Panzer Aces No.23.pdf

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New monographic dedicated to the Afrika Korps. 88 pages in which you can find the latesttechniques employed by the authors showed step by step. A perfect reference to learn how to paint

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Whippet Mk. AWonderful recreation of an armoured vehicle from the Great War in action. With anexquisite paint job and a careful setting, this is one of the best works that have beenpublished in our magazine. The article includes a reportage of a specimen kept atAberdeen.

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KV-1 (mod. 1941)An impressive Soviet heavy tank. The author decided to apply a winter camouflage usinghyper realistic weathering effects. Other camouflage options are shown in a series of 9colour profiles.

17

AEC Mk. 1Also known as the tank on wheels, this kit has been painted with such an unparalleled realism

that it seems that it was extracted from an old documentary.

MODELLING LESSONS: Vehicle weathering with mudThis interesting article shows us a step-by-step method of adding mud to military vehicles.

50

62

Sd.Kfz. 234 (P)The result of the transforming two German eight-wheel armoured vehicles,

these two prototypes can be considered as rarities. These are unique modelsthat will enhance any collection.

44

GeneralfeldmarschallAn excellent figure depicting the “Desert Fox” at the peak of his career. This is a must read if you are interested inthis important figure, as an extensive period photographic collection is included in the article.

32

ING INDICE:ESP.NDICE 25/04/13 18:51 Página 3

2

he tank had a weight of 14tons and was powered bytwo petrol engines placed

in a forward compartment. Its on-roadmaximum speed was of 13,5 Km/hand 9 Km/h cross-country. The arma-ment consisted of four Hotchkiss 7,92machineguns, placed in the four sidesof the turret, each covering one direc-tion.Whippets were assigned to three

brigades, specifically to the 3rd and6th battalions of each brigade. Thetank saw action for the first time inMarch, 1918 in the Battle of Amiens,having an outstanding performance.Some Whippets were sent to Irelandafter the Armist ice as par t of theBritish occupation forces. Seventeenunits were also sent to the post-CzarRussia to help the white Russians intheir civil war. The red army capturedtwelve, using them until the thirties.They fitted at least one vehicle with aFrench 37 mm Puteaux gun. Russianscalled them “Tyeilor” as a misnomer,assuming the name of the engine was“Taylor” instead of “Tylor”. A fewwere also exported to Japan, being

By: Javier Redondo JiménezPhotographs by the author and RodrigoHernández Cabos

Accurate Armour 1/35

The Medium A

“Whippet” AFV was

designed by the British

engineer William

Tritton after the battle

of the Somme, in 1916.

The design was based

in the combat

experience of the Mark

I in its male and female

versions. The first

prototype was built by

the Foster &

Metropolitan Carriage

and Wagon Company,

full-scale production

began in 1917.

ING 2-11 Whippet:PzI.F 25/04/13 18:56 Página 2


the first to serve the Emperor´s Army.A single vehicle was sent to SouthAfrica destined to the Armour Collegein Pretoria.

The surviving units can be seen atthe Bovington Tank Museum atAberdeen, CFB Borden and the Muséede l´Armée of Brussels.

As a modeller, I have always feltattracted to the “Great War”. I waslooking forward to working on a vehi-cle from this period of History, espe-cially this model. Until recently therewas not much to choose from regard-ing armoured vehicles from the FirstWorld War, but fortunately brands arenow launching models regularly, sothere are a fair amount of referencesto choose from.

4

The tracks were submerged in hot water. They became flexible and allowed an easy adaptation to the road

wheels.

Defective rivets have been

replaced with other taken from

and old kit.

The

machineguns were

replaced with others

scratch-built with

metal rods.

A S S E M B L Y


The chosen kit was a 1/35 scalemodel f rom the Accurate Armourbrand, comprising resin, plastic, whitemetal and photo etched parts. Theassembly is quite straightforward, thegeneral profile of the tank consists offour pieces.Being a 20 year old kit, the resin

shows some porous areas in placeswhere the rivets should have been pre-sent. To cover these defects, I spreada coat of Tamiya putty that was previ-ously diluted with industrial acetonethroughout the kit. I later extractedseveral plastic rivets from an oldmodel and f ixed them

one by one on the Whippet with smalldrops of glossy varnish using a finetipped paintbrush. The varnish offers a

correct adherence andenough t ime

to fix the rivets in the correct position.It is a tedious work, but an absolutenecessity.The tracks are made of several resin

sections, and I had to apply heat tosoften them before they were fixed inthe cor rect pos i t ion. This can beachieved using two different methods:The first is to use a hair dryer with themaximum heat possible. The second isto submerge them in a bowl of veryhot water. I prefer the second option.When submerging the track sectionsin hot water (always use tweezers orelse you will suffer extremely painfulsensations) they immediately become

5

- British Light Tank Whippet Mk.A, Accurate Armour ref. 358,1/35 scale.

KITS USED

The larger parts have been glued with two-component glue, while superglue

was used for the smaller ones.

The white, red and white

national identification bands

were painted with the help

of masking tape.


f lexible and can be adapted to thewheels, keeping the shape with thefingers for a few seconds until theycool down.Regarding the general detailing, I

must say I basically did an out-of-the-box assembly. I only had to rebuildthe oversized white metal machine-guns with others made of tin tubesand cylinders. The photo etched sidehooks are f lat, so I had to replacethem with others made of copper wireand placed some nuts taken from anold injection moulded kit. I f inallyadded the exhaust pipe’s protectivecover, which was really a thick roperolled-up in the tubes, using sewingthread.

The base colour of the Whippetraises some controversy. Differentsources indicate that British WWItanks were painted in a greyish green,dark brown or khaki colour, eventhough the exact colour is unknown.I decided for the second option, usinga mixture of olive drab (80%) and dark

green (20%), and later adding darkyellow for the f irst highlights. Thesame mixture was used in those areaswith more light exposure, adding buffas diluter. I used masking tape topaint the identification bands, usingred and f la t white pa ints . I thenapplied a general shading with a mix-ture of flat black and red brown. Thisprocess was made with an airbrushand Tamiya acrylic paints. For num-bers and plates, I used Decadry branddecals. After placing them, they werevarnished; This was done both to fixthem and to protect them from theenamel solvent I was going to use inthe next painting phases.A new world of weathering and

aging poss ib i l i t ies now begins.Whi le work ing in the assemblyprocess, I stumbled across a construc-tion site in which a tracked bulldozerwas work ing in ear th ext ract ionduties. The sides were similar to theWhippet, and showed a multitude ofmud effects that were per fect toreproduce in the kit. I went back tothe construction site with my digitalcamera and started making photos of

6

PAINT WORK

The filth runs that appear in the spaces between

the side plates were made with glossy varnish,

which was previously soiled with a bit of black

smoke pigment.


7

the vehicle, the driver looking atme as if I was a loony or a disturbedpaparazzo.With these and other references, I

s t a r ted the ag ing and weather ingprocess. First I spread a number of fil-

te rs us ing The Fi l te rbrown and tan enamels,

After they dried, I started working areaby area, b lending o i l pa ints , f i r s tapply ing Humbrol th inner in thedesired areas and then adding smallamounts of paint. The more colourvariety, the better the results will be. Iapplied Bess green, ochre yellow, tita-nium white, transparent golden ochre,cadmium yellow, burnt sienna andburnt umber. Oils are blended with ac lean paintbrush, dampened withHumbrol thinner; in ver t ical areasstarting from above and using an upand down sweeping motion while inhorizontal areas in a circular motion.When the oils were dry, I added a

subtle outlining on rivets, turns andbends using a very diluted mixture ofburnt sienna and black oil paints. Tofurther enhance and add the desiredvolume to rivets and edges, I usedthe dry brush technique using a mix-

ture of khaki drill and French artillerygreen Humbrol enamels.Next I started to work on the final

effects, starting with the mud. I mixedplaster with dark mud, Russian earthand light dust Mig Production pig-ments in a small bowl, adding somedrops of water and chocolate brownand buff Model Color acrylic paints. Istirred the ingredients until I obtaineda thick and dense mixture, addingwater sparingly. The tone of the mix-ture must be very dark, as it gets muchlighter when it dries. I used an oldhard-bristle paintbrush to apply themixture, pecking the surfaces I wantedto cover with mud. If the mixture hasthe correct consistency, the mud willstay in position and keep the shapesmeared with the paintbrush. Oncethe mud dried, I added tonal richnessusing beach sand and Europe dust pig-

The trees were made with split thyme branches that were fixed to the terrain with wire

bolts. The barb wire is a Verlinden Productions ref. 51, held to stakes that were built

with wire.


