Blitzscales 6 May 2017

May 2017

Nagmachon Urban oddity

Horch 108 typ 40 Transporting the Wehrmacht

Miniart T-54-2 Simply the best!

Two new gifts inside

Let it snow

1/48 M4A3 Sherman at the ardennes

Railway scene Old and new kiys together

FV 215

Waht if massive attack

Sponsored by

Is published by Coronel Caramel S.l. CIF B54483052 Editorial office & administration Club de fútbol Hercules 6 03008 Alicante Spain Te: 965112833 Email: [email protected] Director: Federico Collada Editor: Federico Collada Design: Federico Collada Graphics: Federico Collada Models and photographs: Federico Collada

Editorial Do you remember when you begun in this hobby? I do it perfectly, though it was more than 30 years ago. I remember buying a matchbox T-34/76 1/76 scale to build it at my grandma’s house while my dads went to the movies; it was my very first experience with modelling. I remember feeling the excitation while seeing all those tiny little pieces get together to form a complete tank model, all those small details together….and the sum of all of them once the job was done….then with the years I learnt how to paint them, lots of tricks and experiments that never ceased, but just in a very few occasions I have felt that childish emotion again, and is easy to understand, we grown men have seen a lot and is difficult to surprise ourselves with something new. The recent Miniart kits, specially the one I built for this issue have surprised me and brought that feeling again; as soon as I opened the box I set apart all other models and didn’t stop until I got it finished. Yes it’s true that it has quite a lot of parts but that’s the point, building a Tamiya kit is not a challenge at all, any kid can do, but this is modelling for adults, this is what modelling lovers want. Federico Collada

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Index

Page 6

Page 24

Page 32

Page 40

6 - Israel base 8 - Blitzscales previews 24 - T-54-2 32 - Horch 108 typ 4o 45 - Tip, drubrushing with acrylics 48 - Tip, snow 52 - Nagmachon 62 - D-day Omaha beach base 63 - 24s of the Fla. Btl. 614

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Page 48

Page 52

Page 62

Page 63

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Cut & paste 1- Print the opposite page, resize if you need to fit your wood base 2- Varnsh to protect the printing 3- Glue onto a wood base using white glue 4- Press softly with a sponge to eliminate any air bubbles

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Scale; 1/35 Producer; Miniart

The most produced tank in history The history of the ubiquitous T-54 begin Turing the WWII when the soviet army begun considering an upgrade for the excellent T-34, in 1943, the Morozov Design Bureau begun the design of the T-44 which they expected to include the latest technology and a more powerful main gun. The T-44 included a traversed engine, torsion bar suspension, no frontal machine gun, better armour and an 85mm gun. Although when the T-44 was ready for production it used the same main gun of that in the T-34, it was clearly superior in every other way. Anyway the enormous production of the T-34 during the war was so satisfying that changing for a smaller production of a better tank was considered not necessary, instead the T-44 was used to test

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newer guns, in fact the decision to fit a 100mm gun showed that some changes in the design would be necessary. The new T-44 had a slightly enlarged chassis, the production begun in 1945 and ceased in 1948. The corrections of the T-44 design lead to the T-54 which passed through different upgrading stages itself. The T-54-2 version differed form the previous in many details, a new turret with flat sides and raised overhang at the rear, deleted side fender machine guns, new tracks, etc. The T-54-2 entered production in 1949, at Stalin Ural Tank Factory No. 183 (Uralvagonzavod), two years later a third model would be produced before the T-54A series. More than 1.000 units of the T-54-2 were produced before they switched to the next version.

The best kit up to now Along the last 15 years we have seen many producers release their kits of this iconic tank, from the mediocre Lee, trumpeter, Esci and Skif to the more standards Tamiya and Takom, then along came Miniart, with their new conception of what a tank kit should be, they begun last year with some outstanding models dedicated to the T-34 derivates, the SU-85 and SU-122 and followed by the T-44 early and late, all of them excellent models with (nearly) full interiors and awesome detail. It was clear that, following the chronological order they would eventually produce the T-44 and then the T-54, and here it is. We didn’t have to wait too much. Miniart have produced the best T-54 kit by far, released both with and without interior so you can decide what fits best you needs. The new model includes photoetched parts, workable suspension, separated links tracks, etc. and the best detail you can ask for, even the tracks mould codes are reproduced! With more than 1.000 parts the kit is not thought for the novel modellers but for those who really wants to enjoy a long time project.

