ANANCEDETEGNI UES pent and weathering military vehiclesPeli INDEX PAINTING CRUSADER MkIII page JOSEF STALIN - 2 page CARRO ARMATO M13/40 page OPEL BLITZ page DIORAMAS INTRODUCTION TO DIORAMAS Page 56 TRINKWASSER Sdk.Fz.223 page 60 MARETH LINE Sdk.Fz.11 with Howitzer Le FH 18 10,5cm page PICTURE GALLERY page Modellers Alessandro Bruschi, Marco ¢ Fabrizio Faggion, Marco Sclafani, Consultant Daniele Guglielmi English edition Francesco Cortellini Copyediting Glenn Bailey Auriga Pub Auriga Publishing International S.r1. Via Bressanone 17/1, 16154 Genova Italy info@aurigapublishing it reserved. uriga Publishing International S.r1. ©2003 e-mail: auriga@aurigapublishing.it Printing S.A.TE. - Zingonia (BG) Italy nly One weellniging Ny itary VENICE AnvanceD Tecrugues VOLUME 1 FOREWORD Only the technical know-how allows the modeller to fully express his inventiveness. The world of modelling is subject to a constant evolution, as both materiel and techniques progress. We also struggle against ourselves, trying to push the level of realism of our works further and further. The quest for ‘the definitive technique’ may assume several forms. Discussing techniques with other modellers at shows and competitions is the easiest and cheapest one, but we might end up misunderstanding some important step or forgetting some other pieces of information even before being back at home. Therefore, the aim of this book is to provide the reader with some of the most up to date painting and weathering techniques (and this does not necessarily mean recent ones), mainly applied to military vehicles with single coloured liveries. Anyway, we decided to start the book with a different sort of article so as to bring the less experienced modellers to the same level of the other readers and at the same time providing them with the knowledge needed to fully understand the Advanced Techniques. The first article also provides the readers with a preview about the ways of recreating multi-coloured camouflage patterns that will be described in depth in one of the upcoming volumes of this series. The closing article is dedicated to the ‘philosophy of dioramas’ with a particular focus on desert settings.ITALERI 1/35 CRUSADER Mx III by Marco Sclafani and Alessandro Bruschi PAINTING A TWO TONE CAMOUFLAGE PATTERNSometimes we might end up building a model just for the fun of it, without being too fussy, and without trying to improve at any cost an already good kit and the relevant detail set. Many modellers would disagree with our opinion, and being honest, at the beginning, the idea made us flinch a bit too. Anyway, at the end we enjoyed building and painting this model and we can now say that trying not to be to serious about modelling, sometimes can be fun. A kit to build ‘straight from the box,’ (we might as well say from the boxes as we used a few detail sets), can be a good safe- ty valve to avoid ruining more complex projects, and a way to get the sat- isfaction of finishing a model in a reasonable amount of time. We, as most modellers, normally take quite a long time to complete our most elabo- rate models; so nice little breaks like this help to keep us focussed. From the pictures you can see that a set of Eduard Photo-etches and a set of Resicast resin tracks were used. Anyway, as we have already mentioned, we do not consider this a com- plex work, as most of the work was done by the people at Eduard and Resicast. As any other modeller might have done, we simply glued the bits together. Assembling the model Italeri’s Crusader is a rather good kit with very little flaws and quite a few merits, especially considering that it has been on the market for quite a long time now. This nice kit deserves to be further enhanced with Eduard’s photo-etch set that provides the mod- eller with a few clever and well made details. The resin tracks weren’t really needed, but can be compared to a gold neck- lace around the neck of a beautiful woman... so why deprive her of such a nice jewel!? The various parts fit quite well, so assembling the model was pretty straightforward. While building the tank we couldn’t help adding our Personal touch with scratch-built headlight guards, made out of cop- per wire, and the alumini- um counterweight around the muzzle brake. Before painting the model, the larger photo-etched parts were primed with a thinned Tamiya plastic filler. Enamels: advantages and disadvantages During the last ten years acrylic colours have taken over the market, and are now more com- monly used than the good old enamels. The new paints, initially intro- duced by some well known Japanese compa- nies, offer quite a few advantages over the old synthetic colours. Within this same volume most of the models have been painted with acrylics, or, at least, with mixed tech- niques. What caused this change in tendencies? The strong, pungent smell of the enamels surely had a part in this; as also their very long drying time. But did the acrylics, with all 4In this page The Italeri kit was detailed with Eduard photo-etched parts and Accurate Armour resin trams. their good qualities, made us bin our old and beloved pots of enamels? We would say no, as quite a few modellers keep using them and liking them better than the ‘water based stuff.’ Enamels, especially the ones produced —_by Humbrol and Revell, stick very well to plastic, They can also be mixed with oil paints and this can be quite a bonus, especially during the weathering phase. Another big advantage consists in the chance of using a light- ened shade of the base colour to drybrush the model The painting phase As you surely have understood from this long foreword, we only used enamels to paint this tank. We tried to get the better possible result from some of the most conventional painting and weathering techniques. The base colour is a pink-ish hue of sand, obtained mixing Matt Desert Yellow 93 (70%), Matt Flesh 61(10%) and Satin White 130 (20%). For the sake of simplicity we will call this colour 'Mixture1.’ After applying the base coat we stored the remaining Mixture 1 paint in a cam era film container, to use it again at a latter stage The base coat was allowed to dry for as long as 72 hours. After this long wait we applied the decals, followed by a wash with oil paints all over the hull Right A useful trick to keep track of the colours we have used, consists in applying them to a nonv area of the model. The different colour mixes, ‘ible ide was sprayed with the PAINTING WITH ENAMELS This model was painted with enamel colours. These paints, manufactured by several different makers, can be easily blended. Enamels come in many diffe- rent colours and have a very tight grip over plastic surfaces. The paint was applied with a dual action airbrush. The model received three light coats of paint diluted with Humbrol Thinner. Some panels and plates were masked and painted with a slightly darker version of the base colour. Brown paint was added to darken the base mix a little.APPLICATION OF DECALS The following sequence illustrates all the key passages for a successful application of the decals. As many modellers know, it is possible that, once on the model, the markings may not look reali- stic. To avoid this just follow these simple hints 1) Every decal is surrounded by a thin clear rim. This rim is needed during the printing process, but it then becomes useless to the modeller and, sometimes, it shows on the finished model. 2) Since it is better to trim each marking before applying it, use a thin sharp blade and, where needed, a metal ruler. 3) This is how the decals look after removal of the useless clear part. 4) To remove the decals from the supporting sheet and to regenerate the glue, they should be dipped in water for a few minutes. To accelerate this process we can use warm water. 5) The areas where we are going to apply the decal can be sprayed with gloss clear varnish to let the decal stick better. 6) Before applying the decal, the area can be painted with a little decal softener. 7-8-9) Once removed from it's support, the decal can be positioned onto the model either using a pointed brush or a toothpick. When we find the correct spot, we need to dry the decal with a cotton bud, s0 as to remo- ve water and air bubbles. 10) Before applying another decal, we can dry the area with an air drier. 11) Once all the decals are in place, wwe can spray the model with a thin layer of matt varnish to fix and to blend them with the rest of the vehi- cle. 12) The Crusader after application of matt varnish.In this page. Once the decals have been applied we can now proceed with the oil paint washes. There is no such thing as a set moment to apply washes. On this model, after this first and general wash, this technique was used several more times on selected areas. Therefore, it is better to apply seve- ral thin washes rather than a single thick one, slowly building up the effect, until achieving the desired result. Below Before applying the wash, it is better to spray the model with a thin layer of white spirit. This will let the _ paint, thinned with white spirit, directly over the inten- oil paint flow better around and into the details. ded spots. Capillarity will then make the paint flow along panel lines and around bolts. Below After several minutes we can remove the excess Below Washes can be used in more than one way. In this paint with a clean flat brush. This should be done with _ case we have altered the colour of an entire side panel. downward vertical brushstrokes, so as to create rea rain marks and rust streaking. Washing of the