MINIONVAULT

I worked a bit on my Brummbar. To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed. First, the kit is old (lacking details). And I had problems with the first coat of primer, which resulted in a grainy rough finish: I should have stripped the paint and sanded the model to repaint it to a smoother finish, but I wanted to be done with this kit and so I repainted over the old paint directly…

Then, I had some more problems with the decals (they were old and brittle and started breaking when I applied them…). I had to make use of scratches and weathering to mask the poor quality of application.

As if it wasn’t enough, the (cheap) oil paint I used to make my first wash had coarse pigments in it… and I forgot to put a semi-gloss varnish prior to washing… So the surface was too textured and matte, and pigments gripped to it like crazy. I had a hard time creating gradual shadows around things and I had to correct a lot of dirty pooling messes everywhere. Argghhhh!

I used Tamiya Hull Red color for the scratches, but I am not pleased with that either. I should have used Raw Umber (very dark brown) instead, as the reddish tinge of the Hull Red is too strong a contrast for the yellow of the Dunkelgelb in my opinion. But that will probably be corrected with subsequent weathering (dusting, rust, mud etc…)

Overall, it is still an interesting looking beast. Not precise, easy or quick, but cool.

It is also my first real attempt at a vehicle painted mostly in Dunkelgelb.

The pics show the model with part of the chipping done. Still a lot of (not so much fun) work to do…

Anyhow: Enjoy the pics!

Overall view: chipping done on one skirt, left side of vehicle and wheels.

Closer…

Even closer: notice the scratches hiding the problems I had with the decals…

I used the Hairspray technique to make chipping paint on the rusty exhaust. Not 100% done (still too clean) but nice looking.

Just a quick update: base-coat and pre-shading done on my IS-3. I will add more color modulation and highlights, but it is starting to look like something.

Yeah!

pre-shading

pre-shading

pre-shading

base-coat (no modulation or highlights for now)

base-coat (no modulation or highlights for now)

While I was pre-shading and basecoating my IS-3 tank this weekend (a post coming about that soon), I decided to pre-shade and basecoat an old model I had lying around: a Sturmpanzer IV “Brummbar” from Tamiya (a model almost 30 years old!).

Of course models made in the 80’s had fewer details than those made today. I could spend countless hours trying to improve my Brummbar and make it close to today’s standards (I was tempted to do so for a while, of course…). But in the end, I just decided to keep it like that, “out-of-the-box assembly” and concentrate on the paint job, weathering, and diorama.

I’m not a big fan of the camo pattern I used, but it seems appropriate for the time and location (Italy!).

I’m planning to use some foliage and branches to hide the most annoying details.

I’m pleased with the result so far.

Grey primer, followed by pre-shading with black, then a basecoat of Tamiya “Dark Yellow” (Dunkelgelb). Then, some highlights of a paler shade of Dunkelgelb.

Front view.

Rear view.

My own mix of browns here for the Rotbraun (I wanted a warmer shade, since the weathering will eventually dull the whole thing…