1 The engine is a kit in itself, full of subtle details.

2 Behind the floor plates, the suspension arms work like the real ones.

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Enjoying modelling As I mentioned at the editorial, this is modelling for adults, not a 100 parts model that you can build in an evening but a truly exciting kit that you have to take seriously to get the most of it. Obviously I didn’t used any other parts than the included in the kit as it provides photoetched details, separated links tracks, one piece gun (unlike two halves ones provided in other kits) and transparent parts for the lamps and periscopes. Building the T-54-2 is not a hard job but requires some planning, mostly if you want to use the interior parts, you will have to paint as you complete some of the building phases or else you will not be able to reach some 3 Although hardly visible once the tank is built, the interior has been replicated to a very high level.

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parts once they are glued together. With some instructions study you will be able to plan where to stop for some painting and then keep on building. Although I don’t really like too much to show my models with open hatches, etc. I decided to paint the interior as a practise for further models. I used the Vallejo primers, paints and pigments as you can see in the pictures; some washes and a little drybrushing combining different colour provided the dirty look I like for my military vehicles models. The kit provides decals for six different vehicles, all of them belonging to the Soviet army during the 50s. I choose the sixth one as it has some stencilling on the sides fuel tanks that I found interesting.

4 At this stage is better to start painting the interior, a coat of white primer is the perfect base.

5 With the white primer applied we can keep painting other parts like the ammunition, the Vallejo new metallic paints flow perfectly with the airbrush leaving a smooth finish.

8 Pigments mixed with thinner is a wash that can be used to stain and dirt the engine easily and fast, in a few minutes we can keep on the process.

9 The special effects paints are splattered over the engine to create oil, grease and fuel stains.

6 The engine was painted with a flat aluminium colour over the white primer.

10 The interior floor is painted with a light grey colour and then dirtied in the same way as the engine.

7 For the rest of the engine parts I used standard acrylic paints.

11 The oil stains are also speckled at the interior insisting at the engine camera.

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13 It’s time to close the hull, first the front glacis plate with the lamp and hooks, the fitting is perfect.

12 With all the parts painted the interior looks really impressive and the model certainly starts to weight more than usual. 14 Then the engine covers and back plates, again the match the hull perfectly.

15 The turret interior followed a similar process and once built I primed the whole tank with 73609 4B0 primer

16 Then a first filter made with 71094 Zinc green diluted at 80% served to lighten up the centre of the bigger surfaces and general edges.

19 The decal medium product softens it for a better adaptation to the kit surface; submerge the decals in it for some minutes before applying.

20 The decal fix is special glue that is applied right before placing the decal.

17 A second filter using 71095 Pale green and airbrushed from above created a zenithal illumination.

21 the decal must be placed before the product starts drying.

18 Next step was to apply the decals; first a gloss varnish coat for a better adherence.

22 When the products have dried we can now varnish again to protect the decals, a gloss or satin finish is adequate for the weathering process.

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23 Some subtle chipping was reproduced using a sponge and a dark brown paint, the key with this technique is hitting first on a paper to leave behind any paint excess.

24 Then some drybrushing with the same colour at the most exposed to rubbing zones

27 The mud products are great, you can make the job in a minute and they dry pretty fast, use stencilling movements to avoid any brush traces.

28 I speckled pigments over the mud before it was completely dry to create a dry mud crust.

25 I moistened the kit surface and speckled some paints diluted at 75% for some tone variety, these little dots blurred on the wet surface creating 29 For the tracks I used a dark red primer and subtle stains then some rust tones pigments.

26 A wash with a sand colour paint and water produced the first dust accumulations.

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30 Applying the pigments mixed with thinner beginning with the darkest tone.

