Dragon Jagdpanzer IV L/70(V) Finished! 8-18-05

[Deleted]

Ooooooooooooooohhhhh , primer !

I had forgotten that you use the Aztec a.b.'s Bill .

[mrversatile]

Looks good so far, Bill. I hated the Aztek I had years ago. Never liked the tips or the cleaning. Sold it and got an Iwata. Hope you have better luck then I did.

[TRM]

Nice to see the colored stuff come out Bill!! Way to get back on the horse!

I think in terms of AB's it comes down to what we are comfortable with. Once the groove is found,in the end, its just another tool on the bench!

[wbill76]

Thanks Wes! So far so good.

It's been my workhorse for many years now Carl, so much so that I don't really even think about it much anymore. Primer's always good, but basecoats and camo are better! Should be able to get in some more spray time today if everything works out as planned.

Gil, people seem to be pretty cleanly split between the love/hate camps when it comes to the Aztek. It has its quirks due to the design and you do have to put a little more care into the tips (either that or replace them regularly) depending on what you use it for. All the work that I've blogged about here and elsewhere has been done with an Aztek metal-body A470. I prefer the metal over the resin body model as it's more durable and has a better 'in-hand' feel but the resin style will do as a back-up to have around. Like anything, you've got to be comfortable with your tools when it comes to painting or it becomes an exercise in frustration.

Todd, I agree. Many modelers have multiple airbrushes for doing different things or using different mediums for just that reason. I've found the Aztek to work great with enamels and lacquers but I can see how the design and mechanics might make life more difficult if using acrylics due to tip dry and other similar complications. They do have tips designed for use with acrylics but I can't say if they are any good/different vs. the ones designed for enamels personally. I have the full range of tips and the larger bore tips are very handy for things like primer coats, mist coats, spraying Future, or even doing pigments while the finer ones work well for camo designs and working in small/tight spaces or areas. Combine that with the ability to switch it from single to double action or lock in the needle and trigger combo to produce a consistent air/paint flow mixture every time and it can be very versatile. It does take some getting used to though...have to admit it took me a good while before I had learned all of its ins-and-outs.

[reserve]

My old Badger single action expired on me earlier this year and I replaced it with a bare bones Passche single action, a grand old blunderbuss of a design that eats anything and spits it out. Kind of the Glock of airbrushes I'd say.

The JP's lookin good brother

Regards,
Mark

[wbill76]

Jul 2, 2015 17:19:13 GMT -5 reserve said:

My old Badger single action expired on me earlier this year and I replaced it with a bare bones Passche single action, a grand old blunderbuss of a design that eats anything and spits it out. Kind of the Glock of airbrushes I'd say.

The JP's lookin good brother

Regards,
Mark

I love that description! "Blunderbuss" indeed! Thanks Mark, got some more time in with the replacement so another update incoming...

[wbill76]

I put the airbrush to work for a few hours today and made some good progress on this project. Since I will be applying a 3-tone disc camo from the fenders up on the hull, I decided to go ahead and lay down an overall base coat to the entire vehicle since a good chunk of it was going to stay in Dunklegelb regardless. To that end, I used my normal 50-50 custom mix of Testors Modelmaster enamel Light Gray/Panzer Dunkelgelb to set the stage for the camo phases to come.

Before painting the hull though, I tackled the road wheels, return rollers, sprockets, and idlers since they will all stay in the DY. Wooden toothpicks and small blobs of blue tack poster putty create easy to manipulate handles and all of these elements had gotten a primer treatment previously when I airbrushed the hull. I airbrushed MM enamel Gunmetal for the rubber portions on the road wheels first and then masked the rims off using a draftsman's circle template so the inner and outer hubs could be airbrushed with the DY hull color.



Since the rubber diameter and exposed hub areas are different sizes on the outer facing vs. inner facing surfaces, two different circles were used as needed. This of course results in the ever-popular 'wheels on sticks' moment that is inevitable when building German armor.



With that out of the way, the hull received the DY base coat as well by airbrush using multiple thin coat passes to build it up over the primer coat.




Next up will be getting the broad camo pattern areas on to create the three tone structure in anticipation of the disc stencils coming into play.

