Military Illustrated Modeller – August 2019

 Military Illustrated Modeller - August 2019

FULL-BUILD: 1947 AXIS ARMOUR PAPER PANZER PRODUCTIONS 1:35 CAST HULL PANTHER F

PAINTING

'What-it' subjects are often seen in red primer and or bare metal finishes. Both can be very

appealing and interesting; however, this has done so many times, that it almost became a

modelling-cliché. Therefore, since this subject was entirely fictional, I at least chose to use

a historically accurate camouflage scheme. I wanted to depict the 'ambush' camouflage

variant seen on Panther Gs produced by MNH in September 1944, which is often referred

to as 'Disc Camo' amongst historians and modellers.

The camouflage scheme was applied with

Tamiya Acrylics XF-58 Olive Green, XF-60 Dark

Yellow and XF-64 Red Brown. Each tone was lightened

with a drop of XF-15 Flesh to be more in scale. Remember: The

smaller the scale, the brighter the base coat should be. Also, you

need to consider that the weathering will tone down the base colour

significantly and we don’t want the model to be too dark, because it

'swallows' all the smaller weathering effects and details

The disc camo 'dots' were applied with the aid of stencils from Mxpression

(MX35004). This set consists of self-adhesive sheets with the correct pattern of this

scheme. The surrounding areas were masked with Tamiya tape to avoid overspray

The finished 'ambush' Disc Camouflage

scheme as per September 1944

When the camouflage was finished, it was time to create some chipping effects

thanks to the previously applied chipping fluid. A flat brush moistened with water

was flicked over selected areas. The water reacts with the chipping fluid and tiny

flakes of paint will come off, revealing the red primer coat beneath. The author

wanted to keep this effect as minimalist as possible, because it’s often overdone

The markings were applied next and they were kept to a minimum, comprising a

one-digit number and black ‘Balkenkreuz’ national markings on the hull sides as

well as on the rear

In the next step, oil paints from Wilder were used in corresponding tones (slightly lighter) to the camouflage paints,

to fade the camo pattern. To achieve this, the author carefully applied tiny amounts of oil colours onto the surface

of each camouflage tone

Another Wilder oil paint tone was used to represent the dust accumulations on the vehicle. The good

thing about the Wilder oil paints is that they dry out dead flat, so that the result is very realistic. You

might want to repeat this step a couple of times. You can create such effects with the aid of pigments

as well, but oil paints are easier to control