8

ments, dry brushing them with a soft-bristle paintbrush.Later I “greased” the wheel’s axles

and bearings with asphalt oil paint

mixed with enamel thinner. Polishedmetal on the edges and tracks wererepresented with a graphite pencil.The f i l th runs on the s ides were

copied exactly from the bulldozer pho-tos, using Marabu glossy varnish,s l ight ly soi led with pigments anddiluted with Humbrol thinner. I paint-

TAMIYA (acrylics)

XF-1 flat blackXF-2 flat whiteXF-7 redXF-57 buffXF-60 dark yellowXF-61 dark greenXF-62 olive drabXF-64 red brown

MODEL COLOR (acrylics)

872 chocolate brown976 buff

HUMBROL (enamels)

62 leather72 khaki drill179 French artillery green

THE FILTER (enamels)

P245 brownP242 tan

WINSOR & NEWTON

(oils)

2 burnt sienna8 cadmium yellow35 titanium white44 ochre yellow

TITAN (oils)

69 bess green80 asphalt78 burnt umber94 transparent golden ochre

MIG PRODUCTIONS (pigments)

P023 black smokeP024 light rustP025 standard rustP027 light dustP028 Europe dustP030 beach sandP033 dark mudP034 Russian earth

MARABU (varnishes)

1106 clear

TALENS (watercolours)

234 raw sienna409 burnt umber411 burnt sienna

COLOUR CHART


9

ed each run with the pa intbrush,allowing a drying time between eachapplication to obtain different intensi-ties and gradations.I Finally painted the exhaust pipes

with Humbrol leather pa int andapplied several washings: f irstusing burnt sienna oil paint and

later using black, light rustand standard rust pig-

ments.

The best par t of Wor ld War Isceneries is the way of using all theelements that were present in the bat-tlefields. The bogs, the lunar land-scape caused by artillery shells or thelabyrinth of trenches and barbed wireoffer amazing possibilities when build-ing a base.I had a clear idea of the landscape

to place the tank as soon as I decided

to build it. I used a piece of polifoam,giving a basic, sloped shape with asharp blade. The material is light andmanageable, quite easy to work with.Once I had defined the volumes, agenerous amount of black acrylic paintwas used to apply a base coat, pro-tecting it from the solvents I was latergoing to use to paint the terrain.I modelled the terrain using a mix-

ture of plaster, white glue (to increasethe adherence and delay the dryingtime), burnt umber, burnt sienna andraw sienna watercolours, f ine sand

The terrain was modelled with a

mixture of plaster, white glue, sand,

watercolours and water. Sandbags

were modelled with Magic Sculpt,

cans were made with tin

strips and evergreen rods.

T H E B A S E


and a bit of water, stirring the ele-ments until a consistent mixture wasobtained. You must have a clear viewof the places where the paste will belocated, as you must spread it rela-tively fast. To simulate the tracks leftby the 14 ton tank I placed the modelon the base and carefully pressed itagainst the surface.After painting all the elements, I

applied several Mig Production pig-ments that were fixed in place with afew drops of Humbrol Thinner. Thelast effect consisted in f i l l ing thecrater with resin which was tintedwith severa l drops of o l ive drabacrylic paint. I also spread severalHudson & Allen leaves on the terrain.

Dry leaves

(Hudson &

Allen Studio

ref. 9704)

were fixed to

the ground

with white

glue.


I finally added the only living crea-ture of the scene: a rat, so common inthe trenches and called to inherit ourworld if we maintain the current pre-dating pace. I took it from my spareparts drawer, so I can’t tell you thebrand or reference number.

The trench was lined with naval modelling

strips made of balsa wood which were

textured with sandpaper. After using the

sandpaper, a candle light was used to

eliminate surface fluff, being careful not to

burn the wood.

- SOLARZ, Jacek. “British Tanks1914-1918”, in Militaria nº 30,Wydawnictwo Militaria, Warsaw,1996.- WHITE, B. T. British TankMarkings and Names, Arms &Armour Press, London, 1978.- HOGG, Ian V. and WEEKS, John.

The illustrated encyclopedia ofMilitary Vehicles, New BurlingtonBooks, London, 1980.- DÍEZ CÁMARA, Octavio.“Whippet”, in Todo Modelismo nº27 (October 1994), EdicionesGénesis, Madrid, pages 60-63.

BIBLIOGRAPHY


12

R E P O R T A G E

Photographs by Octavio Díez Cámara made in the Bovington Tank Museum, Aberdeen.

The Medium Tank Mark A was 6,08 m long, 2,61 m wide and 2,75 m high and had a weight of 14.200 kg.

Known as Whippet (small hound), it could cross 2,10 m wide ditches, pass through 80 cm obstacles

and climb 40% slopes.

Close up of

the right

hand side

tension

adjuster.

Each track was formed by 67 links

which were standard to all British

fighting vehicles.

ING 12-16 REP-Whippet:Renault UE REP 25/04/13 19:02 Página 12

13

The side holes,

with a sloped

surface, helped to

dislodge the mud

that accumulated

while the tank

was in motion.

Even though the low

profile design of the

wheels was an

advanced feature, the

tank was very difficult

to drive, as it was

necessary to constantly

use the clutch for

steering.

The track bogies

were protected

and hidden

between two

armoured plates.


14

Hatches to access

the two Tylor 4

cylinder, 45 HP

petrol engines

(identical to the

ones used by

London

busses).The

engines drive one

track each.

The crew consisted

of three men,

although it was not

uncommon to have

four members. The

driver was seated

on the left side of

the turret.

The rear access was

equipped with a ball

mount for one of the

four 7,92 mm

Hotchkiss

machineguns. The

tank could carry 5.400

rounds of

ammunition.


15

Even though the prototypes were designed with a revolving turret, a fixed square turret was

finally installed to the 200 specimens that were built.

The peepholes have a sliding closing plate located inside the vehicle. Each of the pistol firing

apertures was protected by a rotating cover.


16

The armour was 14mm thick in areas such as the front, and 5mm in the belly and roof.

Engine

ventilation

holes are

visible at both

sides of the

nose, just

above the

tracks.


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18

By: Abilio Piñeiro GrajeraPhotographs: Basilio Tante DíazColour profiles: Carlos de Diego Vaquerizo

Trumpeter 1/35

Ever since the

Chinese brand

Trumpeter launched

a series of injection

moulded plastic kits

of the KV series, a

new avenue for the

fans of soviet combat

tanks was opened, as

it offered a wide

range of faithful

models with an

acceptable detail

reproduction at a

good price.

he parts are wonderful, mak-ing the assembly a simple yetdelightful process for any

modeller. Fittings are superb, there is noreal need to use putty, having used itjust to give the armour plates a moreeven appearance and in the point wherethe chassis joins the cover of the enginerear air intakes.Trumpeter allows you to use either

some very nice vinyl tracks or othersmade of injection moulded plastic, withindividual links. I would like to point outthat if they are not placed before assem-bling the mudguards, it will be very hardto put them in place without braking anypart. The final result will be perfect, nomatter if you want an “out-of-the-box”assembly or if you pretend to make asuper-detailed model using one of themany sets available in the market. Never-theless, a higher level or realism can beachieved by simply adding the grills tothe rear engine ventilation extractors andreplacing the gun barrel with an alumini-um turned version. The model comes with two versions

of the engine cover and additionalarmour for the turret ring, representing alater version. The only modification I

ING 18-30 KV-1:PzI.F 25/04/13 19:07 Página 18


made was to add a small cable simulat-ing the front headlamp’s cable. The tankis a perfect model to enjoy both theassembly and painting phases.

I chose to paint a white winter cam-ouflage over the standard Russian greencoat because it allowed me a wide rangeof possibilities when representing themultitude of wear effects that take placein an operational vehicle. When decidingto reproduce the desired effects, youmust have a clear picture of what you

want and make a great deal of reflectionon the logical and natural way of adjust-ing them to this scale.Right after leaving the manufacturing

chain, the tanks were usu-ally given, whenavailable, a prim-ing coat of greenpaint, and thensent directly to thefront. After a peri-od of operationalservice, wear andtear in the form ofbrushings and

Model:

- Russian KV-1 model 1942 Simpli-fied Turret, Trumpeter ref. 358, 1/35scale.

Figure:

- Pegaso Models Platoon series ref.PT009.

Accessories:

- Street lamp, Miniart ref. 35005.

KITS USED

The white paint areas scattered throughout the tank

were made with white acrylic paint, using a nº 1

paintbrush. Zinc white oil paint, diluted

in Humbrol thinner, was used in some

areas to soften the effect.