[TRM]

Just one of those things! I have different models.not for any other reason that muddling through types to find something that I was really comfortable with. I have had just about everything with the exception of the Aztek. I would be curious to see how it works with acrylics...also, if for nothing else, then to be able to diagnose better any problems someone might be experiencing when using one.

I have changed things a little this year and picked up a higher end H&S...shooting most things through a .15 needle now...even primer! While it is excellent in both design (German engineered) and functionality, an old mid-range Krome I have is still one of the best ones I have used to date. I can use it to play darts with, roll the needle back and get back painting...LOL!!

[Leon]

Nice work on the base coat Bill! Bring on the camo.

[Wes]

Great work so far Bill. I like the circle template idea. I must try it out sometime.

[wbill76]

I hear you Todd! Can't ever have too many tools...

Thanks Leon! Should see some more paint flying today.

Wes, the circle template is something I've used for years to mask wheel hubs. It's very rare that the one I have doesn't have the right diameter for return rollers or road wheels in 1/35 scale. I picked up mine from a web site called 'Drafing Steals' years ago...it's flexible enough to make it easy to use for just this type of thing and cleans up in a snap with a drop of thinner and a paper towel. I usually wipe it off after every 3-4 wheels just to keep the paint from building up too heavily on the inside of the circle for example. www.draftingsteals.com/21318.html

[wbill76]

Made the most of the extended holiday weekend for the 4th of July today and put the new metal body Aztek airbrush to work on the camo pattern. My normal color choice for the 'green' in standard German three-tone is Model Master enamel Khaki but my on hand bottle went bad and the LHS was out, so I grabbed a close cousin labeled Italian Olive Green and decided to give it a whirl. It went down freehand first so I could have a base pattern to work from when adding the brown.



For the brown, I use a custom mix of 50/50 Model Master enamel Leather and Military Brown. This was also added freehand to create the full pattern. The three colors work pretty well together so I may have yet another choice when it comes to green paint choices for the future.






Next up will be using the Uschi stencils to transform the green and red blocks into the 'disc' patterns.

[Leon]

Nice work on the freehand camo Bill! The disk pattern is going to look great.

[wing_nut]

Very nice airbrush work Bill. Colors and pattern hit the mark.

[JimD]

A couple of thoughts.

First, I really like the color choices. The times I've done the three tone in the past the yellow has wound up almost a coffee with creamer color and just gross. Probably a bit of bad weathering (its been a while I've learned a lot), but the color never seemed right. But even starting with clean paint your choices are more representative to what I have in my head compared to what I've seen on mine.

Second, I didn't realize you use an Aztek. I'm impressed with the results. I may be getting my hands on one and if that's freehand I'm liking the prospects.

[wbill76]

Thanks Leon and Marc! Appreciate the comments and support as always gents.

Jimmy, I hear you on trying to get a three-tone scheme to look 'right'. It's something that over the years I've discovered requires a lot of tinkering with especially since the weathering process inevitably will darken and alter a tone. So you essentially have to work in reverse and that's where custom-mix colors/shades come in. It's very rare for me to use a color straight out of the bottle for any kind of large scheme anymore because of what the process does to it in the end. I still have some of my very early builds with a straight-out-of-the-bottle three tone using the recommended Testors MM line of colors (Olivegrun, Schokoladenbraun, and Dunkelgelb) and they look very strange now by comparison.

As for the Aztek, it comes in several different varieties. If you decide you want to get one, I recommend the A470 double-action metal body (they also have a resin body one which is what I now have as my backup, it's cheaper but also a little bulkier due to he non-slip grips it has vs. the sleeker (and heavier) metal body one). When I apply camo schemes, I typically use the fine line tan tip (0.3 mm) and drop the pressure depending on how thin the paint is I'm spraying, so look into the different available tips too depending on what you want to do with it.

[wbill76]

More fun with the airbrush today! To create the distinctive disc camo pattern that was seen on JP IVs (and Panthers) for a brief period in late 1944 around the time of the Battle of the Bulge, I used the wonderful Uschi Van der Rosten brand of flexible stencils. These stencils are self-adhesive and reusable and already have the disc pattern cut into them. The stencil set provides 5 long strips and you can cut them down into smaller sections for tighter areas if needed. I ended up using just one strip for the whole vehicle, so still have 4 others untouched for future builds should the occasion arise.