31 Then I speckled the rest of the tones mixing the pigments with water.

32 After three dust colours speckling the tracks were ready to be placed on the model.

33 The rest of the weathering followed the same order, pigments speckling and some heavy pigments coverage at the mudguards recessed zones and tracks, the last touch was to rub some parts with a graphite pencil to imitate the exposed metal.

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Scale 1/35 producer ICM

In 1936 the Wehrmacht asked the German car producers to provide a standard Einheits-PKV (passenger car) to substitute the many militarized civilian vehicles that equipped the German army that caused lots of problems due to the enormous diversity of spare parts to maintain them and the diverse quality of the whole park. The new vehicles were divided in 5 categories; light, medium and heavy cars, and light and medium trucks. The manufacturers involved in this program were; BMW, Hanomag, Stoewer, opel, Ford Germany, Horch and Wanderer. The program success was compromised right form the start as any of these companies could satisfy neither the specifications of the vehicles nor the required

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production quantities so in the end the desired homogenisation was not achieved. The Einheits-PKW was produced form 1936 to 1943 and deployed in every war front. The Horch 108 was classified as a light truck and the typ 40 was the version produced between 1940 and 1942 and differed form the previous version in small details, the most recognizable difference was the location of the spare wheel that was now stored inside the car. The Horch 108 could fulfil different duties; personnel transport, ambulance, radio, engineers, light artillery towing, officers transport and AA vehicle armed with a Flak 38.

You can build two large parts groups before starting painting, a subassembly with the chassis, suspension, engine and transmission and another one with the car body. Parts fit very well so you won’t need to fill and sand any joint after painting.

A welcome replacement Before ICM the only Horch 108 plastic kit 1/35 scale available was the Tamiya one, a kit with some 40 years behind that is not up to the nowadays quality standards so this new kit is highly welcome. The ICM kit is released with deployed or folded top as two different kits, and unlike the Tamiya kit it includes the engine, transmission and a very high detail level. The instructions suggest you begin building the engine and then the chassis, suspension and transmission, although these steps comprise a good amount of pieces all of them fit perfectly and just a few are delicate enough to take some care while manipulating them. Once you finished building the lower part of the vehicle its turn to work on the body, there all the pedals, levers, seats frames and the rifles holders provides the model with the most subtle details that makes it look really fine. The seats reproduce a very convincing quilted texture and the underside frames are thin and well defined, this can be easily observed if you leave the doors opened.

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The folded top was made with a vinyl glove, applying some ciano glue while bending the piece to the needed position, using the kit plastic part as a base. Once finished I painted it like the rest of the kit. I didn’t use any after-market upgrade for the kit and replace only the folded top for one made by myself with a vinyl glove, a very handy material that reproduces very well the tarpaulin folds and it can be painted as the rest of the plastic parts. The building process was easy, amusing and straight forward and I just stopped to paint some parts before going on. The ICM kits don’t include photoetched parts but the detail level is very high so you can build this Horch 108 out of the box as it’s up to the best standards.

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I made some vertical faded stains at the vehicle sides using acrylic colours, painting little dots and blurring them downwards immediately with a brush moistened in a mix of 75% water and 25% alcohol.

Painting I decided to paint my Horch as an anonymous vehicle with the standard camouflage post 1943 so I used the Vallejo set 78414 that includes both the three basic colours and another 3 lighter ones to use them as lightening filters. I begun applying a dunkelgelb colour primer 604 as a base, then I used the 230 colour diluting it with thinner at 80% and airbrushed at those areas I wanted to highlight as edges and centre of some bigger surfaces. Then I used the camouflage colours airbrushing irregular stripes all over the car body. To soften the contrast of the three basic colours I airbrushed a very soft filter using colour 71141 IDF sand.

Painting an enlightened base in military vehicles is a standard protocol for me; I start with the correct colours and then choose warm or cold lighter tones to highlight some zones. The Vallejo set includes a selection of warm lights to do this.