PAINT WORK


scratches appeared in the paintwork,apart from the usual splattering, filthblotches and grease stains. If the tankwas lucky to survive until the followingwinter, the crew would apply a coat ofwhite paint as soon as the first snowflakes would have fallen. Consideringthat the white coat of paint was used ina specific time of the year, it was madeto be easily removed, which meant thatthe paint was more subject to damageand wear than normal camouflage paint.I tried to reproduce this effect in my kit.This time I started with a base coat of

Tamiya flat brown, which would help tocreate a pre-shadow effect after applyinghighlights. I must recognize that I didn’tlike the initial appearance, but at theend it helped to highlight the effectsthat I wanted to achieve in a perfectmanner. After the base coat, I applieda general highlight with a mixture ofolive drab (40%), flat green (40%)and flat yellow (20%). I covered thewhole model, more consistently insome areas, and allowed the browncolour to show through in placeslike the undersides and those 21

The rear headlamp is made of

red clear plastic and is also

included in the model.

Trumpeter supplies a length of

copper wire for the tow cables.


22

The Trumpeter kit includes

the glass fitting of the front

headlamp, made of clear

plastic.

Optical tools have been painted using Panzer Aces

periscopes colour.

The scratches in the

box have been

painted using a nº 1

paintbrush and

desert yellow acrylic

paint.

The tracks have been painted with several washings of

flat brown acrylic paint and ivory black with burnt sienna

oil paints.


23

The cobbles were made by the

now extinct Alvic Models brand. They

are made of resin, and have been

decorated with a base of dark grey and later

several washings of buff and flat earth. The

finishing touches were made with pigments

that were fixed with Humbrol thinner.The exhaust pipes have light dust

and black smoke pigments.

Some edges have been painted

with a mixture of burnt sienna,

ivory black and yellow ochre oil

paints to represent

brushings.


areas especially prone to wear and tear.Then I proceeded to illuminate the cen-tral area of the upper armour plateswith the same greenish mixture addinga 20% buff dilution. I refrained to usewhite colour, as I did not want toobtain a pale tone. All colour used forthis process were Tamiya acrylics.The next phase consisted in air-

brushing the different areas of the tankwith Humbrol white enamel mixedwith thinner. I chose this paint to pre-vent spoiling the former acrylic base.After a drying time of approximately 10minutes, I carefully scraped the paint insome areas. To do it, I used a Nº 6 hardbristle paintbrush dampened in Hum-brol thinner, using top to bottomstrokes the sides and vertical areas andcircular brushings in the horizontalareas. Then I painted a multitude of small

areas of white paint throughout thetank in a realistic manner, using ModelColor white acrylic paint. During thispainting process, the kit was somewhatlacking in charm, but at the same time24

TAMIYA (acrylics)

XF-3 flat yellowXF-5 flat greenXF-10 flat brownXF-24 dark greyXF-52 flat earthXF-57 buffXF-62 olive drabXF-63 German grey

PANZER ACES (acrylics)

309 periscopes


900 french mirage blue 902 azure950 black951 white977 desert Yellow981 orange brown984 flat brown

HUMBROL (enamels)

34 flat white

THE FILTER (enamels)

P245 brownP246 grey

TITAN (oils)

6 zinc white82 ivory black88 yellow ochre96 burnt sienna

MIG PRODUCTIONS

(pigments)

P023 black smokeP024 light rustP027 light dustP028 Europe dustP029 brick dust

COLOUR CHART


The well designed

injection moulded

Miniart street lamp

has a German grey

base coat. Several

peels and chipped

areas have been

reproduced using a

mixture of flat

green and flat

yellow. Dirt has

been represented

with brick dust

pigments.

The

scattered

tree leaves

are from a

Hudson &

Allen die-cut

paper Ref.

9704. They

have been

fixed with

white glue.

The earthy appearance of the links

was made by adding several filters

of pigments that were bound with

enamel thinner. The polished

metal effect was made with a

pencil.

it was showing a great deal of blends. Tofurther highlight these effects, I applied acouple of grey and brown filters of TheFilter range. They are easy to apply, apartfrom drying very fast and having a veryresistant flat finish. Once I was satisfiedwith the general appearance, I startedmaking peels and scratches with a mix-ture of Model Color black and f latbrown, having in mind that they had tobe small, yet aesthetically correct andrealistic.


26

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- DE DIEGO VAQUERIZO, Carlos yVERGARA DURÁN, Cristobal,“Carros en Rusia II”, in Monográficonº 11, Acción Press, Madrid, 2002.

- SEVERAL AUTHORS, “MilitaryVehicles of WW II (2)”, i n GroundPower nº 41, Delta Publishing Co.,Tokyo, 1997.- SEVERAL AUTHORS, “Soviet HeavyTanks (1)”, i n Ground Power nº 75,Delta Publishing Co., Tokyo, 2000.

The Pegaso figure is made of

resin. It has been painted with

acrylics using the known

overhead lighting technique.

Finally, I distributed a mixture ofblack, burnt umber and ochre yellowoil paints to those surfaces withintense rub contact, like the turret’sroof, the mudguards, around thehatches, the toolbox, and the transitareas of the crew members. Before

the paint dried, I rubbed with a cot-ton swab, the finger can also be usedto obtain an interesting steely effect.As a final touch I applied graphitefrom a pencil in those areas wherethe continuous contact leaves themetal uncovered, fixing it in placewith a drop of Humbrol thinner.


27

The leather coat has a black base colour, being

highlighted with orange brown and desert

yellow acrylic paint.

The holster was painted in flat

brown and highlighted with

orange brown acrylic paint.

The trousers were painted

with a mixture of azure and

French mirage blue.


KV-1E (mod. 1940),

104th Armoured Division,

Yelnya, July 1941.

KV-1E (mod. 1940),

unidentified unit, U.S.S.R.,

October 1941.

Pz.Kpfw. KW-IA 753(r),

1. Pz.Div.?, Eastern front,

winter 1941-42.

28


Pz.Kpfw. KW-IA 753(r),

Pz.Rgt. 10, 8. Pz.Div, Eastern

front, spring 1942-42.

KV-1 (mod. 1941),

6th Guard’s Armoured Brigade,

South-eastern front, May 1942.

KV-1 (mod. 1941),

116th Armoured Brigade,

U.S.S.R., April 1942.

29


KV-1 (mod. 1942),

135th Armoured Brigade, North

Caucasus front , July 1942.

KV-1 (mod. 1942), 52nd Red Banner

Armoured Brigade, North Caucasus

front , September 1942.

KV-1 (mod. 1941), 51st

Independent Armoured Battalion?,

Leningrad front, August 1944.

30


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43 Colores nuevosING_IN Suscrip. pág. 49 18/06/12 15:26 Página 36

32

ommel was born in 1891 ina Württemberg family withno military tradition, his

father and grandfather were schoolteachers. In 1910 he started a suc-cessful militar y career that wouldmake him the youngest Field Mar-shall of the German army in the sum-mer of 1942, as well as one of thegeniuses of armoured warfare.

After obtaining the highest Germandecoration, the “ Pour le Mérite”, forhis actions in the First World War,Rommel became military instructor inseveral military academies during theinter-war years.

He was appointed commander ofHitler´s personal protection battalion,a duty that continued during the pol-ish campaign. He earned Hit le r ’spraise and admiration for his profes-sional spirit, even though he wasn’tmember of the Nazi Party.

On February 6, 1940 he was givencommand of the 7. Panzerdivision,which spearheaded the German offen-sive in Belgium and northern Franceof May. From the f i rst day of theattack, Rommel leaded his men fromthe front lines, a rare case in the Ger-man Army. His successes and leader-ship were exploited by the Germanpropaganda machine, and Rommelbecame one of Germany’s most popu-lar generals.

On May 27, he received both theKnight’s Cross of the Iron Cross andthe command of the 5. Panzerdivi-s ion. He captured the Por t of St.Valéry on June 11, accepting the sur-render of 2 French genera ls and42.000 soldiers. Rommel fought hislast battle of French campaign in theCherbourg-St. Nazaire area, making30.000 British prisoners, includingthe admiral in charge of the fleet and4 other high ranking officers.

By: Agustín Pacheco FernándezPhotographs: Basilio Tante Díaz

Andrea Miniatures 1/35

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel was not only

one of the best WWII generals, but had the

rare priviledge to having earned popularity by

his countrymen and and the respect of his

enemies.

