Sd.Kfz.171 Panther G Early Production w/ Zimmerit #1

Sometime ago, I spotted a guy selling two built but not painted Panther G tanks for £10 on eBay and thought they would be great models to learn painting techniques on.

I also wanted to try out the Tamiya paint route to getting a decent shade of Dunkelgelb and use more of the AK weathering products that I had bought.

Paints and techniques used.

• The model was primed using Vallejo Surface Primer in black (70.602).  This sprays easily from the bottle with not a lot of thinner.  It's a really nice product.
• I used Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow lightened with XF-2 Flat White thinned by about 40-50%.  I can't remember the proportions of dark yellow and flat white exactly as I played around with it a bit over several coats.  
• I also tried some basic colour modulation by spraying a much lighter shade on the top edges of the tank where the light hits.  
• The Tamiya paint sprays much better than the Lifecolor paint I used on the Sd.Kfz. 251/16.  In retrospect, I could have gone a lot lighter as the weathering process really darkened the end result.  Something to think about for next time.
• Detailed bits were painted with various Vallejo Model Color from a Panzer Aces set. 
• Vallejo Satin Varnish (70.522) was used to seal the model ready for weathering.

Weathering products and techniques used

• MIG Productions Dark Wash was used for the washes. The excess was cleaned away with white spirits. 
• AK Streaking Grime was used for streaks on the side. This is a hard technique to get right as I difficulty I had painting thin lines appropriate for a 1/72 scale model. 
• I created scratches on the schurzen using a knife. I then painted the scratch using 71.042 Camouflage Black Brown frpm Vallejo's Rust & Chipping Effects set.  This was followed up by AK Rust Streaks on top plus a little streaking.  
• The combination of those two products also worked really well for chipping although I over did it a bit around the hatches.  Subtlety is the key here.  I do like the chipping effect on the gun barrel and the cylindrical container on the left hand side.
• Liking the rust effect, I also used AK Rust Streaks as a wash around the top of the turret, the engine deck and the spare tracks.
• I used the AK Heavy Muddy Weathering Set with AK Summer Kursk Earth for the mud base around the wheels, tracks and front and back of the tank. Also did the mud splatter thing again.  Probably over did it.  One does seem to lose some definition from the washes when using the mud around the wheels.  I should experiment with using a wash over the mud at some point.
• AK's Oil Stains was used around the hubs of the wheels and the rear engine deck.  
• I used graphite pencil along the edges of the panels for more definition as well creating more scratches. Also on the raised parts of the tracks.

Here's the original kit

And here's what I did with it

Overall, I am pretty happy with the result.  The model looks a shade darker in reality than the photos.  Will need to learn how to photograph these things properly at some point.

PS: The sharp eyed among you will notice that the gun mantlet was put on upside down.

Sd.Kfz.251/16 Flammpanzerwagen

So here's the first one I've finished.  It's actually an armored personnel carrier (APC) fielded by the Germans in World War II.  One of the first in fact. The Sd.Kfz. 251 Schutzenpanzer was the forerunner of the APCs of today. This is Revell's 1/72 version of the Sd.Kfz. 251/16 Ausf C with the armed with two MG42 machine guns and two flamethrowers.

It was fairly easy to build although a bit fiddly given all the small parts.  I painted the interior first, then glued the hull together, and painted the model in sub assemblies. Some solder was used for the fuel lines to the flamethrowers.

Paints used

• For the Dunkelgelb, I used UA250 ground colour from the Lifecolor MS01 Dunkelgelb Contrast & Desaturation set.  It was a bit of a pain to spray and I think the result looks a bit dark. I did consider the the UA249 flashed shade in the set but it looked way to light so I didn't try it.  Also, weathering does darken things so something to bear in mind for next time.  The finish also looks monochrome. Need to try some colour modulation or maybe oil fading techniques to change that.
• For tracks, tires and rubber, I used paints from AK Interactive's AK557 Tracks and Wheels set
• Remaining paints were a Humbrol metallic for the guns and various Vallejo paints from some Panzer Aces sets I bought a while back.  

Weathering products used

• I made my own water based filter although I can't remember the paint I used. I didn't like the oil based The Filter Brown for Dark Yellow that I tried on a test model.  
• MIG Productions Dark Wash was used for the washes. The excess was cleaned away with white spirits. Struggled a bit with this technique
• AK Streaking Grime was used for streaks.
• AK Summer Kursk earth was used for the dirt.  I flicked some of this using a brush and a tooth pick.  
• Graphite pencil along the edges of the panels for more definition.

Here's the box art.

And here's what I did.