Sd.Kfz.8 DB10 Gepanzerte 12T (Trumpeter 1/35 kit #01584) Chapter 13: Oil paint rendering

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 

These selectively applied and time consuming oil paint stages are not for everyone, but Mike Rinaldi’s work in his Tank Art books convinced me it was worth the effort. These effects look very convincing and very much appealed to me. The richness, depth, and versatility that working with oil paint brings is unparalleled in my opinion and has now become an important step in most of my projects. In my pursuit for in-scale realism I will happily spend days going back and forth adding tiny effects to try and compliment the overall look, often spending hours on one particular feature. I love the results that can be achieved and find the whole process enormously therapeutic.

Sd.Kfz.8 DB10 Gepanzerte 12T (Trumpeter 1/35 kit #01584) Chapter 12: First stage weathering begins

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With the vehicle fully built up it was time to put a personal stamp on the project. For this first stage of weathering here are the steps I followed:

 

Sd.Kfz.8 DB10 Gepanzerte 12T (Trumpeter 1/35 kit #01584) Chapter 11: Connecting the body to the chassis

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After being kept apart for so long it was finally time to permanently fix both sub-assemblies together! The two mouldings are mated by way of small keyed joint connections. Following the build steps as per the instructions it's simple enough to turn the body upside down, align all the keyed connections and fix the chassis down onto the body. As already noted in Chapter 3 the connection is not at all precise and requires a little rework to achieve a clean flush fit between the two assemblies. The instructions have you mate the two parts early on in the build steps so handling the parts and sorting the issue is easy to resolve. It will be far more of a challenge if paint and fragile fixings are already added!

 

Sd.Kfz.8 DB10 Gepanzerte 12T (Trumpeter 1/35 kit #01584) Chapter 10: Weathering stage prep work

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Before commencing the first weathering stages of the build, there were a few areas of the model that I still wasn’t 100% happy with. Firstly, the paint colour on the re-worked sprockets wasn’t a great match to the rest of the running gear. Although this was more likely due to my choice of primer colour than the actual base coat mix, they definately exhibited a more creamier tone as opposed to the greyish hue of the existing track wheels. Rather than masking and re-spraying paint I stumbled upon a solution. Applying Abteilung buff oil paint seemed to be the perfect answer. This was carefully stippled on and blended out from the wheel centre. 

Left for 72hrs to cure I then sealed the oil paint work with VMS matt varnish. This was essential as both enamels and pigment effect work would still be required to harmonise with the existing chassis tones.

 

Sd.Kfz.8 DB10 Gepanzerte 12T (Trumpeter 1/35 kit #01584) Chapter 9: Decals and front wheel options

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Regarding decals, what’s provided in the kit is not surprisingly extremely limited. In addition to the instrument dials only a pair of licence plates along with a 'prototype' plate are included. Interestingly Trumpeter don't match the ones found on the restored vehicle!   

 

Both licence plates were added and sealed.

 

 

Sd.Kfz.8 DB10 Gepanzerte 12T (Trumpeter 1/35 kit #01584) Chapter 8: Painting the exterior

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It’s difficult to ascertain a clear paint finish under all that rust and river debris, but it almost certainly would have originally received a dark yellow base coat. As to whether it had any traces of camo, I have not read of any evidence that it had. The Polish resto team never added any, which leads me to believe that it didn’t, but with just the one surviving vehicle it's always possible that others did. 

Sd.Kfz.8 DB10 Gepanzerte 12T (Trumpeter 1/35 kit #01584) Chapter 7: Construction completion of the exterior

 

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Viewing the recovered vehicle images once more, a fair chunk of upper body armour plate has been replaced, and weld lines criss-cross the repaired sections. Some prominent welds, such as on the rear plate to the lower body may well be original so it is curious to note the absence of any significant weld lines at all on the kit. And whilst not all the welds may be original, I have decided to add my own in the most visible areas, like where the rear plate attaches to both side and lower plates. I have also re-scribed the panel lines as I felt they were too shallow.

 

Sd.Kfz.8 DB10 Gepanzerte 12T (Trumpeter 1/35 kit #01584) Chapter 6: Completing the interior

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Before the upper and lower body sub-assemblies could be fixed permanently together, the interior required a few parts to be painted and added. The largest items being the kit supplied wooden benches. Along with the steering wheel these were kept separate for painting. I had long since removed the kit fire extinguisher from the driver’s side wall as it was pointed out to me that it was of an early design. In its place now sits a 3D printed late style empty bracket. Two other features that look peculiarly placed are the MG ammo box and its leather pouch. As these were already fixed in the vehicle as per the instructions, and well bonded, they were left to avoid damage. They have yet to be detail painted.

 

Sd.Kfz.8 DB10 Gepanzerte 12T (Trumpeter 1/35 kit #01584) Chapter 5: Painting the re-worked sprockets and solid wheels

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The sprockets and solid tyred wheel sets have now received paint. They still require a very light application of dust to match the tones used on the track wheels. Some work is still required with oils to replicate the leaking wheel bearing hubs as seen on the restored vehicle. 

Sd.Kfz.8 DB10 Gepanzerte 12T (Trumpeter 1/35 kit #01584) Chapter 4: Re-worked sprockets complete

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Larger faced kit sprockets ready for primer with large kit PE step ring, and some 0.7mm bolt heads added to replicate the track pads retaining bolts. 

 

The reworked handed sprockets. 

 

    Left (Port sided) and right (starboard side) sprocket