.
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After closing the cabin I proceeded to highlight the dark yellow base using a couple of filters using heavily diluted filters with lighter yellow shades. First I applied a filter focusing on bigger plain zones that I wnted to enhance, and then another filter with an even lighter zone form a zenithal position to mimitate this illumination.
I airbrushed large patches of both German official colours rotbraun and olivegrün over the dunkelgelb base and then applied a filter again with the light yellow colours to created the “blending atmosphere” that soften the contrast between tghe 3 colours.
Airbrushing the “atmosphere” filter, blends the camouflage colours softening the contrast and makes the vehicle look a little more worn and faded.
I didn’t want my tractor to look aged or wrecked, just a little dirty so I didn’t insist on the chipping and just created a multicolour filter instead to make the paint look a bit spoiled by the sun. For this I speckled many different acrylic washes over the previously moistened with thinner surface of the model. I used the rust texture paint 73821 at the wheels outer rim to reproduce the severe damage that produces the constant rubbing on the metal. Then to add some tonal variety I used the acrylic orange and dark red washes. With that done I proceeded to dirty everything, first I applied a general pigments wash mixing a dust colour with much water and a mechanical sprayer to make it pour over the whole model. Once dry I retired the excess using a dry brush and airbrushed some turpentine to fix the pigment. Then I insisted on the lower part of the vehicle with another pigment wash, this one mixing it with thinner and applied with a brush alternating different earth tones. Finally I added some dry mud at the wheels using the Vallejo synthetic mud applied directly stencilled with an old brush.
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The last touch was to rub some surfaces like the wheels teeth and edges and every part suitable to be under constant rubbing to imitate the polished metal with graphite using cotton swab and a graphite pencil. The cargo bed is covered by a plastic piece imitating the tarpaulin, it’s very well detailed so I just painted it in a different colour than the rest of the vehicle following some zenithal illumination criteria and adding some dirt using paints washes and some pigments. The acrylic washes are ready to use filters that blur very well over a thinner moistened surface. Speckling diverse colours over the camouflage produce a subtle chromatic diversity that makes the camouflage look richer and less plain.
The Vallejo rust effect paint has both the right colour and texture and can be rapidly applied with a brush. The rough surface ensures a perfect base for further dusting, etc.
Another use of the washes, providing a contrast around the details and at the recessed lines, it can be a shadow if we use a dark colour, dust if we use the right tone or just a complementary tone to make the base one look more complex.
This has been the first time that I tackle a Riich models kit and I can say that it has been a very amusing weekend job, I’m sure that the next one won’t have to wait too much to be built.
Accumulating mud and dust at the wheels recessed parts was easy using acrylic special products, stencilling with an old brush to ensure not leaving traces.
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The back part tarpaulim cover received a drak green base layer and further lighter green shades filter to replicate the same zenithal ilumination than used at teh rest of the vehicle. Some dust tones acrilic paints washes provided the desired dirty look.
A subtle pigments wash for the whole vehicle, mixed with much water, no more than 3% pigment, at the mechanical sprayer and poured over the model. The pigments deposit naturally at the logical zones. This is probable the easiest way to apply a pigments layer, and once the water has dried, you can eliminate any excess by simply sweeping the pigment away with a dry brush.
k for some time and never found the occasion to start building it but these late months I was able to look for some kits to add to the magazine articles and luckily the Skoda typ 175 was one of the selected. Maybe if I knew it would be such a pleasant job I would have give it a chance before.
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Scale 1/35 producer Takom
T-14 Armata “the steppe wolf” A step closer to Skynet Lots of words have been already written about the new Russian tank, the T-14 Armata based on the T-14 Universal Combat Platform that is common to other vehicles such as the T-15 IFV. Possibly the main characteristic of the T-14 is the unmanned turret where all the armament and defence systems are located. Certainly the T-14 Armata it surely is the most advanced fighting vehicle nowadays and it looks like taken from a sci-fi film.
Some fastening was needed to align the bigger parts correctly.
