AFV Modeller - Issue 98 (2018-01-02)

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98 JAN/FEB 2018 • £6.50 UK $15.99

Meng AFV Modeller

January / February 2018

www.mengafvmodeller.com

BUILDING THE NEW PANTHER AUSF. A

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CONTENTS 2

Wiking Warrior The Editor’s build of Meng’s brand new Panther Ausf.A

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Cool ‘cat Fabio Sacchi goes to hell and back to create an accurate M-18.

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Friday Morning Ian Barraclough makes an emergency stop in Takom’s new ‘432.

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Panzerkampfwagen IV Part 16 The Editor continues detailing Trumpeter’s 1:16 kit.

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Götterdämmerung- part one Michael Mandau’s spectacular ‘1946’ diorama.

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Keeping Track New releases.

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M1A1 TUSK- part one Lester Plaskitt’s awesome Abrams.

Seasons Greetings from all of us at Meng AFV Modeller

Meng AFV Modeller is published Bimonthly by AFV Modeller ltd Old Stables East Moor Stannington Northumberland NE61 6ES Tel: 01670 823648 Fax: 01670 820274 Editor and Designer: David Parker email: [email protected] Deputy Editor: Mark Neville email: [email protected] Sales Director: Keith Smith email: [email protected] Proof Reading: Jim Chandler ISSN 2059-4305

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AFV Modeller welcomes contributions from interested parties, but cannot accept any responsibility for unsolicited material. The contents of this publication including all articles, drawings and photographs originated by AFV Modeller ltd become the publishers copyright under copyright law. Reproduction in any form requires the written consent of the publisher. Whilst every care is taken to avoid mistakes AFV Modeller ltd. cannot be liable in any way for errors or ommissions.

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PANTHER

Not so much a pink Panther but red, the advanced sets of sprues for the new Panther arrived without the official packaging and without instructions a few weeks ago. I immediately set about assembling the kit in order to have an example ready for our stand at the fastapproaching Scale Modelworld event. The kit is designed with individual panels for the hull tub and a series of clever interlocking tabs and two cross braces ensure that the tub falls together with a pleasing confidence. The individual torsion bars locate without any of the alignment problems encountered with the King Tiger and there is the option for a working suspension system in the separate working track set for the kit. The roadwheels are as usual secured with polycaps although these were a particularly snug fit. On the rear hull plate there is a choice of exhaust pipe styles and the short-lived tow hook system for the hull floor is also included. 2

Tracks are supplied as individual link with separately moulded teeth which makes assembly a bit of a slog although it is possible to skip the top run if the side skirts are installed. Pleasingly the kit also provides the clip on ice cleats fitted to every fifth track link which is a nice touch. Moving to the upper hull the roof is moulded with a support frame onto which the separate sides and glacis plates are glued with big location tabs making for a very precise and pleasing assembly. The engine hatch is a separate part and the transmission cover plate is moulded as part of the roof. A pair of radiator ducts/fans plug in below the intake grilles to avoid an empty void beneath them. The undersides of the sponsons which also integrate the front mudguards then plug into the underside of the hull with braces to prevent the sponson floor tipping into the hull, clever stuff! The kit provides a choice of ball mount design for the glacis along

with an optional blanking plate and the Driver’s vision flap can be modelled open or closed. The gun travel lock also has an open or closed option. The hull tool racks are a little on the heavy side in terms of the thickness of the rack fittings, but it is perfectly possible to sand these down for a more pleasing appearance. The various tools themselves are all nicely handled with suitably delicate tool clasps negating the need for any photoetch for these. The gun cleaning rod tube has optional fittings to mount across the engine deck as well as the more conventional location and there is also the optional antenna rack for the command Panther as well as the additional antenna mounts. The turret takes an unconventional approach with an underlying frame onto which all the individual turret panels are fitted to form the turret. Once again a series of clever tabs and interlocks ensures a perfect alignment and there is a choice

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M E N G M O D E L S N E W PA N T H E R A U S F. A M O D E L L E D B Y D AV I D PA R K E R

of both binocular and monocular gun mantlets provided. Our preproduction example only had the solid plastic gun barrel with multipart muzzle brake, but the production examples we now have include a turned aluminium barrel too. The cupola is really nicely detailed with a photoetch sight vane and

pleasingly delicate AA machine gun mount provided. Optional parts are also included to allow lengths of spare tracks to be hung from the turret as well as a pair of mounts to fix the spare roadwheels that are included to the back corners of the turret.

Two photoetched frets are included, the first for the side skirts which are made from a suitably thick nickle silver and clip onto the skirt hangers just like the real things. The other fret provides the engine deck grilles, star antenna, handles for the pair of buckets and other small details.

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From the Box These images show the kit I assembled from the pre-production sample as a display model. Consequently no filler was used and one or two items were tacked in place with PVA glue

With the show over I decided to strip down the display model I had assembled in order to add the obligatory coat of zimmerit. Meng have released four different sets of zimmerit decal to compliment the kit but I always think that there is no substitute for applying your own. My Panther zimmerit technique was a little rusty as I had not modelled any since 2004 but some digging about turned up my old zimmerit tools for the MAN Factory pattern that I wanted to depict.

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I used Magic Sculp two-part epoxy putty for my zimmerit, using a wooden tool to spread the putty over the surface.

There are now various photoetched ‘rakes’ available to replicate the ridges but I used my old serrated strip to drag down the pattern with generous amounts of water.

I applied some water and used a blade to smooth the surface.

To make the anti-spall grid I used an old home made tool with thin plastic sandwiched between two thicker pieces to keep it rigid. This is simply embossed into the putty to make the grid pattern.

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I find it best to work on one panel at a time when adding the zimmerit. Here all the zimmerit has been applied and the Panther looks a little sad with all its stowage removed. I also had to cut off the headlamp in order to apply the zimmerit behind it on the glacis. In the process of applying the zimmerit I managed to snap several of the skirt hangers which would have to be replaced later.

Wiking Panthers have a shield shape cleaned from the zimmerit on the left side of the turret. The best way to recreate this is to wait until the putty has part cured and the shield shape can be cut with a scalpel and the putty peeled away.

Upgrades With the Panther stripped down I decided to make a few upgrades as everything was glued back in place, focussed mostly on the tool and track stowage. The track stowage rack lacks the pins which secure the spare tracks and the chains which secure these pins. I drilled holes through each of the track brackets and then added small brass rod pins. Although the kit does provide some photoetched chain I used a set from Passion Models which includes

the loops at the ends of the chain to add this detail.

Holes are carefully drilled in the track stowage racks.

Spare tracks are glued in place and a brass rod pin fitted. To help with painting later the lower track link was left unglued so it would pivot.

The tool stowage racks were sanded down to give them a thinner more scale appearance and I added the clips which secure the C hooks. These are a flat clip which passes through the hook mount and not easy to replicate. I cut some strips of aluminium foil which I bent into the shape of the clip. These were then cut down to fit and tiny pieces of strip positioned inside

the tube and beneath it to give the effect of the clip passing through the tube. Fiddly but effective! I decided to replace the kit tracks even though I had two runs of the plastic track assembled and I used the extremely fine Master Club white metal tracks. These are connected with a pair of push fit resin track pins making for a quick and easy assembly. I also used the Master Club track for the spare track stowage.

Passion Models assorted chain set P35V-01 was used to add the chains to each pin.

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Engine deck mesh was replaced by a set of ABER screens with a more open mesh pattern. The kit braided rope was used for the track cable but given a tighter twist and I added a loop at one end. I managed to loose the kit coaxial MG so I replaced it with an ABER brass barrel.

Tow hooks are cleverly moulded leaning inward to pinch the hull when fitted.

Many of the Wiking Panthers carried a large unditching beam. The kit provides one but I wanted a smaller version so I used a piece of plastic beam. The brackets to hold the beam were adapted from the kit parts.

Small locking bars were added to the crowbar stowage.

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Scratchbuilt clips were made for the C hook brackets and finished with Passion Models chains.

The completed spare track stowage racks and replacement ABER mesh. This was designed for the Tamiya Ausf. D but will fit with some minor adjustments.

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I used Mission Models acrylics to paint the Panther going straight onto the plastic without a primer with no problems. The skirts dry fit securely enough to apply the camouflage without a problem but in retrospect I would take the time to prime the skirts before painting.

All the markings were hand painted using acrylics again.

Panther Painting By now our print deadline was looming so a no fuss approach to the paint was needed so I used the excellent Mission Models 3 tone camouflage colours. The time-consuming process of painting in all the details was next and the Panther seems to be especially demanding although maybe it was just that time was pressing! My original plan to paint the wheels in place was aborted and they were removed from the chassis. The rims of the inner roadwheels and idlers were given a coat of Vallejo Steel and then polished using Uschi van der Rosten polishing powder to a high shine finish. I decided to complete the running gear so that I could fit the skirts so the tracks were sprayed in a dark grey/brown mix using Gunze acrylics and weathered with an acrylic wash and then a pigment wash which was brushed over to leave a residue when dry. To weather the Panther I used an acrylic wash followed by a localised oil pin wash to define panel lines and recessed bolt heads.

Wheels and tracks are fitted ahead of the weathering of the rest of the hull.

With the washes applied the Panther really starts to come to life!

The skirts were then fitted with a dab of CA glue just above each cut out to secure them. Right the skirts were weathered with acrylic washes and various streaks, scuffs and one or two subtle rust streaks.

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Working from memory of a photo I had seen of two crew on a Panther turret roof I set about creating something similar. I used the AFV Modeller mannequins to create the poses, teamed with Hornet heads. The uniforms were sculpted using Magic Sculp.

The sharper eyed reader will notice that the pair of two ropes and the vehicle jack are missing in these pictures. Quite simply I ran out of time and the small clips needed to secure the ropes, like those on the C hooks, were not something that could be quickly fitted.

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The figures were painted using Lifecolor acrylics in somewhat of a hurry with less than a day to get everything completed. The map was found online and printed with a laser printer to complete the scene.