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The kits doesn’t include any kind of extras, just the crew rifles, any other stowage you will have to add it form your spares parts. You can always find some useful maps, magazines, etc. for free downloading at www. fcmodeltips.com

Using a dark brown colour and a little sponge piece I replicated the chipped paint at the edges, corners and the zones exposed to rubbing. After the chipping I applied a gloss varnish coat to place the decals, not too many really, just the license plates at the front and back. Using the decals blender and fixer I later protected them with another varnish layer. I waited a couple of days for the varnish to be completely cured and then used a dark brown and black mix to remark the details, applying the paint diluted with water around them. Later I used some acrylic washes to add some chromatic variation on the model speckling them onto the previously wetted with thinner surface, the speckled dots blurred creating subtle stains everywhere. I used dry pigments to dirty the vehicle inside floor, chassis, etc. three different tones were enough for a subtle dusty look I was looking for, one of the best things about pigments is the easiness to clean up any excess, just pass a dry brush and you can eliminate mostly all the pigment applied, once you’re satisfied you can easily fix it with turpentine, thinner or any of the special products provided by the paints producers.

Chipped paint is a most recurred effect in military vehicles modelling, it can be done in many ways but one of the easiest is the sponge technique. The key is not charging the sponge with too much paint; to be sure you get the right amount stamp first on a paper to see the result.

Acrylic washes are also a very useful resource; they can be used to shadow details, to alter the tone as a filter and to make many kinds of stains either with a brush or airbrush.

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www.fcmodeltrend.com

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When the WWII finished the British army was developing a new tanks family of which the FV214 Conqueror placed the heavy role, conceived to follow and support the mid class Centurions, the FV214 would use its powerful 120mm gun to provide long distance covering. The Soviet army was creating their own new tanks range and the new JSIII was really something to be worried of, it’s powerful 122mm main gun and excellent ballistic profile made it a serious adversary so the western armies begun improvising new designs to confront this new threat. In 1950 the British took the FV200 chassis as a base for their new design making some modifications to place on top a large turret armed with a 183mm gun positioned at the rear of the vehicle to avoid the large gun overhang too much from the vehicle. Although the 183mm gun was tested satisfactorily, the FV215 was never produced and only a wood mock up turret was made to test the fitting on the FV200 chassis. The FV215 project was exceeded by 1957 by other options, cheaper and more effective, like the new guided anti-tank missiles.

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1 I used the 73607 UK bronze green as a base for the whole model.

2 A filter with 71096 panzer green diluted at 80% served to make the first highlights.

5 Some speckled acrylic washes provided a subtle tonal variation creating tiny blurred stains.

6 The sponge technique is the easiest way to reproduce the paint chipping, use different rust tones and don’t charge the sponge too much.

3 Another filter, this time with 71094 Zinc green, a warmer tone.

4 The last filter with 71107 Interior yellow to stand out the details and a zenithal illumination.

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7 The new acrylic muds reproduce very well this texture at 1/35 scale, apply it with a stencilling movement to avoid any brush trace. 8 I used a black mud tone as a base for the lower part of the vehicle, wheel, suspension, etc everything was covered.

9 Once the first mud application was dry I used a lighter tone to add some contrast.

“what-if” amusing projects The Japanese company Amusing Hobby has specialized in “paper panzers” and short run production military vehicles, most of them German, their kits quality is usually very good with crispy details and good fitting. This time Amusing Hobby has decided to give a chance to the little known FV215 which is a massive vehicle more or less the size of the German Maus. The kit shares most of the chassis parts with the FV214 Conqueror except the upper part that is completely different. Building is fairly easy as the kit doesn’t comprise too many subtle parts and all of them fit very well so this part of the job went straight forward rather quickly. The FV214 kit included separate links tracks made of two pieces each that didn’t align correctly but this has been solved in this new kit with new moulded links that are clicked into each other so you can adapt the vehicle to any surface as both suspension and tracks are now fully workable. As this is a representation of a vehicle that never passed the design table I took some liberties like changing the machine guns for some of an Academy kit and adding a gun mantlet cover made out of a vinyl glove, changed some of the handles for copper wire and that was all.

