Category: Back in the day

Hi, all! Welcome to the latest edition of “There’s another paint fail…”

I’ve documented my recent searches for a good model paint.

In my model building years, I started (as did most modelers in the 1970’s) with either Testors PLA Enamels or the Pactra equivalent. I stuck with Testors, since it was what I could find at most of the local places that sold models and supplies for them.

When I discovered modeling magazines and dedicated hobby shops in the late 1970’s, I also discovered the Pactra Authentic International Colors. I used them in 1981 to paint an Otaki F6F Hellcat, and I was smitten. I found that when thinned with Aerogloss Dope Thinner, the paint laid down very thin, dried very quickly, and gave an almost eggshell finish. Of course, that meant that the paint was on its way out—indeed, Pactra had discontinued the line. No matter, a change was coming…

When I went off to college and resumed my model building activities during my second semester, I decided to give my dorm neighbors a break and switch to something more friendly. At the time, there was only one acrylic paint for models, that being the OG of modeling acrylics, Polly-S. I continued to use Polly-S (with one exception) until that line, too, began to be phased out. Polly-S was a strange paint—it was a latex paint that could be brushed without leaving brush marks, but it was tricky to airbrush. You could thin it with water or alcohol, but it took some trial and error to see which one and how much would do the job. It seemed to me that no two bottles were the same, so I got used to making changes on the fly. In hindsight, it was merely okay, nothing stellar, but I had decided to be kind to my neighbors, so I was stuck with that decision…

For those of you who just “gotsta know”, the exception was in 1983, when I built the then-new Monogram 1/48th scale F-105G. Since the Polly-S representations of the SEA colors weren’t available to me at the time, and because I wanted to see what the fuss was all about, I used the new Testors Model Master paints. I used them also on a Monogram 1/48th scale F-100D and a kitbashed ESCI/Monogram A-7D. They worked really well, but they came with all of the issues of a solvent-based paint—namely, how do you dispose of the thinners used to clean out the airbrush (I used an empty thinner can) and what to do with the thinned paint (not a good idea to return it to the bottle, as it would cause the paint to jell more times than not)…

In the meantime, two new acrylics came into view—Tamiya Acrylics and the then-Gunze-Sangyo (now GSI/Creos) Aqueous Color Range. The paints were similar in chemical composition, and early on I could get them to work quite well. But back in the day, there were frequent changes in the paint chemistry for the Tamiya paints, and accordingly I had to learn how to use it all over again with each change. In the case of the GSI Aqueous paint, I liked the way it sprayed, but it seemed to take a lot of paint to cover, and that a jar didn’t seem to go far.

I took a side trip into the 1992-era Floquil Enamels for about six months, then Floquil/Polly-S graced the world with a new acrylic paint: PollyScale. I loved this stuff, and couldn’t (still can’t) understand the negativity surrounding the paint. It thinned with distilled water (it said so on the jar AND in the literature available for the paint), sprayed nicely, and dried to a tight layer of color. It feathered out well, too, and I could mask it with no peeling/lifting issues whatsoever. I have a feeling that those who had problems with the paint were busy playing home chemist and using some strange concoction to thin the paint, which caused all the problems mentioned. Hint: Windshield washer fluid is good for removing dirt and bugs from glass. I doubt it was designed to thin paint. As I said in previous paint discussions, use the thinner recommended by the manufacturer—in this case, that thinner was distilled water, period. I was reminded of this sometime later, when I would add Future to the paint and thin with either alcohol or the Testors Acryl Thinner—the paint would give me fits. Once I went back to plain old distilled water added to just the paint, those issues went away.

Of course, in time RPM International (the parent company to Testors, Floquil/Polly-S, Bondo, Zinsser, and a handful of other companies) killed off both the Floquil enamels and PollyScale lines (and the Aeromaster Warbird Colors and Acrylic Warbirt Colors, which were checmically identical and manufactured by Floquil/Polly-S).

In response, Testors introduced a new acrylic line that was supposed to combine the best features of PollyScale and the Pactra Acrylic line (that was also fairly nice paint—I only used it once or twice, and I don’t recall any issues). This new line was called the Testor Model Master Acrylic line, and it was the Shop Vac of suck. The pigment settled hard at the bottom of the jar, so it took a powered stirrer and a good deal of shaking to mix the paint. It would clog the airbrush at the drop of a hat, it didn’t cover well, and when you could get it to spray, it would dry with a rough, chalky finish.

Another pair of new acrylics that popped onto the scene briefly were the Niche Paints (they had two lines, one featured WWII Luftwaffe colors and the other was a line of modern Soviet colors) and the Monogram ProModeler paints.

The Niche paints were rumored to be custom shades of regular eggshell finish interior house paints. I’ve only used it a few times, but I can almost buy the rumor. It wasn’t around long…

The ProModeler paints came along in 1999-2000, and were touted as the first hobby paints to be certified Non-Toxic by some US government entity. I used it once. The paint took forever to dry—if it dried at all. Again, they didn’t last long…

Anyway, I had to find another go-to paint line in the early 2000’s. Since PollyScale went away, I have tried the following:

• Testors Acryl

• Vallejo Model Air

• Lifecolor

• Hataka Orange Line

• Mission Models Paint

• AK Real Color

• ICM Acrylics

In addition, I have renewed my acquaintance with the chemically similar GSI/Creos Aqueous and Tamiya Acrylic line.

So, what did I experience?

Testors Acryl

When I first used it, I wasn’t too thrilled—PollyScale, back in the day, was a superb acrylic paint that could be thinned with distilled water, airbrushed well, hand brushed well, and had good adhesion. As I started to switch from PollyScale to Acryl (the writing was on the wall—RPM was discontinuing PollyScale), I learned to work with it, as I have done with every single brand of model paint I’ve used since way back in the early 1970’s. After a while, I reached a point where I was comfortable in how the paint behaved. It became my go-to paint brand for several years, until RPM once again decided to cut back on their product line and killed the Acryl line off.

Verdict: It is a shame that RPM killed it off, since it was head-and-shoulders better than the previous Model Master Acrylics. The color fidelity was good, and the paint performance was good and predictable.

Vallejo Model Air

With the demise of the Acryl line, my next stop was Vallejo. The learning curve was steeper, since it really didn’t like to spray to my liking. Once I learned to use their thinner, things went better. I wasn’t thrilled about using a paint that required a primer—and I did use it without primer many times—but my bigger gripes were with color accuracy and shelf life.