ING 32-41 ROMEL:PzI.F 25/04/13 19:12 Página 32

33

The 7. Panzerdivision was nick-named “the ghost Division” due to thespeed and surprise it achieved, to thepoint that even the German Commandlost track of where it was. It is saidthat Rommel deliberately cut commu-nications during the battle, to avoidreceiving orders to deviate or halt hisadvance.

For his brilliant performance in the1940 French campaign, where he

showed a special ability to exploit tothe new tactical possibilities offered bythe armoured vehicles and mobi leartillery as offensive weapons, plus theadmiration that Hitler felt for “his gen-eral”, Rommel was appointed com-mander of the “Deutsches Afrikakorps”in February 1941. This unit had beenformed in a hurry to aid the demoral-ized Italian troops in Lybia, facing adisastrous military situation.

The conditions of the north Africandesert landscape allowed Rommel tofully develop his tactical genius intank warfare. For more than a year anda half, the “Desert Fox” managed tokeep the British forces on a defensiveposition, even though his forces werenever sufficiently strong. His daringand “clean” way of fighting earnedhim respect f rom the confront ingallied forces.

Rommel captured the city of Tobrukon June 21, taking 32.000 prisoners,including 5 generals, as well as a hugebounty of vehicles and petrol. Thenext day, he was appointed the high-est German rank, becoming theyoungest Generalfeldmarschall (FieldMarshall) of the entire German Army,at the age of 50. He would later say: “Iwould rather have a fresh armoureddivis ion than the Fie ld Marshal l ’sbaton.”

After the summer of 1942, Rommeladvanced with the Italio-German armyto El-Alamein, a few kilometres awayfrom Alexandria, threatening the mostimpor tant bast ion of the Br i t ishEmpire in the Near East: Egypt. Butthis was the High point for Rommel:with the much needed reinforcementsbeing engulfed by the Russian front,the enemy forces growing to anadvantage of two-to-one in tanks,artillery and men and five-to-one inaircraft, he was defeated in October1942 during the second battle of El-Alamein. A few days later the USforces disembarked in Casablanca,Oran and Algiers, opening a secondfront behind his lines. This was thebeginning of the end for the Afrikako-rps. The fate was sealed and the finaldefeat was just a question of time,finally arriving in May, 1943 with thefall of Tunis.

In 1944, Hitler ordered Rommel thecommand of the German “AtlanticWal l” defences in France and theNether lands, the p lace where theallied forces would attempt an assaultto the continent. Rommel was alsosuccessful in this task, so differentfrom the tank warfare, helping to con-sol idate a wal l that prevented theallies from attacking Europe for somemonths.

Never theless, the Marshal l wasalready convinced that the war was

Generalfeldmarschall Rommel. S. Guillén


lost and saw the need to hold peacetalkswith the western Allies to preventa disaster. He had refused to join agroup of disenchanted generals onseveral occasions, but on July 1944,after being wounded during a Britishair attack while inspecting the frontl ines in Normandy, he apparent lyaccepted to join the conspirators thatwere in favour to open peace talkswith the Allies. Even though Rommelwas not informed of the at temptagainst Hitler’s life, his relation withthe group came to light after the fail-ure of the coup. Hitler prevented thename of Rommel to be related withthe plot, being such a popular charac-ter. Two generals visited the Field Mar-shal in his home with an ultimatum

and a bottle of poison. On the 14th ofOctober, Erwin Rommel said goodbyeto his wife and son and committedsuicide. Berlin never mentioned hisrole in the conspiracy and buried himas a hero.

The military genius had ceased toexist, but became an immortal charac-ter inthe History books.34

The Desert Fox with his General Staff in Sollum,

April 1941. A. Press.

Generalmajor Erwin Rommel was

named commander of the

Deutsches Afrikakorps by Hitler in

January 1941.

Archivo General de la Administración(AGA). F-3755.

The Marshall speaking with

his troops on board his

famous half-track “GREIF”.

AGA. F-3755.


35

Planning operation with the Italian allies.

AGA. F-3755.

Erwin Rommel

(November

15, 1891 –

October 14,

1944) will be

remembered

by his military

feats and his

chivalry.

A. Press.

Rommel in his Horch Kfz. 15 during the Cyrenaica campaign of

1941. AGA. F-3755.


36

Visiting a French hospital, 1943.

AGA. F-3755.

Rommel reinforced the construction of the

Atlantikwall defences in 1944. AGA. F-3755.

The German propaganda created the myth of the

Festung (Fortress) Europe, using Rommel’s prestige.

AGA. F-3755.

Field marshals Erwin Rommel and Albert Kesselring in

August, 1942. AGA. F-3755.


37Just visible under the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds is the highest Prussian

military decoration, the order Pour le Mérite. S. Guillén.


My predilection for Spanish subjectsin my modelling works is known bymost people. As a matter of fact, thisis my first work on the Second WorldWar in more than 15 years of model-ling.

Considering that I was going towrite an article for Panzer Aces/ArmorModel magazine, I decided to honour

the title by making a small vignette ofone of the “aces” of panzer warfareduring the last world war, field mar-shall Rommel. Inevitably linked to thenorth African campaign, I decided toportray this extraordinary military manat the peak of his career: the captureof Tobruk, close to the vehicle he usedin this campaign, the Sd.Kfz. 250/3half-track that we have all seen inmany period photographs.

T H E S C E N E

TAMIYA (acrylics)

XF-55 deck tan

MODEL COLOR

(acrylics)

815 flesh tone820 off white828 wood grain851 deep orange860 medium flesh tone877 gold brown

917 beige918 ivory920 German uniform945 magenta947 red950 black953 flat yellow

ANDREA COLOR (acrylics)

AC-2 English khakiAC-22 Prussian blue

COLOUR CHART (Figure)

Trousers were painted with a

mixture of German uniform,

black, flesh tone and beige

colours. Highlights were made by

adding a larger amount flesh tone

and beige paints, shadows were

made by adding black paint.

Figure:

- Andrea Miniaturas ref. S5-F45,1/32 scale.

Model:

- German Sd.Kfz. 250/3 GREIF,Tamiya, ref. 35113, 1/35 scale.

Accesories:

- Saddle drum magazines,German Infantry Weapons Set,Tamiya, ref. 35111.

KITS USED

The white metal figure was polished with an

aluminium wool pad. The figure was given a

Tamiya deck tan priming coat using the airbrush,

to allow the other paints to hold up correctly.


This model was used by other Ger-man generals, but what made thisspecimen famous was the name writ-ten on the sides: GREIF (griffin), themythological winged animal with aneagle head and a lion body.

This figure belongs to the SpanishAndrea Miniatures brand, ref. Rom-mel, August 1942. It is cast in a highquality white metal. The author of theexcellent modelling is Ángel Terol. Itis possible to assemble two versionsof the f igure, thanks to the extrapieces included in the kit, one withshort trousers and another with M1940 Cavalry breeches.

I decided to paint the figure usingModel Color and Andrea Color paints,applying the overhead lighting tech-nique, widely shown in previous arti-cles published by this magazine.

The different paint mixtures I usedare shown in the accompanying foot-notes.

The skin has a mixture of medium

flesh tone, English khaki, flat

yellow and magenta to which

small amounts of wood grain,

black, flesh tone and ivory were

added until the desired tanned

skin tone was obtained.

For highlights, the skin colour base

was successively mixed with flesh

tone and beige paints, while for the

shadows it was progressively

darkened with black paint.

Lightings were achieved by adding

ivory and off white in successive

glazings. To shade the wrinkles, a

mixture of black and English khaki

was used to progressively darken

the base colour.

The boots were painted black and

soiled with wood grain, deep

orange and black. Highlights were

made by adding more of the last

two colours while shadows were

done by adding black colour to the

mixture.

The braids were painted in gold

brown that was slightly darkened

with English khaki and black paints

while beige was added for the

highlights. Ivory paint was used those

areas affected by maximum light.

F I G U R E

The tunic has a very light base colour,

made with a mixture of beige and

medium flesh tone, plus smaller

amounts of black and off white paints.


The vehicle is a German Sd.Kfz.250/3 GREIF kit made by the JapaneseTamiya brand. This version has beenimproved by the Dragon kit, but con-

sidering I only wanted to show part ofthe vehicle, it would have been a pityto destroy a good kit for such a job.

When I spoke to Carlos de DiegoVaquerizo about the project, he kindlyhanded me the Tamiya kit after search-ing in that bottomless trunk all mod-ellers have, full of kits that we’ll neverhave time to assemble, even if we hadthree lives to live. Thank you verymuch.