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With the Panther completed it is hard not to be impressed with this new kit of the WWII favourite. As with the King Tiger I had some involvement with the development of the kit making it particularly gratifying to see the finished model look so good. Clever design features make this a particulary pleasing kit to assemble. Meng’s Panther A is definitely A-OK!

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Hellcat or better: the 76 mm Gun Motor Carriage M18 was the fastest Tank in US Army in WWII and actually the very first allround project built as per US tank destroyer doctrine. Its speed was obtained at cost of armour protection, meaning its crew had to rely on its speed and small dimensions to survive enemy reaction. Designed and built by Buick, it is sometimes nicknamed the hotrod of tank destroyers. Although a lot of the details in its design reminded me of the M24 Chaffee, it isn't really all that similar, and unfortunately I discovered this during the model’s construction.

The Kit Two different kits are available. Both AFV Club and Academy offer a representation of this attractive subject. Unfortunately both kits are marred with lots of measurement issues and wrong details. All in all, building both kits out of the box will result in a decent representation of something that looks like an M18, but if you are victim of the rivet counting disease, it will be only a matter of seconds before you will start seeing a lot of issues. But more on that later.

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The Model I have had both the Academy and AFV Club kits in my stash for a long time. On opening the box and comparing both kits I was a little disappointed: just from looking at the upper hull you will see that they show significant differences in shapes and angles. The Academy rear deck is messy and way too high while the AFV Club one is OK-ish, but the rear hull wall thickness and the air intake grill show mistakes in the major measurements. Another pain point is the running gear: the AFV Club wheels are way too shallow, while the Academy ones seem a tad better but much cruder. Idlers are too crude in both renditions, as are the return rollers. Drive sprockets, while being of the late model with the outer reinforcing rim, are ok. It’s a pity is that in both kits the final drive box, which has axles to allow for motorisation, is too simplified. In the AFV kit it is also a tad shorter. Turrets have also some different measurements but are passable. Both offer some sort of interior details. Academy’s is richer but parts are chunky and somewhat overscale. Ultimately I choose to use the AFV Club kit as a base, as, I thought it would be easier to improve. To complement the kit I also purchased the Royal Model update set, as well as the Eduard photo-etch set.

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I started the building with the lower hull. The first problem to tackle was that the upper run for the tracks is too narrow. After some checks I understood that AFV Club most likely took measurements from a tank with worn torsion bars but they kept the correct distances between the parts. This the return rollers to be moved upwards, too near to the hull overhang, and built out of the box the model will look rather “squat”. The first task was therefore to alter the swing arms to sit 1.5mm lower. To do that and to ensure that they were all properly aligned, I add two strips of styrene to the hull bottom, kept in position with double-sided adhesive tape, and after having cut away the locking parts I glued them into the new position. The shock absorber levers on stations 1, 2, 4 and 5 were then gently bent and adapted to the new angle. The front pivot point of the transmission box was moved 1mm lower and an additional 0.5mm part was added at the bottom of the box, just where the lever linking it to first station swing arm would be then attached. I had then to build the connecting rod out of 0.5mm styrene rod. I wanted to depict an M18 as it was used in the Italian campaign. These ones were mostly from the first production batch, which means they had a different idler tensioner system, as well as an additional rocking tensioning lever connected to the fifth swing arm. This was to ensure that the tracks were always well tensioned, even on rough terrain. I rebuilt the idler tensioning system, and the rocking bar was made out of a 0.88mm styrene rod. A

holding structure made out of two pieces of strip styrene was then glued at the head of the swing arm. The return roller brackets were cut away and newly-turned ones were installed 1.2mm lower than on the original kit. In this way the correct clearance between the track run and sponsons was restored. Now it was the wheels’ turn. The drive sprockets are OK but are of the late type, which means they have a reinforcing rim just flush with the external sprocket. It was easy to lathe away. The major challenge was then the wheels. They are too “flat” and I was hoping to exchange them with the recent Bronco M24 wheels. I said, “hoping”! Unfortunately, even if very similar at a first glance, M24 wheels are smaller in diameter and if they are installed in a row the difference becomes quite noticeable. The solution was to lathe away the internal hub on all 10 wheels and to install lathed hubs taken from a M41 kit I had in my stash. That completely changed the look of the running gear! Luckily, the return rollers and idlers could be swapped with the Bronco pieces which are far superior in details and shape.

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The interior was built as per the instructions and the resin parts from Royal Model, as well as the Eduard photo-etched parts, were added to transmission box. The generator on the front left side of the fighting compartment is at best an approximation, and it was substituted with one I scratch-built some time ago and copied in resin, just in case. The ammunition cases in the side sponsons were just slightly improved since they would be practically invisible. My attention then turned to the engine bay. I planned to change the solid moulded grills with real ones, but this would have meant that the engine would have been very visible. So I scratch-built the engine bay with 0.5mm plastic card and put in a resin Wright engine. I just changed the intake piping and scratch-built the exhausts, all with different diameters of styrene tube and rod. When all the pieces were sorted out, I thinned the rear wall, as in reality it was quite thin armour, while in the kit it is more than 1mm thick. Instead of replacing the whole piece, I beveled the upper edge with an X-Acto blade and just smoothed it all off with a sanding stick. Also, the rear engine door is far too thick. In this case, I sanded it down using sandpaper placed on a flat surface. With a little of patience you can obtain an evenly-sanded surface! Finally, it was time to start tackling the upper hull. The kit part is basically OK, but it has some major errors, and the welding marks are missing. The first major mistake I spotted was the engine air intake grill. When building the engine bay I realised that it is too large and it would protrude into the side sponsons where the gas tanks should be. It wasn’t a big problem as I wanted to change to using real grills. I therefore started to eliminate the solid grills represented on the upper hull, namely the air intake, rear air and muffler exhausts, side generator air intake and battery aerator intake. At the same time I thinned down the rear engine wall as the kit part thickness is more accurate for a Tiger than a Hellcat! All these modifications led me to re-shape the front engine air intake by narrowing it with

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two 2.5mm styrene strips on each side and to push the rear exhaust grills backwards by 1mm. Unfortunately, these modifications made the photo-etched parts from both Royal Model and Eduard useless as they were designed to fit the original openings. In addition, after researching a little more, it was evident that all Hellcat grills were made by metal rods that are crossed, but not interwoven. Practically all metal or synthetic grills I could find were interwoven. That was a problem which stopped the project for a while. After searching for a while I ended up with a solution: I needed to make my own grills! Actually, it ended up to be much easier than I expected. I made a square jig with 1.5 x 4mm styrene strip. This provided the frame. I then took 0.25mm plastic rod and started gluing sections to one side of the frame. To ensure the right spacing I used small pieces of 0.5 x 0.5mm styrene strip between the rod sections. Once the line was dry, I glued the opposite side keeping the 0.5 x 0.5mm spacing and ensuring they were as straight as possible. Once all the lines were done I started on the crossing direction. I did it the same way, with one 0.25mm rod section, then one 0.5 x 0.5mm spacer, until all the lines were filled. The end result was a non-interwoven cross mesh. Now I just needed to brush the crossing points with Tamiya (or Gunze) quick drying liquid cement, being careful not to overdo it, otherwise it would melt! I let everything dry for a couple of days and finally I had my mesh. Mainly, it was used on the air intake and in the rear exhaust. The rear exhaust grill is a little bit tricky: it looks the same on both sides, but on closer inspection the left side has a small hatch, hinged on the mesh support, which allows access to the lubricant tank pipe. The frame was built from 0.57 x 1mm strip and 0.25 x 1mm strips were used to make the series of deflectors at the exhaust rear. The leftover parts of the grill were then used for the batteries’ air intake and on the auxiliary power unit air intake.

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Next to tackle were the hull sides. In the kit these are depicted as being flush with the upper cover. In reality the end of the hull is the protruding hull roof plate. So I just glued a 0.4 x 0.4mm strip which was enough to give the appearance of the thin armour plate. The hull is missing a lot of weld marks. It was a great testbed for the Archer 3D decals. They worked very well. I read that some modellers fix them with clear varnish, but personally I found more it effective to simply brush them with Tamiya Extra Thin cement. The 3D resin is not sensitive to this cement but it does dissolve the film carrier as well as softening the underlying plastic enough to tack the part in place. The front brush guards may look rather simple to scratch-build, but in fact they have quite a complex shape and the ones supplied in the kit are multi-part assemblies, but too thick. As they are also rather small, I discarded the metal option as I could easily mess everything while trying to solder the piece. So I opted for styrene

rod. I created a jig with the shape of the part and then fixed some strips of 0.4mm styrene rod to it and just dipped it for a couple of seconds in boiling water. Once it cooled, the styrene rod keeps the given shape. This makes cementing the part together much easier! A few other details, such as the leather pads around front hatches, were made with epoxy putty. The remainder of the putty was used to sculpt the .50 cal tripod’s protective cover. After a few checks I was happy with the hull, so now it was time to turn my attention to the turret.

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The AFV Club Turret is a mixed bag: measurement wise, the bottom diameter is about 3mm too small. It is apparent because you do not need to create a notch in the air intake grill to clear the turret underside. Also, the front gun shield is somewhat off in size and shape. Luckily, both issues are not that obvious thanks to the turret overhang over the former and the fact you need to plan to make a canvas cover for the latter. No welding marks are reproduced. Interior details are mostly inaccurate or missing and the gun cradle/breech/guard representations are absolutely not up to today’s standards. The aiming device is missing and the radio set is very, very basic. I started with the gun complex. The gun cradle needed to be shortened by 3mm and the recoil/buffer cylinders had to be detailed. I did it with new bolt heads built from two hex pieces, with thicknesses of 3mm and 0.5mm. The rib connecting the two cylinders and the gun cradle needed to be reshaped with 0.4mm styrene strip and an additional one had to be recreated 6mm behind it. The gun breech is too slim and too short. Instead of

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trying to fix it I scratch-built it completely, saving only the end of the breech receiver. The firing mechanism needed to be rebuilt from scratch along with the sight ruler and the firing trigger. Once this was finished, I took care of the recoil guard which is completely wrong in shape. The frame was built from 0.32mm diameter brass wire. Here it is important to correctly measure where it bends as you cannot use the plastic piece as reference. Moving forward, the automatic breech cylinder guard was made from three pieces of styrene, slowly bent to a curved shape. The lower side guard is the original piece but thinned with sandpaper on a flat surface. The rear recoil guard is the Royal Model etched part plus a piece of the original part. I also added the frame supporting the pointer front rest. Actually, this ended up to be the trickiest part to correct, as the attachment points are different than in the kit in both dimensions and shape. It required a lot of dry fitting before it was ready to be glued together.