times a selective What is commonly application of the wash, referred to as wash is one feathering the edges of of the most common mod- the relevant areas, is elling techniques; socom- ore effective than a mon that quite a few heavy one. Only in a very modellers over use it. It’s few cases is a heavier not true that a good wash wash needed. A good base should be very evident, wash can be made with a and sometimes it’s not mixture of 95% white spir- even necessary to apply it it and only a 5% of oil to the entire model. Most Paints or/and enamel colours.DRYBRUSHING Drybrushing and washes are some of the most used modelling techniques. All we need in order to apply good drybrushing are some enamel paint of a suitable colour, a tissue and a good quality flat brush, 1) The model was drybrushed with Mixture, lightened with some white paint, 2-3) After picking up the paint, the brush was wiped clean with the tissue. [ . ~ PUNCH iS) The handles on the inside of the door fig. 2 are quite simple to =—S*t0 build fig. 3 iD fig. | | ACETATE Above Never throw leftovers away! To build rear view mirrors you can use bits of chromate srue. used the 1/35 scale happens with low sided model as a template and bodies. some pictures of the real vehicle as reference. The Notek light and tool lack of the tarpaulin clamps doesn’t make the vehicle The Notek black-out look empty, as usually light was built with plas- The wipers arms are too tl k. New realistic ones were made with harmonic steel rod, following the oncna KIT PART RUBBER PIPE | tic and brass; its support was made with shaped and soldered brass. The tool clamps were made from 0.10 mm brass sheets shaped and then soldered. A toothpick was inserted into the two clamps to correctly align them before being glued to the to top of the right mudguard. Painting and special effects The painting began with a coat of natural metal acrylic paint over the bodywork and tyre rims. This coat will pro- vide an adequate base for the areas where the grey enamel paint is method illustrated here. ~PLASTICARD | chipped and where the metal shows through the worn paint. The base coat The metal parts were airbrushed with Tamiya Flat Aluminium XF-16 that provided an ade- quate light colour. In this early stage it is necessary to decide where the chip- pings and wider rust- marks will be, and to cre- ate a sort of map of these areas. As | wanted the panzer grey base to look faded and sun-bleached, despite the heavy weath- ering consisting in sever- al layers of paint, the choice of the best shade | of grey proved a difficult one.Above ‘Temperas were used because of the opaque fini Above The kit engine is excellent, and with some simple additional details like wires and pipes, it really looks like the real thing.ve/k F1IWOS MYT 46 PAEPUENS .S, ZLIT8 TAdOFollowing coats of paint A few decades without anyone tak- ing care of the bodywork left a heavy mark on the vehicle. The weathering and aging phase requires good plan- ning, based on the compatibility between the chemical characteristics of the paints we are going to use. The sequence of the different layers of paint depends upon the incompatibili- ty between acrylics and enamels (and oils). Each coat of enamel is followed by one of acrylic, which will isolate and protect it from thinners and sol- vents. The colour table The colour table will explain the sequence better than many worthless words. Be careful, the scheme only provides a set of generic guidelines. Not every single layer of paint was applied to the entire model. For instance, in some areas the first layer (aluminium base coat) and the last one (burnt Sienna oil) will almost be on top of each other. The cracks on the paint- work will only be present on the areas most directly hit by sunlight, while corrosion will take place where mois- ture and rain would accumulate. 1- Tamiya Flat Aluminium XF 16 acrylic: Airbrushed over every metal part. It is used as a base for the cracks and chippings and to create reflexes through the worn paint. 2- Pactra Light Grey M 31 + white enamel: it is the base colour for the paintwork. It has to be very light to suggest the idea of faded paint. 3- Microflat acrylic matt varnish: It is used to isolate and protect the grey coat from the next layer. 4- Maimeri enamel paintings aging fluid: It has the reddish look the old Humbrol clear varnish and it can be thinned with white spirit. Its real func- tion is to provide a base for the "cracking fluid.” 