10 Again the stencilling movement is important, hit the surface softly to leave small traces; I also used this colour to speckle little dots at both hull front and rear.

Painting I decided to paint the kit as all the British vehicles of that era, a dark green tone same as the FV214 Conqueror, Centurions, etc. I used Vallejo primer and air model range paints, then some washes, pigments and acrylic mud in a very standard painting process. I used the own kit decals for a very anonymous vehicle that could have been deployed alongside the Conquerors at Germany during the sixties. Once finished the kit looked really impressive, a very original model halfway reality and science fiction.

11 After making a pigment wash I accumulated some more at the mudguard corners and some recessed zones, then I speckled again some acrylic washes to add more stains over the dust.

12 I didn’t want my vehicle to look spoiled or damaged, just a bit dirty and muddy after running through the fields during some manoeuvres, certainly its 70 tons would have crushed the ground a little bit!

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Tip; Drybrushing Drybrushing is a classic painting technique that is used for highlighting and has always been closely related with enamel paints, this is because in the times that this painting trick become popular these were the most widely paints available everywhere. The truth is that this trick can be applied to all kind of paints, the key is the thickness and humidity, you can use acrylics, oils, etc. If the paint is too liquid you can leave a small quantity on air to wait for it to thicken enough or you can even mix it with pigments to make the paint thicker; and remember; 1-Don’t charger the brush too much. 2- Dry the brush with a clean cloth until it seems it doesn’t have any more paint. 3- Brush the model gently, don’t press too much, is better to make more subtle passes than less stronger ones.

1 Acrylic paints are perfectly suitable for drybrushing, if they are too liquid just let the paint thick for some minutes or add a little pigment.

2 Don’t charge the brush too much, is safer to use small quantities each time.

3 Dry the brush with a cloth or tissue until it seems that there is no more paint.

4 Now paint the model gently, don’t press too much, the paint will just adhere to the most enhanced details.

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5 In order to highlight the Olive drab base of this 1/48 scale model I have used three different paints, first 71094 Zinc green.

6 Another drybrushing, softer than the previous one, with 857 Golden green will stand out the details even more.

7 And last, a subtly drybrushed sand colour will add a dusty look. You can insist with this last effect at the lower part of the vehicle.

8 The cargo parts were covered with vinyl and painted the same way. This technique is old but still reliable and easy to control so it’s advisable for beginners.

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Tip; Snow products

There are many industrial products that we can use to create convincing snow on our vehicles and scenes, we can choose between a wide range that varies in price and aspect, texture and colour. Here is a combination of two powders released by Aurea Domus, very inexpensive that you can get through their own website https:// aureadomusminiatures.com/ The set consist in two very similar mineral dust that you can use separately or together; while the first one has a thicker grain and darker tone, the second one is much finer and has a pure white look. They can be mixed with some white glue and water to be applied or simply

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with varnish. While the first one is supposed to be used to cover larger surfaces, the second one can be used sprinkled over the previous one while is still wet or used alone to cover small surfaces. I have tried them in this 1/48 Sherman kit to represent some accumulated snow on a tank during the Normandy campaign in the WWII.

This artificial snow is very easy to apply, mix it with some white glue and water and pour it over the model with a brush, or deposit a little amount on the model and then pour some white glue/water mix over it gently.

Before the glue dries sprinkle the second product to achieve a finer and whiter look; the first one has the packed snow look and the second one resembles the powdery snow.

These grains are so fine that can be used even with 1/48 scale models. Next magazine we will take a look at other new snow products that can be used in even smaller scales.

