Dave Ward's 1/35 Revell Stug IV

[spanner570]

Good start Dave.
I forgot to mention don't thin the paint. Sorry!

Great idea, the sponge...'way to go mate...

[Steve Jones]

You have certainly come up with an interesting idea with the sponge. You could always do back over the uneven shaded discs with a brush to give a uniform colour within the disc. Stick with it Dave as I am sure it will work out fine with a bit of practice. I'm afraid I take the easy road and use masks and an airbrush :smiling5:

[Dave Ward]

I'm not sure how the disc camo was applied on the real thing, but they must have used something similar ( like a a big mop? ) and I believe it was only put on flat surfaces - like schurzen. The hull of the Revell scheme seems to be the 'normal' green/red-brown irregular patches over the dunkelgelb base coat. I've looked at loads of pictures, and I'm still no wiser!
Dave

[Steve Jones]

When disc camo was first applied in August 1944 it was done in the factories and took quite some time to cover a whole tank in it. So intially side armour like the Schurzen plates on Panzers and Stugs along with side covers on Panthers were quickly rushed out to the field for tanks to have added to their already different camouflaged vehicles. Thats why you see the rest of the tank with standard camo patterns that were in abundance at that time with the later fitted disc camo side armour. It wasnt until late 1944 that the Germans applied disc camo to the whole body of the tank in the factory. The camouflage was applied in the factories with airbrushes and stencils. Each factory applied different disc style camouflage patterns.

[Mini Me]

In addition to what Mr. Jones has already stated, the most accurate representation of the factory disc camo scheme I have seen to date was done in AFV Modeler issue 16, 2004. (for reference only) where the factory 3 color scheme is applied and when dry the stencil with not the discs but the spaces in between cut out in a self repeating pattern and when applied over the top of the 3 color scheme was over sprayed with the base yellow to create the multi colored discs. Pure effing magic. Hope this helps.
Rick H.

[Steven000]

Thanks for posting this Rick! Smart workflow :thumb2:
Steven

[Dave Ward]

Steve, Rick,
Thanks for the input! I think that overall disc camo will be a bit much, so I'm going with just the schurzen - the contrast between 'normal' camo & the disc should be interesting
Dave

[Steve Jones]

Absolutely Dave! Good choice

[Guest]

In addition to what Mr. Jones has already stated, the most accurate representation of the factory disc camo scheme I have seen to date was done in AFV Modeler issue 16, 2004. (for reference only) where the factory 3 color scheme is applied and when dry the stencil with not the discs but the spaces in between cut out in a self repeating pattern and when applied over the top of the 3 color scheme was over sprayed with the base yellow to create the multi colored discs.

The only problems I see with this method are that it leaves part-discs where the dark yellow patches are and produces some discs in two colours, both of which are obvious in the lower photo. If the real thing was sprayed through stencils with circular cut-outs, then there wouldn’t be soft edges to any of the discs unless the painter didn’t fill the stencil entirely with paint — and though I’m sure that might have happened occasionally, I doubt it would create a continuous line through multiple discs next to each other.

In short: though I applaud the ingenuity (and the steady hand cutting out those little gaps ), I don’t think it works as well as was intended.

[Dave Ward]

The hull is just about ready for priming

I've added little patches of zimmerit, which might be visible below the schurzen. Due to the schurzen covering the top parts of the running gear, I'm not going to do complete track runs, only on the bottom, round the sprockets & idler wheels.
Dave

[Dave Ward]

A bit of a break from the bench - life getting in the way again!
I realised that I'd have to virtually complete the hull, so I could apply zimmerit without any gaps, or breaks in style - still missing are the brackets that will hold the schurzen rail
The front sand coloured glacis plate is a spare from a old TriStar model, it's going to be easier to apply the zimmerit to the hatches & glacis plate separately, rather than try to differentiate when they were all fitted
Dave

[BattleshipBob]

Coming along very nicely Dave, keep up the good work!

[Dave Ward]

After my tests of the AK 3rd Generation acrylics, back to the Stug.
I've decided to use the Tristar road wheels, with separate tyres, and primed them with dunkelgelb.
I've added the brackets for schurzen supports. Next will be possibly the trickiest part - the zimmerit - getting it even and reasonably similar..................
Dave