Dragon 1/35 Sd.Kfz 184 Ferdinand (kit #6495) Chapter 2: Paint

Continuing on from the build in Chapter 1 way back in 2020, it has since been primed with Tamiya’s rattle can red oxide fine surfacer. It's a perfect foundation for German armour, especially if you fancy employing the hairspray technique. 

 

After carefully washing and drying the model overnight it took about three light passes to get a good coverage over the entire model. This was then left for a couple of days to cure.

 

 

The model then received a couple of fine coats of Tresseme’s fine mist hairspray. For the base coat I used Tamiya acrylics, I started with a mix of XF-90 and XF-60 for the lower hull and running gear. Moving upwards a mix of XF60 was sprayed over the lower hull. A mix of XF-60 and XF-88 was then applied higher up onto the casemate and on the engine deck. Then a pure XF-88 coat was airbrushed on to the very highest areas followed by a mix of XF-88 and X2, sprayed from above, to highlight the upper surfaces.

Once dry I set about carefully agitating the hairspray underneath. As most surfaces only received a light coating of the above mixes I could still maintain a decent degree of control over the minor scratches, scuffs and scrapes that I was going to apply.

 

The Tamiya primer held up fantastically well after light agitation of the hairspray and at no place on the model did the primer degrade down to the plastic even after scratching the surface with cocktail sticks etc. So far so good.

Various components of the model such as outer hatch plates and fixings were brush painted with Vallejo Acrylic Buff, yellow and sand mixes to give some tonal variation to raised detail.

 

I then moved onto the Masterclub tracks. These are marked # MTL35004 and use the resin track pins. The size and shape are accurate, and the detail is good but as already mentioned above, the pins are not tapered so the majority of them simply fall out whilst handling! A thin coat of brushed on acrylic paint over the pin ends kept most in place but I did have to resort to a dab of superglue on others!

Once fully assembled I cleaned the tracks carefully with a toothbrush and soapy water and after letting them dry overnight I used Solid Scale Solid Track burnishing fluid for the first time. 

 

 

 

It only took a 2–3-minute dip for the tracks to change to a nice dark dirty grey colour. A perfect tone to start off with. After cleaning off any remaining agent in soapy water, they were treated to various enamel washes and speckling with a myriad of acrylic and pigments mixes. A dirty process but well worth it.

 

Initial weathering steps on the tracks

The next step was one I hadn’t tried before. I had read an Adam Wilder blog in which, after applying the colour modulation technique, although pleased with the contrast obtained, he felt that he no longer had the desired dark yellow hue he was after. This he corrected by airbrushing a very thin coat of Tamiya X-24 clear yellow over the model. This has the effect of re-establishing the yellow tone to the base coat. As his build was also on a similar tank destroyer this was a perfect opportunity to see how this worked in practice.

The Balkenkreuz decals were added then I thinned the X-24 clear yellow 50% with Tamiya acrylic thinners and proceeded to airbrush the whole model. I was very pleased with results.

A fine pin wash was then applied with a fine brush consisting of various Abteilung 502 brown toned oils and odourless turpentine. 

 

 

After allowing the oils to partially dry overnight an angled brush with the absolute minimum of Abteilung turps on was used to carefully dab at any overspill and contamination of the surrounding paintwork, blending in any remaining oil and creating soft transitions. Any access oil can be utilised to create fine streaks and rain marks

 

Excess oil wash blended out

 

Before finalising the track weathering, I figured it was time to test for track fitment. After cleaning the track wheel contact points of paint and testing fitting the wheels, an appropriate length of brass wire was employed to temporarily connect both the track runs. Neither the drive sprocket or idler are adjustable and after testing, it appears a single link on both sides will need to be removed.

 

Three images highlighting how the yellow clear coat can subtly alter the appearance of the finish under different lighting conditions.

 

The plan as of writing is to replicate the vehicle sitting on a heavy duty 6 axle 80ton rated railway platform wagon after an aerial bombardment having arrived at the bridgehead before any field applied camo was added. I will upload a seperate build post of the Sabre Model SSyms just as soon as I am able.