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The last stage was to attach the resin part of the elevation handwheel from the Royal Model set. The interior details were much easier as the Royal Model set comes to the rescue with several details, including all the boxes of the intercom system. The SCR 610 is a resin piece from Formations Models for which I did the master pattern many moons ago. One major pain here is needing to rebuild all the hydraulic piping of the turret traverse system. Here I used 0.3mm styrene tube as I find it easier to bend and glue. Doing all this helps you truly realise how cramped the space is in this turret: it’s small enough that making a piece 1mm too big will mean that it does not fit at all! Ammo storage was filled with refined rounds. Initially I thought I would use brass rounds, but ultimately only the brass ends remain visible, so I opted for the plastic ones. Some .50 cal and .30 cal ammo boxes were then stowed in the relevant places. Once it was finished, I opted for painting and partly weathering the parts before gluing it all together, since after that it will be almost impossible to reach the details! On the turret exterior, I replaced rear bin hatch using 0.25mm plasticard. The gun is an Aber part originally sold for the Sherman. It was adapted for use here as the original AFV Club gun tube is somewhat out of scale. An additional challenge is the fact that most, if not all, M18s in service had canvas mantlet covers. So armed with patience and Tamiya Quick Epoxy Putty I sculpted the canvas. Finally, I added some Archer weld beads to the turret, as they are also missing from the kit parts.

At this point the turret was nearly completed, but the Hellcat still looked unrealistic. These vehicles were so cramped inside that crew had to stow all their own stuff outside the tank. I normally don’t like to stuff models that much, but in this case without the outside stowage it would simply look artificial. To avoid a complete scratch-build, I opted for the resin offering from Black Dog. It is intended for the Academy kit, but with some easy tweaks can be adapted to the AFV Club kit too. It is nice and relatively “busy”, making a difference to the finished model. The last challenge was the 0.50 cal mount. The kit part is too thick to be usable. Photo-etched parts are OK, but too skinny and not that accurate for the foot attachments. I ended up scratchbuilding the foot attachments and then using parts from the Royal Model set, which are thicker than the Eduard ones. The 0.50 cal is a Tasca item and the ammo box is from my bank of photo-etched parts with some additional styrene parts. For the tracks I chose some from Modellkasten.

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Paintwork and weathering. I started with a base coat of Lifecolor Olive Drab Deep Shade (UA257). This colour is a darker shade of OD and I concentrated it more in crevices, on the lower part of hull and the stowage. After a couple of hours, I gave the model a lighter, uniform layer of proper OD colour (UA222), This colour was slightly more thinned than the previous darker shade. The last phase was the OD Flashed Shade (UA255). I like this tone as it tends more naturally to yellowish highlights compared to lightening the base colour with basic white which to me results in a much duller finish. With this last colour I concentrated a little more on upper the surfaces, centres of panels and edges and I also striped the vertical panel sides to disrupt the uniformity of the base colour. I wanted to depict a Hellcat which is captioned in a photo taken at the liberation of Bologna on April 21, 1945. This tank belongs to 805th Tank Destroyer Battalion and was named “Black Cat”. This Battalion used a very original marking composed of a white square on the rear hull walls and on the turret windshield container, with big black numbers for the tank and company numbers. The AFV Club decal sheets allow you to reproduce one of this unit’s vehicles, actually another famous subject named “Croc of Cognacs” with the numbers “2-2”, while “Black Cat” is “1-1”. I therefore changed the markings by masking the area and by spraying pure black. Once it was dry I added masking for the numbers and dots and sprayed white in several light layers. The

Weathering then started on the running gear, and MIG Dried Mud Splashes effect was used on the running gear side walls. I applied it with a sponge, let it dry for a couple of minutes and then altered it to my taste with a moist, pointed brush. The wheels were treated before being glued in place. First I applied AK Interactive’s Dust Deposits. This is a real unique product: it’s neither a real wash nor a diluted pigment. It behaves like something in-between and leaves a very nice texture. However, you need to add it with care as it tends to cover pretty heavily. I prefer to apply a small quantity a time. After few minutes you can start to work it with a moist, pointed brush. Once this was dry, I added a finer dust layer by applying a light wash with a 30/70 mix of Sand and Dust Humbrol washes. I applied it to the desired part, waited for until it looked dry and then changed the effect to my taste. The same wash was applied over the side walls and the finally running gear was glued in place. The upper hull and turret received the same treatment. It might look excessive but dusty Italian roads and spring showers tend to accumulate and even “fix” a surprising amount of dirt which is wiped away only by crew passage or the movements of the tank. The last step was to add fuel spills around the rear fuel caps. The fuel is gasoline, so I just worked with a reddish tone with a lighter brown shade as dust attracted by the wet. It’s a different story around the fuel cap at the co-driver’s side. It fuels a generator with a two-stroke engine. So the fuel is a gas-oil mix which creates much oilier and dirtier effects. It’s the same story for the exhaust. Anyone who has ridden a two-stroke bike knows what I mean! Also, at that time, two-stroke oil was nothing more than used engine lubrication oil at best!

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tank destroyers emblem comes from the AFV Club decal sheet, as do the stars and tactical numbers. The name of tank was made with lettering from the Archer Dry Transfers range composed on a piece of adhesive tape and then transferred to the model. Lifecolor Black Shades and Wood kits were then hand painted on the wheels and on-board tools. The stowage added some more work because here you need to avoid a totally flat colour. So I opted for the two Lifecolor sets dedicated to US Uniforms and some care was taken to paint each piece of stowage with a different and possibly contrasting shade of uniform OD. This adds some more interest and dynamism to the turret, which would otherwise be a very plain “greenish” piece. A couple of light semigloss transparent layers were then sprayed over to seal everything and prepare for weathering. As I liked how it came out from basic painting and it does not have really large areas, I just made some very restrained oil dotting on the wider surfaces and then a pin wash with Humbrol enamel dark brown wash to pick out the details. At this point, using a fine brush and a slightly thinned Lifecolor OD Flashed Shade, I painted some of raised details such as bolt heads and handles to create a little more contrast. The tracks were airbrushed with Lifecolor Track Color and then additional shades of rust were added using a sponge. The same treatment was applied to the spare tracks on the turret rear.

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The Base I wanted to depict the tank in the road to Bologna. Italian roads at that time had two specific finishings: important roads were still built in concrete, while newer and more important roads were tarmacked. Of course, due to the war, their maintenance was not properly done, so depicting a tarmacked road meant that it needed to have damage due to wear. AK Interactive asphalt was used to make the road. I initially painted some on a non-stick surface and allowed it to dry. Once it was well dried I then chopped up some of the pieces which were then fixed on the polystyrene base with white glue. When this had dried, dried, I spread all the surface with fresh asphalt taking care not to cover the damaged patches. The surrounding terrain was made with AK Light Earth. I have to say that I am really pleased with the effects, and most importantly, they help to make the process much quicker than traditional methods. The bollards were made out of 4 x 4mm plasticard, to which I added some texture, since they were made of wood. This type of bollards is very typical of Italian roads of the ‘30s and they gave me a nice base for the figure. The telegraph pole is a Miniart item, while the traffic signs are from the Model Victoria range. When everything was in place I gave it a wash with Raw Umber and Burnt Umber oils. After that, I treated the tarmac with the AK Interactive Dust and deposits set, mixing all three shades. The darker shade was also used on tufts of grass to make the landscape hue more uniform. A light and heavily-thinned wash of Humbrol dust and sand contributed to blend the base with the model.

The last touch was the figure. It comes from the Warrior range and was beautifully painted by my friend and excellent figure painter Pino Ortolani. I truly need to start learning how to paint figures, though! All in all, it was one of my long-term projects and it was very near to becoming a shelf queen at one point. But looking at the final result, I have to say I am rather satisfied. Hopefully some plastic kit company will come to the rescue in the near future and we might be graced with a more accurate representation of this iconic tank!

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Having already designed and delivered the prototype FV420 Light Armoured Vehicle in the late ‘50s, GKN Sankey (now BAE Land Systems) introduced the FV432 Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) into service in the early ‘60s, with the first production vehicles rolling off the assembly lines in 1962. Part of the wider FV430 series, the 432 takes its place amongst other variants, including the FV434 Recovery Vehicle, with crane and ‘pick-up’ type rear end for transporting major assemblies such as engines and gearboxes. The FV432 was original given the nomenclature of ‘Trojan’, although this name never stuck and that name now belongs to an Engineering tracked vehicle. The design is basic and functional with very few ‘bells and whistles’. The all-steel welded hull sees the driver sitting front right with the 360° traversing commander’s 22

cupola immediately behind him (or her). The engine and gearbox sit to the immediate left of the driver and commander, with the troop compartment, seating 8 troops (on paper 10 – but very rarely done in practice) in full kit on folding seats to the rear. The vehicle is fitted with an NBC overpressure filtration system and earlier vehicles were fitted with flotation screens and waterproof seals. The commander’s cupola can be fitted with a General-Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) pintle mount for self-defence and there are also 6 smoke dischargers; 3 on either corner on the top of the glacis plate. The driver can drive ‘buttoned down’ with the hatch closed using a periscope; he can also replace this with a night vision periscope for use at night. Although fitted with a large, round hatch in the hull roof

directly above the troop compartment, there is no ‘fighting’ capability per-se for the FV432 – it being primarily a ‘battlefield taxi’. There are no firing ports or hatches as are often seen on former Warsaw Pact type vehicles. The Warrior 510 fulfils this role as an Infantry Fighting Vehicle with its 30mm Rarden Cannon! Production of the FV432 was ceased in the early ’70s after over 3000 vehicles rolled off the production line, although the vehicle remained in service, undergoing various upgrades through Mk1, Mk2 and 2/1 variants. Throughout the 2000s the FV432 underwent further upgrades as BAE Systems were awarded contracts to standardise and upgrade a somewhat tired vehicle fleet with various fittings, modifications and engine fits.