All at once The T-14 has not be seen in manoeuvres yet but just at the Victory day parade in 2105 where it shown the standard parade painting scheme along with all the rest of participating vehicles. Many model companies have released their own version of the Russian new tank more or less at the same time; Takom , Panda hobby, Zvezda and some more to follow as the Trumpeter kit. Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to compare the available kits and Takom’s is the one I have used for this article as was the sample I was provided.
The Takom kit doesn’t comprise too many pieces, the building part of the project went quite fast.
I primed the turret interior housings begore gluing both halves.
The turret halves needed some fastening too. Using nitro solvent as glue ensures a strong enough union.
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The front and back flaps were substituted for others made with modelling foil.
The towing cable and its clamps are not worth, they can be easily made with twisted copper wire, the “eyes” form another Russian tank and some photoetched spare parts for the clamps.
Enjoying two hobbies Aside modelling other of my favourite hobbies is music, I’m always listening to music, no matter what style I have enjoyed it since I was a kid and I can’t work if I have no music with me. Sometimes I pick a concrete selection to serve as an inspiration for a project and this time I choose one of my favourite childhood bands discography, I thought that it would be fun to place the cds in the pictures as I was working so you could see what I was listening to in each moment. So clearly in the mood for rock&roll I started building the kit and considering the painting options for a fictitious T-14.
The Soviet dark green 4B0 is very similar to the modern Russian dark green.
The lighting filters can warm up or cool down the base colour depending on the tones you use.
First filter applied, here you can see the difference with the turret, still with the primer colour.
Second filter, again the contrast with the turret, still in the primer colour, is noticeable.
An enamel varnish layer to protect the model and provide a smooth surface for the further weathering process.
Although Takom kits have been often criticised lately due to their inaccuracies I wouldn’t say that is the case of this T-14 kit, I just found a few parts to be substituted due to their poor definition or excessive thickness. Aside this, I would have preferred they supply the main gun in a single piece or made in sections and not in two halves as they do. In my kit the larger parts were bent and wouldn’t fit correctly so some pressure was needed to align them taking care of not breaking anything. In spite of this the building process went straightforward very quickly and soon I started painting the parts with a dark green primer as I already had an idea of the camouflage I wanted to use with my model, a winter variant of the scheme used in the military fairs where the T-90MS is shown, a splinter painting that would include the basic dark green colour, black and white. During the building process I replaced the back and front mudguard flaps for others made of modelling foil, the bolts were reproduced by simply pressing the foil against the plastic part, then I fixed them with ciano at the proper places. The towing cable is not convincing at all, and the clamps are moulded with them in one single piece so they are not worth neither. I replaced them by ones made of twisted brass wire and “eyes” from another kit, the clamps were easily reproduced with photoetched spare parts from other kits too. I started applying the dark green primer before gluing both turret upper and lower parts as I wouldn’t access the inner housings later on. Having painted the wheels rim and outer rubber band I fixed them on the model and then covered them with the side skirts. With that done the model was ready for full priming.
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Masking and airbrushing the next colour, NATO black, a bit lighter than pure black.
More taping and the third colour, pure white, applied in a couple of thin layers.
As I always do, right after priming I proceeded to apply a couple of filters with lighter shades of green, the first one using Vallejo 71094 Zinc green chromate, airbrushed diluted at 80% at the centre of the bigger surfaces, then a second one with 71081 tank ochre diluted at 90% and airbrushed from above to replicate a zenithal illumination. A coat of synthetic varnish protected the base for the next phase, masking the parts of the model that I wanted to remain green. I cut several geometric pieces of masking tape and placed them on the model covering the surface randomly but maintaining large shapes, then I applied a coat of 71251 NATO black. I repeated the masking process, this time covering the parts that would remain black; finally I painted the model using 71119 White. A white acrylic wash acted as a filter to soften the contrast and cool down part of the former yellow filter. In order not to damage the job up to now I decided to try a different technique to shadow the details; instead of using oils, enamels and white spirit, I decided to use pigments. Applying a mix of dark brown and black pigments with thinner made them precipitate at the bottom of the recessed zones and around the details, once dry I cleaned up the excess with a dry cotton swab.