5- Maimeri acrylic paintings “crack- ing fluid”: It has a milk-like consisten- cy. It is a “smart” product as the size of the cracks is proportioned to the Width of the area it is applied to. On = 1998 50B= paintbrush [i= ctoruan @) = oll paint Ke) = acrylic paint Eh) = enamel paint COLOUR: the top of the cabin roof the cracks are wide and intricate, while on the roof support struts they become very thin, break ing into tiny fragments! COLOURS APPLICATION TABLE | 2 varnish: It is very FUNCTION: The licence plates were treated with this fluid as well. 6- Black oil paint: It important as its function is to prevent contact between the black oil and the final layer of burnt Sienna oil. Failing to apply this insulating coat will result in spoil- ing the work done on the cracks. ADDITIONAL TRETMENTS: spray white pinto feather a 8- Burnt Sienna oil spray stconot to getine waite | Paint: It is the last and ‘oppatine | most important step as it broskmewasioitin used to simulate rust and has to be applied smartly and in different ways on different areas. What we are trying to do is to replicate with oil paint and white spirit the same sodlumbicebonatetogetthe | appearance of a metal rust bloating. surface long exposed to the elements. Our start- ing point is the applica- tion of very small quanti- needs to be very diluted. ties of pure unthinned oil It is used to make the paint. Once dry we will cracks stand out; other- spray the area with some wise, as they formed in a white sprit, which will do clear layer they would in a matter of seconds not be noticeable. The What water takes years excess has to be quickly to achieve: feathering removed with a clean the edges of the rust cloth. spots and leaving the typ- ical orange streaks while 7- Microflat acrylic leaking downward. 1) To reproduce rust, first prepare different mixes of burnt Sienna and black oil paints, then apply them in a random way and then allow the colour to dry. 2) Airbrush a thin film of white spirit. 3) While evapora- ting, the thinner feathers the rust dots and reproduces the rusty water streaks.Through varying the methods and times of application of the two elements, and the per- centages of black oil added to the burnt Sienna, we can reproduce different levels of corro- sion. The body | have already men- tioned how the body was built, it is now time to describe the aging and weathering of different materials used to build the real vehicle. Aging the plastic parts forming the metal frame of the body has been quit easy; the real problem came with the wooden bits. | had to find a way to reproduce the effect of chipped and cracked painted wood. During the building phase | broke or cracked the small planks EFFECTS OF OXIDATION Severe rust bloating: sprinkle some bicarbonate or very fine sand over a thin layer of cyanoacrilate glue to simulate the rough textu- re of severe rusting (fig. 1). Cover the rust patches with Maskol and airbrush as normal, applying more paint over the Maskol (fig. 2). Hold a bit of the Maskol bubble and break it with a scalpel (fig. 3). The inside of the little crater has to be painted with thinned oil colours, to get an opaque finish (fig. 4). to make them look worn The planks were then soaked with a very thinned mix of black and grey enamels. This would make the wood look very old. A thicker mix would fail to impregnate the wood, preventing the grey tone to look as if it came from inside the planks. The technique used to chip the paint- work is explained in the captions of the relevant pictures. Once the desired look was achieved, the wooden parts were protected with a coat of acrylic matt varnish. The moss over the water impreg- nated areas, usually in the shadowy recesses, was reproduced with olive green Letraset ink applied with the air- brush. Below The two Maimeri products for aging paintings. The sole function of the “aging fluid” is to provide a base for the “cracking fluid”.The final touch Mudguards and underbody Have you ever noticed how much dirt accumu- lates inside the mud- guards and on the under- body of a vehicle? What | wanted to reproduce is something in between the typical dirt of the underbody and the crum: bling of very rusty metal, Using a small dental spat. ula | applied several irregular layers of grey Plastic putty, waiting for each layer to cure before applying the following one to get the effect of the crumbling metal Where | wanted to repro- duce some simple soil Left and below build-ups, I just applied the putty with a stiff brush. | wanted to get an opaque finish, different from the bright and glossy oil paints, so the rough areas were painted with temperas of several different shades of black, brown and orange. They were then tamped with a cloth that made the putty’s grey colour gently show through, getting contrast and some nice colour variations without drybrushing. The mechanical components Because of my job | frequently visit car repair shops and the “mod- eller’s eye” is always attracted by details like old oil drums, old and greasy machinery, engines and gear boxes awaiting repairs and so on. To reproduce an old and wide oil