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The Mk.3 upgrade was completed in 2006 with the first vehicles being delivered in 2008. This included a heavily upgraded Theatre Entry Standard (TES) kit, including Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) and Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) for fitting prior to deployment to conflict areas such as Iraq. These TES-fitted vehicles, in line with the ‘canine’ nomenclatures given to the Protected Mobility (PM) fleet; were given the name ‘Bulldog’. This has now been applied to all Mk.3-upgraded FV432s regardless of fit. Having been given numerous ‘out-of-service’ dates the FV432 Bulldog is now due to remain in service until beyond 2020 – meaning that there are vehicles in service which are older than the author! The Takom kit is presented with some beautiful artwork in the usual sturdy box – I have to say that for me the British Green on the FV342 box looks a bit bright, but I suppose this might have been a rare sunny day on Salisbury Plain! On opening the box, you’re presented with nearly 500 parts on 8 sprues. Many of the finer parts are protected with foam sheet and there is also a segregating wall within the box, protecting the hull ‘tub’, two etched brass sheets and a track jig. One thing I really like about the Takom sprues is the way their sprues are marked with stencil type tags, making it very easy to see which sprue you’re looking for (little things please me!). I found the instruction book to be excellent, with logical steps and well ‘exploded’ diagrams. Takom have been criticised in the past for having somewhat ambiguous

instructions, especially in areas where very small parts are fitted; I found that on this kit there are lots of ‘zoomed’ diagrams around the regular diagrams to assist you – kudos Takom. The instruction booklet also has a double foldout page at the rear with the colour schemes, and also a comprehensive interior colour diagram on the inner page – double kudos! I won’t go through a step-by-step of the build as I built this up mainly ‘out of the box’, following the instructions in most areas. The interior went together in about two hours with no difficulties. I moved through the instructions at this point, ensuring that all interior parts were completed so that I could paint it up and then seal the roof on. Being lucky enough to have access to more than one Mk.3 FV432, I checked out the interior fit against the real thing. I think Takom have nailed it! In reality there are a lot more cables ‘hanging around’ but with the roof on you’re not going to see too much anyway. I’ve also been warned by someone who knows far more about the FV432 than I do that Takom have mixed a few Mk.3 fittings into their Mk.2/1 — not something I’m overly worried about, as again, it will mostly be hidden. One thing to be aware of though is that the interior walls should be silver in colour, not white/cream as pointed out in the instructions. The white/cream walls were painted as the interiors were stripped out as part of the Mk3 upgrades in the mid 2000s. I’ve also seen the padding on the interior of the rear door in green, black and tan shades, although the padding on the interior walls is always (?) an orangish tan colour. I painted the interior with Tamiya acrylics though a Badger 360 airbrush, picking out detail by hand. After a coat of Klear, I gave the whole of the interior a thick wash of sepia oil paint and allowed it to dry overnight. I then dampened a cotton bud in odourless white spirit and wiped off most the sepia oil paint – this takes some time but is worth the overall effect of leaving shadow and oily streaks in the recesses. Eventually I wanted to depict this vehicle as a driver training vehicle, so I printed a couple of ‘polite notices’ onto white decal paper, as seen in the training fleet; and applied them to the interior walls. With the interior painting completed with a thin acrylic wash of Tamiya flat mud applied to the hull floor, I fitted the roof, although I left the rear door off at this stage.

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Again, the build of the exterior throws up no surprises with all parts fitting well and very little filling required. There are a few fiddly parts, especially the camouflage pole mounts – I managed to lose a few of the ‘bases’ and had to make replacements from plastic tube. Those of you with more patience than me will probably replace these parts with brass tube anyway. The length and link tracks might not be to all tastes and I’m sure it won’t be long until the aftermarket track manufacturers release some metal and resin replacements. I used the jig as supplied although found that the lugs on the jig fouled the track teeth – I’ll put this down to user error as my friend who was building the FV432 at the same time had no problems! I left the wheels and track off to allow for ease of painting later on. One of the very few additions I did make was the addition of high visibility plates to the rear bins.

Takom supply the decals for these but they’re not painted on, they sit on plates that mount into ‘slide’ brackets. I made these with rectangles of thin plastic card with the edges rounded off.

I also added an Accurate Armour amber flashing light – strangely Takom supply the kit one as grey plastic – despite a very comprehensive clear sprue…

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Prior to painting, I masked off the periscope windows with Humbrol Maskol and filled any open apertures with cut-up sponge. It is decreed the British green/black camouflage scheme should be 2/3 green; 1/3 black – with the black breaking up the edges of the vehicle and any prominent features. As with any camouflage scheme, you’ll always find deviations, but this is what I went with. I primed the model in Vallejo flat black, before an overall coat of Tamiya XF-61 Dark Green. I then lightened this with some Tamiya Buff and resprayed a clouded pattern, concentrating on the upper surfaces and panel centres. I lightened the mixture again with Buff and once again sprayed onto the upper surfaces. For the black I used Tamiya XF85 Rubber Black, spraying the camouflage patterns freehand as prescribed above. I highlighted by adding Tamiya Buff in the same fashion as with

At this stage, a friend mentioned putting it front of Bordon Kebab House… A bit of history if I may here? From the end of WW2, Bordon was one of the homes of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) (the other being Arborfield near Reading) where Recovery Mechanics, Vehicle Mechanics, Armourers and Metalsmiths were taught trade skills at various stages of their career. Realising that these tradesmen also needed to be able to drive the vehicles they were repairing, these tradesmen were taught driving skills on the nearby wooded tracked areas.

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the dark green and completed the basic scheme by brush-painting details, including the wheels and red handles. I never get hung up on exact colour matches as I know that the 10+ weathering coats that follow the initial paint coat will alter the final colours drastically. To prepare the model for the coming weathering, I airbrushed a coat of Klear all over the model and allowed to dry in the spring sun. I then applied the decals – a mix of the kit supplied ones and some from my decal bag. Luckily, at this stage the South-West of England was going through some early spring sunshine, allowing me to place my model on a table in the garden between weathering stages, which meant that I could apply steps within an hour of applying the previous one. To get a bit of shadow I washed a Mars Black/Sepia oil wash all over the model, before wiping off the excess with a soft, spirit dampened cloth. There

followed another coat of Klear (I seal every step with Klear) before I washed Lifecolor Liquid Pigment Dark Dust all over the model and allowed to dry. I then used the Lifecolor ‘Remover’ to take off much of the dust, before once again sealing. Then I applied a ‘thicker’ wash of Lifecolor Road Dust (a lighter shade than before) and this time removed less than before, leaving a multi-shaded heavy dust coat all over the model. At this stage, the model looks very ‘real’, although not very ‘scale real’. To rectify this I mixed up a ‘dark mud’ oil wash and pin-washed into the recesses across the model. Once again, this got the details ‘popping’. Following another Klear coat I added some streaking with the dust colours mentioned above, before finishing off the weathering with a watery wash of Tamiya Flat Mud applied to the running gear, track and lower hull sides. I treated the tracks and wheel centres to a sepia oil wash and fitted the wheels and tracks. To finish the model off I added any delicate parts I’d left off for the painting stage, including the mirrors, headlights and headlight guards. I put the model aside and had a think about what to do with it…

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In the mid ’90s I witnessed one of these driver training FV432s wipe out a set of traffic lights close to the legendary Bordon Kebab House – a staple diet for hungry tradesmen after a night out, on the way back to the camp. Mixing this with the aforementioned suggestion I came up with the following diorama. I sourced some pictures from Google Streetview of the shops in question and built up the basic shapes from balsa strips and sheet, leaving open apertures for the barber’s window and the takeaway door. These were made up from plastic stock and clear plastic packaging left over from Easter eggs! I then covered the resulting building fronts in stock plastic sheet to give a smooth finish. For the road and textured plaster finishes on the building I used household wall filler and the pavement was made up from compressed foam, scribed with a flat ruler. I painted the buildings and road in a similar fashion to the FV432: paint/seal/weather/seal/weather… I printed up all of the signs and posters myself using an inkjet printer onto a mix of white and clear decal paper. Importantly you must seal these – I use a clear car lacquer and allow it to dry overnight before cutting out and wetting. For the figures, I used a mixture of Accurate Armour (Soldier), 1/32 Preiser (Instructor) and Evolution Figures (Females). I also scratch-built the damaged rails and various litter (including the discarded chips) from plastic stock and self-printed decals before putting the whole diorama together. I was struggling with a title for this and sat staring at for a while before realising that it looked like a typical Friday morning in any garrison town. Generally, young soldiers not wishing to stay on base over a weekend, will go out on a Thursday night – thus leaving the detritus of a good night out on a Friday morning! Overall a really enjoyable project – made easier by a ‘fall together’ kit; and some personal knowledge of what a Friday morning in Bordon feels like…

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Panzerkampfwagen David Parker builds Trumpeter’s 1:16 kit

In this installment work continues on fitting out the engine bay and weathering the various components. Experience has taught me not to rush ahead and fix a newly painted part in place without first checking that it will not cause a problem with some other part and indeed, there was at least one revision in the course of this work. I

Part Sixteen

was very much feeling my way in how to weather the engine bay as I wanted something operational yet not tired and overdone, something that can be a fine balance to achieve.

