Next up?

I am looking at taking another crack at late German armor, but not the dark green base types. I have two choices, and since I have really fallen for the Panther, it will be one of these.

These are both "G" models but they are the "early" late models.


On the other hand I have started to take a crack at doing another Mustang III. I got another one from friend Mark's stash. Hopefully the money went to a nice lens he was looking at.

Some progress. I had an extra Verlinden cockpit and trimmed and fitted it, need to paint and put the body together.

GOT to give a shout out to friend Chris on his AWESOME Abrams..

Check out Chris' blog (I have it in my favorites just over to the right there)...Chris Jerret Miniatures.

http://chrisjerrettminatures.blogspot.com/
http://chrisjerrettminatures.blogspot.ca/p/usmc-m1a1.html for the M1A1


He has taken his work to a whole new level.
This thing is "out of this world" good. It got me back to the workbench after about two months. Can't hope to come close but I want to try harder.


Check out the thread on Missing Lynx. Lots of kudo's to Chris.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/110741/message/1327364178/USMC+M1A1+2004

Thanks Chris, keep it up!!

Done with it - Jagdpanther - Update 3.4

Done, not finished, but done...

I have taken this one as far as I can or want to, in terms of technique and finishing. I can't be made better at this time, so I am leaving it, to us to try things that I don't mind fooling up.

I have learned some stuff on it, that didn't quite go where I wanted to, but it is too far gone. I may try to dip it later on and start painting from scratch, but I will probably try a few things I don't mind fooling up in the near future..

What I didn't like..
The colors are too dark, This is my first attempt at late war, predominantly green camouflage. Even though I cut the colors almost in half with a light/white color, after the filers and washes with Burnt Umber, the colors are still too dark for me. The pictures don't look as bad as they really are in person. The color modulation on the green and red doesn't show up any more, I may have gone too far with the washes.

The washes, I tried for too much too fast, I need to make many coats of very slight washes and let it build up gradually. This will give the variation in depth that I am looking for.

I started some chipping on this one, but I need to do the 3D kind of chipping, with the white/light colors on top of the base/camo, THEN put the iron color. AND i need to do it back in the process before decals and clear coat, right after the camo.

There are certain stages to go through and I didn't do them in order, so it made it difficult to proceed.

Take a last look..

I have a couple of other projects I have started.. stay tuned..

In Progress - Jagdpanther - Update 3.3

Well a little bit of progress.....
Lots of things on the go around the house and at work, so not making much headway, but this is the longest part of my builds... the finishing. I contemplate a lot at this stage, I am always afraid of going somewhere I can't return from and the investment in time (and money) makes me cautious not to ruin it.

What I have done so far is work on the wheels and wheel wells so I can put on the side skirts.
I put on the wheels, tracks and have glued the skirts on, painted the seams and blended the colors to match.

I have at this point put on decals (over a coating of Future Floor polish) and put on a wash coat of Winsor and Newton Yellow Ochre oil, followed with an overall filter with Winsor and Newton Burnt Umber. I then did a pin wash on the seams and high lites with Burnt Umber but it is not standing out, I may go over it with some black.

I haven't painted the tools or other accessories yet, I think I will do that next and seal it with a dull cote.
Then I will do some scratching and paint shipping, not sure what order I will do it in.

Near the end I will use pigments on the tracks and lower areas.

Here are some update shots.

In Progress - Jagdpanther - Update 3.2

I am a little more satisfied with this version.

The yellow is added, again free hand with my Badger 200, I then went over the edges with the finest Green spray I could get to cover overspray droplets. Plus another dab of red, and then Yellow again when the green overspray was too noticeable.

Still using Tamiya Lacquer thinner with Tamiya acrylic paint. Yellow is 4:1 - Dark Yellow XF-60: White XF-2.
AND using it in the shed, not the house, even though I have a paint booth with exhaust fan.  I will have to revert to Acrylic thinner for the winter months..

Some progress photos...

In Progress - Jagdpanther - Update 3.1

So today I tried the camo free-hand with my trusty Badger 200. A lot better success. Not the tightness I want, and when I do Yellow I know the over-spray will be more noticeable,
But my plan is to use the bllue sticky tack, just beyond the edge, so I only correct the over-spray, and not touch the Red Brown (or Dark Yellow, when it comes) at all. Hopefully it will leave the feather edge I am looking for.

I took the XF-64 Red Brown and added a bit of XF-7 Red (4:1) to lighten it up and make it more Red Brown. Jagdpanthers of this period according to some documentation, did not actually use Red Brown, they stuck with the factory Red Primer, just added the Green and Yellow over that and left the Red Brown areas as is- time saving and material saving, things were getting REALLY desperate in the last few months of the war.

This is what I have so far.

Yellow to come as time permits in the next few days...

In Progress - Jagdpanther - Update 3

Well, the momentum of the Jagdpanther turns out to have waned. It actually took a turn I didn't want and had to retrench.

I spent a few days painting the beast, I used Tamiya paints, and tried to accomplish a standard factory camo job of early 1945.The factory applied job has harder edges and is applied to many vehicles of the period.

It didn't come out the way I wanted, the edges came out way too harsh. I tried blue sticky tack but it wasn't standing off enough, and I tried Steve R.s Iawata (or Ia-wanta) free hand, but I couldn't get a handle on the double action. I put on too many coats to correct little mistakes and it was building up too much. Then to add insult to injury, the Testors Gloss Cote rattle can made the colors look way too dark.

You take a look.... (third pic has the Glosscote)

So, I put the beast in a tub with a half a can of Easy Off Oven Cleaner and took it back to sprue color. No damage, thanks to Tamyia and Testors glue, HOWEVER, the CA glue used for the Photo etch grills dissolved way to easy. I managed to find them and used them again.

It was ready for take two. I started with a coat of Model Master gray primer a few days ago. Today I put on the XF-58 Olive Green base boat. Learning from last time, I did this in three phases:

• XF-58 Olive Green - lower areas under the sponsons
• 4 parts XF-58 Olive Green/ 1 part XF-60 Dark Yellow - on vertical sides
• 3 parts XF-58 Olive Green/ 1 part XF-60 Dark Yellow - on horizontal surfaces sprayed from above

This put a lighter color on the top viewable surfaces and allowed a layering affect to achieve some overall color modulation. I feathered the top color on the big side, back and front slabs just to break up the big plates. I will put other colors on covers and hatches to get some more modulation later.

The photos are not the best, some day I hope to do better, maybe someone will teach me :)

I give you Jagdpanther - take two...

So much for now. I will attempt the camo pattern, but I think I may do it free hand with my Badger 200. OR I may use sticky tack again, but use card, laying over the sticky tack to prevent overspray. I will let you know how it goes..........

In Progress - Jagdpanther - Update 2

I have been working the paint job. Pretty much finished the camo, ready for the clear coat for decals and weathering.

I usually do filters and pin washes on the raw Tamiya XF, but am not satisfied with the tide(?) markings/stains that happen with flat paint. Hard to get them out. So I will try that on glossy (Future) clear coat.

Of all the pictures I took, none were good enough to post today.
Hopefully some pictures coming this weekend.