Trouble Times!

Ok. So the suspension area has received a wash with Vallejo Smoke Black acrylic. This highlights the dampers etc. Then the area was dry brushed with an earth colour acrylic, before the road wheels were fitted. But theres a slight problem. The sprocket drive wheels wont fit in under the the front fender. They should have been fitted before the upper hull was attached. So what to do? I could either seperate the two halves (not looking forward to that), cut the axle away from the body, and then re-glue it with the sprocket attached (might be too weak to take the tension of the rubber tracks), or cut away a the small side part of the fender along the line at the top. This can be easily disguised and repainted. Thats definately the favourite option.  So with the two sides removed I dry fitted the wheels and added the tracks.
For the tracks, I first painted with Humbrol Matt Black enamel, followed by a rust coloured wash, and then dry brushed mud. The parts of the track which contact the road surface were rubbed with the graphite pancil and the gently buffed to give a bare metal appearance. Then the tracks were given a final coat of matt varnish to seal it.

Panzerhaubitze 2000

I was feeling in a tank kind of mood. Having a little browse amongst the shelves, my eyes rested on this 'little' Panzerhaubitze 2000 Self Propelled Gun. I say little, in fact it finishes at almost 35cm long!! Most of the other 1:35 scale tank kits, are around 20cm long, so this really is a giant.
Opening the box, you find just 2 main sprues, 3 main pieces of hull and turret, and an aluminium gun barrel (as well another one the sprues). With just over 100 parts, the main build should be fairly quick.
I've decided to use the aluminium barrel (because its there!!). Because this vehicle is relatively recent, the picture I have seen show the self propelled gun as generally dirty and dusty. The rust has yet to take hold, so i'll have to put the rust pigments away for this one!! They say that 'less is more'.

I decided (right or wrong, and wrongly it seems on review, see this later post) that i would assemble the entire kit, less the wheels, tracks, and side fenders. Then would weather the suspension, add the wheels, tracks and fenders, then continue with the painting and weathering on the completed model.
The suspension fitted easily, and lined up without any need for adjustment. It was easier to glue the top of the hull on at this point, and continue with the build. Then all the remaining pieces fitted without trouble. The turret was assembled, as was the Howitzer. For ease of painting, I decided to glue the gun in place later on.
The main pieces were undercoated with Halfords grey primer. I have to admit that the detail is superb. Very impressive for a kit of this price.
The photographs that i've found suggest, as does the painting insructions, that the hull behind the suspension is in a single colour, and not camouflaged like the rest of the body. So it'll be painted in Revell bronze green, matt, and will be joined by Revell leather brown, and Revell tar black for the upper hull, turret and gun.

Tamiya Citroen Avant CV11

With the decals dry and coated in Klear once more, I could finally set about, trashing.......... I mean, weathering the Citroen. I wanted an overall rusty look, just as you'd see with a car that had been hastily repainted in grey, not looked after, and then left to basically rot away. The grey paint would fade back, showing the light blue, and also the bare metal underneath. Then the bare metal would begin to oxidise. So I gave the whole car a wash of dilute Vallejo burnt umber from the Rust & Oil Pigment Set. As the wash was drying, I used a dry brush to create rain streaks.Then the rust areas had the same treatment as on the SD Kfz 250/10, see below. The holes on the wings looked especially effective (me thinks, anyway). The grill, as mentioned, received a variety of dry brushed silver enamel, and then more dry burnt umber pigment whilst the silver was still tacky. Then finally, everything had a muddy wash, as per every model i've made this year, by the way!!!.

Looking at the picture, I think I need a little more mud, and a little rust on the hub caps.

Seeing as the kit was fairly quick, just one sprue in the box, I might make another at sometime, but this time as a civilian owned model, and in concours condition, and display them in the same diorama.

Tamiya Citroen Avant - Body Building

With the simple interior assembled, painted and weathered, it was time to add the two parts of the body shell. First are the front wings, and then the main body fits in place. The fit is nice and snug, so no need for filling at all. Also added are the front doors, front grille, headlamps, spare wheel cover, filler cap and rear number plate holder. The bumpers received a little damage by gently bending at the ends. The fit was very good onto the bumper irons.
The new parts were then painted to match the body, and when completely dry, was covered in Klear, ready for the decals.

What a bulb!!

