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G
That’s turning out to be more difficult than it seems, because I find it very hard to imagine what it would have looked like after that kind of exposure. I now have the model fairly dirty and am thinking of how and where to add rust. It won’t be overly rusted, though, because unlike the way many models are painted these days, real tanks don’t rust all that much. I went up to this one¹ yesterday:
and though it’s getting to be badly rusted in some areas,² it’s been sitting out on the top of the dyke being battered by North Sea storms for almost 24 years since it last received any real maintenance. The Churchill wouldn’t have been subject to salt water for anywhere near as long, so rust was probably fairly light still.
¹ That’s one of the Sherman Crabs left in Westkapelle, minus all its Crab fittings. It will be the subject of a later model
² Mainly the wheels. But this fact, according to 1960s newspaper reports about the controversy over this particular tank at the time, means the local council has lost the right to display it. But they don’t even know: I have it on good authority that when the state of the tank was recently pointed out to the mayor by someone from the museum nearby, his reply was, “I thought that tank was yours?”
and though it’s getting to be badly rusted in some areas,² it’s been sitting out on the top of the dyke being battered by North Sea storms for almost 24 years since it last received any real maintenance. The Churchill wouldn’t have been subject to salt water for anywhere near as long, so rust was probably fairly light still.
¹ That’s one of the Sherman Crabs left in Westkapelle, minus all its Crab fittings. It will be the subject of a later model
² Mainly the wheels. But this fact, according to 1960s newspaper reports about the controversy over this particular tank at the time, means the local council has lost the right to display it. But they don’t even know: I have it on good authority that when the state of the tank was recently pointed out to the mayor by someone from the museum nearby, his reply was, “I thought that tank was yours?”
Hi Jakko
Just a great catch up on this build. You're doing a cracking job. Very thoughtful, carefully planned approach is paying dividends. The A3 has turned out well and it was interesting to read how you did it. Like Graeme I shall follow the weathering with interest.
Jim
Just a great catch up on this build. You're doing a cracking job. Very thoughtful, carefully planned approach is paying dividends. The A3 has turned out well and it was interesting to read how you did it. Like Graeme I shall follow the weathering with interest.
Jim
G
The A3 marking was the easy part I’ve been washing and drybrushing the model, to arrive at this for now:
View attachment 309991
View attachment 309992
View attachment 309993
After the first wash of Tamiya German Grey I added one of Lifecolor UA 229 Portland Stone 64, which is a reasonable match for the pale-coloured sand we have around here. This wash I only put onto the suspension, the lower hull, the lower track runs, and the bottom parts of the AVRE attachments, making sure it pooled at the bottoms of the wheels so it looks like sand laying in them.
I also added translucent dark grey paint (like Tamiya X-19 Smoke, but home-made) to the air intake grills, to give them a bit of depth. Once that and the wash were dry, I began drybrushing with a couple of different shades of brown, using positively ancient tins of Humbrol enamels — for proof, here’s a photo:
View attachment 309995
That’s MC 24 Natural Wood (not 110!), 29 Dark Earth, 62 Leather, and 72 Khaki Drill. I love it that two of them are non-poisonous — what about the others? While rummaging through my paint drawer for suitable colours, I came across more than a few:
View attachment 309994
Five tins of Dark Earth, only two of which are the same vintage! (I only bought the Super Enamel tin new, all the others come from a few batches of old tins I bought, either in new old stock condition or even used. Some of these tins must date back to the 1970s, because I began building models in the early ’80s and the local shop only ever sold Humbrol with the blue stripe on the tins, and perhaps also the “non-poisonous” slogan. But all of these paints still work just fine — Games Workshop, pay attention please! Or maybe they have, of course … Anyway, back to the model.)
I’m not quite happy with the finish yet, though. It looks too clean, yet at the same time the real tank also doesn’t look all that dirty — but dirtier than the model. The difficult bit is working out how to get to something that looks convincingly like the real thing, though.
I also attached the tracks, before I did most of the drybrushing actually. I made both only long enough for the visible parts, as I don’t see the point in building things that nobody will see. To make sure the one on the right stays on, I used some sewing thread:
View attachment 309996
Looped through the holes in two of the links on each side, to spread the load a little bit better than if they all go through the same link. I basically just pushed the thread through from the top and pulled it underneath with fine tweezers, then repeated on the other side. It was not possible to tension the thread yet at this point, because that wouldn’t have left any room to get it through, so once I was happy with the number of threads, I pulled the whole lot taut and tied the ends together. Thinking about it now, it would probably be better to make several separate loops instead of looping one length of string multiple times, since with only one break, the track will come loose now.
Anyways, I then rotated the track so the thread is hidden under the mudguard:
View attachment 309997
Looks good — or does it?
View attachment 309998
If I’d have only used the link at the end, then it would have. Unfortunately, by using the two final links on each side, I put the white thread out in the open on both sides. A little bit of paint solved that, though:
View attachment 309999
The left track I put on by letting liquid cement run onto the axle of the drive sprocket and applying superglue to its teeth, then pushing the track onto it and rotating the wheel so the track's free end went out of sight under the mudguard. When that had dried, I did much the same at the front, though the track there is long enough that it goes past the mud chute, because it’s visible through that. Originally I had intended to use thread here as well, but the length made that impractical.
I’ve been washing and drybrushing the model, to arrive at this for now:View attachment 309991
View attachment 309992
View attachment 309993
After the first wash of Tamiya German Grey I added one of Lifecolor UA 229 Portland Stone 64, which is a reasonable match for the pale-coloured sand we have around here. This wash I only put onto the suspension, the lower hull, the lower track runs, and the bottom parts of the AVRE attachments, making sure it pooled at the bottoms of the wheels so it looks like sand laying in them.