leakage there is nothing better than oil paint. Nothing can better replicate its greasy, but at the same Left Two views of the fuel pump. The pump was scratchbuilt with plasti- card and acetate. time subtle, look without the hard edges typical of water based colours. The results will be great but we mast provide the semitransparent oil paint with a solid base. All the mechanical components (engine, gearbox, differ- ential) were painted with Tamiya Aluminium acrylic. This base was later covered with small dots of raw Umber, brown and black oil in different percentages. As for the rust, the pure oil paint was washed with white spirit; you can also feath- er the paint with a cloth or cotton buds, without using a thinner. Could | forget some webs? | was told that Gunze Sangyo enamels would produce ugly filaments, similar to a spider web, if thinned with white spirit and then airbrushed What could be missing from inside the cab? Easily some webs! Incredible as it may Some of the real things that inspired this work. From left to right the fuel pump, an abandoned Chevy truck and a web covered engine.In this page A few details of the finished model. These pictures show the results of the many different techniques applied on the vehicle. Notice a reproduction of the Italeri box used to build this model. seem, the filaments 100,” was made with started pouring from my 1.5mm dry transfers, airbrush, light and eerie. while the opaque look of With some practice | the glass was achieved even managed to make spraying the inside with them stick to all the sides matt varnish. The heavy of the cabin at the same rubber hose was repro- time, covering the duced with thick lead wheel, seat, levers and wire. On top of being everything else. The really flexible, this mate- result is very realistic. rial rests on the ground in The webs look really ugly a very realistic way and repulsive just as | because of its weight. ® could imagine. The icing on the cake Just for the sake of it | also scratchbuilt a fuel pump to place next to the Blitz. It’s one of those old pump that when discarded by petrol stations end up being recycled to rural agricul- tural machinery and still bear writings such as "miscela” or “benzina super” (respectively a mix of leaded gasoline and lubricant used with loss scooters, and leaded high octane gasoline). After finding one of these pumps | reproduced it with plasticard, clear acetate and scaled pho- tocopies. The pictures showing the front of the pump were photocopied and scaled down to reproduce the control panel. The smaller writ- ing, reading "super 98-SCALE 1/35 INTRODUCTION TO DIORAMA MODELLING As a showcase for a tank or aircraft? To provide a suitable setting for the model that took such a great effort and a lot of time? Because dioramas are considered the most complete, dramatic and impressive form of static If a nice display for your last model is what you are after, why don’t you just put it on a scenic base, with a few acces- sories and a couple of fig- ures? This way you also make sure that the model remains the central ele- ment of the composition, instead of risking seeing it “disappear”, absorbed by a more complex work... Story and atmosphere The main purpose of a diorama should be trans- mitting something to the observer: a particular feeling, a peculiar atmos phere, emotions, a STORY. Any model, even a single vehicle can tell a story, but in a diorama that becomes essential. Diorama modelling offers so many different possi- bilities and perspectives Left In this page is an over- view of the diorama “The last round.” The chain represents an ideal link between two different level of the composition creating, on top of the visual link, a logical, and therefore narrative con- nection, between what is happening on the two dif- ferent levels. that to exploit them all, choosing dioramas as a mean of expression, we must have something to tell. Why bother about building complex struc- tures, wasting a lot of time painting figures and dirtying your working sta- tion building the ground- work if all this effort does not help telling a story? Use all these things to tell what a sin- gle model can’t: don’t just put your model on a diorama; the diorama is your model! Composition Well, we have estab- lished that the story is the most important fac- tor to consider while building a diorama; it’s also obvious that the story must be told in the clearest possible way. Having said this, compo- sition becomes very important. The compo: tion is not just an ele- ment of our work, but its part of it: a diorama is a story and the story is told by the composition. Everything else comes afterwards, as the choice of vehicles, figures, structures and everything else is subordinate to the needs of the composi- tion. A good diorama