This is the headlamp case for the Citroen Avant. The wire is a couple of strands from a length of picture wire. It looks about the right gauge. I drilled through the bottom of the case, tied the two strands in a kind of knot, and threaded them through. The front of the headlamp case will be left hanging open so that the wires inside the lamp are visible. Then the other ends will be tied of through the hole already in the wing. The rusting should disguise the holes.
The wires will be painted black and red, although i'm not sure if thats historically correct.

Tamiya Citroen 11CV

After my success with the rust effect on the troop carrier, I though i'd be a liitle more adventurous with my next project. I'm writing this as I go, so it may not turn out as planned, but we'll see!!
I wanted the Citroen Avant 11CV to be a version of those used by the Germans, and so would be predominantly grey. There will be lots of rust, and damage, and hopefully a door hanging off its hinges. Also, one of the headlights will be hanging by its wires. I did look half-heartedly for a 1/35 scale skeleton to replace the driver, but gave changed my mind!!

First thing to do was to assemble the floor pan and front suspension. Just 5 pieces (of a 50 piece kit), and the painted with Vallejo smoke grey. After drying, the rust was applied in various degrees, and then the exhaust was fitted. Painted originally in a Humbrol rust matt, and then treated with the Vallejo Pigments. The whole floor the got a mud wash (although it needs some more I think......I'll do it before the final assembly).

Next on the list was the bodywork. I created a few dents and gouges with my dremel drill thing, and then thinned a few areas underneath the wheel arches where the rust would typically form. Then drilled a series of small holes through the arch, and finally thinned them further from the front until they began to join together. This gave the correct 'tin-worm' look I was after. My idea was to have the original colour showing through the grey and the rust, so I primered the body in an aqua blue matt enamel. The thoery is that if I gently rub back after i've painted the body in grey, some of the blue will show through. Vallejo also have an acrylic in a similar shade, so I might use that if I need to.

The front wings are dry fitted for now, and the grill will be painted silver over grey to give an effect of the chrome showing through the old paintwork.

The doors and bumpers will be fitted before the weathering.

Dragon Sd Kfz250/10

I'd seen a few pictures in magazines of these German troop carriers, so thought i'd give it a go. This one was from Dragon. At first glance, it appeared to be fairly straightforward, although I admit I did worry when I couldn't find any rubber tracks in the box. They had to be assembled piece by piece. I wasn't looking forward to that bit. They looked a tad on the fiddly side. I started work on the hull and suspension again, and while the first coat of German Grey was drying, went to work on the interior and side panels. Because of all of the interior fittings, dashboard, weapons seating etc, I had about 7 different bits on the go, but this meant that it came together fairly quickly. But I couldn't put off the tracks any longer. So I began. I foolishly thought that I would assemble an entire track, and then fit it on, but realised that the cemnet would set, and they would become rigid. So I constructed a piece about 6 links in length, then cemented them to the road wheels. This meant that I could also get the sag above the wheel set. Once finished, set, and painted matt black, mud was brushed in, and then a grass/mud mix was made using Vallejo acrylics, scenery grass and watered down PVA glue. Then it was applied to the tracks, road wheels and underneath the fenders.Maybe I should have dry fitted all of the body parts first, but they definitely seemed to be warped a little, and when the top of the body was added, there was a number of joins that had to be filled. I used white putty for this, and then painted the entire body in the same German grey. While this was drying I completed the 3.7cm Pak machine gun. A bit fiddly again I thought, but i'm sure that its just my inexperience.

 I wanted some better rust effects on this kit, rather than just painted on rust colour enamel. So I bought a Vallejo Rust and Oil Pigment set. There wasn't any real instructions on how to get the best effect, so it was up to me to experement. I dabbed on neat pva with a tiny brush, and then dabbed on the dark red Ocre with a dry brush.Then more pva and the burnt umber, followed by burnt sienna, and dark yellow ocre. I then used the dry brush to gently blend the pigments. Using the pva also left a texture which I thought looked great. I continued around the model adding rust patches in various places that I thought they would be likely.

After everything had finally dried, the gun was added, and the whole model given a dirty wash with Vallejo smoke, and then a heavier mud wash, building it up in the crevices and mud trap areas.

  p.s. just noticed that i've left the handles of the tool kit in grey. I'll colour them in wood acrylic.