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The auxiliary generator was weathered to reflect the settling of engine bay grime on the horizontal surfaces with various acrylic washes buit up over the surfaces. Hole were drilled in the outlets 1 in preparation for the cables to be connected and the cables running from the spark plugs will need to be replaced.

The generator is test fitted into the hull. I think it is important to keep comparing finishes when dealing with parts that are weathered separately.

2

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On the other side of the engine bay I added the cable running from the voltage regulators to the batteries

I also added the power supply cable 2 for the tail light which runs up to the track guard from the transmission tunnel. Soft aluminium foil was cut into strips and used to make the cable clamps with photoetched bolt heads.

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I then began to apply some weathering to the lower edges of the compartment to replicate the areas where oil has seeped into the accumulated dirt and dust. This was brush painted using a mix of two tones of Lifecolor acylics and gradually building up the densities.

The same effects were to the lower edges of the sidewalls in the same way. I was very much feeling my way with the gradual build up of these effects.

In the course of this I realised that I had made a mistake with the cables for the auxiliary generator as I based it on wiring for the early generator. I had to remove the lowest cable which controls the electric starter for the generator and this was temporarily taped up to the track guard until the generator is connected up.

Time to fit the fuel selector valve which had been pre-painted before it was glued in place. After a bit of a struggle I was able to connect the three fuel hoses into the base of the valve.

Although I was reasonably happy with the damp effects I decided to increase the overall level of dust within the engine bay by selectively airbrushing some dust onto the walls. The darker wetter areas nearer the floor were reworked in places where the overspray had muted the tones. The cables were also weatherd to match the surroundings.

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The next job was to fit the pair of fuel lines from the selector valve to the fuel pumps on the engine. These were pre-painted with Alclad Aluminium but despite being pre-shaped they were difficult to fix in place and to feed behind the existing pipework. I used some 5 minute epoxy and tape to secure the first pipe while the glue dried. The pipes were then weathered to match the rest of the area and the mounting frame for the generator was fitted to be sure that everything still fitted in this particularly crowded corner.

To make the assorted placards for the engine they were first drawn up on computer (thanks to Mark for his assistance) and then printed onto clear decal film. To replicate the metal backing I used some fine sanding sponges to dull some self-adhesive. aluminium foil before applying the decals. These were trimmed to size and the placards Right I went ahead and weathered the engine using the same colours and techniques that I had used for the generator with dust and grime deposits on the horizontal surfaces. However as the weathering progressed and I test fitted the motor alongside the generator I became unhappy with the overall grey colour of the motor in comparison to the generator. I therefore took the decision to repaint the engine using MRP RLM66 grey

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Eventually I had both pipes in place and the fixing bracket to secure them to the firewall was added from aluminium strip.

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The repainted motor with its darker grey was a much better colour match and the weathering was redone over this. As well as the overall deposit of grime I added dried oil stains to the oil tank and the oil filler covers on the rocker covers.

Time for another small revision as my research showed that there should be a cooling pipe connected to the dynamo on the engine which runs to the firewall. The hole for this pipe in the firewall I had mistaken as a cable feed

Shaping the new cooling pipe in the restricted space between the engine and the walls was far from easy and it took me four attempts to get a shape to the pipe that I was happy with.

point, therefore I had to remove this cable from the hole. I spliced in a new piece of cable and routed it across to the acess used by the other cables. The imperfect joint will be covered by the air filter box.

The pipe was then wrapped in strips of self-adhesive aluminium foil to replicate a flexible type of pipe.

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The fan belt system was tackled next and I took care to try to replicate the particular colour of a used belt as well as the woven texture.The contact areas on the different pulley wheels were given a polished metal finish caused by the movement of the belts. The parts were then dry fitted to check the overall appearance.

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The project continues in the next Issue

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Panzerkampfwagen

1:16 12th SS HitlerJugend, Normandy 1944 Commander comes with alternative head.

Five man Panzer IV crew to suit Trumpeter’s Panzer IV Available as individual figures or as a full crew set.

Ava ilabl NOW e !

Note: Driver figure designed to work in conjunction with the AFV Modeller replacement seat.

www.mengafvmodeller.com

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Götterdämmerung

THE

FATE OF THE GODS

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Michael Mandau’s spectacular ‘1946’ diorama

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Often there’s a project that keeps coming back to your thoughts, and this is the case here: In my mind I saw a gantry-style signal tower in an action scene under which a Panther is posed. This kept me fascinated for a long time until one day I finally decided to take the challenge on. I always had an inclination for railway scenes; probably back from the days when I played with the model railroad at my Grandfather’s house. So railway tracks needed to be on the diorama, that’s for sure, and a rail-running vehicle or train. The first part of the planning is always setting up your available size – unfortunately I’m limited to the size of my glass display cabinet. I made a styrofoam base 35.5cm by 33cm and started fiddling with options and angles. In my stash I found this old, old, old Dragon Panther II, also a subject fascinating to me for a while now... In a combination of different kits, some tracks that were laying around and some Styrofoam, I came to a composition that satisfied my expectations. I like to work on different levels in a diorama. This helps to add some interest, depth and of course the level of details. A small scene like this can gain so much interest with a second

‘floor’ and it looks bigger as a result. As you will see later, there was a time when I planned to use a big commando railway wagon on the second track. In the end I exchanged it for a smaller vehicle which suited the layout better. I’d already invested a lot of time into that vehicle, but the wagon was longer than I expected and would have hidden all of the details in the back wall. Don’t be afraid to change an initial idea and replace it with something better in your own projects. I know I would never have been satisfied, so trial and error can give good results. The main protagonist – the Panther II – was a supposed to be the successor of the famous Panther. It was developed in 1943 and a single prototype hull was built. The project was cancelled in favour of the Panther Ausf. G. I liked the idea of the prototype and it enhanced this scenario to a fictitious 1946 scene involving a battlehardened fully functional Panther II. One of the big advantages on working on 1946themed vehicles is that you don’t have to look on any reference and can work just straight from your imagination. Unfortunately, the Panther II hasn’t really made its big breakthrough on the available model market, so I had to take the old Dragon 6027 kit which was produced in

1994. I found a relatively cheap one on eBay and ordered quite a big bunch of additional aftermarket products to compensate the lack of detail in the vintage kit. For the painting process I decided to go for a full-on battle-hardened look which is the bonus in building fictional subjects. I like the interaction of factory-built components with improvised battlefield additions that the crew added later on. With a combination of supplies and the personal belongings of the tank crew, it all results in an interesting vehicle to look at and a fun one to build and paint.

All required materials were ordered and prepared for the build. Included here are, among others, a set of Friul tracks, a full set of etched parts, a turned barrel, towing rope,

The original swing arms were just supposed to be glued in a fixed position, but because I intended to adapt the wheels to the ground I needed to remove the fixing points.

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The same goes for the parts that were replaced by photo-etch. Here, the mounting racks for the tools were removed with a file and the fenders cut off.

The fit of the upper and lower hull was far from perfect. They were glued and strapped together with tape before using filler. The assembly guides for the side fenders were filled, along with the joints that needed to be adapted. Revell Plasto was my weapon of choice here. Here a Dremel tool helped to get some deeper texture to the armour plate.

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Here a Dremel tools help to get some deeper texture to the armour plate.

With stippling motions of an old stiff brush, some Citadel Liquid Green Stuff was applied on the surface of the armour. This is just a thinner version of putty. Some Revell Plasto or similar thinned with liquid cement should also work the same way.

After a day of drying, the surface was smoothed just a little, with the help of Wilder sanding sticks. It helps to reduce the rough structure of the plastic.

A hot soldering iron set to 200°C with a sharpened tip was used to reinstate the lost welding structures between all the panels.

The first etched parts came into play on the back of the tank. The battle damage on the two rear stowage boxes is easily reproduced with the thin brass.

The tool racks and the tube for the cleaning rods were completely reconstructed using the etched parts and the reworked tools from the kit.

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The tools on the side hull were put into place and fixed with some drops of CA-glue.

Baby powder was spread on a flat surface and a small ball of Milliput was rolled out to the smallest possible thickness. It was then cut in a rectangle and put on the model to replicate fabric. It needs to dry for several hours before it can be removed for painting.

Details like the broken power cable for the lamp or the inside of the front hatch take a lot of time, but add more finesse.

With the help of copper wire the grips and lifting lugs were replaced. Welding seams were recreated with tiny ‘sausages’ of Milliput which were put around the items and stabbed with a hobby knife for a weld bead texture.

Again, the soldering iron came in handy, by using a The holes for small lugs, eyelets and handles were filled with Mr.Surfacer 500 applied with an old brush. round tip to recreate some battle damage on the front and side hull.

The foundation of the painting process is always a good layer of primer, followed by the base coat. In this case I went with a mix of Tamiya XF-5 Flat Green and XF-59 Desert Yellow.

The beginning of a simple colour-modulation scheme is made by spraying Tamiya XF-26 Deep Green thinned with Mr.Color Thinner 250 on the lower, darker edges of the different parts of the tank.

A lighter mix of paint is made with XF-5 and XF-59 to add the highlights of the green base coat to the upper areas.

Light yellow camo was applied with a mix of XF-2 Flat White and XF-509 Desert Yellow

They were then filled with the brown, made with XF-9 Hull red and XF-68 Nato Brown. In the end only the edges of the Dunkelgelb paint were still visible.

I wanted to have the additional armour plates on top of the turret and the engine deck to look rusty like untreated steel. A first basecoat of Alclad ALC112 Steel polishing colour was sprayed with the airbrush and rusty patches were applied.

Some rusty yellow streaks and grey spots were applied from several acrylic colours with a fine brush. This will be the foundation for further tone variations.

Small rust-coloured dots of oil paint were applied on the surface with a small brush and carefully blended with white spirit.

The airbrush was loaded with highly-diluted yellow paint and then some hard-edged rust layers were created using a simple mask.