Vallejo’s idea of color accuracy is to get it somewhere within city limits; i.e. FS36622 gray will be gray. Whether it comes close to FS36622 or not is a matter of personal choice, but usually it did not. Which is okay, I can mix colors. But when I use a small amount from a bottle and close the bottle tightly, I don’t expect the remaining paint to turn to thick goo in a month. Also, they almost always required a primer, and the “hotter”, the better, which sort of defeats the purpose of using an acrylic paint, no?

Verdict: Not a full fail, and their Metal Color paints are still my go-to for bare metal finishes. And I’ll still use it for hand brushing. But for airbrushing camouflage schemes, nope, this ain’t it. And their shelf life is still hit/miss.

Lifecolor

I used Lifecolor for the orange patches on the Sea King I built several years ago, and I was impressed. It laid down smoothly, with no orange peel or other issues. I was so impressed that I bought their ship colors and their version of Air Superiority Blue for when I get around to building my original-issue Revell 1/72nd scale F-15 as one of the prototypes. It does require you to use their thinner, but I’m good with that. See my take on PollyScale above…

Verdict: I like this based on one use. We’ll see how other colors behave, but I’m optimistic.

Hataka

My experience with the Hataka acrylics was not good. They clogged the airbrush, no matter what I did. I used their thinner alone. I added some flow aid and retarder to the mix. It would still clog the airbrush. I wound up using the colors I had to paint terrain, where I could use a brush.

Verdict: Fail.

Mission Models Paint (MMP)

This stuff was being pimped as the greatest paint ever* (*IF you use their primer, their reducer, their poly-mix, and strictly follow their application procedure to the letter). I painted two 1/72nd scale F-16s with it, following their instructions to a ‘T’. And when I went to apply the decals, as soon as I put a wet decal on the surface of the model, the paint began to run like watercolors.

I ran some further tests on styrene card. No matter what I did, the result was the same—a fragile paint that would run when a little water was placed on top of the paint.

Verdict: Fail. Big fail, given the advertising hype. And yes, I know people who have been able to make it work. The bigger point here is that I shouldn’t have to go through a Graduate-Level course on how to use their paint and get it to yield a permanent, durable finish…

AK Real Colors (AKRC)

I was reluctant to use this product for two reasons—one, nobody could tell me whether it was miscible with AK’s acrylic thinner as well as their “High Compatibility Thinner”; and two, AK has, in the past, stepped on their ding-dongs with golf shoes in their advertisement department—promoting the Holocaust and other forms of forced slavery to sell books and then, when getting called on it, brushing it off as it was not a big deal.

But when I needed paint for my Hasegawa 1/72nd scale A-10A, I decided to give it a try. I had, by this time, been thinning Tamiya acrylics with lacquer thinner, so the first issue was mooted. I still wasn’t thrilled with their advertising gaffes, but I figured I was buying the paint from someone who had already paid AKI.

From a performance standpoint, thinned with either Tamiya lacquer thinner or Mr. Color Leveling Thinner, the paint sprayed very nicely, laid down smoothly, and dried quickly.

From a color accuracy standpoint, there were issues. Their idea of what 34102 and 34092 looked like weren’t in line with what was indicated in the FS595a fan deck I keep handy. It wasn’t close to something I had painted earlier with the PollyScale acrylics. The 34012 was too brown and not olive enough, the 34092 was almost turquoise rather than a deep green with a blueish cast. The 36081 gray was also too light—even if you subscribe to the scale color theory (which I do), it was still far too light.

Verdict: Fail. Not a hard fail, because they performed well. But they failed where it matters most—the paint should be close to what the label says. Talking with friends, this is a hit/miss thing with AK. Some colors are spot on, others are not correct.

ICM Acrylics

I’m building the “Ghost of Kyiv” release of ICM’s 1/72nd scale MiG-29 Fulcrum C. It was given to me as a gift along with the ICM paint set specifically intended for this kit. The kit gives you the gray “pixel” camouflage as decals, but I scanned the sheet and created masks on my Cameo 4.

As I began to paint the airplane, I noted that the paint said when airbrushing, thin “with water or thinner”, the thinner being unspecified. I’ve read a few accounts of folks using X-20A. I also noted that it said to use a primer. So, I primed the model with a coat of Tamiya X-18 Semigloss Black and allowed it to dry for a few days.

I began with the lightest of the gray colors. I used distilled water to thin the paint, and it seemed to go down fairly nicely. I did note that the surface was a bit chalky, but nothing that couldn’t be buffed out when the paint was dry with a microfiber towel.

I let that color dry for a few nights. I then airbrushed the next darker shade of gray on the underside. This time, I used Tamiya X-20A thinner. Again, it laid down okay, but with a chalky finish. Again, it was allowed to dry overnight.

When I resumed painting, I noted some dust that wouldn't simply wipe off, so I dampened a Q-Tip with a wee bit of distilled water—the swab was barely moist. As I tried to wash the dust off, I noted that the paint was dissolving—almost like a watercolor. As I continued, the paint wiped off the model. I did the same thing in several other locations on the model to make sure it wasn’t a localized issue. Nope, the paint—whether it had been thinned with water or X-20A—dissolved and wiped off of the surface.

The final confirmation was when it took a little over 10 minutes’ scrubbing with a toothbrush under the faucet. The paint simply wiped off.

Verdict: I hate to say this, because I think ICM is hitting it out of the park with their kit releases over the past few years, but the paint gets a Hard Fail. I will do some more tests with the paint I have left to see if it wasn’t a “me problem”, so stay tuned. But for the MiG, the paint got stripped and the model will be painted with Tamiya Acrylics, thinned with lacquer thinner. That combination has not let me down for as long as I’ve been using it.

Which brings us to the GSI Aqueous and Tamiya Acrylics.

As mentioned earlier, I used both when they first arrived in the scene. As other paints were available that worked better for me, I didn’t use them that much. But was the other acrylic lines died off, I took another look.

