|
Scale 1:72
Producer of the kit: Revell
I had the kit in my cabinet for a
while and the only thing I was waiting for was some interesting
camouflage and marking. Finally, I found an inspiration in a Czech
magazine Modeláø. However, it meant to do a new entrance and a hatch
in the turret, shape of the gun mantlet, new exhaust covers – for a
higher “action” effect I added just one – new box in the rear, I
also made a new shovel on the front plate of the hull (from an
aluminium sheet from a tea-candle and a plastic rod), I adjusted the
height of the commander’s hatch and I did not use some parts.
Although I am an orthodox “brusher”, I followed a recommendation of
a friend of mine to use at least a white spray. I was able to get
only Tamiya AS-20 Insignia White (US Navy) in our model store, which
in result may be even better than the flat white. The bottom of the
tank has a base coat with Humbrol (HB-2, I think) and the hull and
the turret are painted with Agama German Panzergrau. After masking
the bottom I oversprayed the top with six very thin layers of white.
It is true that you can read in the instructions to the spray and
also on the Tamiya web page that the spray is supposed to be used in
scales 1:48 and bigger but after assuring myself that I just had to
give it a try and that I was building for myself, I did it. The
result pleasantly surprised me and I started to do the weathering. I
rejected a chipping and I decided to do the worn and showing through
colours exactly the same way as they occur in reality. Then I did
the weathering with water colours – I read somewhere that the
Spanish school says that “each side has its own life” so I mixed the
water colours and each of four sides has a slightly different shade
(mixture of blue, green and brown), after fading of the colours, I
wiped them with cotton buds and with a brush. Finally, it was a turn
for the dry pastels (black, medium blue and brown). I used a red
pastel for the exhausts. Following, I mudded the bottom with a
pigment Agama and with the pastels of brownish shades. I haven’t
added any mud yet, it will be done when I get me some German
soldiers in winter clothing, e.g. those by MIG Productions.
I used the following decals for the
marking of the second battle of Kharkov in 1943: crosses from the
Panther by ESCI (original ones were out of register), Totenkopf
divisional marking from 88 mm Gun Flak 36 by Hasegawa and numbers
from a sheet by Propagteam – Czech Code Numbers & Letters – Gliders
Nr. 03172.
I took the pictures by a digital camera OLYMPUS C-300, unfortunately
with the flash because I do not posses recommended equipment. |