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Gift 1/35 scale Manot krav IDF combat ration 4 men ration for Merkava tanks

5 men ration for Sherman tanks

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Scale 1/35 Producer; Tiger Model

Nagmachon early The success of IDF taking the most of outdated vehicles is something almost legendary, during all their existence they had to fight not only against multiple enemies constantly but also with their own country economic limitations and their allies military aid policy that many times were insufficient for their necessities. From the very beginning they took the most of Shermans, which they made confront the Soviet T-62, then the Centurions, with which they practiced the curved shots to reach the enemies tank from a safer distance, they upgraded the M48 and M60s with their last version still in service alongside the Merkava. The Nagmachon is another development based

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on the Centurion to create an urban fighting vehicle, heavily armoured and equipped with diverse infantry machine guns, the first models had some shields over the personnel camera to protect the infantry while they fired their guns, the later Nagmachon had the characteristic raised superstructure commonly named “doghouse” The Nagmachon can be equipped with some engineer devices like mine plows, mine rollers and dozer blades. It’s heavy armoured shields and reinforced belly makes it almost invulnerable to AT missiles and mines. Developed in the early 80s, the Nagmachon was first seen during the Lebanon conflict where it immediately proved its value protecting the carried infantry not only against small weapons but AT too.

Made in China Two different companies, Trumpeter and Tiger models, both based in Hong Kong, have released their own rendition of the Early and late Nagmachon kits 1/35 scale with just a few months difference. I received the Tiger mode kit as soon as it was available and must admit that it caught my interest immediately. As previous kits this one comprises plastic parts, photoetched, decals, etc. the tracks links are separated but not workable and the wheels rubber band are made in black vinyl. Most of the parts have good detail but others, like

the machine guns, look rather simplified and the FN mag are represented in a single part together with their mast support so any positioning is limited. Some parts, like the upper shields have evident mould marks that you will have to fill and sand carefully if you don’t want them to be seen as they’re very evident once they’re assembled. Although the tracks are provided in separate links, the suspension is not workable so adaptation to uneven terrain is not possible. The transparent parts for the window shields are also provided in translucent green and pink colour.

The Nagmachon is a very odd vehicle, absolutely charmless but very effective. Modern warfare modellers will surely welcome the parallel trumpeter and Tiger model offering of the many variants. I haven’t seen the Trumpeter kit yet but this one is a nice rendition, easy building for novel modellers.

Although the vehicle seems to have many elements, the kit doesn’t, many details have been reproduced all together with larger parts to endure an amusing building and the instructions are very easy to follow, the only objection is the lack of details painting information that has to be solved with a little research.

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RAL 7006 The interior was primed with white colour and later stained using pigments and special effects paints.

Once the model is built there is not much visual access to the driver station, maybe that’s why it looks a little simplified in the kit. Anyway I painted it the same just for fun, in my opinion although these interiors are always a bit hidden, is always a good opportunity to test your painting skills.

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The hull top closes the infantry camera and it has to be painted white too as it will become part of the casemate interior so we have to follow the same painting process than the one we used up to now.

The casemate interior has many details; again some research will be necessary if we want to know what these details are and how to paint them. This part of the vehicle will be clearly seen if we leave the top hatches and back panels opened.

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With the superstructure top placed I added all the reactive armour blocks and the smoke dischargers, the vehicle started now to look like the artbox. The reactive armour conceals a bit the vehicles under shape but it wouldn’t look like the real one without them.

The wheel rubber band is provided as a vinyl ring, a material I always prefer not to use as it’s more difficult to work with than plastic.

The inner side of the shields present some rather evident mould marks, putty and sanding is unavoidable here.

Some parts like the smoke dischargers are provided in two halves that don’t align perfectly; some putty will be required here too. The acrylic putty is a very good choice as it can be smoothed with water before drying so you save some later sanding. Sometimes I prefer to dilute the putty and filter it in the hollows to fill them smoothly in successive applications.

Now the vehicle is ready to be painted, I left the wheels, tracks, side skirts and some other elements aside to paint them separately for a more comfortable access, all these parts will later cover part of the vehicle that must be painted too. In these cases I prefer to prime them separately and then fix them to the model for the highlighting process. Building the kit is rather easy thanks to some well engineered parts that fit together smoothly, unfortunately the instructions doesn’t include any colour reference for the interior so some research will be necessary if you want to let you model show its guts. I built all the interior parts groups to paint them before closing the camera and driver station, starting with a white primer and then making some dirt washes using pigments and thinner. After painting some details like the ammunition cases, fire extinguishers, etc. I closed the kit and continued straight forward until the end leaving just some details aside like machine guns, front upper shield, tracks, windows and periscopes.

