New modeler, new to the forum and 2 questions/comments

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

Canada/Croatia calling!

Well, hi to all. I know there is a forum for introduction, but I thought to come straight here as I would like to build tanks, maybe make them into some dioramas. Few words about me. I moved to Canada from Croatia after the war. Yes, I have seen some of the hardware you guys are building in action. Cool, some may say, but it is acctually very scary. I did build some models airplanes way, way back, but I was mostly just toying around as it was hard to get appropriate info re modeling, painting etc.

Well, now I am back to may original hobby, and I am starting with Sturmgeschutz III Ausf G, by Tamiya. It will be amateurish compared to some of the absolutly fantastic models here, geez, I don’t even have an airbrush. It seems to be pretty relaxed sceen, two crew members sitting on the tank with a dog. So I thought to add few figures beside it and found the appropriate figures on www.internethobbies.com. Has anybody bought anything from them? Any comments?

Second, it is about camouflage on tanks. On pictures I saw here, it looks very good, but I guess it has been done with airbrush. Local hobby store staff tells me they are really good to use. But how realistic it is to have a prefect paint job if you are a soldier and have to paint a new camouflage on your tank in the field?Soldiers don’t have factory style painting equipment. Would’t they use brushes that leave brushmarks, or rags or even branches with leafs to put the paint on?

I think there is lots of great stuff to learn on this forum, I read few things by Doog, Dissastermaster (that last tank is awsome) etc. Seems that I have a long way to go :slight_smile:

2

First off all welcome to the forum and to North America,I have some friends who serve as missionaries in Croatia and they say it is a beautiful country.

You are definitly right some camos were field applied with brushes,but a regular size paint brush you might use would leave brush strokes that were out of scale or too big.But also many patterns were factory applied and sprayed on,so it is a matter of doing research and see which one should be used.

I hope this was a little helpful,I am sure others will also offer some help.

3

Hi

…and welcome to our the forums!

German crews were issued paint sprayers; like big airbrushes, so the paint could indeed be sprayed on. If you have doubts, just look at reference photos–more often than not, you’re going to see “neat”, well-painted camo patterns. Paint could be, and was, also brush painted on.

Camo was also sprayed on in the factories. YOu have to check your references, but don’t get too hung up on reproducing “exact” schemes. Just a good representation of a like-pattern will impress.

You should try to get an airbrush. They are the #1 best modeling tool in my opinion, to improve your finishes.

4

listen to the Doog, he is one of the best and the 3G is easy, mine came with the dog and crew[alien]

5

Welcome to the forum!

I can’t wait to see you builds.

I’ve ordered from internet hobbys and I got my order prety quickly.

[:)]

6

I myself am working on a Tamiya 1/48 Stug III G. As far as using brushes goes, uses enamels. Until recently, I strictly used brushes.

Make sure you keep the brush damp (not soaking) with thinner to keep the paint from gunking up the finish, and the bristles. For camo, I suggest stippling (fancy term for poking or dabbing on paint in small patterns) wavy lines. I’ve done this before with excellent results. This is Tamiya’s Marder II (one of my favorite kits) all paint brushed.

You could try that in any german military colors (reds, browns, greens) or do something completely different! Welcome to the forums!

7

Welcome to the forums and to the hobby! A good airbrush is indispensible IMHO and you’ll never regret making the decision to get one.

Look forward to seeing some of your work here in the future. [tup]

8

Welkommen…

Overall, don’t get too hung-up on spray-equipment… Airbrushes are great tools, and you WILL want to get one or two, but you don’t have to have one to get going. There’s a lot of diorama situations that you can model using brush-painted camo, and this’s why…

Although it’s true about German crews having spray equipment, it didn’t always work, nor was it carved in stone that they’d be sprayed in the “right” color… The paints were gasoline-soluable, meaning they were sprayed on in several different shades, from dark to light and everything in between according to how the gas/paint ratio was done, so exact color matches aren’t thatcritical… Also, some crews used both brushing and spraying at the same time to expedite a job… Brushes were used often with the water-soluable whitewash used for winter camo as well… I’ve replicated it pretty well in small areas with a 2mm shader brush with my favorite flat whites… It’s especially good for helmets and tight areas that the spray can’t reach but are visible anyway, like around periscopes, under railings and grab-handles and such. It scales out to about a 4-inch brush in 1/35th scale, just about the right size for fair-sized job…

American crews on the other hand, used whatever they could find since spray equipment isn’t organic to company/battery/troop-level maintnence sections. Battalion maintnence sections have spray equipment that can be used by crews, but they don’t actually do any painting… Overall, it was (still is, actually) quicker for the crew to do it, and they used brushes, mops, brooms, even rags to apply camouflage paint, especially the winter whitewash used during the winter of '44-'45…

I’ve seen a number dioramas done in which applying the field camouflage was the main story as well. Shep Paine’s dio of the Monogram Sherman T-34 Calliope comes to mind, take a look at this site and the dio called “Sreamin’ Mimi”.

http://www.itzproductions.com/Misc_Pages/shep_paine.htm

Anyway, welcome to the Unit, and get busy wit’ them dioramas… We need MORE diorama buiders around here, ya know…

9

1st off–Welcome to Canada![#welcome] and welcome to the FSM forums as well. Hope to see some of your work soon.