Tiger I, Panzer IV, Churchill VII, PAK-40

[ShaunJ25]

Hello and welcome to my very first post

 

There are the first 1/35 scale Tamiya models I have built and was hoping some of you would be able to suggest improvements. I believe I am fairly good at making models but I need to venture into the more advanced weathering techniques to make them look like they have been used in a war, and not like they have just come out of the factory (which can still be a cool look). So I will explain my thoughts and opinions of each of these 4 models below and show you plenty of pictures of each:

 

Tiger I:

- I am quite proud of this model as it is the very first model tank I tried to make in 1/35 scale. I was very proud of the base as it really does look like the tank is digging into the ground as it drives over the grass. One thing I think needs improving on is making the tank look more muddy (since its driving through a field), but I'm worried of spoiling it. Also I think I should add some weathering like scratches or some weathering washes, suggestions?

 

 

 

 

 

Panzer IV

- One of my favourite tanks. Again quite proud of the base which is meant to look like a narrow, dusty gravel road elevated above a grassy field. Like with the Tiger 1 I would like to add some weathering to this, I would to give it a gravel-dust effect but I'm not really sure what to use. I am aware that one of the decals has come off, no idea where it went. And also ignore the unpainted panel on the inside of the turret-surround (hard to see on the pictures anyway), I made a mistake while making it and had no more paint to finish them haha. 

 

 

 

 

Churchill VII

- I decided to base this one from the real life tank on which this model is based (as in the real tank with the same serial numbers etc). So I did lots of research on the real one and found out some very interesting things (pm me if you're interested). So this was made to be in the Hill 112 battle in Normandy which some of you may have heard of. With this model I decided to try to add some scratches as though it had been peppered with machine gun fire or just from general wear and tear. I did this by dry brushing some metallic paint onto the model, which I don't like the look of. Again fairly proud of this tank (bar the rubbish attempt to model scratches) but the base has much to be desired, but isn't quite finished.

 

 

 

 

PAK-40

- I bought this model to have a go at the Vallejo Chipping Medium technique and I am very pleased with how well it worked. It's quite a faff but it paid off. I am yet to do the soldiers and the shells. I am quite pleased with how the mud mound turned out (I wish I had continued it round to the back side), the camera doesn't show it too well but I tried to create a crater in the mound as though a shell had hit it. Still need to paint the side of the base black. 

 

 

 

(Sorry for how large the pictures turned out)

 

So there you go. I would greatly appreciate any feedback you have to offer  

 

One question, what paint would you use for bare steel? 

 

Thanks for looking  

 

Shaun 

[Carius]

Very nice collection, especially the Churchill and Pz IV IMHO.

 

Cheers

 

 

[Firefly]

Hi

Well you doing a great job already, and the dioramas really add to the overall look.

Far better modellers on here than me can offer you advise, but as I only came back to modelling again a year ago I've been learning as I go along.

so what I've found is,

preshading works really well especially on single colours like the Churchill,

lots of weathering products on the market which really are try them out and see which you like, but I would really recommend using artist oils.

 

Best thing is to look on you tube, Mig jamenez he's a true expert.

[ShaunJ25]

38 minutes ago, Firefly said:

Hi

Well you doing a great job already, and the dioramas really add to the overall look.

Far better modellers on here than me can offer you advise, but as I only came back to modelling again a year ago I've been learning as I go along.

so what I've found is,

preshading works really well especially on single colours like the Churchill,

lots of weathering products on the market which really are try them out and see which you like, but I would really recommend using artist oils.

 

Best thing is to look on you tube, Mig jamenez he's a true expert.

Thank you  Yeah I've seen people use preshading but I never really saw the benefit just from looking at pictures, but I'll definitely give it a try on the Challenger Mk 5 that I'm currently building. I do have a couple of weathering washes but I've never been able to get them to work as well as they do it on youtube

[fredben]

Very nice builds, Paint and camo are spot on and the base for each build is very good. How is the base done, looks very impressive grass. I use washes and many other items on my finished builds, You should just practice and you will then make your own way of using them, we all have different ways of finishing off are builds. Well done on your first builds on here.

[Badder]

Hi Shaun, and welcome to the best forum on BM!

 

What a nice collection of models for your first post. You made good choices in kits and went so far as to present them on bases with some realism, so well done.

Remember, practice makes perfect, so the sooner you practice the sooner you improve. If you make mistakes along the way that's a good thing, so long as you learn. Look at what others do, study their WIPs, try out their methods, listen to their advice and don't be afraid to experiment. You never know, you may discover or invent a method no one has ever thought of.

 

You'll find a whole gang of members who are only too happy to help, offer advice and give positive criticism. And on that note, I'd like to give you a few pieces of advice.

 

Firstly, and as an avid diorama builder myself, the most obvious, is that you want to 'sink' your tanks into the ground a bit. It's not hard to do. Vehicles are best 'sunk' when the ground is still wet, either by pressing the model directly into the wet 'plaster' or by using spare lengths of track.  But even now you could improve the look of your tanks by 'sinking' them. It might be possible to 'scrape' away at your ruts with a scalpel/knife and carefully deepen them enough to lower your models into the ground. Or, you could raise the ground along the edges of the tracks. Another alternative would be to add grass to the base and use it to hide the contact points between tank and ground.