Some years ago it was very difficult to get the correct IDF RAL 7006 colour and modellers had to make their own recipes mixing different existing paints trying to match some pictures that were always different one from another. Nowadays we can rely on the paints producers professional skills that use the adequate tools to replicate the colour correctly.

After priming the whole model with the 71142 82 Sinai grey colour I placed the wheels, side skirts, etc and airbrushed a filter with 71141 IDF sand grey diluted at 80% at the areas that I wanted to highlight. As the base colour is rather light itself I opted to make just one highlighting filter instead of the usual 2 or 3 I like to do. These light tones vehicles models are better suit for a darkening wash to enhance the details rather than highlighting them as you can get too close to the pure white if you exceed.

The Nagmachon don’t have too many colourful details but the red painted elements are certainly eye-catching so I put some attention on them.

Modern IDF colours, not too many options The right colour to paint IDF military vehicles since 1982 is RAL 7006, and the equivalent in the Vallejo catalogue is the 71142 which is provided both as a standard Air model paint and as a primer. With the kit almost completely built I applied a primer coat with this paint and then highlighted it a bit airbrushing a filter made with 71141 IDF sand grey diluted at 75% at the centre of the bigger surfaces and upper edges. Having applied a gloss varnish coat I used the

decals blender and fixer to place them ensuring a perfect adherence and adaptation to the surface irregularities. After waiting for the decals to be completely dry I varnished again and proceeded to paint the details. I used gloss red to paint the handles, rings and other elements like in the real vehicle and 73821 rust texture for the tracks and exhaust. I used a mid brown tone for the smoke discharger’s cover and a black primer for front rubber mudguards. The machine guns were painted with a black primer, then a dark steel layer and once dry a black wash with standard paint diluted with water.

A good pigments assortment is essential in military modelling, mostly on the earth tones range, they can be used for many effects and they are very inexpensive. Lately I’ve been using them mixed with paint thinner to make a kind of wash deposits that once dry remain fixed to the model without the necessity of further fixers use.

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The exposed metal can be easily represented using graphite pigment rubbed with a cotton bud or simply with a graphite pencil. The graphite has a steel look very convincing in this scale so just draw lines with the pencil there where is a constant rubbing.

This effect is most evident on the tracks, both in the exterior part that is in constant friction with the ground and the interior side which rubs constantly the wheels, this zone of the links is always polished showing a bright metal look that can be too replicated with the graphite pencil.

Instead of using paints to imitate the accumulated dust on the vehicle I used the pigments set Mud & sand that provides 4 different earth tones very adequate for this effect. I mixed one of the tones with paint thinner as it evaporates faster than water. The most important thing with this technique is dropping the mix on the model softly and not brushing it as the thinner can melt and blur the underneath paint layer. Once the thinner dries the pigment has deposited on the corners and recessed zones and any excess can be simply brushed away. After three different earth tones application the Nagmachon looked as dusty as I wanted so I proceeded to replicate the exposed metal with a graphite pencil at the zones f constant rubbing, insisting at the tracks, sprocket and idler wheel.

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Do you have an M4A3 Sherman too?

1-Print on a paper Here is a base you can use for your model. 2-Glue on a cardboard, a wood or MD board 3-Bend the sides and glue the flaps inside

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Scale 1/35 Models; - Flakpanzer I, tristar - Railway typ Omm, Dragon. - Rails Europe gauge, Miniart - Semaphore, Miniart

In 1941 the German flak battalion 614 was created with the 24 Flakpanzer I made by Stoewer and sent to Romania, form there they were sent to the southern part of the eastern front and in 1943 the battalion was wiped out during the battle for Stalingrad. The idea for this scene came more or less by chance when I was trying to imagine a way to combine some new railway accessories with some old models I had stored for a long time, the first obvious element for the imagined scene was the Dragon flatbed car typ ommr, then I looked for a not too big vehicle to put on it and remembered the Tristar flakpanzer I I wanted to have a chance t build (Blitzscales 4, January 2017) so I started the project building the vehicle to later make the scene.

