Matrixone builds an armor model...

[matrixone]

After finishing the two what-if Me 262's I started another project that I have been avoiding for years...its the 1/72 scale Hasegawa 37mm Flakpanzer IV 'Ostwind'.

This is quite a change for me and will have to work out how to paint this thing...I can paint Luftwaffe camo schemes with ease but this model will force me to change how I usually paint a model.

Here is the very start of this build and the first thing I did was remove all the road wheels from the sprues and clean them up before painting. As you can see in this pic there is a mass of road wheels that need painting and it took me a while to do, this was not too bad of a job to do but would have been a lot easier if this kit was 1/48 or 1/35 scale.

This pic shows the 37mm gun assembled with the basic painting done on it, and all those teeny tiny road wheels are also painted and glued on.

The gun assembly is just dry fitted at this point, I will be giving it a brush coat of Future so I can give it an oil wash to bring out some of the molded in details.

The worst thing about this kit will be installing those worthless 'fake' rubber tank tracks. :angry:

Matrixone

 

[jknaus]

Looking good so far
Dont know what you can do about the tracks except muddy them up.
James

 

[Iron Mike]

Yep, 1/72 scale tracks bite! Even the DS ones that Dragon sells. Looking good so far!

 

[moon puppy]

You're looking good Les, looks like a tough kit to start out on.

 

[matrixone]

Thanks guys!

Were it not for my intense hatred of the fake rubber tank treads included with most armor kits I would have built more models of German armor by now.


Matrixone

 

[Iron Mike]

Magic Tracks good, Friuls good!

 

[MrT]

Sorry for your troubles. Hasegawa is pretty good with planes and ships, but with armor well.......not so much. I hope you will try again with something a little more beginner friendly. However you are doing a pretty good job with a less than stellar kit.

Terry

 

[lupanzer]

...great Max..great! :v

Luiz.

 

[matrixone]

Thanks Mike, Terry, and Luiz!

Terry,
You are right about Hasegawa, they make excellent aircraft models in 1/72 scale but their armor models in this scale are not as good.
No worries though, this model can still be a useful learning tool. My first lesson was the tracks included in this kit are rubbish.

One important thing I learned about weathering armor models is adding a dark brown/black oil wash to bring out the molded in details on a
dark yellow base coat coat will darken it more than I planned...what I SHOULD have beforehand is used a lighter version of the base color to compensate for the oil paint from darkening the paint.
I won't be making the same mistake twice.

Matrixone

 

[MrT]

You can go back with the airbrush and highlight areas you want brighter. You can also dry brush with the base color and lighten it up too.

Terry

This picture was taken after the dark wash with some highlighting/drybrushing.

 

[matrixone]

Thanks Terry for your suggestion, due to the confined areas where the paint was darkened too much I don't want to re-spray.

The open crew compartment and gun assembly are a bit too dark but I am really happy with the well-used look they now have.
I have already drybrushed some dark yellow on the gun assembly and will leave well enough alone, when I paint the exterior I will lighten the paint slightly to counter the effects of the oil washes.


My 1/35 scale Opel Blitz that I started today will serve as a test subject for weathering armor models, the 'Ostwind' is just too small to tinker with.

 

[moon puppy]

What about coming back with a light filter over those dark spots?

 

[SA Dave]

I think it looks great

 

[matrixone]

Moon Puppy,
That's a good idea you have, I will leave it alone and not try to lighten the color because of the chipping I have already done. Between the chipping and oil wash it looks good to my eye.


Thanks Dave!


I will post some pics soon to show how this thing is shaping up.
The tracks were installed earlier and do not look as bad as I feared they would. Before I assemble the hull I glued on some lead weights to give it some heft so the tank will look like it really is heavy


Matrixone

 

[matrixone]

...and here are the in-progress pics.

Yes the paint was darkened a bit more than I wanted after the oil wash but I like the looks of it and sure looks like it has seen some combat.

After the top half of the turret is on the crew compartment will look about right.

In this pic you can see the tracks are on and don't look all that bad considering the scale.

The rest of the assembly of the hull should go very quickly and it won't be much longer before its ready for paint and weathering.


Matrixone

 

[moon puppy]

It's really looking good Les, even the tracks.

 

[Iron Mike]

It's looking good, I don't think it's too dark. Lighten the upper hull and dirty up the lower?

 

[matrixone]

Thanks Moon Puppy and Mike.

The upper surfaces will get lighter versions of the camo colors than the sides will get.

Because this model is so tiny I scrapped my plans for adding much mud and grime to it. What WAS planned was to use thick paint in my airbrush with low P.S.I. toapply the mud splatters. I will save that idea for my 1/35 scale Opel Blitz truck.

I finished up the hull this morning, after everything is dry I can start painting.


Matrixone

 

[jknaus]

Looking very good
James

 

[matrixone]

Thanks very much James!

Painting on this one will begin very soon.


Matrixone