The initial impetus to revisit them was a pair of 1/72nd scale Phantoms in British colors I built, Academy’s F-4J as a 74 Sqn F-4J(UK) and the Fujimi FG.1. British Standard colors are hard to come by in acrylic paints, and I had already stockpiled some of the required colors, so I gave them another go. This time, I used X-20A thinner (this predated my use of Mr. Leveling Thinner buy a few months), and found they worked much better than my previous efforts. The only issue I had was with the decal application on the FG.1, which did weird things to the paint. I blame this not on the paint, but the decal adhesive, as the same paint/clear coat combination worked with no issues on the F-4J(UK). I imagine the paint would work even better with the use of that magic elixir known as Mr. Leveling Thinner, MLT, or simply “Unicorn Tears”…

And so my search ended at the Tamiya Acrylics. I guess I learned that the paint could be thinned with lacquer thinner in the late 1990’s. At the time, I was trying to remain as “hot solvent free” as I could (the exception was using Testors Metalizer Sealer as a clear coat before decals and weathering, as it was nearly bulletproof), so I steered clear. However, as the acrylic lines continued to shrink, I saw what some of my AMPS club buddies were achieving with this combination. So, I bit the bullet and tried it. As far as the fumes were concerned, I crack a window and wear a respirator. I use alcohol to clean the airbrush. So far, the results have been good—and they are repeatable. I’ve painted an Airfix 1/72nd scale Bristol Blenheim I and the Hasegawa 1/72nd scale A-10A (after I abandoned the AK Real Colors paints) with them. I painted all three of the Vermont ANG F-16’s using this mix. I had no surprises down the road when the decals went on.

I’m convinced, and it will take something Earth-shaking to change that opinion.

For those who want to know about the Andrea, Ammo by Mig, Citadel, Games Workshop, or the AK Interactive acrylics, I can only speak on the Citadel paints—I use them for detail painting only. Like the Vallejo Model Air and Model Color, they brush on well and I have no complaints. I had pondered using the AKI 3^rd Gen acrylics, but the other factor on paints, for me, is local availability. If I run out of a color, I’d like to be reasonably sure that I can buy a new jar/bottle locally and not have to put together a larger order with one of the online shops (I almost used the phrase “Mail Order”–kids, ask your parents). And in my area, I can get Tamiya Acrylics at several shops. So why would I want to venture too far away from that?

And yes, I said I also liked the Lifecolor paints. But I believe their use will be in limited, specific scenarios such as the Air Superiority Blue for the early F-15A, or the ship colors (unless I mix those, too, from Tamiya colors) because these too will need to be ordered online.

A final word on the GSI/Creos Aqueous line. I’d use them more IF I could find the H3XX and H4XX colors anywhere—these are the colors matched to AN/ANA, FS, RAL, and BSC paint specifications. I’ve scoured the various online shops, and all of them show stock on colors up to the H9X numbers. I contacted GSI/Creos, they say the colors in question are still being made (good thing, since most Hasegawa and Fujimi kits use their color call-outs). Knowing that, I would figure that Hobby Link Japan would have them, but recent searches have come up empty. If anyone can tell me what’s up here, I would appreciate it. And yes, I know I can use the Mr. Color lacquers (or the Tamiya Lacquer Paints, for that matter)—but their smell is much sharper, and lingers much longer, than that of either the Aqueous or Tamiya Acrylics thinned with MLT or lacquer thinner does.

As for the new breed of acrylic lacquers (MRP, SMS, etc.), I have not tried them for the reasons listed above. Some friends have used them, and they think they’re the best thing since bottled beer, sliced bread, apple pie, and Mom. Getting them can be an issue, which defeats the “locally stocked” availability question.

Postscript. A few weeks ago, Ammo by Mig announced a new acrylic line called “ATOM”. They are supposed to combine the best features of an acrylic paint with the best features of a lacquer. Several online shops are showing them as preorders. Just for giggles, I may have to try the line to see whether its performance is that much better than my current Tamiya/MLT mix. I don’t envision any of the local shops rushing out to start stocking ATOM, so it will have to be that much better than my current go-to to make me switch.

This opens another can of worms, one that some friends and I discussed several years ago, when MMP became available and folks were flocking to it. At the time, it seemed there was a new paint line announced every month, and modelers were flocking to them the way the 5-year olds playing soccer all follow the ball rather than playing their position. They never stick with one product long enough to become competent with it, before they run to the next shiny new paint line. I suppose you could say that I did the same thing during my recent search for a replacement for PollyScale and Acryl. I don’t think I fall into the same category, since my go-to lines were going away and I was trying to find a line that worked for me.

The other player at work are the manufacturers themselves. They change the formulations of their paint so often that a user doesn’t really have time to become properly attuned to them before they are gone, replaced by this year’s new darling.

And this is yet another reason I came to the conclusion I did—Tamiya Acrylics have been around since 1983 or 1984, and I don’t seem them going anywhere any time soon…

I have friends who still wish they could go buy some good, old, Dio-Sol/Xylene-laden Floquil paint. Sorry, gang, those days are long gone. With the recent demise of the Model Master paint, the same laments can be seen far and wide on the various modeling boards. Yeah, you can pine for them all you like, but they ain’t comin’ back…

There you go, my take on the State of Hobby Paints.

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I mentioned the 1/72nd scale models (a Hasegawa A-10A, an Airfix Blenheim, and ICM MiG-29), here are some happy snaps of the models. The Blenheim and MiG will be part of a “Small Forces” display at our show in June…

 

 

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The Tamiya 1/48th scale A-10A is almost done, look for a feature shortly.

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As always, thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.

 

Howdy, all!

“That’s an interesting title”, you say. “What does it mean? Is it a countdown to something?”

Allow me to explain…

Many years ago, a friend and I were discussing models. It was in the early 2000’s, right when the Monogram ProModeler 1/48th scale F-86D arrived at hobby shops. At the time, it was a much welcomed release, since nobody to that point had released an accurate, state of the art kit of the Dog Sabre. Of course, it didn’t take long for the online community to bring up several items to note. If memory serves, they were (in no particular order):

• It was based on an early Block number airframe (Block 5, IIRC) at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force that had been used for flight testing, therefore had the early tail without the drag chute compartment and an additional rudder trim tab;

• It had the early instrument panel layout;

• And, after a bit of math, it was determined that the wing sweep was too steep by 3.2°.

Of course, Revell AG later released the later configuration of the fuselage with the drag chute, but kept the instrument panel and wing from the earlier ProModeler issue of the kit. But for all the carrying on, the issues were minor.

One thing I said then (and still say it now) is that 99.9% of the people who even see the completed model on my display shelf wouldn’t know the difference between an early and late Dog Sabre instrument panel—even if they were die-hard fans of the F-86. I told one of the guys making a lot of noise over it that I was sure that Eduard or Airwaves (remember Airwaves?) would more than likely make a photoetch set with the proper layout that could easily fix that problem.  And, lacking that, a reference photo, a bit of Evergreen sheet, a set of punches or drills, and about an hour's work could fix the problem.

As for the wing, Jennings says it in his article—unless you had the Revell Dog Sabre placed next to a Hasegawa or Academy Sabre with a gridded shelf under them and could view them from directly above, it wouldn’t be noticeable. And, for those intrepid types who couldn’t live with the 3.2° error, they could always do the work and fix it.

