DML 1/35 Sd.Kfz. 250 Neu with Royal Models set part 2

 

Part 1.

Finally, painting.

 

This was a relatively straightforward affair, considering. OK, some parts were sticking out of the crew compartment, so I left them out – technically, the building is not finished. But it was straighforward compared to the previous decade of on-and-off efforts of finishing this model.

Anyhow. As usual, Vallejo’s German Grey primer was applied to provide a good basis for the paint on the resin, metal and plastic surfaces.

A day later this was followed by Mig’s Dunkelgelb. I’m still warming up to these paints; they are somewhat finicky, but give great results -and can be sprayed without diluting them. The only problem is the application: if you spray too much the paint will not spread out evenly. How much is too much you ask? Well, precisely my problem. So you need to be careful, and just layer it on once the paint dried (which is quite fast to be honest). An advantage is that you don’t actually need to dilute them, making them simpler to use. But overall they are not as forgiving as Tamiya’s paints; I’m still in two minds about them.

The paint dried in an hour, so I added some free-hand olivegrun stripes by Testors. The vehicle looked OKish, but pale; even though I planned to have it only in yellow/green, I added some Tamiya red-brown as well (lightened with tan). The dunkelgelb sections were “reinforced” with a second layer once the brown dried.

This was my very first freehand camouflage I may add; I’m happy with the results.

 

The next steps were routine as well. I removed the masks, and finished off the interior, adding the binos and whatnot.

Since I wanted to try different techniques I decided to use this model as a test-bed; my problem is that towards the end of a build I become very conservative of what techniques I’m willing to experiment with, not wanting to spoil the work done so far. Not any more, I won’t! I decided to be bold, and add dust and mud using several techniques; to make this halftrack totally and utterly covered with mud.

Neither dust nor mud is easy for me; I’ve been looking for “the” product that will make them super simple and very convincing; no such luck so far. Unfortunately there are no short-cuts; dedicated products will be just as useless as hard-core, old-school modelling tricks using nothing but pigments if you don’t put in the time and learn to use them; and if you already have to learn something, why not save your money and use the old-school techniques? Case to the point: I bought Vallejo’s industrial mud in a large set; it’s a grey product which will need to be mixed with other colors, applied carefully and in specific ways to make it look good. I also got a Dead Sea mud masque product from my wife who does not like to use it as it’s too harsh on her skin. The color is a nice, well, mud color. The cost is about a fourth of the Vallejo’s mud color. And how does it hold up? Well, I’ve used it as a base color for this vehicle so you’ll be the judge of that…
 

I used Vallejo’s German black brown to add chipping: both a 00 brush and sponge were used in the process. Obviously a four inch armor plate will have different chips and will oxidise differently from thin sheet of metal; I tried to show this difference from my usual tank subjects. 

I applied very faint green and yellow filters to blend the colors together somewhat on the exterior.

The next step was to use some oil dot filters. I put a few blobs of different shades of brown, yellow, blue and green oil paints onto a small piece of cardboard. In about an hour or so the linseed oil seeped out into the paper; this is important if you want flat finish. I added random dots on the surface, and then blended, removed them using a wet brush with downward motion. This produced very faint streaks, and modulated the base color somewhat. Yellows, greens, etc will give a slightly different tint to the underlying color. I focused the darker browns towards the bottom of the chassis. Truth be told very little can be seen of all this work, but the keyword is patience and layers.

I used a light rust color to form streaks: I prepared a dilute wash using a rust colored oil paint, and applied it with a thin brush. The excess was removed with a flat brush as usual forming faint streaks. I added this mixture around larger chips as well, and let it dry. If the effect was too strong, I adjusted it with a wet brush.

I left the model dry for a couple of days, and then proceeded with adding dust to the superstructure using pigments. I dabbed some earth shaded pigments onto the model from a brush, and then “soaked” the surface with white spirit (or rather, with the alternative -ZestIt- I use). With a flat brush I “adjusted” the distribution of pigments: concentrated them in folds and crevices, created streaks, and created uneven patches on the flat, horizontal areas. Not a lot is visible, again; as soon as the white spirit dries, the intense brown color disappears. (Water has a very different effect on pigments, though. It’s worth experimenting with different carriers.) I repeated the procedure, trying not to disturb the previous layers; obviously the white spirit will re-suspend the already dried-on pigments.

Once I convinced myself the engine deck was dusty enough, I added some wet spots using the white spirit, and touched a brush loaded with some “engine oil” from AK Interactive. I wanted to create large, barely visible oil spots around the engine hatch. After they dried, I added more concentrated, more visible spots over them; the key again is layering. Pigments obviously got re-suspended in the white spirit, but in this case it’s not an issue: after all, old oil spills do have a lot of dust in them.
 
The next steps were more pronounced streaks using AK’s streaking products, and after that dried I sealed the whole model with a flat varnish.

The wheels and the lower part of the chassis/superstructure got a faint  Tamiya”Flat Earth” shading with an airbrush as a base for the mud.

I have a neutral wash by Mig which I can’t really find a real use for as a wash; I use it for creating mud. Its grey color helps to tone down the brown pigments I add. I mixed up a slurry of different brown pigments, plaster, static grass, and added this mixture to the underside and lower portion of the model. I left it there for about an hour and then used a wet, clean brush to adjust it. I tried to keep this layer relatively light, representing older, dry mud. Once it dried, I repeated the process using a darker, thicker, water-based mixture prepared from the Dead Sea masque, on a much smaller area. I also created speckles and kicked-up mud patches using an old brush: loaded it with the mixture, and using my finger I flicked mud over the lower superstructure. I made sure I covered the upper parts with a sheet of paper to limit the area where the mud gets to. I also have a bottle of Vallejo’s splashed mud effects paint; unfortunately it’s really dark, although the photo on the bottle shows a relatively light mud color. I used some of it representing very fresh mud splatters.

And with this I finished muddying up the half-track. I would be very interested reading constructive comments on the results; I have the Trumpeter trench digger in my stash, and that thing will be so muddy you won’t be able to see the metal underneath.

I have to say it feels great to have it finished finally. It is by no means a flawless model, but it turned out to be better than I expected, and most importantly: it’s off my conscience. I have put it next to its big brother, and there it will stay until I find a permanent place to live. Now I can start thinking about new projects without the knowledge of this thing sitting in a box – especially now that I have a Rye Field Model Panther to review and build. (I was considering a side-by-side build with the Takom kit, but it’s way too much investment in time and money. I got Trumpeter’s high speed trench digger instead, so I can expand on my experiments with mud even further.) I have a couple of more builds to finish off (an ICM Speedster, an Airfix Bentley, the Zvezda Panzer IV, and some Warhammer figures), and then I can honestly say I do not have any ongoing builds to bother my conscience. I will be free.

For a time.