Schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper (Armoured sWS)

[losboz]

Another shelf queen getting some much need attention.  Bronco's (GWH) 1/35 sWS.  It's sat in a coat of base coloured paint for a few months so it was time for some heavy weathering.  AK diorama weathering texture paste is an awesome product to replicate a build up of mud and crud. I used their dry mud, dark mud and wet mud. You can mix it with tea leaves for more texture or just brush it on neat. Either way the fact it is an acrylic paste means blending and clean up is really simple to manage. I've been building it up in layers along with some enamel mud effects and a little pigment. 

There are still a few more layers to go with the mud texture and enamels and I've yet to get the oils out to add the finishing touches, but this is work on the running gear so far.  The cab and load bed assemblies are just dry fitted for now.

Close up pics like these bare all, so small defects and tidy up of existing work can be improved on. The tyres will also have more effects added to the tread area. I had a fight on my hands fitting the kit tracks and there are a few places that another small application of mud will improve the overall look. I also noticed the seam line on the kit tracks is way too prominent in places so will need removing.

[vw8243]

I will watch this Losboz as i have the ital one semi built ,to do and your,s is off to a great start should stir me on , so far looks great

[jeaton01]

That is one ugly beast! Love the mud.

[handiabled]

Bookmarked this! The weathered tracks and undercarriage look amazing!

[dupes]

I'm working on the Italeri Flak variant of this same chassis right now. Yours looks way better!

[406 Silverado]

I just don't know how you do it sometimes losboz. This has got to be some of the best realism that I've seen yet. I mean......it's ALL there: detail....grime.....dirt.....the whole shebang!!! This is some truly good work going on in here. 

[kyledehart5]

This is just outstanding!! Incredible work and weathering.

[losboz]

Thanks for the kind comments guys

Not a lot accomplished over these UK summer months but I have managed to tinker with a few projects

You might have noticed in the above pics that the exhaust muffler isn't painted. In my haste to weather the running gear, I completely forgot to add any effects to it before it got covered in mud splatters. I was now left with two options. One: add a small amount of rust effects to the base coloured paint or two: start afresh and re-work the whole muffler. I realise that in such a short operational life it might not have received so much weathering, but to give it a more interesting appearance I went with option two.

This was completed with the brilliant Lifecolor acrylic rust set and a drop of acrylic off white for the initial coat. I started by mixing the off white with the darkest rust colour to try and replicate that pinky hot manifold tone. Next was to add the three darkest rust tones, going from the lightest to the darkest colour, both by adding diluted coats and by speckling, gradually building up the layers until I felt I was getting somewhere. Adding a minute amount of the lightest rust tone completed the painting step. MIG smoke pigment was added in and around the end of the pipe. The last effect was to add a few baked mud splatters back over it.

I'm still not 100% convinced with the overall pinkish hue but thats the colour I see in a lot of my rusty muffler reference images

A quite fortuitous consequence of those splattered mud effects is that it has added a little texture.

[kyledehart5]

I’m no expert in modeling but I have owned a fair amount of crappy, rusty old equipment and trucks. 😂. I’d say that looks about spot on for a great many of the rusted mufflers I’ve seen. Really awesome weathering and rusting techniques. Great work.

[keavdog]

Jul 16, 2024 20:51:39 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

I’m no expert in modeling ....    

Now that ^^^ is just fishin' right there 

Great muddied dirty vehicle.  Looking awesome.

[kyledehart5]

Jul 16, 2024 21:19:43 GMT -5 keavdog said:

Jul 16, 2024 20:51:39 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

I’m no expert in modeling ....    

Now that ^^^ is just fishin' right there 

Great muddied dirty vehicle.  Looking awesome.

🤣 Simply pointing out that I have much more experience around rusty old junk than ever making a model look that realistic.

[handiabled]

Wonderful and very realistic looking effect on the muffler. +1 karma to you for detailing your technique!

[losboz]

With the exhaust weathered and the lower areas and running gear effects complete, it was time to move onto the cab and load bed. The only pioneer tool still mounted are the wire cutters. These were painted with Vallejo acrylics and a few highlights were also added to the cab roof tarp. A diluted pin wash of MIG Neutral enamels mixed with white spirit was then applied in small diluted quantities around all the raised details. I wanted the effect to be pretty muted so after approx. 30mins the areas were cleaned of most of the wash with white spirit. Small vertical stains were also added in the process of removal. To start the very light rust effects I added small diluted quantaties of AK enamel rust over the larger scratches and scuffs to show more of a stain than actual surface rust. A few darker chips will be added in future steps. Abteilung 502 grease was then added to the bottom of an old 1/35 oil drum (without the circular bottom) and spillage marks added to the load bed. These effects will be allowed to dry before checking whether more clean-up is required before moving on.