A white filter applied with a zenithal criteria softened the contrast of the three colours and highlighted the model.
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Pigments are an excellent option if you don’t want to use oils or enamels for shadowing. I wanted my Armata to look in perfect maintenance condition so I didn’t reproduce any chipping and went to the next phase. A general and subtle pigments wash using a medium earth tone provided the thin dust layer I wanted for my “steppe wolf” not as much as if it was operating on warm weather but on a snowy ground where the exposure to dust is minimum. The pigments mixed with water and poured with a mechanical sprayer covered the whole model and once dry subtly altered the tank look as well as provided an absorbent surface for the further stains. Some special effects paints provided the oil, fuel and grease stains that I speckled around the fuel intakes, engine exhausts, etc. I prepared some more filters using earth tone paints form the model air range diluted at 60%, moistened the model surface with thinner and immediately speckled them with a toothbrush over the side fences and lower part of the hull, this was the first dust accumulation that would lie underneath some more to follow. I repeated the process but this time with acrylic mud and without moistening the kit.
The pigments wash, the easiest way to dust a model. Applied over the wet mud, the pigments can create a dry mud crust.
Speckling the paitns filters with an old toohbrush for a quick light mud coverage.
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Acrylic paints are a mask themselves, just remove the colour from the glasses rubbing with a toothpick.
At this stage I begun painting the tracks, first I applied a coat of dark red primer, then a wash with the rust effect paint and finally a couple of rust tone washes. When it was dry I applied an earth colour pigment wash and after seeping the excess I rubbed with graphite the part of the links that is in constant friction with the wheels to imitate the polished metal. I added some metallic touches at the sprocket wheel teeth and outer side of the links connectors using steel colour paint. With the tracks placed in position I repeated the earth pigments wash, this time a little more subtle. I added some scratches on the paint to show the bare metal using a graphite pencil, drawing small lines at the edges and zones where the necessary friction could occur. The last touches were the oil, fuel and grease stains that I baldly spread over the engine deck and exhausts.
primer, rust effect and a wash, some graphite rubbing and then a pigments wash, tracks ready.
The last touches, a general earth pigments wash a the tracks and lower part of the hull, some graphite pencil scratches here and there and finally some oil, grease and fuel stains.
I must admit that when I started this kit I wasn’t too excited about it, it wasn’t until I had all the parts together that I begun liking the design and it was then when I thought about the decoration I wanted to use with it, since that moment everything went smooth and pretty fast and I was able to finish the model in a couple of weeks.
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Scale 1/35 producer Miniart
T-54B early Since the Soviet T-54 was first put into production in 1947 it went into successive upgrades until it finally led to the ubiquitous T-55. In 1955 a new design base don the existing T-54A included the new 100 mm D-10T2S tank gun with STP-2 “Tsyklon” 2-plane stabilizer, the L-2 Luna infrared searchlight, the TPN-1-22-11 IR gunner’s sight and an OU-3 commander’s IR searchlight. The new APFSDS ammunition also enhanced drastically the penetrating capabilities of the gun making it competitive against the NATO MBTs. This new version was designed T-54B and with 1625 units produced it was the last one before turning to the T-55. The first batch of the T-54B didn’t have the night vision equipment; this was added in the second batch and retrofitted to the first tanks as they were available. The T-54 B was exported to all the Warsaw pact countries and could be seen in almost any post WWII conflict, even the IDF used the captured Egyptian tanks to build up their TIRAN.
The kit is provided both with or without interior, I used the second otion as I didn’t plan to let any interior be seen. The building went straightforward smootly, just a little patience an soon I got all the main elements together.
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I always start the same with Soviet military vehicles, a coat of Russian dark green 4BO primer.
First filter with 71093 Field green.