Once I had the k i t in myhands, I only had to jointhe main parts and saw thevehicle, later sanding theedges with wet sandpaperto obtain straight, even sur-

faces. I made some improve-

ments using stretchedplastic rods (upper andside antennas), copperwire (back lamp cable

and inside door lock)and plast ic st r ips(outer door handle). Ia lso added saddledrum magazines forthe MG f rom aTamiya weaponsset.

As a guide forpainting the halftrack, I used the

article by FernandoGonzález Sánchez about

TAMIYA (acrylics)

XF-2 flat whiteXF-59 desert yellowXF-60 dark yellowXF-63 German grey

PANZER ACES

(acrylics)

308 green tail light

MODEL COLOR

(acrylics)

828 woodgrain851 deep orange917 beige918 ivory950 black

HUMBROL (enamels)

103 cream

MIG PRODUCTIONS

(pigments)

P030 beach sand

COLOUR CHART(Sd.Kfz.250/3)

The vehicle’s base colour is a

mixture of desert yellow (60%),

dark yellow (30%) and white

(10%) that was later highlighted

adding 50% of white colour.

Dusting

effects were

made with

several

washings of

cream enamel

and wood

grain, beige

and ivory

acrylic paints.

The final

effect was

made with

beach sand

pigment.

V E H I C L E


the Afrikakorps Panzer III Ausf. G pub-lished in Panzer Aces/Armor Model nº9. I used different techniques for paint-ing vehic les in the deser t , us ingTamiya and Model Color acrylics, andsimulated dust effects with Humbrolcream enamel and beach sand pigmentfrom Mig Productions. No oil paintswere used in the kit , using penci lgraphite to imitate shining metal.

To obtain a deser t f lat terrain, If ixed a Magic Sculpt "cake” to the

base, spread white glue that was dilut-ed with water and dusted the surfacewith fine sand and railroad modellingsmal l pebbles. To have the pr intsmarked in the surface, I placed thevehic le on the base and pressedagainst the surface. The same methodwas used with the general’s footprints.

I decorated the terrain using Tamiyapaints that were diluted with alcohol,using an airbrush. For the final paint-ing phase I used Model Color andAndrea Color acrylics, using the drybrush technique and several washings(see Modelling lessons in Panzer Aces/Armor Model Nº 13) as well as MigProduction pigments that were dry-painted.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSIf I was asked about the right per-

son to make a diorama or a f iguredepicting the German Army during theSecond World War, I would say, with-out a doubt, that José Manuel Flores

Pérez is the man. You have seen manyof his works in this magazine.

This good old man is exclusivelydedicated to “his Germans”. And Idon’t only mean “good” because of hisoriginality, excellent compositions,meticulous settings and a very goodpainting technique, but because he is ak ind and st ra ightforward person,always willing to help or solve anydoubt you might have. Cheer up, pal,and keep delighting us with your cre-ations.

The German grey

factory colour is

visible in some areas.

The plastic film edges

of the decals were

stripped out with a

blade. They were

fixed with the help

of Micro Set and

Micro Sol setting

solutions.

The rust in both the metallic

areas of the tracks and the

places were the peels have

made the steel visible have

been painted using a mixture of

wood grain and deep orange.

The link’s shoes and wheel

bands, made of rubber, were

painted black.

- THOMAS, Nigel and ANDREW,Stephen. THOMAS, Nigel and ANDREW,Stephen, “El Ejército alemán 1939-1945(II)”, in Carros de combate nº 48, OspreyMilitary/RBA, Barcelona, 1999.- BUFFETAUT, Yves. “La guerre dudesert (I), Bir-Hakeim”, in MilitariaMagazine Hors Serie nº 3, Histoire &Collections, Paris, 1991.

- BUFFETAUT, Yves. “La guerre dudesert (II), Toboruk”, in MilitariaMagazine Hors Serie nº 6, Histoire &Collections, Paris, 1992.- GONZÁLEZ SÁNCHEZ, Fernando.“Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf. G” Panzer Aces nº 9(October-November 2005), AcciónPress, Madrid, pages. 2-21.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The trousers´ strips were painted red, highlights were made with

deep orange and flesh tone. Shades were made with a mixture of

red and Prussian blue. The effect of polished metal in the field

glasses was made with pencil graphite.

T H E B A S E


here is very little informationand just a few photographsavailable concerning this

vehicle. Also, the resultant vehicle neverpassed the prototype stage. The mechan-ical components were identical to the8x8Sd.Kfz. 234 series, although installedon a shorter chassis. The power plantused was a reliable Tatra 6 cylinder, air-cooled, 200hp diesel engine producing atop speed of 85 km/h. It weighed 7 tons.

It appears that the project was to con-centrate on two versions. The first onewas to be armed with a Flak 30 20mmmain armament and a coaxial 7.92 mmMG 34 installed in the same hexagonalturret as that used for the Sd.Kfz. 222.The second version was to be equippedwith a KwK 39 L/60 50 main armament,identical to that used on the Panzer IIIAusf. J/L, with the addition of a muzzlebrake, and a MG 34. This latter versionwas to be equipped with a closed turretand additional armour weighing an extraton that caused a small reduction inmaximum speed. Both versions wouldhave had a crew of four.

I used the Italeri Sd.Kfz. 234/1 andSd.Kfz. 234/2 kits as a basis for buildingthe two versions. It should, perhaps, bementioned that Dragon now has excel-lent kits of the 8x8 series that can alsobe used. In addition, I used a conversionkit from Azimut Productions of Francewith the polygonal turret of the Sd.Kfz.140/1, identical to that of the Sd.Kfz.234/1, combining pieces of resin, photo-etched brass and white metal. The nexttask was to steel myself for the task ofcorrecting the biggest problem, shorten-

Conversion/Italeri 1/35

In 1942, the Germans began a design study for a

wheeled armoured vehicle to replace the Sd.Kfz.

221, Sd.Kfz. 222, Sd.Kfz. 260 and Sd.Kfz. 261

family of light, four-wheeled reconnaissance

vehicles.

A S S E M B L YModel:

- Sd.Kfz. 234/1, Italeri ref. 294, 1/35scale.- Sd.Kfz. 234/2 “Puma”, Italeri ref.202, 1/35 scale.

Barrels:

- German 2 cm KwK 38, Jordi Rubioref. TG-22.

Conversión kit:

- Aufkl. Pz. 140/1 conversion set,Azimut Productions ref. 35108.

Photoetchs:

- Sd.Kfz. 234. Euromodelismo ref. 9.

Accesories:

- Jerrycans, Italeri ref. 402.- Bosch light, Modelkasten ref. M-7.

Figures:

- Different pieces of AzimutProductions ref. 35540 and Dragonref. 6029 with Hornet head refHGH1.

KIT USED

44

By: Agustín Lagartos CastellanoPhotographs by Basilio Tante Díaz

ing the chassis and body in thecorrect places. When I wasready, I armed myselfwith a saw and,with great

care, proceededto cut the model. Aftersanding both ends, I joined themand applied a generous layer of puttywhere necessary.

ING 44-48 SDKFZ 234:PzI.F 25/04/13 19:18 Página 44

45


The reconstruction process of bothmodels can be seen in the accompany-ing photographs. However, I will sum-marize the main differencesbetween them. In thecase of the vehicle

with the hexagonal turret, after buildingthe engine cover sides from 0.5mm Plas-ticard, I used several items from my

spare partsstore to scratch

build a new 20mm

46

The Italeri plastic turret was

completed with Azimut resin,

photo-etched and brass parts.

Sd.Kfz. 234 Ausf. 1. The hull

upper plate was made from

1mm Plasticard.

TAMIYA (acrylics)

XF-1 flat blackXF-2 flat whiteXF-4 yellow greenXF-5 flat greenXF-10 flat brownXF-57 buffXF-60 dark tellowXF-64 red brown

MODEL COLOR

(acrylics)

400 plastic putty510 glossy varnish520 matte varnish822 German cam. black brown871 leather brown877 goldbrown920 German uniform940 saddle brown950 black951 white

952 lemon yellow957 flat red968 flat green978 dark yellow982 cavalry brown997 silver

MIR (oils)

4 mixed white7 cadmium yellow deep hue32 cadmium red hue39 ivory black

41 yellow ochre45 raw umber46 burnt umber

REMBRANDT (pastels)

BlackBurnt umberYellow ochreRaw umber

MARABU (varnishes)

1108 matt varnish

COLOUR CHART

The model was

completed using Euromodelismo’s

photo-etch set, Italeri jerry cans and

Modelkasten headlights.

The figure was made up of Azimut

and Dragon parts and a Hornet head.