I added that unless I put them in the case at the shop (I was still in Florida at the time, and several of my models were in the cases at Warrick Custom Hobbies) or took them to a show, most of my models never got seen by anyone else for more than a few hours—and on a display shelf, nobody ever got close enough to inspect the model to make sure it was “nuts-bolts-rivets” accurate anyway.  Plus, if you build models so you can do the contest thing, AMPS or IPMS contest judges are instructed not to evaluate accuracy, anyway. So unless you get so hot and bothered over a half-inch long bit of plastic…

That prompted us to do some math to figure out just how much time our models were being looked at by other people.

The logic worked out something like this:

We estimated an average 10-year life span for a completed model. It seemed like a good starting place.

10 years X 365 days/year X 24 hours/day equals 87,600 hours.

Next, we estimated a few more things.

• You build a model, and take it to the club meeting. The average club meeting clocks in at 2 hours.
• You take it to a contest. The average one day contest is about six or eight hours. To be fair, we’ll call it eight.
• You might take it to the local hobby shop (if such a thing still exists in your area) to show it off for an hour.

So, total that up. We’re at 11 hours. Add on an hour or two for when friends come to visit—you *do* have friends, don’t you? Anyway…

Let’s just say 15 hours. Do some cipherin’…naught from naught…carry the two…and we have 0.017%. If we round it, 15 hours is 0.02 percent of 87,600. Other people look at your model for a total of 0.02% of the model’s life span, using 10 years as the average life span. If the model “lives” longer, the percentage gets even lower.

Maybe you take it to a local, “regional”, and “national” show, the latter being a three-day affair. That comes to 30 hours at shows, plus the other time. Let’s just triple the initial estimate from 15 to 45 hours. What the hell, let’s say 50 hours. That computes to a whopping 0.06% of it’s life span.

Want to stretch it to 100 hours? Okay…that works out to 0.11%. Still less than 1%.

You can split hairs all you want, but on average a completed model that goes from workbench to your personal display shelf will only be looked at by other people for a very small sliver of the total lifespan. Otherwise, your peepers are the only ones to view your work.

So again, *who* do you build your models for?
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Work on the A-10A’s continues slowly. The pylon depressions on the 1/48th scale model are filled and ready to have the ResKit pylons (for the Hobby Boss kit, explaining why the depression on the Tamiya wing had to be filled), and some color has been applied to the 1/72nd scale model. I want to try and complete the 1/72nd scale model in the next few weeks.
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In the meantime, I’ve bought some stuff.

I’ve wanted to get a set of quick disconnects for the airbrushes for a few years, and figured I might as well buy a MAC valve, too. I still need to play with the valve and test things out, but the big benefit is being able to switch airbrushes quickly.

I also bought some wax pencils. Back a long time ago, a modeling friend used them to position small parts. I had forgotten about them until a FineScale Modeler video reminded me how handy they were. And they’re dirt cheap—I bought 10 and some sorting trays on Amazon for less than $8 American…
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Along with the tools, of course I bought some kits.

Back in 1996, I used the KMC resin conversion kit to build an FM-2 Wildcat from the Tamiya kit. The model turned out pretty nice, but it always nagged me that the conversion was about as superficial as it could get. All KMC really gave you was a copy of the kit cowl, a casting of an extended kit rudder, and some very sketchy instructions (later versions of the conversion also offered an engine). So imagine my glee when Eduard introduced their FM-2 kit at the IPMS/USA National Convention. I was so happy, I bought two. I’m tempted to push the A-10’s to the side…

At about the same time, my order from Ukraine arrived. Once again, I have to commend Plastic Models Store in Kyiv for their superb service. If you want kits made in Ukraine, give them a whirl.
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I was discussing the A-10 project with someone at work. He wasn’t too versed on the whys and wherefores of the ThunderHog. I gave him a few places to read up on it, and told him if he really wanted some fun, he should look at all the various postwar agreements made between and among the various branches of the U.S. military. As I refreshed my own memory, I thought it might be a good idea to write it all down in capsule form and post it here as a companion to my piece on “The McNamara Effect” that I wrote a few years ago. Stay tuned, sports fans…

That's all I have for this installment.  Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and, as always, I bid you Peace.

Howdy, all!

Do you remember the projects you completed where you thought you had “turned a corner”—that is, you finally put a group of skills together into one project and brought it to completion?

Given that this blog is centered on scale models, I can think of a few projects that fill the bill.  I consider these the first real fruits of my labors after discovering  Scale Modeler (and later, FineScale Modeler) magazine, Solvaset, and Squadron Green Putty, and after acquiring an airbrush.

1979-ish, Monogram 1/48^th scale Hawker Typhoon.  It was the first model where filled seams and painted with an airbrush.  It turned out fairly well, all things considered.  I think I was still using Propel cans, and the limitations with them didn’t help the project.  I seem to recall that shortly afterwards, I got a compressor for the airbrush.  For the life of me, I have no recollection of what became of the finished model.

Around the same time, I built a Guillows’ 1/16^th scale stick-and-tissue Spitfire model, just to show Dad that I could…

1980, Revell 1/32^nd scale F4U-1 Corsair.  I was inspired by Sheperd Paine’s “Pilots, Man Your Planes” article in one of the “Special” issues of Challenge Publications’ Scale Modeler.  He had done his usual superdetail job on the model.  I tried to duplicate some of what he did to his model.  I used masking tape to make seatbelts, I made the landing gear springs from wire, and I cut and dropped the flaps.  I left the wings unfolded, and didn’t do a whole lot to the rest of the model.  Like the Typhoon, I was still using the little square bottles of Testors Flat Enamels, so the colors were a little bit weird.  I also went my own way with the markings—I built the model as Tommy Blackburn’s “Big Hog”.  I painted the letters freehand, and rather than seek alternate markings with the red surround (not that I could have afforded such a luxury), I used a 3/0 brush and Testors Flat Red to “convert” the kit insignia to the pre-September 1943 version.  Again, I was rather pleased with the end result.  The model went to a friend and I never saw it again.  I have a strange feeling that it became an air rifle target…

1981, Otaki 1/48^th scale F6F-3 Hellcat.  This one put everything I had learned to that point  together.  The model was built, the seams were filled, and the scheme was airbrushed.  I applied the decals with Solvaset, and I did a little “toning down” and “weathering” with some washes.  I added some paint chips, and I was really happy when I finished the model.