God tank, better model Miniart keeps releasing their excellent T-54 tank kits covering all the versions, provided with or without interior, they don’t have competitor, their outstanding detail level and affordable price makes them the best available by far, one after another. Having made the T-54-2 recently with all the interiors, I decided to do without them this time and focus just on the outside painting. One of the best things of the Miniart kits is that you really don’t need any aftermarket upgrades as every tiny detail is included in the box so you can start building it immediately. I started considering different painting options as soon as I started gluing the first parts, I didn’t want to represent any of the offered in the instructions and try to make a very old tank that would have survived many battles along the years, maybe in Afghanistan, I checked many photographs of surviving t-54 and t-55 tanks and realised that most of them didn’t have any recognisable markings looking very anonymous.
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Second filter, a lighter green tone to emphasize the details and reproduce the zenithal illumination.
Drybrushing is an old painting technique that can be used with every kind of paint, the key is to dry the brush with a cloth as much as possible.
The drybrushing effect can be as subtle as you want, just remember to dry the brush very well.
Sponging can be a perfect complement to for the drybrushing technique.
Although the many parts involved building the Miniart kit is not complicated, just requires some patience as you have to wait for most of the parts to be perfectly glued before placing the next. With that advice in mind I started building the model following the instructions straightforward leaving aside the wheels, tracks and some of the photoetched details. I replaced the turret grab handles for other made of metal wire as I considered they would be less fragile, that was all I altered in the model. I started painting as I always do with Soviet military vehicles, using the Vallejo primer 73609 Russian green 4BO, then I procured a couple of lighting filters using colours 71093 Field grey and 71094 Green zinc chromate, I diluted these colours at 90% and airbrushed insisting first at the centre of the bigger surfaces and next from a zenithal position. One of the things I had in mind for my T-54 was to depict it as with some losing parts like the tools, some boxes, rear fuel drums and some of their fittings, another thing was to represent it as if having been repainted in some occasions but always in the same green shades, and finally I wanted it to show large surfaces affected by corrosion so with this idea in mind I applied several green tones filters washes and some sponging to create different tones patches. Then I used the Vallejo rust paints colours set to drybrush large surfaces of the tank, using first the darker colours and then the lighter ones over them in a more subtle way to add tonal variety to the effect.
A well diluted sand colour paint acted as a wash to reproduce a thin dust layer on the lower part of the hull and wheels.
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I applied some earth tones acrylic paints washes at the lower part of the hull to provide a dusty look over which I would later apply some mud and pigments. After that I glued the wheels in place. To reproduce a severe rusting at some parts of the side fenders I used real iron dust that I applied as a wash mixed with water and speckled over the hull and turret. As soon as the mix had dried I wetted the model with a mix of bleach and vinegar (FCModeltips 2) I waited a couple of hours to see the effect and repeated two more times until I got the rust tone and texture I was looking for. Next phase involved some shadowing to remark certain details and lines, for this I opted to use a local pigments wash that I had previously tested in other models. The key is using thinner instead of water as it provides a better medium for it to precipitate. Once dry you can clean any excess with a moistened cotton swab.
The hull drybrushed with rust colours.
An orange colour wash enhanced the rusted effect.
The real rust texture was provided by the iron dust.
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Pigments can be an excellent base for further weathering, here I applied a mix of black and brown colours with thinner to the tracks, then sealed it with a vernish layer.
Oil and fuel stains on the engine deck, the special effects paints can be used mixed with pigments to get different results. This same trick was used to provide the tracks a dark rust colour and texture using black and reddish brown pigments mixed. Once dry I fixed them with a varnish layer. Over the previous pigments wash, already protected, I added a second wash made this time with earth tones, I insisted at the tracks and lower part of the hull and also at the corners of the mudguards where the dust could accumulate. I painted some oil, fuel and grease stains using special effects paints, sometimes diluted and others mixed with some pigments to add some dirt to them. The last touch was to rub the zones most exposed to friction with graphite pigment, mostly at the track links, sprocket teeth and diverse handles. I never get tired of building T-54/55 I got dozens of planned decorations for them and I’m just waiting for some of the announced versions to tackle them immediately. One of the best things about these tanks is that they have served in so many countries and conflicts that their setting possibilities are immense.
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