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.