Tamiya Stug Iv

[SimonV]

Hey guys,

So, here's some pictures of my Tamiya Stug IV. I don't have any photos of the sprues before I started, but it's the early kit from I believe the 1970's that we've probably all built. I picked this up for I believe about £12 to it's a bit of a bargain for a beginner such as myself. It's not quite my first armour kit, but it is my first WIP (you may recognise some of the figures in the back ground from Tamiya's equally ancient Panzer II - I may try and grab some pics of the Panzer II but it's really not very good!).

As you can see, at this point the kit is pretty much assembled, primed with AK grey primer and then base coated with Model Air Dark Yellow. It feels a bit too dark yellow (as daft as that sounds!) for a DAK vehicle, which is what I'm going for, but it does feel like a decent colour to use as the base for a tri-colour camo scheme. it's actually darker than it appears in the pictures.






As you can probably see, I'm still learning to use the airbrush so the paintwork is a bit patchy and uneven. I can also see the advantages of using a black primer,as there's several areas of grey that would otherwise be shadow if they were black!

Since these were taken I've painted and attached the tools, applied the decals and started some chipping with a sponge and Model Colour Iraqi Sand - with relatively disastrous effects. I'll try and get some pictures uploaded over the weekend but it's not pretty! The next step is probably some chipping using a brush and German Grey (or Panzer Aces Track Primer, as I've used German Grey for the tyres) followed by a gloss coat and a wash of some kind.

Anyhows, I'd certainly welcome any feedback - good and bad - and tips and tricks on how to proceed.

Cheers
Simon

[CAMO]

looks amazing man, beautiful base coat, smooth and satin

I prime in grey because I can go a little harder with the weathering, what I mean is that with the weathering my models tend darken the colors, it may not be as most people do it, but I like the end result.

Once the camo is done I chip it with a tad lighter base color followed by vallejo 822 german camo black brown< this is what works for me using different sponges and a fine brush.

keep posting your progress!

[RFeeney]

Thats looking great, crisp and clean

[Smiffy]

That's looking really good, I'm itching to start my Stug.

[mincemeat]

Great work on the Stug! Patchiness happens to me sometimes too. I typically find it after the airbrush is cleaned up! Nothing stopping you from spraying a little more to even it out. I'm sure it will look great and you can probably use it to your advantage while weathering. Although being under your light, you'll see things that you won't under normal lighting conditions. Regardless, I think your vehicle is fantastic!

I have the exact same kit and the construction has been completed for the past couple of months, need to get that thing painted. Which I'll admit, I'm fairly new back to models and painting with only a handful under my belt.

[SimonV]

Thanks for the kind words, chaps.

I'm putting together a list of paints I'm anticipating needing for a couple of builds I've got lined up - I'll make sure I stick the Camo Black Brown in as I've seen several people suggesting this as a good chipping colour.

Mincemeat, I don't know if it's just my technique, but this thing has already had about 3 coats!! I simply can't get everything covered first time round - there's always loads of parts I miss (and you can see I still haven't got everything). I've no idea how it's supposed to be done, or what I'm doing wrong, but in many vid's I've watched people seem to simply pass the airbrush over the model and every surface at every angle is covered. It just doesn't happen like that for me.

Anyhow, I'll try flushing through some water or some such before painting next time to see if it makes any difference to the patchiness.

On to the model. As mentioned, I have since decal'd and started chipping which I don't think looks great yet. I may be going back over this with some Dark Yellow to try and tone it down a bit, then starting again. As you can see also, some of the decals got damaged as I was a bit over eager to get them off the backing sheet, but I'm sure I can hide this behind chips or touch up with paint. The figures have also had some work done on their faces and base coats on the rest of the uniform, but still a lot to do here.






I couldn't resist one with the commander in place, just to see how it's coming on. He looks quite ghost like here!

I also took the time to get some pics of my Panzer II, painted in Vallejo German Grey which is very dark. I've not done any washes or anything on this and I had a go at weathering with home made pigments (accidentally mixed with something that has essentially turned them into paint - they've dried solid and can't be reactivated). I think this will probably just become a test bed now and I'll probably apply some more effects to try and blend this all in because I'm certainly not happy with it at the moment.