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The typ Ommr is an old kit with nearly 20 years on its back, it’s made of few parts if compared to nowadays kits and the quality is not the one you can expect in modern models, on the other hand is rather easy to build and includes a group of figures of a German machine gun crew. As I wanted my railcar to carry the little tank I didn’t use the side walls and the only upgrade was to substitute the plastic floor planks for some real wood made ones.

The kit was built in a few minutes so I started painting it rather immediately, I used the Vallejo 73603 Panzer grey primer and later a filter with 71114 US blue grey diluted at 80% for highlighting.

After waiting for a couple of days for the pant to settle and cure I used a mix of black and 71133 dirt as a wash to shadow the recessed zones and lower part of the car. I used an acrylic black wash at the centre of the wheels and other details to reinforce the contrast as I expected the next phase to soften this effect. I used the iron dust mixed with varnish diluted with water to deposit and adhere at some zones and later rusted it with a homemade recipe as depicted on the book FCModeltips 2.

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A last subtle wash using a light rust colour pigment and thinner created the subtle accumulations around some details.

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The war caused a rapid increase of rail transport for the German Reichsbahn that caused a simplification of the wagons classes produced to attend the war necessities. The two axles wagon could charge 24,5ton and more than 6000 units were produced between 1939 and 1941. The upper part of the railcar was covered with real wood planks, trying to choose one that hadn’t a too exaggerated vein to fit the scale. The planks were fixed with white glue and stained with acrylic washes. The last touch was to imitate the polished metal at the wheels using steel colour paint.

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The rails are one of the new Miniart references and reproduce the European gauge; the Dragon railcar fits perfectly this kit so I didn’t have to alter anything. Building the rails is a question of minutes and once I primed them with a dark red colour they were ready for the weathering. The first thing to do was to add some rust at the recessed parts of the rails and around the fasteners and bolts, for this I used again the iron dust. .

I selected a DM board base 2cm longer than the railcar to place the scene. I used a foam board to raise the rails over the ground 0,8cm so they would be clear in the middle of the surrounding grass.

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Next I painted the sleepers with different brown paints and later some acrylic washes. I rubbed the upper side of the rails with a graphite pencil and fixed them to a foam board platform to elevate them over the terrain.

The flakpanzer I was not too successful, its space limitations made it inadequate for AA firing and they were mostly used against ground targets. Their lack of proper protection for the crew was another important drawback and it was the reason for many losses. By 1943 very few of them were still in service.

Most railways in Europe use the standard gauge of 1,435 mm but there are some countires with different gauge; Russia 1,520mm, Finland 1,524mm, Ireland 1,600mm and Spain and Portugal 1,668mm.

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The semaphore is another new Miniart kit that arrived once the project was ongoing, just in time to add it to the scene. It’s a complicated kit full of delicate parts that requires some attention to build it. Once finished is a very impressive element in the scene so it’s worth the work. I painted it with a dark grey primer and then highlighted it with a medium grey filter, after staining it with a multicolour filters speckling I painted the red and white signs and added the translucent glasses.

The first railway semaphores were used in the 40s decade of the 19th century. The first semaphores had mechanical pivoting arms that were later substituted by colour lights. The both folding arms signalled clear, precaution or danger ahead depending on the position.

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The last element to add to the scene was the covered stowage over the railcar, for this I used the new DG modelling foil, a very thin metal foil primed with a black paint that is highly malleable and can be used to reproduce a canvas as it’s easy to adapt it to any surface. I pressed a rectangular piece over a resin stowage piece, using my fingers first and a cotton bud then for the most raised details. Once the foil got the shape I wanted I cut the excess and painted as any other plastic part.

To finish the scene I place all the elements on a DM board and covered with a mix of different sizes stones, sand, pigment and plaster. Once dry I poured a mix of white glue and water and sprinkled artificial grass and se balls hairs over the ground. I covered the base sides with Vallejo acrylic black mud to give it a rough texture and that was the end. This was a short time project, very satisfying as it involved some kits I wanted to build for a long time.

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