Tools painted, tarp highlighted and pin wash added and cleaned up








Light rust effects added over scuffs and scrapes






Oil stains added to loadbed






Progress

[kyledehart5]

This is so good. I absolutely love the look you’re achieving here. Everything is looking great

[“Dallas” Kenny X]

That’s some outstanding work, sincerely.

[406 Silverado]

Jul 31, 2024 17:51:20 GMT -5 “Dallas” Kenny X said:

That’s some outstanding work, sincerely.

 Yessirreee. That's Los. Dude's an insanely talented modeler and has no problem sharing the techniques.

[406 Silverado]

Some very good progress on this losboz. Love all the weathering that you put into your builds man. 

[handiabled]

Gawd I love the weathering techniques you've put on this! The results are positively realistic. I like the oil stains from the barrels. It reminds me of my driveway after our kids left for college with their cars.

[losboz]

Thanks for all the kind and encouraging feedback folks. It’s been a few months so here is a long overdue update on progress.

I have started adding volume to the scratches and scuffs on the bodywork. Vallejo acrylic black-brown was carefully painted into many of the centres of the exposed primer scratches with a fine brush and then AK enamel rust effects were spotted on with a brush and then blended out. As the enamel rust effects can be reactivated with thinners or white spirit, they are still able to be blended further. I aim to give the bodywork an acrylic rain-washes which will tone down the effects plus, once I get the oils out these areas will be further enhanced, and graphite will be added to edges to complete the worn look.






For the dried dirt a mix of dried tea leaves, dried sea grass, finely crushed real dirt and pigment was carefully added with a mini spatula in the areas selected, then VMS ballast freeze was added sparingly with a fine brush to fix it in place. Similar to MIG pigment fixer, using too much VMS product can leave glossy tide marks, but I thankfully only ended up with a few areas to clean up. These were effectively removed after 24hrs with a quick blast of VMS Matt Varnish. Much to-ing and fro-ing was then required to get the right distribution of mud build up that I was after. It took me much longer to get the dried mud tone. In the end using a little MIG natural wash that I had employed for the overall pin wash gave a cold greyish tint that worked well with the damper and wetter mud effects on the running gear. I intend to add some more muddy grass clumps once I finalise placement on the base, as a shell hole will give some narrative as to why the vehicle is so covered in muck!







I have also started base painting the main storage assembly and trying to work out what additional items will look the best on the loadbed

Progress for now

[handiabled]

This is just exceptional work! The mud and weathering effect you did is sheer perfection!

[406 Silverado]

The techniques that you bring to the table are just as incredible as the results that you get from using them Leo (losboz). I would love to achieve a look like this one an armor build one day. Come to think of it...... ....... I would love to tackle an armor build one day. 

[kyledehart5]

This is astonishing. The weathering is incredible. It’s really going to look awesome with the stowage too.

[losboz]

Thanks for the kind words guys

Time for a little update. Whilst I continue to plug away at painting and weathering the stowage I was fortunate to get a few long weekends at the bench at the beginning of the month. I don't normaly get too many long sessions so I figured I would put them to good use.

My intention was always to display the sWS on a small scene. I had made some rough drawings before building began and had articulated the front suspension and angled the front wheels for this purpose. This was to be a simple base displaying the vehicle abandoned in a muddy field. It would also include a small section of road, a shell crater, a telegraph pole and a selection of figures.

Upon sketching out the scene it became obvious that whilst the shell crater gave a little narrative as to why the vehicle might have been abandoned, adding it enlarged the size of the base more than I had first intended. To give that extra ground more interest I would raise the roadway on an embankment beyond a small ditch.

Work began by first cutting out a piece of card to simulate the size of the vehicle. This would give me an idea of overall base size required and also a template to work with without the need to handle the model. An appropriately sized wooden shadow box frame was chosen, and a block of styrofoam was cut to fit in it, giving it extra height. Some oak wood veneer was ordered to frame the sides. Turning to the Proxxon hot wire foam cutter again I roughly cut three more pieces from off-cuts. One for the triangular roadway section, one for the embankment slope and one to raise the ground beyond the ditch. These were glued in place with UHU Por adhesive, and the shell crater was then carved out in one corner.