Next up, fixing and continuing with the chipping.

Cheers
Simon

[mincemeat]

Hey Simon, It's still looking good! I picked up the same Vallejo Camo black brown for chipping as well! I've made the mistake of damaging decals too. Some may call it a mistake, but most call it weathering.

Do you mean, you can't lay the color down in one pass? It should take several light coats to build up the color to an even coating. From the sound of it, perhaps you need to increase the distance between the airbrush and model.

You'll never get the color down on one pass. Build your coat layers and you'll need to move the piece around to reach all the edges and angles. Take it slow and find what works best for you. I find it helpful to put primer on some styrene card and do some test spraying before I start. You can see how it sprays and you can test the coverage as well. Spray really close with a little paint and far away with little to medium paint.... or a lot, see what comes out! It's just a styrene card.

If I'm spraying a lot of parts, I'll mist coat once or twice and set it aside and move to the next part and come back. You don't want to flood the part either with one go.

It's ok if the first pass is misty and uneven, take your time and keep your airbrush distance consistent and keep going over. If you don't premix your paint and thinner before adding to the airbrush cup, try putting thinner in first, then paint. I found that I tend not to put as much paint in and it will mix better that way. You'll end up with a thinner paint which will give you more control with building your layers.

I'm definitely no expert, but you'll get better just keep practicing. Maybe instead of watching modelling videos, look up some basic airbrush technique videos. Hopefully it'll answer some of the questions you're having as the model videos seem to be lacking in that area.

Your two vehicles look great so far with your stated troubles and the figures are fabulous. I've never painted a figure myself, but they look really nice.

Let us know how it goes.

[InitialProduction1]

Love them, wow those take me back. You know I never painted my PzII's in panzer grey. Always afrika tan, wow did I follow box art, lol.

[SimonV]

Firstly, no idea why the pictures above have stopped working? They've not been removed.

There's been a bit more progress on this now (told you I was slow at this!). I've since toned back the Iraqi sand and added some more chipping on top with Camo Black Brown, as recommended. I think it looks much better. The two colours actually compliment quite well in my opinion.

Most of this has been done with sponge, but some of the darker colour has been put on with a fine brush. If there's anything I've learned, it's to not overdo the sponge work, and really DO NOT drag the sponge, as this looks terrible (prime example is around the back)!

This was then glossed with Pledge, ready for some washes.

In reality, the colour is closer to how it looks on the Shurzen(SP?) than on the rest of the tank.






I've actually got some home made Burnt Umber oil wash on now too, but no pictures yet.

I've also done some work on the commander. Since the last pictures, his jacket has had a wash of Citadel Nuln Oil, then a highlight with the original base colour (Panzer Aces Afrika Korps base). It looks a bit 'wargaming' with the stark highlighting on the edges, and there's a couple of points where I've gone in too heavy - noticeably the breast pocket - but I think it actually quite nice when you don't look too closely.



I think next time I'll try doing this in more layers and see if I can't make it look more realistic. Maybe covering more of the clothing in the base colour then highlighting with a lighter colour?

That's it for now., folks.

[mincemeat]

Great work! You're Stug is looking pretty nice. I finally got around to working on mine as well and just posted.

I just noticed on your rear fenders you have two support pieces located on the inside. I had no idea what those pieces were and I didn't see it in the instructions. As soon as I saw it on your Stug; "That looks weird.....oh crap, that's what those pieces were." Oh well, they'll go into the parts bin as it's far too late now!

[SimonV]

As promised, some pictures now it has a Burnt Umber wash on it (not that it shows up that well in the photo's mind you):






Mincemeat, the irony of you noticing the supports under the fenders - I broke one off last night

Not quite sure where to go next? I want to try a dot filter and some rust streaks on the schurzen. I guess the next steps are gloss to protect the oils already there, streaking, another gloss to stop the filter wiping away the streaks, flat cote for the filter to stick to, dot filter, another gloss to protect, then a final flat cote before pigments?

