Dragon Pz.III M Wader - complete + final photos (30.09.13 )

[Deleted]

She's looking awesome! The oxidation you had on the barrel is usually due to someone touching the parts with acid oils on their fingers. You can see the same effects in aluminum wheels after the coating has worn off and road grime attacks them. The only recourse after that is to buff them out with some Mothers Aluminum Polish. Used it for years on my Bikes. Always wash your parts, before painting.

[Rick]

Ben, looking quite awesome so far. By far III's and Stug III's are my favorites. Great detail going into your build steps and photos really help tell the story. I've a III on hold finished up to the weathering stage so I'll be following along with great interest from here out. Great job!
Rick

[Hinksy]

Hi guys,

I've slapped some varnish on her and have added the decals along with some brushed on DY Shine to raised areas.

She's had a couple of layers of filters added and is looking ok and I've messed around with a few light washes - this thing is going to be a bit of a mess when finished. Pin washes and heavier weathering next wek.

The wheels have been properly painted with 'Black/Rubber' and the tools are all primed now and will be painted up next weekend and fitted. The whels will be fitted toward the end of the build as this is going to be a pretty grimy build as it's a wading tank - I've got some 'AK Slimy Green Grime' to add around the lower hull walls.

Plenty of pigment rust on the exposed muffler and other tools should set the scene for a great wading tank!



I'm going to build up some great rust effects on this muffler section and around the flaps:





Ignore the turret gap - it must have 'jumped':





Note the 'Shine' added to the hinges on the turret bin (amongst other areas):





This stuff should look great - I want to give the impression of a tank that has spent a lot of time swimming!



Cheers for looking guys,

Update next weekend - I'm not sure if I'm working any day next weekend or not as yet.

Have a good week y'all!

Ben

[bbd468]

Hello Brother Ben, Looks like everything went well on the paint. I think ya did a fine job myself and i also think the DY would be quite a challenge for anyone to get a good 'Modulation' look especially with a paint they have never used before. Looks great with the decs on too Ben. Well done sir.

[Hinksy]

Cheers brother Gary,

I'm definately looking forward to doing a Panzr Grey CM job!

The decals look great - I knew I'd be using these from the first time I opened the kit!

Now to add plenty of rust, silt and sreen 'algae' slime

Ben

[TRM]

Looking great Ben!! Nice job adding the shine!! Little details like that do show up in the end game!! Time to get dirty!!

[Hinksy]

Sept 1, 2013 14:26:14 GMT -5 TRM said:

Looking great Ben!! Nice job adding the shine!! Little details like that do show up in the end game!! Time to get dirty!!

Cheers TRM,

Andy Leffler told me about picking out the rvet/bolt heads etc. with the shine - thanks Andy!

I'm going to really muck this thing up now

Ben

[Leon]

Looking good with the decals on Ben .Now it's time to get down and dirty.

[deafpanzer]

Sorry I have been away for two days... family business kept me busy. And visiting local model club and it was awesome! Now I understand better why you enjoy going to yours too.

Excellent MC work! Told you it was easy and fun! How many bottles did you use for this? I only used four for mine. Looking forward to next update!!!

[Rick]

Looks great Ben. Looking forward to slimy-ness!
Rick

[Hinksy]

Sept 2, 2013 17:44:16 GMT -5 Rick said:

Looks great Ben. Looking forward to slimy-ness!
Rick

Cheers Rick,

I'm working from home today so will have my build next to me - I'm going to add some light chipping and do some hairspray chipping on the rear muffler to give the impression of paint falling away as it burns off then the exposed bare metal rusting.

Tomorrow I'm going to start the heavier weathering on the lower hull walls by adding green streaking slime/grime and plenty of silty deposits around the hatches etc to give the appearance of it having done a lot of recent swimming.

I want to try these illusion style '3D' chips as they look killer. I'll see how it goes. I've been meaning to try it for ages but haven't got round to it.

QUESTION RE. THE ANTENNAE: I'll be fitting an RB Brass one - do I need to paint it? Would they have painted the antennae or would it be fitted and left - what colour should it be? Black or the colour of the model? So far I've always painted my Antennae the AFV basecoat colour - is that right?

Update either later or tomorrow, depending on how much I get done today.

Take care,

Ben

[thug626]

Hello Ben, This is coming along swimmingly. As for the antennae.....good question. This may or may not answer your question but, here goes. A technique I've seen with builds utilizing brass parts is that the parts get dipped in Blacken-It (or something similar). This will give the parts a very dark patina. Very near black...hence the name. Yeah, I know....way to go Captain Obvious! . This serves a couple of purposes. One: It gives a nice under coat that, in essence, is like a primer. Giving the surface some "tooth" for the paint to adhere to. Second: If the paint get chipped (accidentally or otherwise) then what show underneath is not a glaring brass color.
If you went that route, then you could stop at the patina stage or if you chose you could then paint it.
I hope this helps out. Maybe someone out there knows the answer to your question. Who knows, if it was like the US Army, if it didn't get out of the way, it got painted.

Dave

[wbill76]

Ben,

The antennas on German vehicles were hollow rods that tapered and were definitely painted and not left unfinished. Most modelers (including myself) will paint them a gunmetal or black color for visual interest but that's not something that's necessarily 100% accurate depending. The key with the rods was to avoid shorting them out (hence why they had rubber flexible bases and wooden frames to support them at various times in their design careers) and lose the ability to receive signals. You can see in reference photos of different vehicles at different times that the rods sometimes were and sometimes weren't hull color. All goes down to preference and taste in the end. HTH!