It was painted with German uniform

acrylic and oil paints.


gun, discarding some parts of the Italierikit and using others from the Azimutversion, including the photo-etchedmesh. I also replaced the gun barrel witha aluminium one from the Jordio Rubiorange. Next, I remade the mudguards forboth models.

Once this phase was complete, I pro-ceeded to detail both models: The weldseams were completed, the headlampsand cables were placed on their respec-tive bases, clearance rods were madefrom fine pins, and several parts addedfrom the photo-etch included in theEuromodelismo magazine about theSd.Kfz. 234. This photo-etch sheetincludes the spare wheel anchorage, thesupport base for the jerry cans and thetoolbox braces.

I gave both models a base coat ofTamiya acrylic dark yellow. For the cam-ouflage, I used both matt green and mattbrown. For the vehicle armed with the20mm gun, I hand painted blendedgreen stains, while I airbrushed biggerand more marked blotches on the other.

After allowing them to dry for about24 hours, I distributed rawumber earth oil paint wash-es onto both models tohighlight the volumes.

The mud is a mixture of

fine beach sand, white

glue, black and

natural umber

powdered

pastels, plastic

putty and

Model Color

gloss varnish.

The clearance rods were

made from fine pins and

hypodermic needles.

The blueing on the

weapons was done

using a mixture of

black and silver

acrylics.

Before applying the

mud, the model was

first given a coat

of matt varnish to

both eliminate

any shiny

areas and lessen

any contrasts.

The foliage, by Silfor, was

glued on with superglue.

PAINT WORK


48

Next, I profiled all the details using amixture of highly diluted black and burntumber earth oils and then waited a fur-ther 24 hours. Then, I marked all theedges by the dry brushing, colour-by-colour, rinsing it very lightly. For this, Iused Model Color brown leather, darkolive green and camouflage yellowacrylics, similar to the base colour andthe Tamiya camouflage blotches, butwith a lighter tone. The next phase wasthe weathering. First, I painted a fairamount of scratches and small usingModel Color dark brown. This was fol-lowed by blending the paint further andalso creating some vertical semi-transpar-ent dirt runs. I then added small portions

of oils in the usual fashion to create chro-matic richness.

After a further wait of 24 hours toallow the paint to dry, I airbrushed bothmodels with a coat of Marabu matt var-nish. After waiting a couple of hours Ibegan to add ‘atmosphere’ to the mod-els. For this, I applied a layer of dampmud, a mixture of fine beach sand, whiteglue, black and natural umber powderedpastels, plastic putty and Model Colorgloss varnish, to the lower part of thegreen camouflaged vehicleusing an old No.4 paint-

brush. A similar mixture of mudwas made for the other vehicle, but

in this case I used matt varnish in orderto make it look as if it had dried out. Ifinally added some Silflor leaves to add atouch of colour, gluing them on withmicro drops of superglue, imitating onone of them the heavy foliage patternthat the Germans used to camouflagetheir vehicles.

- SPIELBERGER, Walter J., “Diegepanzerten Radfahrzeuge”,Militärfahrzeuge nº 4, MotorbuchVerlag, Stuttgart, 1991.- PERRET, Bryan, ”German armouredcars and reconnaisance half-tracks1939- 45”, Vanguard nº 25. OspreyMilitary, London, 1982.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The engine ventilation grills were

outlined with black oil

paint using a fine

brush.

A weld seam made from putty

was added to the mantlet.

The dust on the tyres is powdered yellow ochre pastel

distributed with a No.2 paintbrush.

The decals were

supplied with the kit

which were fixed using the

Micro Sol system.


We start a new series of Model Laboratory with a Sd.Kfz.171 Panther and the intention of offer youan exhaustive step by step of the realization of this model kit, from the building to the painting.

Also you can find some profiles and a gallery with Panthers of several authors.

6€

32pag

Wellington House, 157 Snargate Street, Dover, Kent CT17 9BZwww.historexagents.com

Accion press

Historex Agents

C/Ezequiel Solana, 16 bajo, 28017 Madrid, Spainwww.euromodelismo.com/shop • [email protected]

2_Portada_PanteraING_62 ES Suscrip.qxd 21/04/13 19:09 Página 62

ING 50-61 MK-1:PzI.F 25/04/13 19:23 Página 50

By: Juan Luis Mercadal PonsPhotographs by the author and Rodrigo Hernández Cabos

Accurate Armour 1/35

In the midst of the north African

campaign, the managers of the

Associated Equipment Company Ltd,

which also manufactured the famous

London buses, received a leaked report

mentioning the inferiority of British

armour against the enemy.


he report stated that thearmoured vehic le crewswere adding guns on

improvised turrets to increase theirvehicles´ firepower, which were facto-ry armed with machineguns exclusive-ly. The company’s management decid-ed, by own initiative, to develop anarmoured car with a 2 pounder ( 40mm) gun and a 7,92 coaxially mountedmachinegun, both mounted on aValentine tank’s turret. The EAC proto-type was virtually a wheeled tank, hav-ing the same armour, firepower andweight of a medium tank. Some of thecomponents inc luded the 105 hpengine and chassis of the Matador guntractor, allowing the 11 ton vehicle amaximum speed of 58 km/h and arange of 402 km. The crew consistedof three men, the dimensions being

518 cm length, 255 cm height and 270cm width. Armour’s thick-ness was of 30 mm inthe hull and 65 mmin the turret.

The story of its purchase by theBritish army is odd: One of the proto-types was painted in bright coloursand placed close to where WinstonChurchill was going to hold a publicevent, with the intention of catchinghis attention. It worked, productionstarting during the autumn of 1941.After more than one year of pro-

duction, some improvements weremade to the vehicle. In the fol-lowing models, Mk. II and Mk.

52

Model:

- AEC Mk. I British WWII ArmouredCar, Accurate Armour ref. K55, 1/35scale.

Weaponry:

- 40 mm gun, Elefant Model Acces-sories ref. 35.345.- Besa 7.92, Incomparable Series ref.B 007.

Accesories:

- Antennas, Minimeca ref. 3501.- Military vehicles stowage, Verlin-den Productions ref. 1651.- Parts from the Matilda photoetch,Eduard ref. 35099.

Figures:

- Warriors ref. 35389.- Ultracast ref. 35027.

KITS USED

The silver coloured inside of the

headlamp has received a black

washing on the upper side and a

white one on the lower one.

Finally, a layer of clear acrylic

was applied.


III, the firepower was increased andthe front armour was redesigned. Theproduction of both models was rela-tively scarce, the few vehicles arrivingat the f ront were handed out toarmoured vehicle regiments, trying tohave an AEC for each section to rein-force the Humber y Marmon-Herring-ton cars, armed only with machine-guns. With the addition of the AEC,British reconnaissance units improvedtheir operational capacity, dependingin a lesser degree of support weapons.This giant was lethal against Germanand Italian light armoured vehicles,and was even respected by Panzer IItanks.

A word of caution when working

with resin

Resin models have advantages andinconveniences, raising confrontedfeel ings between those withcourage enough to work withthem. Some precautionarymeasures when workingwith resin are:

1. Always coveryour nose and

mouth with amask when cuttingor sanding, as theresin dust is toxic.Wet sandpaper is

a lways the bestoption.

2. To jo inpieces thatmust sus-ta in a greatamount of 53

A S S E M B L Y

All the white metal parts were

fixed together and to the resin

pieces using a fast drying two-

component glue called Araldit ,

assuring a solid union of all

parts.

The white metal

periscopes are included in

the kit. Rear view mirror

rods are made of steel.

Wheels have been drilled

to allow fixing of the bolts

that will hold the vehicle

to the base.


weight or tension, it is advisable touse epoxy type glue and never super-glue, as the latter is not as resistant tobumps or vibrations that the kit cansuffer during manipulation.

The Accurate Armour kit

The kit include resin, white metaland photo etched pieces, a tin rodand a strip of clear plastic. The bestparts are the photo etches, as the resinpieces show many faults, many burrsand are extremely fragile. Fittings aredefective, being necessary to makemany adjustments before fixing the

pieces together. In compensation forthat, some pieces show nice detailingand a level of perfection that is diffi-cult to find in plastic kits, so we won’tneed many accessories to add detail.Instructions, if they qualify for thename, are photocopies with a list ofparts, an assembly guide and somephotographs of the finished kit withthe superimposed numbers of eachpiece. It is shocking at first, but with abit of patience the assembly can bedone without mayor problems. Asalways, it is advisable to collect asmuch information as possible aboutthe vehicle. In this particular case, theinformation is quite scarce, as you cansee by the meagre bibliography.