[mincemeat]

Hey Simon, it's lookin' good! The wash seems to have darkened it a bit. The weathering kind of intimidates me at this point as well. Have you seen these guides by Coen? You don't have to go alone! I just took a good look at your plates and the chipping on your plates looks better than mine.

http://www.intscalemodeller.com/viewtop ... 77#p114977

http://www.intscalemodeller.com/viewtop ... 63&t=14906

[SimonV]

Thanks. There's a couple of plates I'm not happy with bu I'm going to use them as a test bed for weathering etc.

Thanks for the links - I had seen them before, but completely forgotten about them! Very useful.

I do worry about Vallejo flat varnish offering much protection as a barrier between layers of oils though. At least the pledge wax is a fairly hard drying layer. The flat varnish feels like a thin cote of nothingness that purely breaks up the shine. I'll give it a go though

[SimonV]

Time for a long overdue update on this, although it's been almost as long since I got any time at the bench.

First off, I had a go at a dot filter on the side armour using oils.





I think I've made a number of mistakes, such as:
- Too much oil
- Not left on cardboard to soak up the oil for long enough
- White is too stark

It doesn't look too bad in itself, but its a lot more noticeable than I was going for. It's far more like streaking than a general discolouring. Lesson learned for next time, though.

Another lesson learned... you can see damage done by Humbrol's enamel thinners on the second picture. It's clearly eaten through the paint. It didn't feel like I was going at it too hard so I can only imagine this is because of a combination of Vellejo's matt coat not being great and the thinner being particularly hot. It also hasn't taken where the Future is, for some reason, a bit thicker. Looks like the matt had no effect o nthese parts and as such the oils wiped right off!

Next up, I tried using oils to replicate some general oil staining on some hinges. I'd seen this in a number of Youtube vids but it really hasn't gone well for me. I think I used far too much oil. You can also see damage done by the thinners again whilst trying to blend it in. I simply couldn't work this any more without dragging more and more paint off, so I left it. Not entirely sure how I'm going to fix this yet.





I also had a go at some other stainign on the top of the hull. Again (a bit of theme here) it's not gone well. Basically it has left a horrible stain but it's not blending at all.





So that's my venture into the world of weathering with oils. I think I'll try and pick up some generic odourless turpentine and have another go at blending some of these paints in. Ill probably use the damaged schurzen to practice on. I also want to add some rust streaking, and may pop out the HB pencil for some exposed metal.

Something that hasn't (yet) gone badly is the tracks. I'm sticking with the rubber band tracks for now. After priming in black I've given them a rough base coat of Panzer Aces track primer. I wasn't overly concerned with a decent coverage as I'm thought it might help with the end effect. Clearly these are far from finished, and may turn out naff, but I thought I'd document what I do in case it actually looks good.



Next up on these I'm going to make a rust wash before a light drybrush with a metallic colour. After that, I'll work some pigments in and try and clean up the raised edges where here would be ground contact.

I guess my tone here has been rather negative but I've actually enjoyed this process and learning how to hopefully not mess up the next one!

Any tips on how I can fix the damaged paint would be great, though!

[NorthernModeller]

If its a Stug. It gets my approval

[SimonV]

Just a little update today. I've had a go at some camo on the commander's trousers.

Its not even remotely accurate in any way, more just having a play at a vague representation of German camo.



I think it looks ok as long add you don't look too closely. I know what I'd do different next time so mission accomplished I'd say!

[mincemeat]

Hey there Simon. Sorry to hear of your frustrations. I was just thinking this morning about modelling and sometimes wonder why I bother, since it seems like all it is is frustration. Paint job that didn't turn out here, decals that silvered there, broke a part off here. At this point in modelling, I'm concerned with spending over $20 for an armor kit. Since I did the same kit as you I know it was a reasonable price. I'm trying to learn to keep on (let go), push through (do your best), learn my lessons and apply them to the next kit. In the end, I usually have something that is fairly pleasant to look at and learned things along the way.

