Hey! I built my first model about a year ago when I was 13, and I’ve built a 2 or 3 since then, but I wanted to really make this one nice, and used an airbrush, panel fading, oil washes, stowage, indies, and even an interior, so lots of firsts. Its the 1/35 DML stuG III G early production, and Ive got it marked for part of the “Totenkopf” division, in the winter of 1944. Im posting these pictures as the coat of Future dries, because the next step has huge potential to screw it up, and I wanted to show you first. I’m going to put a whitewash scheme over the Dunkelgelb base (does my dunkelgelb look right? I mixed it myself, and thought it came out alright) Im going to spray white on to the model, and then once dry, use Q-tips (cotton swabs) and small paintbrushes dipped in paint thinner to wipe, scratch, and basically just give the whitewash a worn look. I dont think theres a whole lot that can go wrong, since I put a heavy Future coat on, and if worst comes to worst I can pretty much remove all of the whitewash without hurting the other paint. After that, Ive just got to finish my stowage, put another pin wash on, and some mud/snow on the tracks and lower hull and a dullcoat, but overall Im trying to keep this from looking like a hunk of beaten metal, like my first few did once I discovered The Wonders of Weathering. Sorry, thats alot to read, comments are great, but Im really looking for constructive criticism, hope you like it!
I think you’ve done well Ian, especially for someone with few builds under his wings. Dunkelgelb, like most German colors, is open to debate on the exact shade. If you put a whitewash over it, it will hide most of that color anyway. I think you are off to a good start.
I thought it was a great build! I had some fit problems, but with DML quality, im 95% sure they were my fault, and my fillnig skills are nearly non existant. They kept PE to a minimum, but whats was there was great, awesome detail, I had lots of trouble with the metal tow ca bles and even lef tone off, since I just couldnt bend them right, and one piece (well theres actually about 12 of it) is A22, and it is TINY just a couple millimeters across, in 1:1 scale, it would be roughly the size of a faucet handle.
Wow, you’ve certainly been doing your homework! Everything looks spot on to me. I only thing that I would do differently is to paint the jack block on the rear fender more of a wood color. Can’t wait to see the white wash.
Acrylic paint is best for whitewashes because if you blot it with rubbing alcohol it will actually “chip” while enamel will “melt” if you apply turpentine. A picture of my Panther G painted this way:
I think you’re doin’ great [tup]! I’m not too certain [V] about puttin’ alcohol over a dried future application. It’s been my experience that the alcohol turns the future a frosty white… [banghead] and [BH] it don’t come off either.
You might want to try that on something else before you try it on the good results you have accomplished… [swg] an old pop bottle or something. Patience is everything with this hobby.
Yeah, I think for armor modeling it’s generally better to use lacquer as the protective coat before starting weathering. Just remember that if you do use future not to use alcohol, glycol, or lacquer thinner for chipping.
Well, unfortunately, by the time I read your posts I had already applied my enamel white coat, with some fading. After that dried, I just finished using a cotton swab coated in thinner and some old paintbrushes to scratch and put some wear and tear on. I may have overdone the scratching, but its supposed to represent a tank in late february, so the whitewash has been on a long time by now, and some of the field applied stuff was pretty poor anyways. Its not looking too great yet, but I think some dark washing will make it look really nice, and blend the base to the white, as well as picking out the detail.
I think it’s great that you are experimenting with a lot of different things and tackling some firsts, keep at it, it’s the best way to find out what works or doesn’t work for you. [tup]
Very good work. If you mess up the white wash, go back and do it over. I’ve tried a couple and wasn’t happy so I went back and tried to fix it. I’ve not had great success, but I did manage to improve the finish. Sometimes I think being able to cover mistakes is an important part of building.
I’d go [tup] [tup]. I’m looking forward to seeing your finished product.
Well, Im currently in the process of stripping the paint. I was pretty proud of this one, but I used oil pastels instead of chalk pastels, since I didn’t know there would be a difference. In case you dont know, almost nothing removes oil pastels if they are dried at all, so I had to strip it down to styrene, and Im going to start over. I made a mix of oil pastel and rubbing alcohol, and applied it to the bottom, and when I let it dry, then easily removed it, so after this test, I applied it all over the model, and for some reason, this time, it wouldnt come off. Ill show you some pictures once I give it a new basecoat.
Ouch! [:(!] I had the same thing happen to me on my first pastel attempt, it happens to the best of us. The type of pastels you need for weathering are actually oil pastels, just the soft kind, not semi-hard or hard. Only the soft kind is dry enough. Pastels shouldn’t be applied in a wet mixture. It’s better to either apply them dry for dust or if you want a caked-on mud effect, airbrush acetone onto the desired areas and then use a paintbrush to apply a heavy coat of the dust. It will have a nice texture and be pretty durable. I don’t think that mixing pastels and rubbing alcohol, give or take the Tamiya flat base, and then brushing or airbrushing them is a good idea. This is essentially just another coat of paint and won’t have the texture that makes pastel effects really look good. If you can get them, I would recommend Mungyo Earth tones soft pastels for armor weathering. They are around $5 for 12 colors and I think are fully equal to MIG or MMP pigment. I got mine at Hobby Lobby, but I’m sure there are other places.
This really looks great, Ian! First class. I have a tip for a technique concernin’ a whitewash, in regard to applyin’ it, and chippin’ it up. It works trust me, with the minimum of effort. Wanna’ hear it?!
thanks, and ya Id love to hear your technique fingers, since the bad whitewash attempt is the reason this thing is currently sitting half stripped to styrene on the bench waitng to be repainted! [banghead] although, I might not try it on this one, since I already screwed it up. The look im going for is like one I found on armorama. Under the Armor on display section, theirs a JS/IS-2 with a really nicely chipped look. Thanks.