1984, Nichimo 1/48^th scale Ki.43 “Oscar”.  This was a further extension to the process started with the Hellcat.  In this case, I did more paint chipping using an alternate method—I used a silver Tamiya paint marker on certain areas of the airplane before I added the camouflage colors.  I had switched to Polly-S acrylics, and I “chipped” them with a tight roll of masking tape right after the paint had started to dry.  I added more chips to the markings once the decals were on using the paint marker again. 

1985, Monogram 1/48^th scale P-51B converted to an Allison-engined P-51 with the Koster Aero Enterprises vacuum-formed conversion kit.  This was my first vacuum formed kit.  Also, using the knowledge I gained from reading Bob Steinbrunn’s cockpit detailing article in FineScale Modeler, I did a lot of scratch detailing in the cockpit.  I really started to learn how to use alternate materials—the injection molded cannon barrels from the Koster kit were rather softly detailed, so I removed the various details and replaced them—I used vinyl tape for the bands and fine wire for the recoil springs.

From this point on, I coasted on my abilities.  I was back in college, so my model building time was a bit limited.  It didn’t stop me from scratchbuilding a seat or adding plumbing to landing gear, but those were the exception rather than the rule.

After college, I started hanging out in the hobby shop.  And I started learning more.  One of the locals brought some models in that had a really convincing finish—the camouflage colors weren’t “solid”—the upper surface olive drab was actually many different shades of olive drab, and the panel lines were highlighted.  In a sense, it was probably what “The Spanish School” was originally devised to be.  This was in 1988, and it was about the time Verlinden was really making inroads into the American modeling scene, but the guy told me he had been doing it for years.  He said all you have to do is vary the colors and make the whole thing look good.

Undeterred, I took a Tamiya 1/48^th scale F2A Buffalo from the shelf and refinished it.  I removed the decals and smoothed the paint, much as I did on a Monogram B-17 in 1984.  This time, when I painted it, I thought about those other models I saw, and tried to emulate the procedure.  It worked.  The result was rather nice, if I do say so…

1989, Monogram 1/48^th scale B-29.  This was the first model I totally rescribed.  It was an eye-opener, for sure.  I used a lot of filler to cover my mistakes, of which there were many.  In the end, I was happy with the result.  The model was sent to the Valiant Air Command museum.  I have no idea if it still survives…

1990, Revell 1/72nd scale F-89.  My first really successful bare metal finish was achieved with Floquil silvers.  Since then, I have tried several methods.  My go-to these days are the Vallejo Metal Colors, but for a while I used a highly thinned mix of Isopropyl Alcohol, Future, and Tamiya X32 Titanium Silver over a gray primer base.  The impediment to continue using this method is the fact that SC Johnson discontinued Future, and I'm not convinced any of the alternatives folks are using would work.  With the Vallejo stuff available, there really is no need to look elsewhere.

1999/2000, Hobbycraft 1/48^th scale P-26A.  I had rigged models before, but none was really that good.  This time, fresh off a trip to the IPMS National Convention and armed with some nifty stainless steel orthodontic wire, I set out to change that.  The Hobbycraft Peashooter is a fabulous kit, and I did little additional work on the kit.  When it came time to rig it, I cut lengths of the aforementioned wire and glued it in place with small drops of white glue.  The model still sits in the display case, although it has developed a twist in the aft fuselage over the y
ears.  I should probably build another one of these gems soon…

The next big leap came only a few years ago, when I remembered that “This is just a plastic model, there isn’t a lot I could do to screw it up.”  The model was the 1/48^th scale Special Hobby Macchi C.200 that I’ve shared previously.  I took the time and effort to detail things a bit more.  I added the landing gear trunnions to make the main landing gear more authentic.  And I added more and more of those little details to the model.

What I learned on the Peashooter and Macchi was put to use on the Aeroclub 1/48^th scale Gloster Gamecock I finished last year.  It was a vacuum-formed kit of a biplane with a scratchbuilt cockpit, wing struts, a lot of little details, and it was rigged.  The rigging was different, though–I used Davis' Invisible thread looped through tiny "rigging blocks" and "turnbuckles" made from stretched Evergreen styrene tubing, secured with CA.  It featured a metallic finish (aluminum dope), and most of the markings were painted on.

I used the latter skill to also paint the huge checkerboard patterns on a 1/72nd scale Fujimi Phantom FG.1,  I like the method so much that I bought a Cameo Silhouette with the intention of cutting masks for my paint schemes instead of using decals.  I'm not living under the illusion that I'll never use decals, but knowing how to do this frees me of the limitations of decals, namely being able to do subjects that are never covered by any of the aftermarket decal sheets.

To add to the story, today I bought some UV cure resin and a UV light to make my own lenses.  With MV Products lenses being difficult to obtain, this will allow me to "roll my own" when I need them.  Another tool in the toolbox, another skill in the portfolio…

What is the moral to the story?  Keep exercising your skills, whatever your craft or hobby might be.  You might not realize it right away, but these skills build upon each other through the years, and one day you complete a model that puts it all in play.  And you’ll wonder—for a minute, maybe—how could you have done such work?  Then you recollect all the projects that came before and led up to this latest effort…