[Deleted]

great work so far looking very nice

[Hinksy]

Hey guys - Saturday update

The work phone has been VERY quiet today so I've really managed to stuck into this build today - it's about 75% there now (ish)!

I wanted to show some light chipping and not the heavy chipping applied all over the tank using a chrome silver that I used to do! I read Wouter's post on his build of this very kit and decided to try the reverse 3D effect that Wouter had applied and applied some light chips on corners and on the turret roof etc using Tamiya Deck Tan XF-55 then put a dab of hull red in the centres of most of the chips to show a primer coat - the effect is brilliant and looks ideal. Thanks for that Wouts! I hope you don't mind!

A light wash of AK wash for DY vehicles has been applied - lightly on top and heavier on the lower side walls. Lot's of AK Rust Streaks have been built up - these streaks are coming from the chips and look great. Wheels are on - they are still to be weathered. The lower side walls has had a layer of that green slime Algae stuff built up around the suspension arms and mig mud has been built up around the arms and rear water vents.

Stuff to do - Friuls are assembled but just need treating. Wheels need weathering, tools need fitting, antennae needs fitting, Muffler is having the HS chipping treatment done to it, MG barrel needs paining, matt coat to be applied and the pigments. I've ordered some Green streaking grime for ships and landing vehicles. That will be here on Monday so perfect timing!

I'm really pleased with how this looking - definately my best weathering work yet (imo). Another two sessions and she'll be done!

Sorry about the photos - taken with my phone:





















I hope you like her so far guys - all comments very welcome!

Ben

[deafpanzer]

Great chipping and weathering work!

[bbd468]

Hello brother Ben! Great job with the chipping and weathering as well as the mud around the suspension. Well done buddy.

[Deleted]

Weathering is well done Ben .

[Hinksy]

Thanks for dropping in chaps!

I sorted out that Curved Mantlet piece with the rivet heads and added some rust detail to that and took some of the excess off the turret roof too.

You'll notice the Friuls are on (woohoo!) and look suitably killer These were already made up for that LAH Pz.IV that I 'didn't finish' (the one that got smashed up). I've bought that kit again in a sale and have another set of winterketten for that one. Obviously that run that made for a Pz.IV chassis and was too long leaving some links for removal to make up some stowed track runs.

I always like to have an antennae fitted but I was going to have this stowed in the trough. The original kit piece snapped so I kept the base and used the other aerial in the kit (unused part) and glued that onto the mount and painted it up.

Stuff left to do:

Hairspray the muffler and do the rust chipping treatment.
Add some extra streaking slime when it arrives (on order).
Paint up the tools, stowage and tow cables to mount on the rear deck.
Work on the road wheels and drive sprockets with pigments etc and earth effects.

I've taken a few more photos. I used our normal camera today but didn't notice that the time stamp was left on until half way through so sorry about that. Definately better photos though:



















I hope you like her so far guys - nearly there!

Ben

[Hinksy]

WIP feedback needed guys!

Thoughts on my Friuls and weathering? How am I going to make this Muffler look killer?

Cheers lads,

Ben

[deafpanzer]

I am with you about Winterkitten tracks... they just make any armor look better in my opinion. Looking better and better every time you post!

For the muffler, like you said hairspray technique is the way to go. Use two or three different colored rust pigments if you have them in layering method.

[bbd468]

Ben, i think your tracks look fantastic buddy!

Great tip for the rust Andy. I start with dark brown then layer towards lighter rust tones. Also the hairspray method lends itself nicley toward a great muffler.

Cheers Ben!

[Deleted]

Looks great, for the exhaust another method is to use a small piece of sponge and dab different rust tones on the exhaust. Just dip the sponge in the paint dab it off on a piece of kitchen towel until almost all the paint has gone then apply. I would also add a little more mud to the tops of the hull sides as the tracks would splatter these areas with mud whilst in motion

[Deleted]

Ditto all the above.

I go one tiny step further and use some appropriately colored eye shadow make up. My lovely wife provided a cheap compact with a foam applicator. Some of the colors are slightly metallic earth tones that look great used sparingly. It's slightly waxy so it should be put on last.

G

[Leon]

Looking really good Ben .Nice work on the weathering and chipping.The tracks look fantastic.

[Hinksy]

Sept 9, 2013 12:55:29 GMT -5 @snipersmudge said:

Looks great, for the exhaust another method is to use a small piece of sponge and dab different rust tones on the exhaust. Just dip the sponge in the paint dab it off on a piece of kitchen towel until almost all the paint has gone then apply. I would also add a little more mud to the tops of the hull sides as the tracks would splatter these areas with mud whilst in motion

Cheers fellas!

Smudge - The lower hull walls and wheels are going to be muddies up and green streaking grimes added to the lower hull walls - after that the tools etc and some pigments and the muffler and she's in the bag!

I prefer to load up a 'fluffy brush' and put some shots of air through it to add the spatter. I just want the tools on first before I do that.

Update this weekend.

Ben

[wouter]

I must admit, I like the look of those Ostketten. They give the tank a 'tuning' look . Looks great!

Cheers

[Deano]

Great progress Ben , those winterketten certainy beef up a panzer dont they ....good choice .

[Hinksy]

Thanks fellas,

Yup, you can't beat W/Ketten - like Wouts said, it's like 'pimp my ride' when they stick 22" rims on a nice car.

This is 'pimp my panzer'! I've even pimped the exhaust, too Shame about the tatty paintwork!

Hoping to get this one done tomorrow lads as it's our monthly group meet tomorrow night and I want to take her near or less complete.

Update tomorrow,

Ben

[TRM]

Mighty fine Ben!! She looks great with a set of legs on her...and with teeth to boot!!! I am really diggin the yellow numbers...keep up the grea work!