doog: …got the"chin"?..check!!!..I hope to start painting tomorrow, thanks for your input and help[#toast]
Guys: WIP-Here is my Panther with dark yellow. Actually it is three shades of the same color. I started with the dark yellow as the base color, then lightened it and sprayed the center of each panel (clouds), then I lightened it even more and sprayed (clouds) on the horizontal top surfaces that would receive the most sun…sun bleached.
There is some overspray and touch-up to take care of on the road wheels, but I like how this all came together:
What do you think?
Hey, that looks EXCELLENT, Steve! Thst’s exactly how I did my E-100 finish, in “layers” like that. It really is a cool way to add depth to the finish–you executed it perfectly! [:P][tup]
Thanks doog! I’ve used this technique before, but never tried the really lightened third application. It was hard to get in tight on some of the detail, so I had to “go back” and re-add some of the middle tone…well worth the effort though.
I’m debating how to add the German Grey next…I may take the Dark Yellow tank to “completion”, or close to it and THEN add the grey. I’m thinking that might look more realistic because the grey would cover up some of the worn areas…picture a “used” Panther in “fall back” position to defend Berlin…the grey would have been quickly added to camo’ it for urban battle.
Looks really good so far. Keep it up.
would the colors be more washed out on zim than a non zim tank? Looking at some of the color pictures it looks like the colors are not as vibrant on the zim
Wow SMJ, dont put any camo on it! Thats one of the nicest looking base coats Ive ever seen!
Personally, I think you’re “over-thinking” it, Steve. I would suspect that you’re not going to like the end result by finishing the DY with weathering first and then adding to it. GO back and look at my E-100; that was done all at once, and the finish is pretty harmonious.
Otherwise, you’re going to wind up with uneven weathering.
Thanks Tigerman!!!
dostacos: Not sure about washed-out colors on zim’ and non-zim’[%-)] I want this to look washed-out (sun-bleached), no real reason I just thought it would be cool and I wanted to practice the technique before the “Urban Armor” GB, see comment to mg42gunner below…
mg42gunner: Hey, thanks for the kind words, but this is a “trial run” base coat for me…I will being doing the same thing on a Panther A for the “Urban Armor” GB. It will stay Dark Yellow for that build. I want to add the grey to this build to try something new…believe me it will be hard to spray over that base coat because I like the way it looks too…“no guts no glory”…right???
doog: ME, overthink something…???..nah…[;)]LOL You might be right though, because the winter camo’ technique I use isn’t added later either…glad you posted me in time!!![tup]
Here’s a couple questions for you doog: What do you think the Germans would have had available to apply the grey in haste? Spray, brushes, mops, all the above? In such haste do you think they would have focused on the sides (vertical surfaces) first, just sloshing it on and letting it “run down”? Then hit the horizontals with a mop?..I feel a little “in action” painting dio’ might be cool…hmmmm
Now you did it. You got me thinking I need to build a tank.
Thinking this through I believe i’m going to paint the beast as it would have looked in the field. Then I’m going to use a small flat brush and over paint the green areas with gray. Near the end I would surmise the crews did not have access to much support and had to make do with what they could find. Brooms, mops, brushes etc were available but the chance of finding spray equipment was probably slim. I think that at the end everyone picked up a weapon and went at the Russians.
I think it’s perfectly reasonable to think they would have used brushes–it’s not like we’re talking that thet’re on the front line with nary a painting implement available anywhere…? And I think that they’d STILL do it fairly neatly…
There’s that painting-soldier figure available in the older Tamiya Sdkfz 250/9 “stummel” kit…
Guys: WIP-I cut strips of paper in geometric patterns to get this look…I figured for an urban look it would be more appropriate than traditional camo’. I wanted the edges to be soft, but I still need to fix a few (overspray)…pretty cool look, huh???:
I’m going to add some red-brown next, either smaller geo’ shapes or random size dots…not sure yet[%-)]
That is pretty cool looking SMJ. I like the style of the shapes, something I havent seen before. I also like the hard and soft edges. Not sure what you could do with the red brown. Making that geometric too could look cool, but mayby the dots/traditional sprayed camo would look good too. Mayby spray them on a practice paper or tank to see what would look good together, as the tanks coming along really nice so far. Only thing I would suggest is bring back some yellow on the front of the tank because I think its a little too gray.