Before I added any terrain layers, I sealed the Styrofoam surface with a few coats of diluted PVA.  As well as making the surface less porous it gets all melty with regular adhesives and Enamel products so the PVA prevents any issues down the line.  I then prepared the surface of my workbench for the mucky fall out that would ensue.

Achieving a realistic shell crater was my first goal. Many of my reference images showed large clumps of earth that littered the edges of the crater. Although my little field will be damp and muddy I wanted to portray the ‘clumpy’ nature of the mounds of earth that had been thrown up by the impact and rained back down onto the surface.

With that intention in mind, I started experimenting with materials to find a solution. Sculptamold is what I normally use for bulking out the main terrain layers and it is really just a dry white paper mâché mix to which you add water and paint.  What I did find whilst playing around was that if a slightly drier mix is used, whilst it is drying out, it tends to form lumpy clumps. When these are dropped from a short height they break into smaller clumps. The paper mix does give them a fluffy texture but I figured they would be suitable to use around the crater if a fine layer of further texture is added.

Time to get messy.

To start the ball rolling a fairly wet Sculptamold and cheap hobby store tan coloured acrylic mix was made up. This was applied with a small spatula over the Styrofoam to cover it with an initial contoured layer. Once this was 75% dry the vehicle card template was placed on the terrain and the outline marked with cocktail sticks. I could then work around this area with further wet layers without fear of disturbing the area where the vehicle would sit. It would also aid in sculpting the terrain around the running gear so the vehicle would appear sunk into the earth. I would also add front wheel slip marks to show the vehicle had attempted to climb the small embankment before it was abandoned.

For the shell crater a fairly dry concoction of Sculptamold, PVA, water and AK Diorama dark mud texture paste was made up and allowed to part dry into small clumps. These were then strategically placed around the shell crater. Some of them were then carefully prized apart to portray clumps that had landed and split further on impact. Whilst still full of moisture a very light sprinkling of crushed dry earth was added and allowed to ‘soak in’.  This was then left overnight.

The second layer consisted of a Sculptamold and diluted AK Diorama dark mud texture paste mix. The AK texture paste will give the underlying mud tone of the terrain I am after and will match the mud tones already added to the vehicle. Once down a dry 'scatter' mix consisting of dried tea leaves, chopped sea grass, crushed garden soil with small roots, and a few small stones was scatter over the wet mix.

The cocktail sticks mark the forward most postition of the vehicle.

24hrs later with the surface still slightly damp it was perfect for test fitting the actual vehicle. The chassis was pressed gently into the surface with the tracks providing a perfectly contoured template for final placement.

[losboz]

Before I could add the AK asphalt texture paste to the raised road section the piece required framing. I had purchased some oak veneer but test fitting it exposed an issue with the cut of the Styrofoam on one of the sides. I had used a foam cutter, and I had started from what I figured was a nice straight edge. Unfortunately, I didn't spot a couple of wavy undulations in it and adding the veneer would only expose the flaw. So, to plan B, and I had just enough 1.6mm thick basswood left from a previous project. I marked, cut and added four nice straight side pieces instead. I cut them a touch long so I could sand them square.

Once they had cured to the styrofoam with the aid of UHU Por glue, and each other with wood glue, AK dark mud mixed with some sieved garden soil and scatter were added into any small gaps that were left and blended into the existing terrain.

The corners of the basswood framing were sanded nice and square ready for some matt black paint and AK asphalt texture paste was added in two thin layers onto the small road section. The cracks appeared all on their own, which was nice 😊

A much-needed splash of colour was then added onto the raised embankment, care off static grass and MK35 wild grass. I’m not a fan of the slight sheen the grass has out of the bag so these were airbrushed in different mixes of Tamiya flat green and yellow green.

I’m currently working on a small fence section utilising both cocktail sticks for the stakes and some broken and discarded Proton foam wire. A telegraph pole is also getting assembled to give the scene some height

I’m still in two minds about adding a small tree. It wasn’t in the original plan, and it might obscure the vehicle too much, but I’m willing to have a play around to see if it will add or distract from the overall appearance.

Progress for now

[mrt51]

This is looking outstanding.

[handiabled]

A wonderful explanation of how you achieved the look you did with the base! You used your methods perfectly this looks amazing!

[AussieTJ]

Superb!!!

[Tojo72]

Weathering and the wear and tear are fantastic.