Zvezda Mercedes L4500A Chapter 11: Creating a diorama

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After starting to build and paint some accessories I got side tracked, as I often do, so the truck and trailer were relegated to a nice dust free storage box. Early in 2024 I got some inspiration from the excellent ‘The Army that got away' publication to restart the project. The book tells the story of how the German 15th Army largely escaped from their Atlantic coast defensive positions after D-Day. Pursued without any real urgency they escaped via the Scheldt estuary pretty much intact.  There is some great info and period images that I’ve never seen before, and it gave me some ideas on how I could finish off this project. 

Schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper (sWS) armoured cargo version. Chapter 8: Exhaust muffler

 

I have completed the visible portion of the exhaust muffler with the brilliant Lifecolor acrylic rust set.  I started with a pinky hot toned manifold base coat. Next came various applications of the three darkest rust tones, generally adding them lightest first, but also going back and forth building up the layers until I felt I was getting somewhere. An extremely diluted lightest rust tone was added over the clamps. MIG smoke pigment was added in and around the end of the pipe.