does- by Marijn Van Gils Why building a diorama? modelling? Wrong!!! Below Lines and volumes are not the only important parts of the composition, and colours are another element to consider. This picture, that shows a detail of the diora- ma “The Goose Meal,” proves that a light coloured spot, represented by the goose, catches the observer's eye, making the story immediately clear.Left A good way to get to get a realistic and well balanced composition is to build mock-ups of buildings, trees and terrain features with Styrofoam or styrene, and try different combinations. In this way you can get quite a precise idea of how the final result will look like. Thi is the mock-up of the church featured in “Godverdomme.” means in dioramas as and effort; the technical well. There are several part of the work is not ways to achieve this more difficult than build- result, but which should ing a single vehicle, but we choose? itis the study of the com- One way is to create position that makes the something “technically” difference. And this is realistic by using the what makes dioramas so appropriate painting special and fun to build. schemes. But considering Building a diorama means that the story and atmos- looking around for ideas phere are the most and sources of inspira- important elements, it is tion, trying to put them surely better to aim at a into practice, filling in realistic atmosphere. The the unavoidable gaps, trick is to create a har- working hard on how to monic and balanced solve that last problem ensemble, making every and finally putting every- element fit logically with thing together in a each other, and with the unique work! 2 environment through painting and weathering. Try avoiding spreading n’t need huge vehicles, not a vehicle, should it the elements on a sur- dozens of figures or com- take some extra effort, face that is too big, but plex scenery; a complex but it shouldn’t appear at also avoiding concentrat- story is also useless. A the expenses of other ing on too much stuff ina simple story, told through elements. small space a well conceived compo- As. a chain, a diorama While_thinking about sition, is enough to trans- is as strong as its weakest the meaning of realism, | mit our ideas to the link; never consider wondered if it is more observer and this is our buildings, vegetation or important to reproduce purpose. In this way mod- figures as simple acces- an object, let’s say a elling becomes a form of sories: if you don’t like piece of camouflage expression such painting, spending time on this clothing, in a “scientifi- photography, sculpting, things, just don’t build cally accurate way” or to Right and cinema... a diorama dioramas... follow an “artistic path” ‘This overview of is a three dimensional This doesn’t mean that would make it possi: “Godverdomme” shows painting, nothing more, that to build a good dio- ble to create in the the importance of colours nothing less. rama you have to bemas- observer the feelings in the composition: the . ters at painting figures or that the real object dark and drab ruined The diorama scratch building scenery; would cause. Probably church transmits the fee- ‘as a whole. what mattes is the ability the best way stands in ling of a burned out As we have mentioned 0 tell a story. A good the middle, but as plan- Europe, but at the same before, the diorama technical level plays an ning and composition are should be seen as a ‘important role as far as not exact sciences but whole; therefore every ‘ealism, but is not essen- creative processes; | element should receive tial in telling a good story would rather follow the time causes the figures and Panther stand out because of the chromatic contrast. the same kind of atten- 1” 2 clear way. artistic path. tion. Only if a particular , . element acquires greater Realism Conclusion importance within the _ Realismisakey factor Planning a diorama story, and usually this is in modelling, and this takes a great deal of timeanced Fél » | nt : te SEE ih at 4 cat a | eit 7 roe if pat aT ta at if ia it Le aaa | ot t)TAMIYA 1/35 TRINKWASSER TUNISIA, FEBRUARY 1943 by Fabrizio FaggionBuilding a diorama, regardless of its size, requires a careful planning. When dealing with desert dioramas, things can get even more complicated, as we must get a good balance between a barren setting and an interesting composition. This can be easily achieved by building fairly small dioramas and adding details that really match the geographical and historical setting of the scene. An anti-tank ditch, a trench or a well, can help telling a story and do not necessarily require figures. In some cases, even a well placed barbed wire fence is enough to fill part of the diorama. “Trinkwasser” (Drinkable Water) was built according to this Philosophy, focussing