It goes back to what I said a while ago on these very pages—it only takes an investment of time and a little effort to do good work.  Keep on trying…
~~~~~     ~~~~~     ~~~~~     ~~~~~     ~~~~~
Something I’ve touched on before has risen again on the various forii.  I always get a kick out of the comments that come from the under-30's in the hobby.  You know, the kids, the noobs, the folks who have only recently discovered the hobby.

I saw someone speak in glowing terms of the yet-to-be-released Magic Factory 1/48^th scale F4U-2 Corsair, and how it is “head and shoulders better than the ancient Tamiya kit!”

Ancient?  Tamiya’s kits arrived on the scene in 1996.  They fit like a glove and exhibit Tamiya’s standard of excellence.  I won’t rush out to buy the Magic Factory kits just yet… 

Recall, too, that before the Tamiya kits made their debut, the options for a 1/48^th scale Corsair were the 1996 Hobbycraft kits (which, had Tamiya not produced their kit, could have been a contender had there not been some unfortunate issues with the fit), the 1980 Mania/Hasegawa F4U-4 (still the standard for the -4 after all these years), the 1977 AMT F4U-1, the 1976 release by Otaki (still a fine kit, as I demonstrated a few years ago), the 1973 Monogram F4U-4, and the 1956 Lindberg F4U-5. 

After the Tamiya kits came the questionable Academy/ Minicraft “reworking” of the Hasegawa -4 (that somehow acquired a bloated fuselage), the absolutely awful Minicraft F4U-5/5N, and the superb Hasegawa F4U-5/-7, and AU-1 kits, followed by what I can only determine to be the hit-or-miss Hobby Boss kits.

My point?  Be careful when you call a kit “ancient”.  By the same standard, the Accurate Miniatures 1/48^th scale TBF/TBM and SBD kits are also “ancient”, but back in the day they were seen as absolute wonders.  Before they came along, you built the Monogram kits (or Nichimo knockoffs) and either did DIY detailing or, after they appeared, used the Medallion Models resin sets. 

Bottom line: these kits might be ancient to you, young pups, but to those of us who made do with the early 1950’s kits for years, they were—and still are—wonderful kits.

That’s all I have for now.  Until next time, be good to one another.  As always, I bid you Peace.

Howdy, all!

This is the article on the StuG IV project that took me a decade (!) to complete.  If you go back through the posts from the early days of this little slice o' the Internet, you'll see many references to the StuG project that finally got finished a few years ago.  Without further ado, here it is in all it's glory.

The StuG IV

The German assault gun known as the Sd.Kfz 167 Sturmgeschütz IV (StuG IV) was a result of the Krupp manufacturing firm’s desire to built assault guns for the Wehrmacht.  The vehicle was a lash-up of the late mark Panzerkampfwagen IV chassis and running gear topped with a modified StuG III Ausf. F superstructure.

At the time, the Panzer IV was being outperformed by the StuG III, and all Panzer IV production was scheduled to be shifted to building the Panzerjäger IV, a Pz.Kpfw IV/L70 “Lang” chassis and a fixed superstructure armed with a 7.5 cm/L70 gun, the same gun being installed on the Pz.Kpfw V (Panther).  However, Vomag also fitted a 7.5 cm/L48 gun to the vehicle, which became the Jadgpanzer IV Ausf. F. 

The Stug IV was beginning to fade into the files of “never built” vehicles until an air raid on the Alkett plant in November 1943 destroyed the StuG III production line.  Since the StuG IV could be placed into service faster than either the Jagdpanzer IV or the Panzerjäger IV, Krupp was authorized to begin producing them. 1,108 StuG IV’s were constructed, and an additional 31 were converted from damaged Pz.Kpfw IV chassis before production was ended by the German surrender.

Dispatched to the Eastern Front, the StuG IV became a proficient tank-killer.  It would be used on all fronts between 1943 and 1945, and some saw post-war use with the Syrians in their conflicts with Israel in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Four examples are known to survive, two in Poland, one in Latvia, and one in Australia.

Panzer-Abteilung 190

Panzer-Abteilung 190 was formed from the remnants of the first iteration of II./Panzer-Regiment 202 and sent to North Africa with 90. Leitche Afrika-Division.  Engaged in battles in the region, most of the unit’s vehicles were destroyed in the battles around Tunis in May 1943.  The remnants were then reformed with additional vehicles in July 1943 and attached to the 90. Panzer-Grenadier Division and garrisoned in Sardinia.  When the Allied attack began on Sicily, the unit was kept in reserve and later removed to the Italian mainland.  Initially posted to the area around Pisa, it would later take a place on the Gustav Line, one of the defensive lines around Anzio and Cassino.

The unit would ultimately see most of its war fighting ability again destroyed, and the few remaining vehicles would be re-distributed to other units.  The StuG IV’s of Panzer-Abteilung 190 would wind up going to the 34. Infanterie-Division in Northern Italy, where they would spend their final days.

The Project

Photo 1: The kit.

The project started as a “group build” project with the AMPS Central South Carolina “Wildcats” in late 2010, shortly after the Chapter formed–this coincidentally was a period in which I was laid off and only working part time, so I figured it would be an easy task.  The best laid plans and all that…

The group decided on the then-new (2009) Dragon “Early Production” StuG IV kit.  Along the way, Mike Roof did a lot of research on the kit, assembly sequence, and applicable features of the StuG IV, and provided the information to everyone in the group build.  The level of detail that Mike went into was incredible, and the fact that he broke down the various bits of the kit into what was used in which time frame, what parts could be kept, what could be tossed in the spares box…in short, it gave everyone a glimpse into Mike’s “style” when he builds a model.

Before I move forward, yes, this is another one of those models with very few in-progress photos.  Follow the text for the procedures I used.  Also, some of the sequences might be written in a different order in which I actually completed them.  Sorry, but this project stretched over nearly a decade…

Let’s get it on!

One of the first items to consider is zimmerit, the paste that the Germans applied to their vehicles to prevent magnetic anti-tank mines from sticking to the hull.  The early StuG IV’s got it, the later ones didn’t.  Since the model is an early vehicle, it needed to have it.  There are many ways to add it—textured acrylic gel, putty (either body putty or epoxy putty), photoetched brass, resin…and, of course, several months after this project started, Dragon issued a kit with molded-on zimmerit.  The aftermarket and kit alternatives are nice, but they tend to be too regular whereas the real thing was applied by hand, and one vehicle was different from another.  To get that “organic look”, the best thing to do is make it yourself with putty or another substance.

I tried the green putty route years ago, and it works, but you have to move quickly, before the putty skins over and becomes unworkable.  This time, I tried the acrylic gel method—apply the gel, then “comb” it out with a section of Campbell’s HO Scale corrugated siding.  It is easy enough to do, but after it dried it lacked depth and “sharpness” when compared to photos.  The corrugated siding left rounded ridges.  To address this, I had an old razor saw blade lying around, cut it into sections, and gave those a whirl.  I liked the profile, but the gel medium tended to relax as it dried, yielding sharper, but still rounded, peaks.

Looking around the workbench, I noticed a tube of Elmer’s Professional Wood Filler.  I tried a test swatch on some scrap Evergreen sheet, and it was promising.  It still wasn’t as sharp as I would have liked it, so on a whim I added a small amount of microballoons to the filler and gave it another test.  Bingo!  The rows were sharp, as were the peaks.  So, over the next few days I applied the wood filler and combed it out with the section of razor saw blade.  Hurdle number one, crossed…