 

Secondly, painting and weathering.

Try out all the techniques and find out which ones suit you. When I was a kid, the most advanced techniques were wet and dry brushing and airbrushes were way too expensive for the average teen modeller. I stopped modelling back then, because I felt I could  never be as good as the best without an airbrush. (I lie. I discovered girls!) And when I returned to model making a couple of years ago I was stunned and confused by the number of new products and techniques that had been invented in the meantime.

 

I do have an airbrush now, and I make good use of it, but I realised that airbrushes are NOT the be all and end all. Have a look at the  excellent work done by PlaStix.... who uses nothing but brushes. And as for the new techniques, I'm slowly making my way through them, trying them out on each model I do.

 

So, I would suggest that you start off by learning about washes and dry brushing. Stick to making your own washes for now, that is enamel paints heavily thinned and applied over models pre-treated with gloss acrylic varnish. Shop-bought washes are a bit expensive and actually a bit of a lazy way out if you ask me. The washes can be used to add dust, dirt and mud to your tanks, and the dry brushing can be used to recreate wear.

 

There are plenty more tips I and others could give you but you would overwhelmed! So stick to the basics above and maybe have a practice on one or two of your completed models? You may not want to risk spoiling them, but if you're anything like me, in a few years time you'll have improved so much that you'll look back at them and think 'I wish I'd known then what I know now'. So, give it a go.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[ShaunJ25]

3 hours ago, Badder said:

Hi Shaun, and welcome to the best forum on BM!

 

What a nice collection of models for your first post. You made good choices in kits and went so far as to present them on bases with some realism, so well done.

Remember, practice makes perfect, so the sooner you practice the sooner you improve. If you make mistakes along the way that's a good thing, so long as you learn. Look at what others do, study their WIPs, try out their methods, listen to their advice and don't be afraid to experiment. You never know, you may discover or invent a method no one has ever thought of.

 

You'll find a whole gang of members who are only too happy to help, offer advice and give positive criticism. And on that note, I'd like to give you a few pieces of advice.

 

Firstly, and as an avid diorama builder myself, the most obvious, is that you want to 'sink' your tanks into the ground a bit. It's not hard to do. Vehicles are best 'sunk' when the ground is still wet, either by pressing the model directly into the wet 'plaster' or by using spare lengths of track.  But even now you could improve the look of your tanks by 'sinking' them. It might be possible to 'scrape' away at your ruts with a scalpel/knife and carefully deepen them enough to lower your models into the ground. Or, you could raise the ground along the edges of the tracks. Another alternative would be to add grass to the base and use it to hide the contact points between tank and ground.

 

Secondly, painting and weathering.

Try out all the techniques and find out which ones suit you. When I was a kid, the most advanced techniques were wet and dry brushing and airbrushes were way too expensive for the average teen modeller. I stopped modelling back then, because I felt I could  never be as good as the best without an airbrush. (I lie. I discovered girls!) And when I returned to model making a couple of years ago I was stunned and confused by the number of new products and techniques that had been invented in the meantime.

 

I do have an airbrush now, and I make good use of it, but I realised that airbrushes are NOT the be all and end all. Have a look at the  excellent work done by PlaStix.... who uses nothing but brushes. And as for the new techniques, I'm slowly making my way through them, trying them out on each model I do.

 

So, I would suggest that you start off by learning about washes and dry brushing. Stick to making your own washes for now, that is enamel paints heavily thinned and applied over models pre-treated with gloss acrylic varnish. Shop-bought washes are a bit expensive and actually a bit of a lazy way out if you ask me. The washes can be used to add dust, dirt and mud to your tanks, and the dry brushing can be used to recreate wear.

 

There are plenty more tips I and others could give you but you would overwhelmed! So stick to the basics above and maybe have a practice on one or two of your completed models? You may not want to risk spoiling them, but if you're anything like me, in a few years time you'll have improved so much that you'll look back at them and think 'I wish I'd known then what I know now'. So, give it a go.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

Thank you for the detailed comment, I really appreciate it

 

That's a good idea with sinking the tanks into the mud, for the Tiger I just cut out some of the board to create the tracks which I think work well but having the bank of mud alongside the track would really add to it. I have some modelling clay which would work perfectly for that  

 

Yeah I know about dry brushing, but the one thing I never liked about it is how the dry brushed paint sits on top of the tanks main paint (if that makes sense) which is fine for dirt etc that would sit on top of the main paint job, but for things like scratches it doesn't look realistic to me. Which is why I love the effect of the chipping medium shown on the PAK-40 because it looks as thought the main paint job has been taken away to reveal the metal underneath, although it would be a pain to do this over a hole tank. I am currently building a Chieftain MK 5 so I will use that to try out all of the washes etc, then apply those to my other tanks if it works out. 