the observer's attention on two different spots. Splitting the focus between the vehicle and the well, | needed to “populate” only a small portion of the diorama. This vehicle was chosen for two reasons: first because | simply liked it, second because | needed a small but attractive subject.BUILDING THE SD.KFZ.223 1-2) The upper hull was detailed with Eduard photoetched parts and several scratchbuilt items, among them was the aerial raising mechanism which was scratchbuilt from Evergreen plastic rod. 3) The lower half required more seratch- built details as it com- prises most of the vehicle’s inner compo- nents. Only the anti- skid plate and some other small bits came from the Eduard pho- toetched set. 4) The engine was entirely scratchbuilt using small plastic piping, plasticard, plastic rod and other Evergreen products. Various hatches were opened to show the inside of the engine bay. 5) The detailed interiors can be seen trough the several openings in the hull.The vehicle Sd.kfz.223 leichter Panzerspéhwagen (Fu) First seen at the 1936 Berlin Motor Show, this Auto Union/ Horch light armoured car entered service in 1937 as Sd.kfz 22. It was later modified into two different ver: sions (222 e 223) just before the war broke out. This vehicle first entered operational use in Russia (1941) and then North Africa (1942). The 223 was equipped with a FU 8 radio, a 50 kw appa- ratus whose working fre- quencies ranged between 1,130 and 3,000 kc/s or between 580 and 3,000 ke/s according to the type of aerial used. The vehicle was powered by an AU/Horch 3.517 cc, V 8 water cooled engine capable of 75 HP at 3600 rpm. It was manned by a crew of three and was armed with a single MG34 7.92mm machine gun Assembling and detailing the interiors The kit chosen was Tamiya item 1.35062, despite its age a rather detailed and finely moul- ded model. The Eduard photo-etch set 1.35322, was used to detail the vehicle; this set includes some useful bits and the stencils to airbrush the German crosses and tac- tical markings. The building process started from the hull. It was thinned as the armour was too thick, especially around the various hatches and ! ia vision ports that | wanted to leave open. To remove the excess material | used a minidrill with a small cylindrical burr. The drill was used at low speed to avoid melting the plastic. The moulded engine vent was removed to be replaced with a photoetched part and two more openings were cut on the sides for theBUILDING THE GROUNDWORK AND WELL 1) The base was built gluing a circular 5 mm plywood board to a picture frame. A round 60 mm opening was cut next to the edge of the plywood sheet. The bottom of the base was cut from cardboard and glued underneath the frame. 2) The drums were glued to the cardboard while the bottom of the well was coated with epoxy putty that was also used to feel the gaps between the drums. be 3) The leftover putty was used to fill the gaps between the drums and the edges of the hole. 4-5) A thin and une- ven layer of high density expanded styrene was glued over the plywood. The styrene was coated with a layer of Celluclay. This modelling material is basically a mixture of pulverised wood and glue. 6) The water inside the well was reproduced with two layers of Prochima’s clear resin; a few drops of paint were added to the first layer.7) Some coarse granular florists’ earth was ground into a fine powder with a mortar. 8) The powder was mixed with water and PVA glue and applied with a small spatula. Some tyre marks were impressed into the soft soil and a small portion was flattened so as to get the cracked round effect. While the mix was still soft some small roots and pebbles were added. 9) A dark brown wash, followed by a drybrush with dif- ferent shades of sand, provided some depth to the tex- ture. 10) The well was masked during application and then the groundwork’s top layer was applied and pain- ted. 11) The diorama was completed with a few small details.engine inspection ports. | preferred to make the openings smaller than the actual hatches and progressively widened them to the correct size. I started detailing the interiors gluing a pho- toetched antiskid plate cut to the right size. The bulkhead separating the engine bay was built from plastic card, and was detailed with a photoet- ched mesh. The two seats were found in my spare part box, and the kit's radio was detailed with a scratchbuilt frame. Other inside details, such as page The engine bay seen from different angles. The heavy weathering is evi- dent. Different surfaces and different materials were weathered in diffe- rent ways. The sand coloured paint is covered with deep chippings, that is some cases show the grey colour underneath. Bare metal is visible through the deepest marks in the paintwork. Exhausts