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Some brighter paints were used to highlight and emphasise the details. This stark detail will tone down a little with weathering. Tools and accessories were painted with Revell Aqua Colour 06 Tar Black, 330 Fiery Red, 89 Beige and 74 Gunship Grey. For a wider variety of colour, small patches of oil paint were put on in a random pattern. It’s important that the paint is not too thick: it should just be a thin layer on top of the base coat. The paint is then blended into the base colour with a brush. Any excess is removed with a little white spirit.

The same processes were used again on the lower hull. Here I focused more on light green tones to simulate different shades of paint.

The second layer of chipping, the dark rusty steel colour, is applied on the Panther with a mix of Revell 06 Tar Black and 84 Leather Brown, again with the help of a very small brush and a sponge.

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To enhance the depth of details, grooves and crevices a pin-wash using Wilder NL02 Deep Shadow Wash was applied all over the selected areas.

AK013 Rust Streaks, AK014 Winter Streaking Grime and AK049 Odorless Thinner were used to apply various streaks all over the tank.

Now I started with the first layer of chipping and scratches. A lighter colour of the base colour was made and applied all over the model with a small brush and sponge.

A first layer of dirt effects was applied on the hull with AK Interactive AK015 Dust Effects. The still-wet paint was blended using AK 049 Odorless Thinner to reduce hard edges.

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The bright silver of the white metal tracks is too bright, so I usually weather them with a burnishing fluid. In this case pewter figures patina was poured in a glass and the tracks soaked in for a couple of seconds.

Some rusty spots were randomly applied to the tracks with a brush using another burnishing fluid; Wilder Quick Rust for Metal Tracks.

A similar process as before with the dust, was repeated with dry Pigments, which were soaked and blended with odourless thinner and a little A.Mig-2015 Wet Effects.

Wilder Pigments GP10 Road European Clay, GP03 Road Dust, GP09 Dark European Terrain and GP06 Brown Russian Earth were applied dry in stippling motions with a stiff brush.

AK084 Engine oil and AK025 Fuel Stains were applied in spots all around the most common areas to simulate oil, fuel and dirt effects on the surface.

To create some differences in the tone and darker, muddier effects, I mixed some dark pigments with odourless thinner and some drops of acrylic paints. This mix was dipped to a brush and ‘flicked’, producing splashes and speckles.

Some metallic parts and hard edges received a silver metallic sheen with a graphite stick and Revell Aqua Colour 90 Silver.

the diorama

I find a paper cutter usefull for multiple straight cuts – but be aware; It’s still hard to make a straight cut because the sheet tends to slip. It’s also just works with very thin sheet like 0.5mm or less.

The lower steel construction of the tower was glued together with a fast drying liquid cement.

A styrofoam base plate was cut to the maximum size that would fit in my display cabinet. A first prototype using left-over pieces Styrofoam was set up. It’s a first look at the later outcome and helps with finding proportions as well as positions for the vehicles. Note that my original idea of the armoured railway car is in place here.

Smaller stripes of 0.3mm and 0.5mm plastic sheet were glued as ‘visual’ reinforcement, which helps to add some details.

The most important part of this building is the signal mechanism. I used some old wheels that I had in my spare box mounted on a drill and carved a groove to the outside.

Some furniture was made with the help of some thin balsa wood and pva glue

With thick square profile rods I made a rough shape of the building, which was glued in place. Coffee stirrers were used for the wooden floor. A wire brush helps to add some texture to the wood.

For the roof I made a 2.5mm thick plastic plate on which the roof truss was glued on. The whole roof was able to be removed for easier assembly and painting. The second room in the back is a place to hide the battery and wiring.

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Time to start the real base.I prepared a piece of chipboard, the sidewalls and some wood as a reinforcement for the edges.

The reinforcements were glued on the sides and secured with some nails The wooden side panels were glued to the sides and secured with the help of some tape.

The rear wall was made from wood again and secured in place with some white glue.

A mould was made with some plastic sheet leftovers for the concrete foundation of the tower. It was filled with plaster and set to dry for a day.

The tower, the concrete foundation block and some Trumpeter 1:35 railway tracks were put on the base as a first test fitting.

The railings for the second floor and the ladder were made from wire which was soldered in place.

With the help of some square plastic rods, some planks and the railing, the side gangway was made. For the main pillar I used some H-column, I-column and U-column profiles and plastic sheet again to create a nice eye catcher for below the tower. The Plusmodel Railway Water pump was the perfect addition to the left side of the diorama. The small socket on the rear wall and a pit for the pipes below the water pump were made with thick hobby foam, which were 44

cut to length and glued in position The roof tiles were individually cut — tedious work but ultimately effective when painted and weathered. A back cover, including a manual switch and a battery case, was integrated, the lamps were wired and some bullet holes were made with the hobby drill. To hide the electronics inside the second room a set of curtains made from real cloth was hung behind the ‘glass’.

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As a preparation for the groundwork everything you see here was finally glued in position with white PVA glue. The tracks were cut to length and positioned on the ground.

Some concrete tiles were made using a mould and poured plaster. They were adjusted in their thickness, glued into place with white glue and the excess cut with a Dremel cutter.

To secure the various grades of gravel and stones a mix of 30% white glue and 70% tap-water was mixed and applied all over with a syringe and allowed to dry for a couple of days.

Ready-mixed wood filler formed the rough ground between the tracks. Sifted garden soil, small branches, stones and sand were strewn and softly pressed into the still-wet surface.

I used a cork-matt from IKEA which was cut into small brick shaped pieces which were glued onto the rear wall piece by piece.

Damaged plumbing, pipes and some electronic insulators were put in position directly below the concrete paving.

At this point everything is in component form and unpainted. I find when planning and composing a scene the constant handling means items are best left unpainted and incase any changes are required

For the figures I called on several sources to suit the scene. With the fictional ‘1946’ theme it’s possible to be a little artistic with uniforms and equipment. A Dragon Mg42 Heavy Machine gun team, as well as the Alpine Tank Commander was assembled along with some figures I found in my spares box. Some heads were replaced with Hornet versions.

the project concludes in the next issue 45

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KEEPING TRACK

new releases

Meng Meng have released some rather nice accessories to compliment their new Panther kit featured in this issue. Set number 49 in their 'Supplier' series is a set of working suspension and tracks. The kit's hull has the location points already to take the fixing blocks and the suspension arms are designed to take the end of the torsion bars which essentially work as the real thing being produced from sprung steel rod. To articulate the suspension you'll be needing some 'working' tracks; here's a set of finely detailed links with push-fit metal pins (inner and outer styles are provided) to ensure a very robust assembly. The track links still have multiple sprue points and separate guide horns (as do the kit tracks) due to the complexed shapes but if you're prepared to take the time the detail and function is superb.

Meng

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One thing you can't really avoid if you want to build an accurate Ausf.A is zimmerit. The topic is still a hot one amongst German armour modellers and as time moves on more information is unearthed on the anti-magnetic mine paste and which factories used which patterns etc…Meng have been gracious enough to provide modellers with a choice of four patterns to fit their new kit, if you've a particular vehicle in mind check your references and choose the appropriate one. Two familiar patterns are Type 1 for MAN produced vehicles and Type 2 for MNH, some vehicles sported field applied paste opening-up a whole can of worms. If you don't think your skills are up to the Editor's way of applying zimmerit this is a clever system which is basically water-slide decals but instead of 'flat' printed colours the patterns are produced in fine relief. With the Primer Red plastic of the kit and

the grey of the zimmerit we've a realistic base for top coats of colour. Our quick tests have thrown-up a few points; the backing releases quickly in water so it's best to get the transfer onto the plastic quickly for good adhesion. The fit is excellent with some overlap in places to trim to your desired point, the material can be chipped and scraped when fully dry with realistic effects. We found some liquid cement helps hold the edges down and softens the material (so be careful with the amount you use) our usual decal solutions had no effect. Be prepared to spend some time with the application, it's tricky on the curves, allow the decals to dry out properly, seal the edges with liquid cement or CA and you're on your way to realistic zimmerit. Check out Meng's website for more information.

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Model Art, Calvin Tan's Figure Painting Guides. Our Japanese friends from the publishers Model Art have kindly passed us some samples of a new tutorial series on figure painting from World renowned miniature artist Calvin Tan. I've admired Calvin's work for many years and although I've read much on his unique acrylic techniques these DVDs really add a new dimension. With professional presentation Calvin describes his processes from producing a 'wet' pallet and uses for various brushes right through the painting process of a figure in great detail. His process of black and highlighted undercoats and subsequent glazes of colour are more suited to armour modellers wanting to improve their figure work, the speed it's possible to

work at with controlled drying times is more encouraging than the traditional oil-paint methods. These techniques can also of course be employed for soft stowage and diorama elements. The 'Basic Guide' is a good place to start with the 'Intermediate Guide' going into subjects such as leather and the infamous Oak Leaf camouflage. Both contain around 200 minutes of footage each across two DVDs (per set) and are not only enjoyable to watch, but also relaxing and remove the mystery of Calvin's stunning figures. Recommended to anyone painting figures at any level, www.modelart.jp

Eduard Tamiya’s new Brummbär is in for a treat with a couple of detail sets from Eduard. If you’ve picked up one of the Tamiya kits you’re probably fond of a reasonably swift build with Tamiya’s legendary simplicity and ease of assembly, this pair of sets will compliment that perfectly. Without too much fuss you can really

raise the levels of detail; set 36364 provides a full set of schürzen and hanging rails and set 36363 gives various smaller details including treadplate sections for the mudguards and cooling flaps. take a look over at www.eduard.cz

Sovereign 2000 Some familiar faces here if you’ve been modelling for a good while, S2K continue to expand on their range of the classic ‘Wolf’ range of figures. The casting is clean and the figures are easy to assemble with some including a small base. S2KW076 is a female Soviet sniper, S2KW077 depicts a cold weather soviet subject with a PTRD anti-tank weapon, S2KW072 is a WWII period French tanker, S2KW075 is another tanker, this time in a British ‘Pixie’ suit. Finally S2KW074 depicts a ‘Were Wolf’ Berlin defender at the end of WWII. For Sovereign’s full range of figures, full kits and detail sets check out their website www.sovereign2000.uk.com or catch them at one of the many shows they attend in Europe.

