I’ve had to take a break from the hobby since the beginning of September due to some large home improvement work. Whilst doing plenty of re-shuffling of hobby stuff around I got to musing over why I model the subjects I do. Looking at both finished projects and ongoing work I do seem to have a propensity for depicting damaged or destroyed axis vehicles. So why is this?
Abandoned axis softskin vehicles lie in a field in Saint-Lambert-sur-Dive 1944, after the escaping from the Falaise gap
Being naturally blessed with wizard like hyper focusing abilities, you would assume that during the past decade I would have produced a vast portfolio of work. That is one of the upsides of the condition. However, there are far more downsides being neurodivergent which make things a little more complicated!
My condition appears to be getting more difficult to deal with as I get older so a return to scale modelmaking has been a lifesaver in so many ways. The hobby has created a quiet, calm, anxiety-free space that I rarely get to experience in everyday life. I love other shit too - obviously, I’m not completely mental, it’s just that most regular day-to-day stuff makes my cranium internals spin, like it’s occupied by ten highly caffeinated squirrels!
History
The Jagdpanther was preceded by two attempts at mounting an 8.8 cm gun as a self-propelled anti-tank weapon; Ferdinand - also known as Panzerjäger Tiger (P) - These used the ninety-one leftover Porsche-built VK 45.01 (P) chassis from the Tiger tank competition it lost to Henschel in 1942, and the Nashorn on the Geschützwagen III/IV (which used a combination of the Panzer III and Panzer IV components) chassis. Ferdinand proved to be too heavy, and Nashorn lightly armoured and under-powered.
And so, at last, after more than thirteen years of neglect, may I present the finished article. I hope you like it.
‘der Grashüpfer‘
Oil paints were used again to accentuate areas at the rear of the vehicle over existing acrylic dust layers. This was done by adding both oil paints and pigments. Once dry, areas around the handles and steps had the dust layers smudged and dirty deposits were also added onto high wear surfaces.
The next stage of weathering effects is one I have used on a couple of
projects to date, and the results can look convincing. Looking at progress so
far, I decided to add a subtle toned-down application to just the lower front,
rear, and sides, and see where it would take me.
If you like a dusty operational look to your AFV models and are quite handy with the hairspray technique, this process can create realistic looking disrupted dust and light mud effects. What we are aiming to do is to selectively remove, mark, and disrupt an airbrushed dust toned layer of a paint. We are effectively reverse ‘hairspray chipping’ the surface, by leaving larger deposits rather than creating small chips. This works best using acrylic paints over a layer of hairspray or chipping fluid.
All these images on this page show the effect on late war axis AFV's with a three tone camo, so you have to look close up as the effect can appear very subtle. Using these weathering effects on early war axis vehicles or green allied or Russion AFV's will produce a much more pronounced effect, with a starker contrast against the vehicle's paintwork.
I prefer to add any textured build up of mud before this dust layer effect is airbrushed on, as I like the dust layer to be the final weathering layer. This is just a method of application I used on these projects, so if the vehicle is to be portrayed as just having driven through fresh mud, that can just as easily be applied over the dust layer. Or you can mix and match if you find that visually more appealing. Likewise, adding pin washes before or after this dust layer, or both, will produce different results.
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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.
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:
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!