were treated so to show the typical oxida- tion caused by intense heat. equipment attachment brackets and storage boxes, were also scratch- built. The radio operator footrest was made from a 0.20 mm thick plastic card with three rows of holes made with a punch and die set. The driver station pedals came from some left over photoet- ched parts. The instru- ment panel was built from plastic cards with holes for the dials made with a punch and die set and the dials cut from photocopies. On the real vehicle it was possible to raise the aerial from the inside. The raising mechanismwas built with a length of plastic rod that crosses the fighting compartment from side to side, and a lever on the right side. The steering wheel came from the spare’s box and was connected to the hull with a short bit of plastic rod. The most challenging part of the building phase regarded the turret and turret basket, as the small size of the parts and their fragility made it quite hard. The turret was fixed to the floor through a pair of support bars connected to a cylinder rotating on a pivot on the floor. The gunner’s seat and the MG34 gun mount are fixed to the cylinder. The support bars were made from leftover photoet- ched frames. The kit gun was replaced with a more detailed one from the spare parts box. The anti-grenade meshes came from the Eduard set and were completed with plastic rod handles. The engine was entirely scratchbuilt, using pla- stic card and various kinds of Evergreen acces- sories. It is a faithful replica of the famous ‘Auto Union 3.517 3 engi- ne. When detailing a model, in order to achi ye good results, some accurate source of infor mation about the subject becomes a priority. | found most of the refe- rences in "Nuts & Bolts, Vol.04.” The books from this series are quite expensive, but they are really worth their price because of the many pic- tures they include. The interiors and engine bay were painted and weathered before gluing the two halves of the hull together. In this page Accessories, such as the fence cutters and canteens, should not be placed randomly. The difference between a realistic vehicle and a grote- sque parody is very subtle, so do not try to overdo it, but stick to what you can see from wartime pictures. Painting the interiors The inside, including the engine bay, received a first coat of dark grey. A coat of matt white was then applied to the figh- ting compartment, con- centrating more on the flat surfaces and allowing some base colour to show through at the corners. That created a first crude light and shadow effect. Wear and dirt were reproduced with oil paints and pastel pow- ders. The engine recei- ved a base coat of rust brown and then drybru- 6 oat 6 ashed with Silver and weathered with burnt Sienna oil paint. Assembling and painting the outside The outer part of the model was deeply modi- fied. Besides adding all the small details from the Eduard set, | had to scratchbuild a new frame antenna. The one piece kit part was replaced with one made out of copper wire and shaped according to the original drawings. The support joints were also scratch- built using plasticard and rod. The antenna was then completed with it’s connection cable. The engine bay hat- ches were cut from a 0.20 mm plastic sheet. The kit’s rear ventilating grille was replaced with one made of plasticard and plastic strip. The upper engine hatch was fitted with its supporting bar. The armoured plate protecting the front axle were built from plasti- card and was completed with the correct number of bolts. The front mud- guards were removed to give the vehicle a worn- out look. As a side effect, assembling the front part became a lot easier. All the tool clamps were replaced with photoet- ched ones. The jerricans rack on the rear left mudguard was scratch- built with strips of plasti- card. The model was painted before gluing the numerous small accesso- ries. The vehicle was first painted with Tamiya XF- 53 grey, and then with a sandy yellow from the Vallejo range, once again insisting more on the centre of the various pla- tes. In this way we get a first shading effect that will make the weathering process easier. Chippings were pain- ted with a dark grey colour. This was applied with a fine pointed brush to the areas where the paint would easily get scratched. A _ graphite pencil was then rubbed against the chipped parts to strengthen the effect. Dust and rust can easily be reproduced with burnt Sienna oil paint thinned with white spirit. Small amounts of this mixture were applied to the model making it flow around and along the details, giving the model a very realistic appearance. Building the diorama As | could not find a commercial base that suited my needs, | bought a round picture frame about 20 cm in diameter