If you’re a tool junkie, several companies offer zimmerit tools.  Trumpeter’s is a roller-style tool—apply the medium and roll it out—and Tamiya’s are photoetched “saw tooth” scrapers similar to a razor saw blade.  I actually acquired the Tamiya set through some wheeling and dealing a few years ago, so I believe I’m set for zimmerit tools for a while (not that I use them all that often, anyway).

I painted the inside of the engine compartment flat black to disguise the fact that it would be empty.  Some areas could be seen through the cooling louvers, so painting it black makes it less obvious that the area is empty.

Now we reach the part of the story where I went back to work in the corporate aviation world, complete with six-day, 16 hours a day work weeks.  The project languished.  I would peck at it every now and then, but for the most part it remained stalled in the “Projects in Limbo” cabinet.

I did develop several habits during the project.  The first was to remove all the parts I didn’t need from the trees and place them in the spares box.  I also used a highlighter to note which parts I was going to use on the instructions, and would cross them out with a pencil as I installed them on the model.  As you might know, Dragon’s kits are, as the Brits might say, “bitty”, with lots and lots of small parts—my take is that if the actual item consisted of four parts, Dragon will break it down into a dozen, no matter how teeny the parts will be.  By marking them out on the instructions—especially when you are picking up on the project after a week, month, or longer—helps keep track of what has been done and what still needs doing.  I figured this last one out after I spent the better part of an hour (!) figuring out where I left off after my last session on the model a few weeks prior.

As I pecked away, I continued to pre-paint some parts and subassemblies.  The superstructure interior was painted Testor Acryl Panzer Interior Buff and the details painted in their relevant colors.  I didn’t go whole hog here, since I was unsure whether I wanted to leave the hatches open—I did enough to make things convincing if it was seen through the hatches, and no more.

The wheels were given a coat of Panzer Yellow (PollyScale) and then assembled.  Road wheels were brush painted a few at a time with Acryl Aircraft Interior Black (it is a “scale black”, perfect for tires) until they were all complete and ready to be assembled to the suspension.  I kept them in a plastic cup until they were needed.

Be sure to follow the Prime Directive—make sure everything is straight, square, and plumb as you assemble it.  Nothing looks sillier than a model of what is nominally a 23-ton vehicle with half the road wheels floating up in the air.  I made a block for the lower hull—I set the hull on the block to hold it at the correct height, and then installed the suspension bogies.  As the glue dried, I checked to make sure it remained aligned properly.

When it comes to the tracks, I can offer several tips.  First, work on them throughout the process.  Clean the links up and place them into a container with a lid so that should it overturn you won’t be playing “Pick up the Links” for an hour.  The next tip is to assemble a few links at a time, even if that only consists of lining them up against a fixture and taping them in place.  It becomes less tedious by spreading the job out over several sessions.

Did I say fixture?  There are commercially available track alignment fixtures available, or you can go the DIY route.  I taped a section of square brass tubing to a picture frame glass.  The brass acts as a straightedge.  I would clean up a few links and lay them in place along the brass.  I used thin strips of tape to hold them together until I had the whole run completed.  I constructed the second run in the same manner.  Pay attention, since the Pz.Kpfw IV tracks were handed.  Dragon molded the links in slightly different values of gray to help out in this respect.  It may help to label them right and left to keep things organized.

When it came time to assemble them to the vehicle, I temporarily installed the road wheels, idler, and return rollers.  The sprocket was permanently attached and the glue was allowed to dry for a day or so.  This is important, since the final assembly will undergo a bit of tension—nowhere near as much as the old-school “rubber band” vinyl tracks, but there will be some tension on the sprockets because they attach to a raised boss and not an axle to lend stability.

Now, here’s how I ran the tracks—I doubt it is the best or most efficient way to do things, but it worked…

Apply some liquid cement to all the track joints and allow it to begin bonding the links.  Once the bond has firmed up but is still pliable, carefully wrap the run of tracks around the suspension.  Cement the loose ends together and use a small strip of tape to secure them, and repeat with the other side.  Set the vehicle on the glass surface and set some weight into the hull to keep it down.  The upper hull was taped into place, then I used cosmetic sponge wedges to set the sag between the fenders and upper run—simply cut a wedge and insert it between the road wheels.  Be gentle, since you don’t want to pull the track links apart.  Now, leave the model alone overnight—or longer.  The key to the whole operation is to allow the cement to cure fully and the plastic to re-set before handling the tracks.

Because the wheels were left loose, the wheels and assembled track runs can now be removed from the model.  Make sure you mark each track run so you don’t mix up left for right after you paint them.

The fenders were a bit fiddly, but with some careful fitting they got added to the hull.  The gun was assembled into the interior and the upper and lower hull was joined.  Once the major parts of the vehicle were together, it was a matter of assembling the smaller bits to it.  Use a good pair of tweezers, since some of the bits are tiny.  Some parts, like the tools and jack, were left off until they were individually painted.

When it came time to paint the thing, I was in a quandary.  I knew I wanted a vehicle that operated around Anzio.  My maternal grandmother’s family was from Naples, and some of them remembered watching as the abbey on Monte Cassino was bombed by the Allies.  I was meeting dead ends every time I looked.  I finally found an Italian website (http://www.dalvolturnoacassino.it/asp/n_main.asp) that gave some decent accounts of the battles in and around the Volturno River basin.  Since I still retain some of the Italian my relatives taught me, and since pictures are universal, I managed to pin down units and places in the area.

With an idea in my head, I began digging deeper, and eventually found a photograph of a StuG IV in an Allied salvage lot near Pontecorvo, about 8 miles southwest of Cassino.  Further digging turned up a link to the ADH Publishing book To The Last Bullet: Germany’s War On 3 Fronts (Part 2: Italy).  One of the photos of (supposedly) this vehicle shows General Albert Kesselring posing in the commander’s hatch before the battle, and others show it sitting derelict, although mostly intact, in the salvage yard with some U.S. dogfaces examining it.  Between the photos and color plates, I knew where I was heading…

Photo 2: The book.  If you have any interest at all in the land battles of the Italian Campaign, this is a must-have.

As I was researching, I noted that this vehicle was fitted with a cover where the mantlet meets the superstructure.  Apparently, the canvas cover leaked, so the crews would fabricate these covers from whatever they had at hand.  The cover that appears to have been installed on this vehicle appears to be either bent sheet metal or welded armor plate from a discarded section of Schürzen attached to the superstructure with hinges so it could elevate with the gun.  I fabbed a scale version up from an index card, soaked with CA, and attached with some quick non-functional hinges made from more CA-soaked index card and some fine wire.

