Category Archives: Hints And Tips

Painting Your German WWII Tanks – A Very Basic Guide

  By Dean | September 12, 2011 - 3:15 pm | 3. Articles, 5. Resources, Hints And Tips, Resource/Reference
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Okay, so if you’re the sort of modeller who goes a little beyond what the instructions say then you’re most likely aware that painting your average German tank is a little more complicated than just painting it dark grey or dark yellow. I’m going to try and give a very basic guide that outlines the general colours used and the patterns used, as well as when and where they were used.

To keep it simple I’m not going to quote official RAL colour names and numbers, I’m going to use plain old simple English, and then it’s up to you to decide what paint to use. I find it pointless to try and give the “best match” in any given paint because there are just so many variables from simple fading and wear through to camo patterns that were thinned with water or petrol and applied by hand which results in a huge variation of the base colour.

For those who do want “best match” my suggestion would be to use either the Vallejo or Panzer Ace sets as they do the job nicely.

So this is it in simple terms ( if anyone thinks I’ve missed anything important or got something wrong feel free to point it out ). Keep in mind that these generally only apply to armoured fighting vehicles in the Western European and Eastern front theatres. We’ll deal with North Africa/The Med separately in the future.

Pre war, 1927 to 1937. A three colour scheme made up of desert yellow, olive green and red-brown applied in a wavy soft edged pattern that looks similar to the U.S. Woodland pattern camo ( in style, not in colour ). These were painted at the factory prior to acceptance into service and each vehicle was painted differently.

Pre-War/Early War, 1937-1940. Dark grey covering 2/3 with the other 1/3 covered in dark brown soft edged random splotches as seen on one of the Cyber Hobby Neubaufahrzeug paint schemes. Note that although this scheme replaced the earlier scheme only new tanks were painted thusly, with existing vehicles only repainted from the 3-tone as they were repainted in the normal course of their maintenance so there are examples of vehicles in three-tone during the early stages of the war. Also trucks were usually not camoflaged so were just painted in the base dark grey.

Early War/Mid War, 1940-1943. From June 1940 the change was made to just painting everything dark grey. Tanks in the field were supposed to be repainted but as above you could see the two tone patterns through into 1941 often only getting done when needing a repaint anyway.

Mid War/Late War, 1943-1944. From February 1943 the base colour changed to dark yellow with the crews being supplied with dark yellow, dark green, and red-brown paint to apply camoflage patterns to suit their environment. The paint was supplied as a paste which was thinned ( petrol or water ) and added with anything from a basic spraygun to brooms. The most common camo pattern was wavy soft edged lines of dark green and red-brown but there were a LOT of variations. Vehicles that were already in the field in dark grey stayed with a dark grey base with the camo paints used to paint patterns over that. A common pattern was dark yellow spots over the grey base or one reminiscent of the Malta camo which appeared to be mostly yellow with grey lines but was actually yellow over grey.

Late War, 1944-1945. From November 1944 the camo known as “ambush” pattern came into use and was applied at the factory. This has red-brown and olive -green stripes over a dark yellow base with small “flecks” of each colour scattered over the others. This wasn’t “retrofitted” to vehicles in the field and appears to have not been applied to the StuGs ( though there is one interesting photo of a StuG with disc style camo on the Schurzen ). Other late war patterns such as the “disc” pattern on the Panther were also factory applied.

The End, 1945. The last type of paintjob was the vehicle being sent out in it’s primer undercoat with dark yellow applied over the top as a hasty form of camo. Others just went out in plain dark yellow. ( worth noting here that this is still a subject of hot debate as to whether the colour is indeed exposed primer or the red-brown colour used in camo patterns ).