I used the whole strips for the long hull sides and other big areas and then cut off small sections later to work in the tight spots. The stencils are flexible and retain their adhesive nature for a good while but won't work indefinitely and toward the end I was using the point of a toothpick to hold some of the finer sections down so the air from the brush wouldn't lift up the stencil but I don't consider that a flaw at all, just something to be aware of when using this type of stencil.



I'm very happy with the result the stencil produces. Lifts right up, isn't too tacky, and flexible to handle and use.



After a couple of hours of working my way around the vehicle, most of the time was spent getting into all the complex shape areas on the superstructure front plate and the rear engine deck. I'm very glad I left off all the tools and gear as that would've been a nightmare to try to work around. Once the stencil work was done, I mixed up a highly thinned filter coat of the base coat DY color (roughly 90-95% thinner) and airbrushed a mist coat over the entire vehicle to tie the scheme together.





Not a bad 4th of July's effort! Happy Independence Day!

[Leon]

Beautiful work on the disk camo Bill! Happy 4th 0f July.

[elco]

The disks are on the disks are on!!. Good job Bill, glad you like the stencils!

[Tojo72]

Very nice work on the camo and the discs

[vindicareassassin]

Stunning effort, looks really cool!

[thechaos]

Nice Work on the Camo.

[wbill76]

Thanks Leon! Hope you didn't light up any of your ground hogs by accident while celebrating.

Elco, all we need is a glitter ball and a funky beat! Had a feeling you were waiting for this stage. The stencils performed beautifully and I have plenty still left for any future builds, can't beat that!

Anthony, Vindicare, and Chaos, thanks as well gents!

[reserve]

Excellent work brother I never fail to be impressed by the differences the first filters can make

Regards,
Mark

[wbill76]

Jul 5, 2015 13:22:20 GMT -5 reserve said:

Excellent work brother I never fail to be impressed by the differences the first filters can make

Regards,
Mark

Thanks Mark! I agree, it's always neat to see the transformation process start with that first weathering step. More to come!

[JimD]

Awesome just got...awesomeerer?


Thanks for the input on the Aztek. I was doing some research and decided I'd probably prefer the metal version. Though, the circumstances that may end up with me having one are a little out of my control, so I don't know what I will end up with. I know they have a love/hate reputation, and I wasn't sure what they were capable of..until now.

[wbill76]

Jul 5, 2015 13:26:27 GMT -5 JimD said:

Awesome just got...awesomeerer?


Thanks for the input on the Aztek. I was doing some research and decided I'd probably prefer the metal version. Though, the circumstances that may end up with me having one are a little out of my control, so I don't know what I will end up with. I know they have a love/hate reputation, and I wasn't sure what they were capable of..until now.

Thanks Jimmy! Glad to be of assistance regarding the Aztek. The metal body usually comes as part of a 'set' with a nice wooden case to hold all the goodies, I honestly don't know if you can get the metal body just by itself through retail but worth looking around if you want to just get the bare essentials you want for it. The part number for the full 'set' is A7778 and it includes all the tips and multiple paint cups in both gravity and siphon feed (the airbrush is also ambidextrous, meaning you can mount the feed cups on either the left or right hand sides as you prefer). I usually only use the gravity feed for what I do as I seem to get better flow results that way and also don't end up wasting as much paint in the jars. The siphon feeds match the standard Testors Model Master paint jar lid diameters (and their standard mixing jars) too for what that's worth if you are spraying large areas or big jobs that can benefit from that type of spraying. Lots of versatility with it as a result.

[Wes]

Bill you nailed it my friend. Love it.

Heading to Uschis site now to see what I can buy.

[TRM]

That camo looks fantastic Bill!! Very tight...and very clean!! I feel the weathering is on it's way soon!!

[wbill76]

Thanks Wes! Uschi's got some pretty neat stuff for different genres. His wood-grain items for WW1 aircraft are particularly impressive IMHO.

Todd, yes sir! Won't stay clean for long!