Rehashing Hurtgen forest diorama

[rtfoe]

What kind of witchcraft is this, morphing plastic extrusions into mini persons?
Seriously though the results of your skilled fettling is wonderful.

Thanks Stefan...no sorcery involved I swear. Lots of kneading though.
Today I primed the rest of the figures. I count 25 so far

Cheers,
Wabble

[rtfoe]

Hi Guys,
Figures mounted ready for painting after zinethalling. So while I prepare my wet pallette, I worked on bringing the tank destroyers up to date...

The Academy kits I used for the Tank Destroyers was basic and my building wasn't up to today's standards but I'll just keep it simple with minor improvements like the gun sight on the mantlet with it's cover...

Then removing seam lines from the gun barrel...

And the gun cradle attachment at the rear which was not on M10s.

I will probably add stowage to hide the molded on tools.
Putty filled some bad fits ...

Open periscope covers and grab handles from bent wire...

That's about it...next to paint it up again and weathered.

Cheers,
Wabble

[rtfoe]

Covers to the periscopes done...

Decided to add new bolts to the front glacis as well.

Cheers,
Wabble

[rtfoe]

Today I did a first pass of paint with modulation for Shadows and highlights...

The dark tones were olive drab mixed with black and the highlights olive drab with yellow and dark yellow. All Tamiya acrylics diluted heavily with Mr Levelling thinner. Then filtered with pure thinned olive drab to blend the tones. The heavy dilution didn't require me to mask the stowage. I will pick out any over spray later on.
I am going to try a winter wash applied roughly and chipping fluid. Fingers crossed it works.

Cheers,
Wabble

[Jim R]

Great looking paint job. Excellent airbrush skills.

[rtfoe]

Great looking paint job. Excellent airbrush skills.

Thank you kindly Jim. Haven't done modulation for a while so it was fun.

Cheers,
Wabble

[scottie3158]

Wabble,
Some seriously good paint work mate.

[rtfoe]

Wabble,
Some seriously good paint work mate.

Thanks Scottie, this is just the start of the process and there is 80% more to go. not looking forward to the weathering process but it is necessary to get the look that I want which is just short of overdoing it. 😉

Cheers,
Wabble

[rtfoe]

Hi Guys,
I had the bulb in my head switched on and worked out how to distinguish the relieved troops from Patton's armoured division by making them outer perimeter scout patrols of the 101st. So they would have the overall olive drab top to bottom uniform with the baggy trousers pocket extensions. One of them even carries the folding carbine.
Lucky for me I only had to convert five figures, then I re zenithalled them. The rest had long coats on.
Added pockets awaiting results painting

Zenithalled... it was a swift job by the tailor.

Cheers,
Wabble

[scottie3158]

Nicely done

[rtfoe]

Nicely done

Thanks Scottie, the sculpts always looks nice under a coat of zenithal effects. The most important thing is to make sure all the limbs and posture look right, natural and in scale. The last thing is to add weapon slings using either foil or typewriting paper.

Cheers,
Wabble

[Jim R]

Totally agree. They look great with the zenithal primer.

[rtfoe]

Totally agree. They look great with the zenithal primer.

Thanks Jim, especially when it picks out all the detail through the highlights.

Cheers,
Wabble

[rtfoe]

I was about to weather my tanks again when I noticed huge gapping holes just behind the sprocket compliments of the battery operated kit that this was. Easily fixed with plastic sheets shaped to fit.

Then I tried my hand with chipping fluid for the first time. Applying at first straight from the bottle to the airbrush and it wasn't coming out of the nozzle. I guessed it was too thick so I diluted it with water and sprayed. Then applied the white wash in a cloudy pattern.
The results after following the process seen on many YouTube videos turned out pretty okay...

Still more streaming and rust effects to apply after a pin wash then I will clean up the stowage by repainting them. I didn't bother to mask them as the the over spray was controlled to the minimum.
That's all for tonight.

Cheers,
Wabble

[scottie3158]

Wabble, very nice mate.