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Churchill Tanks Dennis Oliver Published by Pen and Sword Softback format, 64 pages ISBN9781526710888 www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

This is a packed little publication in the Tank Craft series, the forth by renowned author Dennis Oliver, focusing on the British operated Churchills in North West Europe in 1944-45. This series is a great mix for modellers of archive images and information, colour and marking guides with half a dozen model projects and a comprehensive guide to what's available in kit form and the aftermarket in all scales. A section on the tank Brigades gives a

good insight into the numbers and organisation of Churchills at the time with good visual diagrams cross-referencing the markings. Good images and information on the Royal Engineers tanks is also included along with technical changes and differences between the various marques. A very worthwhile reference for fans of British armour offering excellent value.

Panther Tanks Dennis Oliver Published by Pen and Sword Softback format, 64 pages ISBN9781526710932 www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

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In exactly the same vein as the Churchill volume this is a welcome release if you have a fancy for Meng's new Panther after seeing the Editor's build. Covering Army and Waffen-SS Panthers there's plenty coverage of the Ausf.A with some classic images providing good reference. Unit histories of the Panther battalions operating on the Normandy front in 1944 are explained with some nice colour profiles (twelve in total) with detailed captions and information on the zimmerit and markings. A good visual guide to production changes is an invaluable help to anyone not fully fluent

in 'Panther'. A gallery of five models gives some good inspiration (including work from Lester Plaskitt who’s stunning M1A1 is in this very issue) and a comprehensive showcase of available kits and accessories available in all scales, unfortunately this is already outdated with Meng's Ausf.A and Tamiya's 'D' in 1:35 not on the market at the time of writing. For hard-core Panther nuts there's probably no great revelations if you have some of the more indepth books on the subject, but this is another excellent value and concise reference for anyone embarking on a Panther

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Panzerwrecks 21 By Lee Archer and Darren Neely Published by Panzerwrecks Softback format, 96 pages ISBN 9781 9080 32171 www.panzerwrecks.com

The intrigue of German armour is still strong with modellers and since the release of Number 1, Panzerwrecks continue to be a source of new information and superb unseen images. The quality has remained constant and as the series comes of age with it's 21st volume we're still staggered at the images which the team unearth. There's a great selection here with a good number of Panthers (including Bergepanther and jagdpanther) and more regular Panzer IVs and StuGs with most (as usual and as

expected!) looking a little worse for wear. A few features jump out, one being a series of images of a burning Porsche turreted Tiger II of s.H.Pz.Abt. 506 and another set of images and information on the NSU 'Springer' demolition vehicle which is a new one on me. A recent addition to the pages of Panzerwrecks is the superb colour plates by Felipe Rodna, five appear in this edition which as always we heartily recommend to any German armour enthusiast.

Panther Panther and Jagdpanther Units- Part Two Dennis Oliver, Stephen Andrew Published by Bookworld Softback format, 33 pages ISBN 9780987601384 Following the burst of enthusiasm for all things Panther here’s another compact reference for modellers detailing Panther units on the Eastern Front, this is Part Two and concentrates on the period from Operation Bagration to Berlin defense with the illustrations showing vehicles from autumn and early winter 1944 (volume 3 will show later vehicles and more on the Jagdpanther). The illustrations are excellent and great modelling reference with close-ups of noteworthy features and the period photos the profiles are based on. More great modelling reference are the colour plates of the crew uniforms with excellent detailed descriptions and close-ups of insignia and camo patterns. Not the heaviest of books at 33 pages but the content is excellent and offers good value Panther modelling reference for anyone embarking on their own project and looking for inspiration.

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Flyhawk 1:72 M1A2 SEP One of the most 'kitted' vehicles recently in 1:35 is surly the M1 'Abrams' which is now available in many different versions as state-of-the-art kits, so why should the 1:72 modellers miss out? One of the relative newcomers to the kit market are Flyhawk of China, more renowned for their ship models, there are a few AFVs in their catalogue and this is one of the latest, a completely new M1A2 SEP. The sturdy little box contains one of, if not THE best 1:72 scale armour kits we've seen, the level of detail is just staggering. In fact, with the danger of sounding ridiculous, the detail is more impressive than the 1:16 M1 that the Editor has been poking around at recently…really. Not only is the finesse of

moulding impressive but the design of some of the assembly very clever; the belly of the hull incorporates the suspension arms and separate hull sides ensure excellent detail. Tracks are moulded in continuous 'runs' but split centrally offering great all-round detail. Features such as the turret baskets, MGs and main gun (slidemoulded as a single part) would shame many 1:35 kits and we're offered some nice photoetch (which thoughtfully includes a wheel painting mask) and a clear sprue. Add to all of this a well designed colour instruction booklet and Cartograf decals and you have what must be considered a benchmark small-scale armour kit. Small but perfectly formed!

D-Day Miniatures

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Some more beautiful figures from D-Day, 35090 is a pair of Romanian WWII era troops in cold weather gear trudging through the snow and 35095 is a great little vignette of a couple of BEF chaps working out the best route back to Blighty, over a cup of tea of course. The set includes fold up table and chairs with accessories, even printed maps. A great range that we always look forward to seeing, head over to www.ddayminiaturestudio.com for information on the whole range.

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Real Colors of WWII Jürgen Kiroff, Przemyslaw Skulski, Mike Starmer, Steven Zaloga Published by AK Interactive Hardback format, 208 pages ISBN 8436564920423 www.ak-interactive.com

To coincide with their release of the new Real Color range of acrylic lacquer paint, AKI are sharing the extensive research of this new brand with this rather excellent book on the subject. The debate of correct tones and hues has always been a hot topic amongst modellers for a long time now and by collating renowned experts in their various fields this book and the Real Color range look to put the record straight once and for all. German, Russian, British and American colours are documented by the relevant experts featuring original documentation, beautifully reproduced wartime colour images (and black and white archive images), colour photography of original preserved equipment and accurately reproduced (within as little a 4%

tolerance in the printing process) colour swatches and colour illustrations. An explanation of how the colours are scanned and reproduced makes for interesting reading and demonstrates the lengths AKI have gone to assure modellers of accuracy. As one might expect, the complex topic of German colours makes for around half the book with some fascinating images including original RAL cards and documents (translated also as text). As well as the paint colours and camouflage systems of each country there is explanation of where and why colours and shapes were used. A beautifully presented book which will be a new benchmark on the subject, available in English and Spanish but both in limited edition.

AK Interactive, Real Colors This is a brand new range of paint from the guys at AK developed in their own laboratories with painstaking research in both accuracy of colour and user-friendly application. Having tried and seen demonstrations of the product in action, AK are rightfully proud of their achievements in producing an acrylic lacquer that ticks the boxes of most modellers’ needs. It can be mixed with similar brands (think along Tamiya and Gunze lines) and flows beautifully through even the tightest airbrush nozzles without build-up or clogging. It’s equally suitable for brush painting with excellent handling and results. The ‘bite’ of the paint to plastic is very good and it dries to a point where you could safely apply masking tape in around half an hour. The levels of pigment are fine and build the colour quickly ensuring a thin coat so as not to begin filling any fine detail. The durability also seems very good when applying subsequent weathering materials. An introductory range of around 140 military shades covers what most of us will need, our samples are in the collated sets containing three 10ml (1/3 fl.oz.) jars. We’ve heard cries of ‘do we need any more brands of paint?’ well we’d say when it’s as good as this is very nice to have the choice! The range will now be available worldwide from hobby shops and suppliers. Check AKI’s website and social media for more information and video tutorials.

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HGW Models If you dabble in aircraft modelling and are a reader of our sister publication, AIR Modeller, the HGW brand will be familiar as the producers of some of the most high quality and innovative modelling products around. One of the most impressive we've tried are their wet transfers. The biggest problem to solve with traditional water-slides is the 'silvering' of the carrier film, HGW's process removes all trace of any carrier leaving only the printed area, once the transfer is completely dry the carrier foil is peeled away. With a flurry of Scammel Pioneer kits hitting the market this is a great release with no less than nine options (including RAF versions) with a bonus of two air recognition flags in fine paper print. Superb quality, www.hgwmodels.cz

SBS Model SBS of Hungary produce some high-end resin kits and conversions for both armour and aircraft modellers using the very latest technology available. A start to a new range of purely 3D printed accessories are these amazingly detailed King Tiger drive sprockets. The printing is some of the best we’ve seen without any signs of banding or any clean-up to do; two styles are available with subtle variation in the spoke shapes mainly. Check your reference if you’re building a specific vehicle. The 3D print process is certainly coming of age now, quality of this standard is always going to be on the expensive side, something for the real detail freaks to drool over! www.sbsmodel.com

Nuts and Bolts, Sd.Kfz.6 Dr. Nicolaus Hettler Published by Nuts and Bolts Softback format, 225 pages English / German text www.nut-bolts.de

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The fact that this is number 39 in the series shows still the popularity of German armour and vehicles, and of course the popularity of these benchmark references, this being the biggest page count yet with an absolute feast of information in the usual format of rare archive images, preserved and restored vehicles, technical drawings and colour profiles. With such a wide range of variants there is an extensive look at technical development and where the vehicles fit into the organisation and structure of the units. As usual there’s a terrific selection of period images which

will be new to most of us with ‘in the field’ and factory shots. A selection of walk-around images of preserved subjects also provides good reference. We have the usual modelling chapters featuring work by the renowned Tony Greenland covering Sd.Kfz.6/3 ‘Diana’ Sd.Kfz.6/1and Sd.Kfz.6/2 Flak to give that extra nudge to start on your own build project, what better one-stop reference could you wish for than a Nuts and Bolts volume? Always highly recommended reading.