Speaking of Schürzen, for some reason known only to Dragon engineers, the kit provides them in photoetched steel.  Attaching the brackets to them was an exercise in insanity.  The bond between the plastic hanging brackets and the steel panels kept coming loose.  Also, measure twice before you attach them or your panels will not hang correctly.  I omitted a few panels, as was commonly seen in photos.

The StuG IV was painted in the typical German scheme of Panzer Yellow with a pattern of dark brown and dark green painted over it.  Using some of the last of my PollyScale paints, I used the photos and color plates as a rough guide to paint the model. 

While I don’t usually recommend the use of color plates as references (they are, after all, an artist’s conception of what the original itself looked like), the plates were used simply because the photos depict the vehicle coated in dust which obscured the camouflage.  I took it on faith that the color plate would be close to what the vehicle looked like.  Given that common wisdom had the green and brown applied in the field, and given photos of similar vehicles, I took the chance and am quite happy with the results.

Photo 3: Base coat of paint applied.

 

Photo 4:  Squiggles

 

Photo 5: More squiggles

The paint was allowed to dry, and the next day a coat of Future was applied and allowed to dry overnight.  The few decals required (notably, the crosses) went on with little trouble.  They were cleaned up after they dried, and a coat of semi-gloss clear was applied to the model.

I went full-on old school with weathering.  I used artists’ oils to not only do pin washes and flood washes, but also to drybrush the model.  The joy of oils is that they stay workable for a much longer time than hobby paints, so you can go back and re-blend an area until you are happy with the way it looks.  From start to finish, the oil weathering took all of an hour. 

Photo 6: Decals on, weathering in progress.

Photo 7: The rear of the StuG.

 

Photo 8: More decals, more oils…I keep my weathering understated.

I then applied a few dings and chips to the surface.  I may have been too restrained, but I like to err on the side of “not enough” rather than “too much”—even the photos show a relatively well-kept vehicle.  I used a “pigment wash” to apply the dust to the lower hull and Schürzen—I mixed various colors of artists’ dry pigments with distilled water into a slurry, then brushed it onto the model.  A wet brush was used to control the wash, and later, after the wash had dried, the brush was used to “tame” the area.  By washing off areas, you can simulate areas that have been “cleaned” by the crew climbing on the vehicle or the vehicle rubbing up against vegetation or other objects. 

The tracks were painted with Vallejo Track Primer, and then given a dark wash with oils.  The raised areas were rubbed with a flannel rag and some SNJ polishing powder—find a dark smudge on the cloth and use that to impart a shiny—but not sparkly!—look to the tracks.  Do the same where the wheels contact the tracks—the constant movement will wear the dirt and grime away. 

To install them, work slowly and carefully to get everything installed properly.  I found the best way to do it was to install several road wheels and the return rollers, then carefully maneuver the tracks on to the hull.  Then install the rest of the road wheels and the idler.  You’ll soon find out how well those sprockets are attached—one of mine broke loose, and a few harried moments ensued until I got it solidly re-attached.  The wheels and tracks were further weathered by drybrushing and the pigment wash method discussed above. 

I gave the model a coat of matt varnish to blend everything together.  The kit-supplied tow cables were cut to length and annealed with a butane torch—it makes the wire easier to work with, and it also imparts a realistic “used” look to it, no paint necessary.  Attach the tools and other bits, wrap the tow cables, and it is time to put the display together.

The base

The base starts with a craft store plaque that is sanded to remove the tooling marks and given a few coats of Minwax PolyShades.  Felt was glued to the bottom for a “finished” look. 

The terrain module was made up by stacking and gluing foam sheets.  I used the commonly-found packing foam (the stuff made up with little beads of Styrofoam), and it really isn’t good for this purpose since it is difficult to shape.  I did my best, and then coated the module with pumice textured acrylic gel medium (you can also use plaster).  Once dry, I started on the actual road where the vehicle would be displayed.  The model was set on the road bed, and the contact patches of the tracks were marked out.  Pieces of Evergreen sheet were cut just smaller that the dimension of the contact patches and glued to the module.  These would give a flat area to attach the vehicle without a lot of fuss.

The road surface was simulated with Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty mixed to a cookie dough consistency.  It was spread on the area and smoothed with a wet brush.  Blend it so that the Durham’s is faired in with the Evergreen strips.  When dry, it was painted in a nondescript ground color and left to dry.  The sides of the module were painted black using craft paint.

The landscaped areas were covered with Celluclay that I mixed with a good dollop of white glue so it would adhere better.  Once dry, it was painted a dark brown and left to dry.

To texture the road, I went out to my driveway (a gravel driveway) and collected a few paper cups full of various sizes of gravel.  Using a sieve, I separated the various sized of gravel, and used the smallest size to represent the gravel road on the base.  Woodlands Scenics Scenic Cement was used to lock the gravel into place.  Take care to blend and feather the road surface into the plastic strips added earlier.  Some various “gravel road” colors were used to create several washes to tone the road down and look to scale. 

The landscaped areas were covered with various shades and grades of Woodlands Scenics grass, weeds, and turf.  Some of the larger driveway gravel was placed here and there to represent rocky outcroppings.  When all was dry, the same washes were applied to again tone the area down and give it a “scale” look.

While researching the Italian website, I found a period photo of a sign on the road between Itri and Pontecorvo.  Jodie converted the photo into decal artwork, and had it custom printed with one of her projects.  The sign boards and sign post are Evergreen sheet and strip cut to shape.  The items were painted tan, and then streaked with oils to represent wood.  Then I “whitewashed” everything with a thin mix of white in the airbrush.  When dry, the barber pole stripe was masked and painted.  The decals were applied to the sign boards, the sign boards attached to the pole, and the pole was installed on the base.  The “8” was applied to a white disk; it identifies the road as Strada Provinciale 8, presently the main road between Pontecorvo and Cisterna.

To attach the model, I used white glue.  I also used a little of the driveway gravel to tie the vehicle in to the base, and gave it the same wash I did on the road itself.  Make sure the vehicle looks like it weighs 23 tons—mind the floating road wheels and tracks (which shouldn’t be a problem since you followed the Prime Directive, right?).  You’ll need to once again blend the road surface around the tracks to make sure there are no gaps between the road and the tracks.  Do a walk around, and touch up any areas that might need some wash, paint, or clear coat.

I started to assemble and paint figures from the Dragon Panzer Grenadiers set, and at least one will eventually be added to the base, but by the time I reached this point (in 2019, nearly a decade after the project started!), I decided to make up a placard, attach it and the module to the base, and call it a day…

Photo 9: Playing around with placement of the elements.  This was early in the game, I actually reversed everything for the final product.

 

Photo 10: The final configuration.  The figure is partially complete at this stage and the vehicle has yet to be treated with the pigment wash.

 

Photo 11: From the other side.

 

Photo 12: The finished project (minus the figure), only a decade after it began!  The pigment wash is subtle, yet effective.