I also added translucent dark grey paint (like Tamiya X-19 Smoke, but home-made) to the air intake grills, to give them a bit of depth. Once that and the wash were dry, I began drybrushing with a couple of different shades of brown, using positively ancient tins of Humbrol enamels — for proof, here’s a photo:
View attachment 309995
That’s MC 24 Natural Wood (not 110!), 29 Dark Earth, 62 Leather, and 72 Khaki Drill. I love it that two of them are non-poisonous — what about the others?
While rummaging through my paint drawer for suitable colours, I came across more than a few:View attachment 309994
Five tins of Dark Earth, only two of which are the same vintage! (I only bought the Super Enamel tin new, all the others come from a few batches of old tins I bought, either in new old stock condition or even used. Some of these tins must date back to the 1970s, because I began building models in the early ’80s and the local shop only ever sold Humbrol with the blue stripe on the tins, and perhaps also the “non-poisonous” slogan. But all of these paints still work just fine — Games Workshop, pay attention please! Or maybe they have, of course … Anyway, back to the model.)
I’m not quite happy with the finish yet, though. It looks too clean, yet at the same time the real tank also doesn’t look all that dirty — but dirtier than the model. The difficult bit is working out how to get to something that looks convincingly like the real thing, though.
I also attached the tracks, before I did most of the drybrushing actually. I made both only long enough for the visible parts, as I don’t see the point in building things that nobody will see. To make sure the one on the right stays on, I used some sewing thread:
View attachment 309996
Looped through the holes in two of the links on each side, to spread the load a little bit better than if they all go through the same link. I basically just pushed the thread through from the top and pulled it underneath with fine tweezers, then repeated on the other side. It was not possible to tension the thread yet at this point, because that wouldn’t have left any room to get it through, so once I was happy with the number of threads, I pulled the whole lot taut and tied the ends together. Thinking about it now, it would probably be better to make several separate loops instead of looping one length of string multiple times, since with only one break, the track will come loose now.
Anyways, I then rotated the track so the thread is hidden under the mudguard:
View attachment 309997
Looks good — or does it?
View attachment 309998
If I’d have only used the link at the end, then it would have. Unfortunately, by using the two final links on each side, I put the white thread out in the open on both sides. A little bit of paint solved that, though:
View attachment 309999
The left track I put on by letting liquid cement run onto the axle of the drive sprocket and applying superglue to its teeth, then pushing the track onto it and rotating the wheel so the track's free end went out of sight under the mudguard. When that had dried, I did much the same at the front, though the track there is long enough that it goes past the mud chute, because it’s visible through that. Originally I had intended to use thread here as well, but the length made that impractical.
G
The model is mostly finished by now as far as I’m concerned — but probably not quite 100% yet Here are some more photos of its current state:
View attachment 311327
View attachment 311328
View attachment 311329
View attachment 311330
I’ve added sand around the lower track run, the bottoms of many of the wheels and the underside of the hull using some Mig structured paint. I’d never used that before but came across them at a model shop so I thought I’d try one, in this case a pale mud colour that seems a reasonable match for the sand around here. I then drybrushed it with off-white to make the texture stand out a bit (not sure that worked as well as I wanted it to) and to make it appear lighter still.
After that I added some very basic chipping with a dark brown paint meant to replicate rust, then followed it up with a 2B pencil to make small areas look like dull, bare metal. I only did this around hatches and places where it seemed likely, as I don’t believe in all that heavy chipping that has been the rage for the last 15–20 years — if you look closely at photos of these tanks, which as already mentioned, stood outside for three years and in seawater for a year, you barely see any chipped paint or rust anywhere. Having half the paint chipped off a Panzer or a Sherman that’s barely seen a few weeks or months of use just comes across as a bit silly to me … </rant>
Now the question is: what next? I’m not sure I can add all that much to this model anymore, except a figure to show its size/scale.
Here are some more photos of its current state:View attachment 311327
View attachment 311328
View attachment 311329
View attachment 311330
I’ve added sand around the lower track run, the bottoms of many of the wheels and the underside of the hull using some Mig structured paint. I’d never used that before but came across them at a model shop so I thought I’d try one, in this case a pale mud colour that seems a reasonable match for the sand around here. I then drybrushed it with off-white to make the texture stand out a bit (not sure that worked as well as I wanted it to) and to make it appear lighter still.
After that I added some very basic chipping with a dark brown paint meant to replicate rust, then followed it up with a 2B pencil to make small areas look like dull, bare metal. I only did this around hatches and places where it seemed likely, as I don’t believe in all that heavy chipping that has been the rage for the last 15–20 years — if you look closely at photos of these tanks, which as already mentioned, stood outside for three years and in seawater for a year, you barely see any chipped paint or rust anywhere. Having half the paint chipped off a Panzer or a Sherman that’s barely seen a few weeks or months of use just comes across as a bit silly to me … </rant>
Now the question is: what next? I’m not sure I can add all that much to this model anymore, except a figure to show its size/scale.
G
In the mid-70s I still played with wooden blocks and fluffy toys I built my first models in the early ‘80s, but I do think I still have some paint tins I bought not much more than a few years later. Regardless, and somewhat amazingly, it’s still good paint!
I built my first models in the early ‘80s, but I do think I still have some paint tins I bought not much more than a few years later. Regardless, and somewhat amazingly, it’s still good paint!
G
To be honest, I think the only thing left to do is add the little girl. Part of me thinks the model needs more weathering, another part looks at photos and thinks, “But what, exactly?”
G
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