Excellent, Steve! I like it–it reminds me of the late Panthers seen around Kustrin near the end of the war with the “splinter” camo patterns. An excellent choice!
I think I’d go with thin red lines framing or bordering the gray splotches? Definitely less than “bands” of red; anything more than that and you’re going to wind up obliterating too much of the yellow. Maybe you can lay the red over the gray more so than the yellow?
It should be looking great–it already does! [:P]
A question though—what the heck inspired you to put decals and markings on it before finishing the painting?!?! Certainly an unorthodox approach, IMO? [%-)]
mg42gunner: Yeah it’s different, huh?..just what I was going for! I debated “fixing” the front of the hull and adding back some DY, but I wanted to stay with the “hurried application” premise that I started with. The red-brown is on already on…again, definately different!
doog: Thanks for the compliments and suggestions!..I actually added a zig-zag/ cargo net pattern of red-brown with a few splotches where the airbrushing was real tight. It did “obliterate” a lot of the dark yellow, I’m OK with that except for how much I liked the base color even before the grey went on (FYI: the DY was a test run anyway for my next Panther, the A variant, it will stay DY) Mixed feelings on the red-brown, but it’s definately different! I’ll being spraying the road wheels grey next and maybe a couple other touch-ups…I’ll post a WIP later today.
As far as the decals, real life order of applications I guess…[%-)]
Steve–your last comment there about obliterating most of the Dark Yellow brings up a great point. I have learned the hard way that when you’re painting a three-tone scheme, one of the hardest things to learn is to leave room for the second color when spraying the first!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sprayed a first camo color and then thought “OK, well now where do I put the second color?”
File that lesson in your noggin for next time–honestly it’s one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned (the hard way! [sigh]) [swg]
Obviously we modellers are masters of our own canvasses. However, if you’re an AMPS member, know that in the Mar/April issue of Boresight is the first installment of my interview with Wolfgang Kloth, veteran of the 2nd PD who fought in Mk IIIs, Mk IVs and StuGs from 43 to the end – all in the East.
He gives fascinating mintuae about the daily workings of his crew and vehicles. When asked about his recollections of camo schemes or paint colors on this vehicles he laughed heartily. He said that his tanks oftentimes just smeared with earth/mud. He said they were painted in earth tones. When pressed further he gave these two (hilarious) insights: “Soldiers are lazy. We wouldn’t paint anything. The tank came painted and we left it like that” and “Who painted our tank? I’m not a painter, I’m a tanker!”
I think we can talk ourselves into imagining a crew repainting their Panther into an “urban scheme” but in reality, the crew was more concerned with a fresh can of water and if a hot meal would be gotten that day or when will fuel and ammo come in. We modellers in our workshops contrive all the fancy camo schemes that, while artistic and aesthetically pleasing, may not have that much to do with the vast majority of what actually happened. Sure, we get excited when we see an oddball paint job (e.g. the “Picasso” Stug IIIG) but we can get carried away a bit.
My two cents
Oh, BTW: Wolfgang will again speak at the AMPS Convention 16 days from now. Hear my interviewing him again, live from the audience!
I am not an AMPS member, that sounds interesting…can you post it here in the forum?
With all due respect T26E4, and I don’t want to start the weathering debate, AGAIN, I would guess you are in the “less is more” and there wasn’t much rust on vehicles because the amount of down time the soldiers had, and how the “tank is their home”, their “lifeline”, etc…and hours were spent keeping it in tip-top shape…kind of goes against the “lazy” soldier qoute.
I started this thread to see if this was anywhere near an authentic scheme, no evidence was given either way. I wanted to get a real good feel for the Dark Yellow base color so I spent a lot of time on it and was real pleased:
The other camo’ (below) is mostly for fun, and it gives me some practice with the airbrush…heck, it looks cool too! Thanks for your input T26E4, and I look forward to that interview!!![tup][tup][tup]
Guys: Here is a WIP pic’ with a red brown zig-zag/cargo net camo’ look. Somewhat like the AC guys do…MAN it’s tough getting those thin lines…ANOTHER reason I build tanks[(-D]…I’m having a lot of fun with this build!!!..let me know what you think.
SMJModeler,
post your first “plate” picture and your model for a nice side by side[tup]
dostacos: Done!..thanks, that was a great idea.