Assembly and detailing

I will only mention the pieces thatare worth replacing or adding, as therest are assembled by just followingthe instructions, but remember thatcutting and sanding will be necessary.Weapons were replaced (see chart),due to the low quality of the piecesthat come with the kit. The final sec-tion of exhaust pipe was replaced by atin pipe. The supports of the ammuni-tion boxes around the turret were tak-en from a Matilda photo etch (seePanzer Aces /Armor Model nº 8). Thehandles of the engine covers weremade with wire and the closing leverswith stretched plastic. The headlampcables were made with copper wire.The antenna bases were detailed withpieces of hypodermic needles and tele-phone wire protective covers. Theantennas are stee l rods; the oneincluded is not long enough. The radioequipment No 19 used two antennas,

the main one consisted of three sec-tions of four feet each ( 3 x 3,48 cm1/35 scale) and the second antennawas 20 inches long (1,45 cm in 1/35scale). Other items, such as the cage for

the jer r ycans and the box that islocated over the rear mudguard, had tobe scratch-built with Evergreen plasticstripes and sheets. Another typicalpiece was the armoured guard near theturret base. I could not find a plasticprofile to represent this piece, but Iluckily managed to find a steel stripthat had the exact measurements I waslooking for. After cutting it and bend-ing to the appropriate angle, I fixed itcarefully for the correct vertical andhorizontal adjustment. Now I can saythat my AEC is a real armoured car!

The manufacturing period of theAEC Mk.1 was short, from the end of1941 to the beginning of 1943, thedate when the improved version AECMk.II entered active duty. The 120 carsthat were manufactured arr ived ontime to fight with the 8th army in themiddle east and in north Africa withthe 1ST army in Tunisia. Some carseven made it to Italy. Even if there was a possibility for

one of the first AEC Mk. I´s arriving tothe north African theatre to be paintedin the old Khaki Green G3 factor ycolour, the fact is that by that timeregulations called for a progressivereplacement for a dark khaki browncalled SCC2 Service Colour. Nev-

54

The base

colour has a

mixture of

50% white and

50% red brown,

while white

colour was added

for highlights.

The dark pre-

shadowing can be

observed in the

bas-reliefs.

Close up of the box, built with

different thickness plastic plates.

The cage for the jerrycans was

reproduced with 1,2 x 0,4 mm

sized Evergreen plastic stripes.

CAMOUFLAGECOLOURS


ertheless, all the vehicles were refur-bished for desert service in Egypt andrepainted in Light Stone 61 (clear yel-low sand) or Portland Stone 64 (palegreyish sand). Once the cars arrivedto their units, a second disruptivecolour could be applied, usually Slate34 (pale greyish green), SCC7 DarkGreen (dark olive drab) or SCC14Black (bluish black). Many othercolours were used with a multitude ofpatterns. The reason was that regula-tions allowed large units to have acer ta in degree of f reedom in theapplication of the second colour.Other vehicles remained without anycamouflage, as observed in periodphotographs.Another colour, SCC11b Desert

P ink, was int roduced in October1942. As with Light Stone 61, a sec-ond one was to be used as a

55

First washings to imitate dust

were made with buff and desert

yellow.

The periscopes glass was decorated

first with dark Prussian and later

with clear acrylics.


disruptive camouflage colour. The des-ignated colour was SCC7 Dark Green.If unavailable, SCC14 Black, SCC1aVery Dark Brown (chocolate) or Slate34 could be used. To prevent a camou-flage anarchy, specific patterns werecarefully established for each type ofcar. Less tactical valued vehicles hadno second colour applied. RegardingArmoured vehicles, per iod photosshow specimens with and withoutcamouflage blotches. The vehicles that took part in the

Tunisian landings of November 1942with the 1st army, had a factory SCC2Service Colour finish. It is also knownthat some vehic les were g iven animprovised camouflage in the form of acrude mud application or any availablecolour, like CC14 Black or SCC1a VeryDark Brown dur ing theTunisian campaign. AEC Mk. Icars were present in some ofthe units that disembarked inTunisia, like the 1st Derbyshire

Yeomanry, part of the 6th ArmouredDivision.A new regulat ion of Apr i l 1943

called for the use of SCC5 Light Mudcolour as a base tone and SCC14 Blackas a disruptive colour. At least oneunit with AEC Mk. I cars used thisnew scheme, as photographs taken inSyria clearly show. The few AEC Mk. I that arrived in

Sicily and the Italian mainland kepttheir old desert camouflage, like therest of the invasion forces. Vehiclesusually remained with this paint unlessthey were taken to the rear for repair orin the case of a unit reorganization.

I decided to represent a vehiclebelonging to the 2nd Derbyshire Yeo-manry, 4th Lt. Armoured Brigade, 7thArmoured Division in north Africa atthe end of 1942, painted with SCC11bDesert Pink.

Priming: I started by adding a skygrey priming coat to the kit. This allowedbetter observation of faults, which werecorrected by sanding and applying putty.Priming also allowed the following paintsto have a better adherence to the differ-ent kit’s materials.

Pre-shadowing: I first used flatblack to completely cover the greycolour, paying more attention on thetyres, being their final colour. Next Iused a highly diluted colour in succes-sive coats, creating transparencies thata l lowed the b lack co lour to seethrough in p laces l ike angles and

Rear view mirrors were made

with metallic wrapping

gift paper, fixed with

white glue and given a

buff washing.

PAINTWORK


bends, adding a natura l shadoweffect. I used a mixture of red brownand flat earth, which combined neatlywith the base colour. I later tookadvantage of this.

Base colour and highl ights:After checking the references andmaking several trials, I managed toobtain the Desert Pink colour quiteeasily: I mixed the same amounts ofred brown and white . After spreadingthis colour being careful not to coverthe previous shadows, I added whitepaint to the mixture for highlights.The many angles of the kit allowed meto create nice contrasts , I evenincreased the panelling effect in someplaces with the help of masking tape.At first the contrast between the high-lights, the base coat and the shadowsseemed too strong, but further treat-ments helped to obtain a perfecteffect. For the last highlights, the tonewas slightly changed: Adding a smallamount of red brown, I went throughhigh t rans i t a reas, l ike the zonesaround the hatches, while buff wasadded to paint those areas with dustaccumulations. Using the latter mix-ture I added vertical strokes in thesloped surfaces. All these layers werepainted with highly di luted paint,using the airbrush. At this point themodel showed interesting blends, vol-umes, shadows and slight sand andfilth accumulations. This made thepaintbrush phase easier.

Markings: I consider that the bestmoment to apply markings is r ightbefore star ting with the aging andweathering processes. British crewsscarcely marked their vehicles in theAfrican theatre of operations. Manyhad only the military numerals. Ourvehicle bears the insignia of the 7thArmoured Division, the famous desertrat, a Tamiya decal. The armoured reg-iment that was part of the Divisionduring the battle of El Alamein was the

2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry, bearing ablack number 76 painted over greenand white rectangles as the tacticalmark. After airbrushing the rectanglesus ing masking tape, I f ixed theDecadry brand transfers. Before fixingthe transfers and decals, I applied clearacrylic paint on the places were theywould be located, adding a coat ofmatte varnish after they were fixed inplace. This was done to protect themfrom subsequent treatments.

Dust, dirt, brushes and peels: FirstI applied washings of highly diluted buff,desert yellow acrylics and light dust pig-ments, making sure they fixed to bendsand around the rivets. Sloped areas werepainted with vertical runs, using coloursalternately, fading the edges and slightlymounting one run over the other. Rustruns and filth were painted with redbrown and NATO brown.I star ted removing the previous

effects in horizontal areas and edges,

Treatment continues with more

washings and adding light dust

pigments. Filth runs are visible on

the side plates.

TAMIYA (acrylics)

X-10 gun metalX-22 clearXF-1 flat blackXF-2 flat whiteXF-5 flat greenXF-19 sky greyXF-20 medium greyXF-49 khakiXF-52 flat earthXF-57 buffXF-59 desert yellowXF-64 red brownXF-68 NATO brown


899 dark Prussian

982 cavalry brown

MODEL AIR (acrylics)

059 matte varnish

MIR (oils)

41 yellow ochre47 raw sienna48 burnt sienna

MIG PRODUCTIONS

(pigments)

P023 black smokeP027 light dustP029 brick dust

COLOUR CHART

57


more exposed to brushes. I usually useabrasive tools, like hard-bristle paint-brushes, scourging pads, f ibreglasspenci ls and rubber erasers , eventhough good resul ts can a lso beachieved with a sof t pa intbrush,adding water and a few drops of thin-ner. Natural looking peels appeared inthe areas where I used the above men-tioned tools, and thanks to the colour

range I had applied below the DesertPink coat, they looked quite realistic. Ihad achieved the “kneading” appear-ance in some areas that I was lookingfor. At the same time, this treatmentallowed the dust and filth to be placedin the correct places. I repeated thepainting and erasing operation severalt imes unti l I obtained the desi redeffect.

