For the first of the AFVs for my Fall of Berlin army, I ordered a JTFM/Die Waffenkramer Henschel Konigstiger. All in all, this is a good kit - the details are nice, it's well molded, and is a hefty chunk of resin. My one issue with it are the tracks, which lack any sort of linkage detail and look somewhat unrealistic. But, if I'm honest, this is a rather minor complaint (as well as being fairly commonplace among 1/56 resin-cast AFVs). I added lifting hooks to the turret, an AA gun ring to the cupola, an electrical wire behind the glacis headlight, an antenna, packed some epoxy putty behind the gun mantlet, and finally added a small plasticard "turret ring" to lift the turret ever so slightly and make the tank seem more imposing.
I wanted this to look like a salvaged and re-fitted tank in the final months of the war, so decided on doing a "new" turret and gun atop an "old" chassis. The turret is fresh off the factory floor, still wearing its red oxide primer undercoat and manufacturing chalkmarks. This is done by priming it in Krylon Red Primer, with highlights and rain streaking done in Testors Acryl Rust with a bit of white added. The gun is also new and wearing its grey lacquered undercoat (painted in Pavement). Fun fact: German barrels weren't primered. Instead, they were lacquered in a dark gunmetal grey and then overcoated with normal paint. Standard primer wouldn't have withstood the massive temperature differences inside the barrel.
The chassis carries an ambush scheme of Testors Acryl Rotbraun, Testors Acryl Dunkelgelb, and Tamiya Flat Green. Bands are laid down with an airbrush and the dots were added by dipping the end of a plasticard rod in each color, dabbing off the excess, and then touching it to the tank. Care has to be taken to avoid a "bubble" or dome effect with too much paint when doing this. Steel items are Pavement with a bit of GW Boltgun Metal drybrushed over it. Wood is Reaper Amber Gold with highlights of Reaper Golden Blonde, with a Reaper Umber Wash. Optics are Cool Blue.
Decals are from Rubicon and Italeri. The entire tank was then given a pin dot oil weathering - focusing more on the chassis - with the turret only getting some red and brown pin washes and some black around the fume extractor. Soot and smoke stains were done with an airbrush of a Dark Grey/Black mix; dirt with a light mist of Burnt Umber. After sealing, I added some dry pigment to simulate rust on the mufflers and then added some mud with a mixture of dry pigment, glue, and tile grout.
I wanted this to look like a salvaged and re-fitted tank in the final months of the war, so decided on doing a "new" turret and gun atop an "old" chassis. The turret is fresh off the factory floor, still wearing its red oxide primer undercoat and manufacturing chalkmarks. This is done by priming it in Krylon Red Primer, with highlights and rain streaking done in Testors Acryl Rust with a bit of white added. The gun is also new and wearing its grey lacquered undercoat (painted in Pavement). Fun fact: German barrels weren't primered. Instead, they were lacquered in a dark gunmetal grey and then overcoated with normal paint. Standard primer wouldn't have withstood the massive temperature differences inside the barrel.
The chassis carries an ambush scheme of Testors Acryl Rotbraun, Testors Acryl Dunkelgelb, and Tamiya Flat Green. Bands are laid down with an airbrush and the dots were added by dipping the end of a plasticard rod in each color, dabbing off the excess, and then touching it to the tank. Care has to be taken to avoid a "bubble" or dome effect with too much paint when doing this. Steel items are Pavement with a bit of GW Boltgun Metal drybrushed over it. Wood is Reaper Amber Gold with highlights of Reaper Golden Blonde, with a Reaper Umber Wash. Optics are Cool Blue.
Decals are from Rubicon and Italeri. The entire tank was then given a pin dot oil weathering - focusing more on the chassis - with the turret only getting some red and brown pin washes and some black around the fume extractor. Soot and smoke stains were done with an airbrush of a Dark Grey/Black mix; dirt with a light mist of Burnt Umber. After sealing, I added some dry pigment to simulate rust on the mufflers and then added some mud with a mixture of dry pigment, glue, and tile grout.
2 comments:
Excellent painting - a really striking paint scheme.
Very nice, I think it really gets point across.
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