I figured it prudent to say hello to everyone since I’ve only just recently gotten into this hobby but am already in love with it. While looking around to see just how you build and paint a model in a “proper” way, what sorts of materials are needed and the like, this forum was a great help more than a few times with regards to clarifying things.
Before the Tamiya StuG IV I’m currently butchering (used a much too dark shade of blue/grey but hoping to salvage something via weathering; live and learn) I’d only done some 40K figures as a kid. I’ve got an Sd.Kfz 251 halftrack on the way that I think will turn out much better. Needless to say, German armour is probably that which most interests me.
Anyways, I look forward to having a proper look around this place!
Welcome to the Forums Travis! Glad to have you aboard.
You have come to the right place. The members here are not only very knowledgeable but they are ready to help you with any question or problem that you might have. As you said, have a proper look around the sections of the Forums so you know the right place to post whatever type of question you have. That will make it a lot easier to get the right answers more quickly.
I’ve built all types of models in the 71 years that I’ve been building. My favs are WWI & WWII planes followed by all types of sailing ships. If a model strikes my fancy, and my wallet says “OK”, I’ll build it. Love the hobby.
Sit back, relax and build away. Be sure to post pics of your builds so we can watch your progress and know the best way to help you.
I’m still debating whether or not to share pictures of this StuG considering I ended up using it for experimentation and learning just how to do chipping, washing, etc. I’ll probably end up doing it eventually lol
I’ve been building for 53 years and still butcher kits. Nice thing about armor is you can mess stuff up and hide most of the mistakes with weathering. Not so much with aircraft and ships.
I took up the hobby 2 years ago and I am still learning how to do this. I find that the historical education, friendships and learning techniques every day is what keeps me here. Dive in and enjoy the ride.
As far as the historical education is concerned, I’ve got proverbial stacks of old Osprey books laying around that will be more than a little helpful in terms making things more accurate, plus it’s just nice to have an actual reason to look through them and learn more.
And I’m looking forward to doing it. Gonna look around and see what kind of Afrikacorp styles I can try to emulate, do something a bit more complex this time.
That would be a bit tricky for an Ausf D as it only began production in mid 43, after the German withdrawel from Africa. If you want to do a N African based 251, you would need an earlier version. You could go with an AFV Club or Dragon Ausf C. A step up from Tamiya, extra work but great detail.
The DAK scheme are pretty simple, theres some really nice 3 colour schemes for eastern front or Western Europe schemes and there is a lot more variety.
I’d not taken that into consideration, haven’t read up on it yet. Where exactly do you guys go to learn about all of these different schemes and where they were used? I’m sure everyone has different sources, of course, but is there some online reference site that a lot of people use?
A lot of it is just picked up as you go along. There are books and site out there. A good starting point for German armour is the Panzer Colours collection of 3 books. They have been out of print for some time but can still be found.
The thing to remember about the German 3 colour scheme is that while the yellow was applied at the factory the other colours were addd in the field. This means there was lot of variety. Best suggection i can make is to goggle the vehicle you are building, such as the 251, and find a scheme you lkike. Even though it will be in black and white, you can pick out the green and red brown. There are also colour profile out there which can help a lot. But they are open to interpritation.
This is the Tamiya /9 i built.
And these are 2 images of it that i used as referance.
You can see there is a difference between the colour image and photo. Also, while the images show the vehicle number, they don’t show the other markings, such as number plate or unit markings. So again, some guess work is needed.
Best thing i can suggest, find the vehicle you want to do, do what research you can, and if all else fails, make your best guess.
Thanks, and yes. But there are hard edged schemes you can do with a paint brush. And there are other ways to get a variety of results. The Germans didn’t always use an air gun to apply the paint, they often used what ever was to hand.