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German Horse Power

This new 'Camera On' series is expanding at a pace, most of the images are new to us with the author drawing on private sources throwing-up some really interesting shots that wouldn't usually be taken by official PK personel. Not being professional photos the image quality varies somewhat but this doesn't detract from the interest of the subjects. The German Army in WWII was heavily dependant on horse drawn logistics and artillery and the book has a great selection of the main wagons and limbers used and of course the field kitchens. An interesting photo album to add to the series.

Alan Ranger Published by Stratus /Mushroom Model Publications Softback, 88 pages ISBN 978835281739 www.mmpbooks.biz

This is another great collation of largely unseen images which not only shows these workhorse halftracks in the field but goes some way in describing the production and factory variations by grouping images into chapters. All periods and fronts of WWII (and before) are covered and there's some great images of towed '88s and even a Panzer II on a Sd.Anh. 115 trailer. Again, the source and image quality varies which is to be expected but this series looks like it will be a good and inexpensive reference for modellers.

Sd.Kfz. 7 Alan Ranger Published by Stratus /Mushroom Model Publications Softback, 88 pages ISBN 978835281715 www.mmpbooks.biz

Model Miniature 1:72 VBL French company Model Miniature have long been producing niche kits and accessories in 1:72 (mostly) of French and Middle-Eastern modern military subjects. Their resin kits always appear well detailed with a simple approach to construction, certainly the case here with the purposeful looking VBL topped with the 12.7mm turret. Casting is nice and unusually for a small scale vehicle such as this a full interior with opening doors is featured, the body shell is split centrally with some clever moulding design. A figure, antennae and decals are also included with some nifty looking decals for the tyre wall detail. The build instructions are on the MM website which also showcases their full range where you can buy direct. Manifique! www.model-miniature.com

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Lester Plaskitt’s awesome Abrams

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The Abrams has always been a favourite vehicle of mine. I have fond memories of building Tamiya’s release of their original M1 kit when it was first released more years ago than I care to remember. I had always planned to build another Abrams model but never seemed to get round to it. That was until my interest was rekindled by the appearance of M1A1s serving in Iraq, fitted with TUSK 1 extra armour updates. The TUSK (Tank Urban Survival Kit) updates included reactive armour side skirt panels, armoured shields for the commander’s and loader’s stations and an anti-sniper 50 calibre MG mounted above the main gun which changes the vehicles’ sleek profile to a much more aggressive-looking fighting vehicle. Further updates classed as the TUSK 2 kit feature in addition to the TUSK 1 updates an extra layer of reactive armour U-shaped

tiles on the side skirts and reactive armour tiles fitted to the turret sides, which again further alters the overall look of the vehicle. The Abrams that sparked my interest is in the Tankograd publication which showed an M1A1 Abrams in the current NATO 3-tone camouflage pattern which had recently had the TUSK 1 kit fitted. What made this appeal to me was that the TUSK kit had been supplied in the current US tan CARC colour which made an interesting contrast to the green, brown and black of the NATO scheme and much more interesting to the eye than the standard overall tan finish. With this in my mind I set about replicating an Abrams in this colour scheme serving in Iraq. At this point in time not only is there a multitude of number of M1 kits available, but the modeller now has the choice of Abrams TUSK 1 and 2 kits from at least three different manufacturers, something that was not available to me when this project began. At that time the only option was to use aftermarket sets to produce either a TUSK 1 or TUSK 2 model. My kit of choice was the Dragon Models M1A1 kit, which, despite some small fit issues was the best Abrams kit available at that time. The TUSK upgrades would come from the resin Legends TUSK 1 update kit with further etch brass refinements from the excellent ET models E35-165 TUSK 1 set.

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Basic construction of the Dragon kit commenced with no real issues. The lower hull and tracks assembled in a relatively short time, with the most time-consuming aspect being the assembly of the tracks and drilling out the end connectors, which goes a long way to adding more interest to the track links.

Working from reference pictures, I noticed that the track pads on the Abrams serving in Iraq show signs of heavy wear. This wear was reproduced using a small burr mounted in a mini-drill which, running at low speed, was touched onto the kit’s track pads to roughen up the surface. Humbrol Liquid Poly was then washed over the track pads to smooth out any harsh gouges.

As at this point I did not have the ET etch set and I opted to use the Legends resin belly armour. Research revealed the Legends parts to be inaccurate, being too long and lacking in any detail as to how the belly armour was mounted. Here we can see where the resin parts have been modified with extra sections of the belly armour, and the mounting point being scratch-built from plastic card, which then received a coat of primer to check for any gaps that were later filled. The hole in the armour is for the screw which will be used to mount the model to its base.

Work is progressing on the turret. Here I have added some wiring details to the smoke dischargers and the GPS unit using copper wire. Also, some covers have been made for the smoke dischargers using rolled-out Magic Sculpt laid over the kit parts and left for approximately one hour until the putty started to harden, at which point the covers were trimmed to fit and areas of wear and tear added .

With the majority of the turret and hull construction complete I could begin to add the TUSK updates. Here we see the addition of the MG thermal sight for the commander’s station, with the kit’s 50 cal MG barrel being replaced by the much better detailed RB models barrel.

The kit’s exhaust grills are given a little “battle damage” before being fixed to the exhaust housing. Also, some missing weld beads have been added using stretched sprue which was later worked with a hobby knife to reproduce the weld textures. 60

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Perhaps the biggest part of the Legends update kit is the resin reactive armour boxes. These items are larger castings which required a lot of clean up to remove the casting blocks. Also, the castings are very susceptible to warping and require a few attempts to straighten out using hot water. One of the main details missing was the anti-slip texture on

the top of each box. Here we can see the results of this texture after it has been added using textured paint from an aerosol can. This was relatively easy to do and just involved masking off the areas where the anti-slip is not present and then applying light coats of the textured paint until the correct paint build up was achieved.

As the TUSK armour package has a redesigned front skirt to facilitate the fitting of the reactive armour, it was necessary to remove both front sections of armoured skirts from the kit parts. Legend supply the new sections in etch brass, so once the replacement parts were assembled I deemed it prudent, given the warpage issues with the resin armour panels, to reinforce the potentially weak joint between the new section of brass skirt and kit part with some 2mm square plastic card strips.

The front mudguards were treated to some wear and tear, with one of the rubber sections removed from the right unit which was then fixed at an angle onto the hull to explain the damage that had torn off the rubber strip. I always enjoy adding small touches such as this as they can help tell a story and add areas of interest to a model. Next, the resin armour castings and the rest of the etch detail were added and once dry the wheels, tracks and lower hull areas were first undercoated in Vallejo Red Primer followed by a coat of Vallejo Black Green, which would act as a pre-shade for the following paintwork.

Figures always bring a vehicle to life; more on these in the part 2.

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With the majority of the construction work on the hull complete my attention turned back to the turret. Here, the 0.50 cal sniper mount and control conduit was installed using the extensive ET etch set which, although this assembly looks complicated, was very easy to make and really adds to the detail in this area. Also, the kit-supplied paper CIP panels were replaced with units made from plastic card and Tamiya masking tape.

Also from ET came the infantry telephone box mounted on the rear hull, reminiscent of WWII American tanks. Note the wiring added to the rear light unit and the conduit detail.

More etched finesse from ET here: the loader’s shields are under construction with some additional bolt details added using the excellent RP Toolz punch and die sets.

Construction work now turned to the commander’s station. At this point the mounting ring for the armoured shields were constructed using plastic card and lots of test fittings.

The resin Legends shields have been installed on the loaders station and the ET shields are test fitted to check for any alignment issues. 62

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The commander’s armoured shields were scratch built from plastic card with details added from the ET etch set. Again the construction required numerus test fittings and adjustments until I was happy with the shape and fit of the parts.

This is the completed commander’s station. At this point I decided to permanently fix the shields in place as I did not want to have to deal with any alignment issues after all the parts had been painted. I always like to have as much of the assembly completed as possible before commencing any paintwork. This can lead to some tricky areas to paint later on, but I feel more comfortable with this method than trying to fit painted subassemblies together. To avoid awkward masking the entire commander’s station was airbrushed in the base colours I used to replicate the US CARC tan. The areas of the cupola which remained in NATO colours were be brush painted in during the painting process. The base colour was a 50/50 mix of Vallejo Sand Yellow and Light Yellow; to add highlights Pale Sand was added to the mix. This combination gives a good base tone but can appear a little washed out, so to reintroduce a yellow tone Tamiya Clear Yellow was heavily thinned with water and applied as a filter concentrating more on the lower areas of the gun shields.

The base colour for the NATO 3-tone camouflage was now applied to both turret and hull over a previously airbrushed coat of Vallejo Red Primer. The green tone has been kept deliberately light as further weathering will go a long way to darkening the tone of the colours. The green chosen was Vallejo Uniform Green with the addition of a small amount of Green Grey to take away a little of the rich bright tone of the Uniform Green.

Dragon have captured the ‘nose-down’ attitude of the Abrams well. The multitude of contrasting colours make ‘Bad News’ such an interesting subject vehicle.

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AFV-98 Jan/Feb 2018.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 08/12/2017 14:30 Page 65

Once the green tone had completely dried the remaining 2 colours of the NATO scheme were applied. Following the camouflage pattern diagrams in the Dragon instructions I carefully masked the areas of brown and black using Blu-Tack putty and Tamiya masking tape. For the brown tone I used Cam Light Brown and Black Grey for the black tone, both of these colours coming

from the Vallejo Model Air range. Please note at this time I did not apply any postshading or highlights to any of the camouflage colours as the dust application later in the weathering process would further alter the tones, so at this point I preferred to keep them neutral.

Next in line the TUSK additions we masked off and airbrushed in the same CARC tan mix I had previously used on the commanders station.

Here we see the main base colours completed awaiting a coat of satin varnish before the weathering process can begin.

We’ll look at the weathering processes in the next issue.

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