If you used an acrylic coat, I wonder why it got through to the paint job? Maybe you're right on the enamel thinner being too hot, but theoretically it shouldn't affect an acrylic clear coat. I don't think letting the oil not sit long enough on the cardboard would be the culprit. It's just the pigment's suspension fluid, but if your clear coat is compromised it may help it leech through the paint. I've had trouble with oil on a matte surface and will try it again on a gloss coat. The thinned oil just seems to soak into the matte coat, which is great for filters but not so much for streaking. I've also found that rather than going with white, one should use a color that is within the range of the paint scheme you are using. So in this case maybe a lightened yellow ochre?

The figure looks great and will be a great addition to your Stug. Though you hit some rocky patches you are doing great and have learned a bunch along the way.

I hope there was something of use in here. Take care.

[SimonV]

Thanks for the tips. Yes it is frustrating, but it's a learning curve. I don't think I'd want to be able to knock out stunning models without having to learn anything and make mistakes along the way!

I did use an acrylic Matt before the oil staining and streaks, but it was only Vallejo Matt. It doesn't feel like it has any substance, more like a very thin dusting to break up any shine. I don't quite know why enamel thinners etc shouldn't eat through acrylics but I did know that was the case. Having said that, these thinners have eaten through a Matt coat, an oil wash, a gloss coat of klear and a couple layers of acrylic paint. You can see the primer underneath so it's not gone though this (I think it's AK primer I use). Not quite sure what's happened here. Could it be that I used too much hot thinners, making the surface too wet? Not a clue! Maybe I'll do some practicing on a damaged area.

You can see some shiny patches on the second from left armor plate where I hadn't quite put the Matt down enough. The oils wiped right off leaving no colour at all - I'm not so sure a gloss surface is any good for streaking etc?

White was definitely too strong. I do have other colours I could use, I just thought there would be less colour left behind than there actually was!

Anybody have any tips for blending in the staining on top or on the hatches? I think I need to remove some oils. Should it come off with a thinner soaked cotton bud?

[digger303]

artist turps is not as strong as the generic hardware brand and won't so easily eat your paint work.

[SimonV]

It wasn't hardware store thinners, it's Humbrol's own enamel thinners! I've replaced it now with some artist low-odor thinners and it seems to have solved the problem, although it won't reactivate the over-done oil stains I'd like to remove - probably because they're now actually dry (it's been ages!) - so looks like I'm stuck with these for now.

Time for an update, though.

I've added some light rust streaking on the upper hull and schurzen using Burnt Sienna oil. With the new thinners I've bought, no damage was done which was a relief.





I've also painted up the exhaust. Firstly in Vallejo rust and then with a mix of various ground pigments. I added some soot staining to the hull but its a bit overdone here and has since been toned down.



I've also done some work on the tracks. I mixed up a homemade wash using a 50/50 mix of Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber oil and applied this over the tracks. I need to dry brush some silver on to the raised areas next but I have a habit of overdoing this so I'm shying away from it. After that, it's some light mud effects on the running gear, lower hull, schurzen and tracks.




That's all for now. As always, all comments, criticisms and any advice welcome!

[mincemeat]

Good to see you back! You're getting close to the finish line just push on thru!

[SimonV]

Tell me about it! Feels like this has been going on for ever! We had a little one 6 months ago so time at the bench is very few and far between now, that's why things are taking so long.

Not much more done this time, but the tracks are finally on, and I've added some think oil wash as a base layer for some mud effects. I've basically covered the whole of the running gear, and the lower portions of the schurzen with it. I'll add some pigments over the top as a next layer to the effect. Once the mud is done, I think I'll be calling this finished.





See you in another 6 months

[mincemeat]

Nice work Simon and congrats on the baby and the Stug too!

[SimonV]

Well well well. Me again

Managed to find a meager amount of time to attempt some mud effects on this. I first mixed some water with matt varnish and PVA, then applied this to the bottom of the schurzen and running gear etc. Onto this I dabbed some ground up pastels and, whilst drying, added some lighter colours.





As with most steps of the process, I don't think it looks great. Too dark, and too much of a hard edge - it looks brushed on. I think I can reactive the pigments with water so I'll Have a go at removing some and blending it abit.

See you for an update in another 4 months!

[mincemeat]

Keep at it mate, you'll get there!

[Bissyboat]

Nice bit of effort put into the detaling and weathering of your Stug. The tank commander looks fab.