Today’s Handy Dandy Tip – Adding Sling Swivels To Your 1/35 Scale Weapons

  By Dean | August 4, 2011 - 3:07 pm | 3. Articles, Hints And Tips, Resource/Reference
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If you’re like me you’ve been through the whole evolution of the scale rifle sling. First it’s no sling, just glue the gun to a hand ( or a back ). Then it’s the single strip of whatever material with one end going to the back and the other end going to the front. Then you get fancy and fold the sling over for 2/3 the length to make it look a bit closer to the real thing but it’s still a couple of blobs of glue fore and aft that hold it in place.

And if you’re really like me you end up making semi workable slings with sliding keepers and the whole blob of glue attachment point just doesn’t cut it anymore. I used to glue tiny little plastic swivels on but they looked too oversize and these days with failing eyesight and sausage fingers that was becoming more and more difficult. Magnifiers help the eyesight but I’ve yet to find a tool to deal with sausage fingers ( a good range of tweezers helps ).

So these days I do my sling swivels like this :

You’ll need fine fuse wire, a small drill bit ( I use a #80 ), a strip of 0.25×0.8mm styrene strip and some superglue. And if you’re like me a good freestanding magnifying glass or Optivisor.

First drill a hole through the point where the swivel will mount. Then loop your wire over and feed both ends through the hole. Pull the wire through until only a small loop is left, then insert the end of the styrene strip into the loop and finish pulling it tight from the other side. Make sure the strip is hard up against the weapon. Pull the wire tight and twist it around to hold it in place.

Then add a small drop of superglue, enough to fill whatever hole is remaining and keep the wire in place. I use a shaved down toothpick for this. Leave it to dry then shave away the excess wire ( you can add a drop of Mr. Surfacer 1000 to cover up any hole that remains ).

Now remove the styrene strip ( if it’s too tight just cut it as close to the swivel as possible without cutting the swivel ) and use a pair of broad nosed tweezers to slightly flatten down the swivel. There you have it, one swivel.

Now just feed your sling through and finish it off however you normally do ( I usually make workable slide keepers so that once everything is dry I can then slide them up to secure the sling at the swivel as the real ones do ).

And don’t forget to remove those mould seams from the butts.

A Tip When Looking For Photo Reference Material On The Net

  By Dean | June 23, 2010 - 5:27 pm | 3. Articles, Hints And Tips, Opinion, Resource/Reference
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One thing I’ve found while trawling the web for reference photos is that in the vast majority of cases no-one ever bothers to edit photos before they upload them. So frequently I read threads in forums where a photo is being used to aid in the discussion but it is often complained that not enough detail can be seen as the photo is too dark.

These old photos weren’t taken with digital cameras, so in most cases the detail is there, it just can’t be seen. Usually what obscures it from being seen better is the method used for adding the photo to the interweb. If you look through a lot of published reference photo books you’ll usually notice that photos are much clearer and much better detailed. This is usually because the printer had access to the original and could do a hi-res scan and then lighten it all up and bring out the detail that was always there.

I’ve included a few examples below to show what I mean. The original photos are as found and are quite dark, all I’ve done is use a very basic photo editor, in this case the Kodak software that came with my camera, to lighten them up. The results will vary depending often on the method by which the original photo was uploaded, the resolution it was stored and displayed at, as well as the quality of the original photo.

Sometimes you’ll end up with a lot of the photo looking washed out and over exposed, the trick is to lighten it up till you can see the bit you want, or to crop down smaller and lighten just that bit. One thing you just can’t escape though when working with photos on the net is the resolution, they can only be enlarged so much.

click images to enlarge

Pz.Kpfw. II with Mine Rollers : Before ( above ) and after ( below )

Radio Truck Crew On A Break : Before ( above ) and after ( below )

A Vomag FlaK 88 : Before ( above ) and after ( below )

A Quick And Easy Guide To WWII German Field Blouses

  By Dean | June 15, 2010 - 11:28 pm | 3. Articles, Hints And Tips, Photo References, Resource/Reference
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I notice that in reviews that German figure sets are often referred to as wearing “early war” or “late war” uniforms, I do it myself. It also recently occured to me that many people wouldn’t know one from the other. So I’ve put together this very simple guide. It doesn’t seek to identify the many small changes such as stitching and linings, but rather to show the progression in small changes that help you to date a uniform to a given year. While it’s easy to explain a 1940 cut tunic in 1944 it’s somewhat harder to explain a 1944 one in 1940.