 

What paint would you use for bare steel? I an never find one that looks right

Also what would you use to clean the inside of you airbrush? I have some Vellejo Airbrush Cleaner but it doesn't seem to do much.

 

Thanks a lot

 

Shaun

 

[StephenMG]

Hi Shaun,

 

What a great set of models - keep up the good work!

 

If you want to try some washes risk-free, you could try some Ultimate Weathering Washes (reviewed on this site here) or Flory Washes. They are water-based clay washes so they don't affect your paint job and, once dry, can be re-activated with water. That means if you really hate what you've done you can wash it off and start again!

 

Mark

[ShaunJ25]

23 minutes ago, StephenMG said:

Hi Shaun,

 

What a great set of models - keep up the good work!

 

If you want to try some washes risk-free, you could try some Ultimate Weathering Washes (reviewed on this site here) or Flory Washes. They are water-based clay washes so they don't affect your paint job and, once dry, can be re-activated with water. That means if you really hate what you've done you can wash it off and start again!

 

Mark

Ah right, I'll have a look. Thank you Mark  

[Badder]

5 hours ago, ShaunJ25 said:

Yeah I know about dry brushing, but the one thing I never liked about it is how the dry brushed paint sits on top of the tanks main paint (if that makes sense) which is fine for dirt etc that would sit on top of the main paint job, but for things like scratches it doesn't look realistic to me. Which is why I love the effect of the chipping medium shown on the PAK-40 because it looks as thought the main paint job has been taken away to reveal the metal underneath, although it would be a pain to do this over a hole tank. I am currently building a Chieftain MK 5 so I will use that to try out all of the washes etc, then apply those to my other tanks if it works out. 

 

What paint would you use for bare steel? I an never find one that looks right

Also what would you use to clean the inside of you airbrush? I have some Vellejo Airbrush Cleaner but it doesn't seem to do much.

 

Hi Shaun,

Dry brushing is best done with the original colour made a shade or two lighter with a bit of white and as such is more to pick out the highlights and suggest wear than it is to recreate scratches. It really does make a difference though and adds realism if not overdone. For scratches, damage and really heavy wear you are doing the right thing with the chipping fluid. 

I must confess I've not tried to show freshly bared steel on any of my AFVs. Where there's been heavy damage I've made it old damage, so any exposed steel is rusty. However if I were to try 'fresher' steel I'd go for an aluminium colour .with some subtle dark washes over it.

As for cleaning my airbrush I use whichever thinner matches the paint being sprayed, then flush through with water and finally lots of air.

 

Hope that helps,

Badder

[ShaunJ25]

14 hours ago, fredben said:

Very nice builds, Paint and camo are spot on and the base for each build is very good. How is the base done, looks very impressive grass. I use washes and many other items on my finished builds, You should just practice and you will then make your own way of using them, we all have different ways of finishing off are builds. Well done on your first builds on here.

Thank you  I cant remember what the material of the base is called, and each board is made differently as I have tried out different methods. But for a fairly flat scene I use modelling clay on top of the board to create the right ground texture. Then I glue some 'Woodland Scenics Blended Turf - Green Blend' for the grass and airbrush some black and brown over the top to make it look darker  Hope this helps

[ShaunJ25]

50 minutes ago, Badder said:

Hi Shaun,

Dry brushing is best done with the original colour made a shade or two lighter with a bit of white and as such is more to pick out the highlights and suggest wear than it is to recreate scratches. It really does make a difference though and adds realism if not overdone. For scratches, damage and really heavy wear you are doing the right thing with the chipping fluid. 

I must confess I've not tried to show freshly bared steel on any of my AFVs. Where there's been heavy damage I've made it old damage, so any exposed steel is rusty. However if I were to try 'fresher' steel I'd go for an aluminium colour .with some subtle dark washes over it.

As for cleaning my airbrush I use whichever thinner matches the paint being sprayed, then flush through with water and finally lots of air.

 

Hope that helps,

Badder

Hi Badder,

 

Ah right okay, yeah the one thing I don't like about my models is how flat the paint looks so I'll definitely give it a go  

 

Thanks a lot

 

Shaun

[Firefly]

Hi

reference cleaning your airbrush, I had an ultrasonic cleaner for X mas despite my scepticism that they really work.

 

have to say I think it's brilliant, hasn't shifted really old paint ( months old) but cleaning soon after use really works, would definitely recommend.

[ShaunJ25]

16 minutes ago, Firefly said:

Hi

reference cleaning your airbrush, I had an ultrasonic cleaner for X mas despite my scepticism that they really work.

 

have to say I think it's brilliant, hasn't shifted really old paint ( months old) but cleaning soon after use really works, would definitely recommend.

That's not a bad idea, but I was looking for a liquid I could use to just flush it out. I was wondering if something like rubbing alcohol would work. It should be possible to use quite strong stuff since the airbrush is stainless steel it wont rust if I use something stronger than airbursh cleaner for example.  I have some incredibly stubborn acrylic paint right inside the paintbrush and I cant get it out, I've left in a solution of tamiya airbrush cleaner, hot water and dish soap for nearly 2 days and it still wont budge >:-(