I’m not going to get into the myriad variations of officer’s tunics, camouflaged smocks, fatigues, tropical uniforms, rocks, jackets, tailored clothing, hats, helmets, boots, equipment etc. Not now anyway as I want to keep this very simple. I may chuck up other guides to some of these at a later date as I feel the urge, but for now I’m just going to be looking at the basic “feldbluse” or field blouse.

Now you’ll have to forgive my artistry, I’m too much of a technophobe to work in anything but MS paint. But I’m not going for complete accuracy with the cut and stitch but rather just enough to be identifiable for the purposes at hand.  Also don’t read anything into the colours other than a general attempt to show how “feldgrau” or Field Grey got less green and more brown as the war went on and material quality changed.

One other point I should make while we’re on the subject of colour is that the field trousers prior to 1940 were more of a slate grey. I decided not to include the field trousers here as they pretty much stayed the same general appearance for what is relevant to modelling in 1/35. There were changes but these were mostly around the waist and wouldn’t be seen on a figure wearing the field blouse over the top of them.

So let’s get down to it. The sections highlighted in blue identify the changes between each year that can be identified on a 1/35 scale figure.

Click images to enlarge.

1939 Issue. Five buttons, pleated pockets, scalloped pocket flaps, dark green collar.

1940 Issue. As for the 1941 Issue but the collar is now the same colour as the rest.

1941 Issue. As for the 1940 Issue but now has six buttons.

1942 Issue. As for 1941 Issue but now has patch pockets with no pleats.

1943 Issue. As for 1942 Issue but now has squared off pocket flaps.

1944 Issue. Now much shorter, similar to the British tunic, with only two pockets.

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Working With Mr. Surfacer : Part 3 Create Textured Rusting Effects

  By Dean | May 24, 2010 - 5:48 pm | Hints And Tips
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I’m sure there are many people who have never heard of Mr. Surfacer, or have only heard of it in passing. So I thought I’d put together a quick explanation of what it is and some of the uses for it.

For an explanation of what Mr. Surfacer is please read Part 1 HERE.

The effect we will be looking at today is that of creating textured effects to replicate heavy rusting finishes, the sort found on heavily rusted drums etc where the rust hasbegun to bubble and flake.

The photo series included here demonstrates the creation of these effects using an old already painted Tamiya Kettenkraftrad that I pick up with a boxlot of old models.

Start by painting on a layer of Mr. Surfacer, not too thick as then it looks a little overdone. As it starts to dry stipple it lightly. Once dried use the blunt end of a hobby knife to push down any areas that are too poiny or raised.

Paint with the base colour of the model and then drybrush the highlights with a lighter shade of the same colour. If you’re just rusting bare metal then paint the whole thing a dull grey, or for burnt rust use a dark brown.

Add a bare metal burnishing rub to the areas around the rusted area and a dark gun metal wash to the rusted area then apply a layer of “old rust” coloured pigments or if you’re not using commercial pigments  this can be made from a mix of brown, red and orange pastels and chalks ground up and mixed together.

Go over the rusted areas with a lighter shade and also use this as a rub along areas where water will run and collect the washed away rust staining.

Finish with a light redo of the dark rust colour in spots to add highlights, together with small areas of runs and staining done by using a small, fine tipped, moist brush.

 

And there it is. This one was a little rushed for this article so it could be done be better, but you’ll find that a little time spent fine tuning the finish will give you the result that you’re after.

Please note : the choice of the Kettenkraftrad was simply a case of it being handy and isn’t meant to necessarily represent how a rusted one would look.