I t might seem a chaotic way ofpainting, but it allows a high degree ofcontrol and causes only slight alter-ation to the base colour, an importantissue for me. This method lets youpaint, model and add texture at thesame time. Rubbed-out zones have ashiny appearance and dust accumula-tions present realistic volumes. Scrapesand peels made with a blade show a

58

An eraser and a

hard bristle

paintbrush were

used to remove

the dust from

bends and

curves. The

undersides

received a mud

treatment using

a mixture of

brick dust and

light dust

pigments.


natural texture. Pigment dust effectsare surprising, as they don’t alwayshold to all surfaces in a n even man-ner. As an example, the l ight dustcolour is easily removed, while theblack smoke pigment, even i f dr yapplied, has a perfect adherence. It isthus important to make small trialsand add a bit of matte varnish to thosepigments that have low adherence.Next I highl ighted the previous

effects by painting bends and peelswith some of the colours I had usedexcept black, because this last colourproduces a strong contrast in such alight painted vehicle. I dry-brushed thetyres with medium grey to highlightthe wheel patterns. Petrol stains onthe engine area were painted withdiluted brown and a few drops of clearacrylic paints In places were continu-ous rubbing and brushing has leftareas of exposed metal, I used pencilgraphite to imitate the effect. Element and equipment painting: I

painted elements and equipments indifferent colours, just like in photos of

real life vehicles. The most commonlyused were Stone, Bronze Green, orDunkelgrau. I used a piece of khakidressing to represent a camouflage net,and an aluminium strip to imitate can-vas. A chain and a naval modellingrope were enough to complete the dec-oration. All the different elements wereplaced in a logical manner, those

that couldn’t be stored safely had to betied or soldered to the vehicle.

After carefully checking the figuresin my drawer, I decided for the threethat were better adapted to the

armoured car. The figures in the

The inside of the hatches

were painted with flat earth

while a mixture of clear and

NATO brown paints was used

for the pads.

- STARMER, Mike and COOPER,Mike, British AFV Camouflage1939/1945. M.A.V.F.A.http://www.mafva.org.uk/Tankette.asp

- Flames Of War, British ArmouredCar Squadrons.http://fow.flamesofwar.com

INFORMATION ON THE NET

F I G U R E S


tur ret are f rom the Warr ior brand,while the driver is an Ultracast brandfigure. All of them are highly detailed,which makes painting much easier. Ionly had to modify the turret figures,changing the arms and hands posi-

tions to adapt them to the kit. I addedthe radio operator’s headphone bandusing a copper strip; the headphonecables and the revolver’s lanyard weremade with sewing thread. They werepainted using Model Color acrylics

with the usual highlight and shadowtechnique.

The ter rain is a s imple plywoodbase, a layer of Das Pronto was spreadon the surface to add volume. I fixedfine sand and pebbles before it dried. Itwas painted with a mixture of buff and

60

- Several authors.Contribution to Victory, TheAssociated Equipment Co.Southall, .- Several authors. “BritishArmoured Cars”, in GroundPower nº 42, DeltaPublishing Co. Tokyo, 1997.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The terrain was modelled with Das Pronto; fine sand and small pebbles were

fixed with water diluted white glue.

T H E B A S E


white, adding textures with selectivewashings of burnt s ienna, ye l lowochre and raw umber. To f inish, Iapplied a mixture of desert yellow andwhite with the dry brush technique.The last touch consisted in addingsome vegetation.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank Daniel Pomar forhanding me the kit and part of theinformation needed to complete it.

61

The exhaust pipe was painted first

with cavalry brown and later with

black smoke pigment.

The machinegun was painted with

gun metal acrylic paint and later

profiled with highly diluted black.

Bends and curbs were rubbed

with graphite.

After

airbrushing a

couple of coats

with a mixture

of buff and

white, several

glazings were

applied with

highly diluted

oil paints. The

pebbles were

highlighted

using the dry

brush

technique.


62

Vehicle weathering with mud

B y : J a v i e r R e d o n d o J i m é n e zP h o t o g r a p h s b y t h e a u t h o rMODELLING LESSONS

There is still a wide

sector of modellers

who think that the

creation of extreme

wear effects are done

with the sole purpose

of hiding mistakes

Hence the reason

some decide to do

immaculate, tidy

finishes for their

vehicles, as if they

just came out of the

production line.

oth concepts, e ither theheavy filth and staining orthe clean finish are valid. I

personally prefer the first option,because i t a l lows the model toachieve a nice visual presence, apartfrom hiding assembly mistakes. Wemust always remember when assem-bling and painting a kit that realismmust be balanced with v isualappeal. One of the most fashionableweathering effects is creating mud,a technique developed time ago byMiguel Jiménez.

I usually follow the steps shownin the accompanying photos when Is imulate mud. The process isexpla ined in the footnotes. Thetones obviously change dependingon the type of terrain, and bothresin and gloss varnishes can beadded to the basic mud mixture ifthe intention is to represent wet orcaked mud.

Plaster (fine filtered

plaster can also be

used), pigments,

white glue and a

container to mix the

ingredients.

The powdered

pigments are placed

in the container

together with the

plaster and mixed.

After adding a few

drops of water, some

Model Color 872 Brown

chocolate acrylic paint

and some white glue to

retard the drying

process and add

adherence, the mixture

is stirred with a fine

arts spatula, until a

thick consistent paste is

achieved.

ING 62-63 AULA barro:AULA 25/04/13 19:28 Página 62

63

Apply the paste in a rational way

to the undersides of the vehicle

using the spatula, especially in

those areas prone to mud

accumulation.

In order to achieve an

uneven appearance, a

hard-bristle paintbrush

can be used to peck the

surface. If the mixture’s

consistency is correct

(without too much

water), it will remain in

place when dry.

Don’t worry if

the mixture

seems a little

dark at the

beginning, as it

clears up

considerably

when it dries.

Dust pigments are then added with the help of a soft-bristle

paintbrush. Dark tones are placed on the sides, while lighter

ones are painted on the centre, softly spreading them with

the paintbrush.

To fix the pigments to the area where they were

applied, a few drops of Humbrol enamel solvent

will be enough.

The final effect

can be seen after

the solvent has

dried. More

pigments can be

added if you are

not satisfied with

the results,

adding solvent to

fix them in place.

This process can

be repeated as

many times as

necessary.

ING 62-63 AULA barro:AULA 25/04/13 19:28 Página 63

64

Publishing ManagerRodrigo Hernández Cabos

Executive DirectorRicardo Recio Cardona

Editor in ChiefCarlos de Diego Vaquerizo

Translated byGustavo Cano Muñoz

Edited byIan Parsons

Have collaborated in this issue:Javier Redondo JiménezOctavio Díez CámaraAbilio Piñeiro GrajeraAgustín Pacheco FernándezAgustín Lagartos CastellanoJuan Luis Mercadal PonsPhotographersRodrigo Hernández CabosBasilio Tante Díaz

IllustrationsCarlos de Diego Vaquerizo

Lay OutKOMMAD S.L.Juanita Bagés Villaneda

Printed byIBERGRAPHIC 2002

Scanning & FilmsettingACCIÓN PRESS, S.A.José Ignacio Pérez LozanoRaúl Fernández Ruiz

Computer GraphicsJosé Ignacio Pérez Lozano

Editorial and Technical Staff,Administration and AdvertisingACCIÓN PRESS, S.A.c/Ezequiel Solana, 1628017 MadridTel.: 913 675 708

914 086 135Fax: 914 085 [email protected]

SubscriptionsNorth American Subscriptions:MMD-Squadron1115 Crowley DriveCarrollton, Texas 75011-5010USA

In Spain: Andrés Fernández ReyeroTel. +34 913 675 708

Published byACCIÓN PRESS, S.A

ISSN: 1886-4457

The reproduction of the imagesand texts is prohibited, using anycurrent or future technicalmedium without written consentof the author. ACCION PRESS,S.A. does not necessarily supportits collaborators’ opinions.

GREAT CONTRASTS

In our continuous effort to offer modelling contrasts to our readers, we have managedto prepare an issue with a mixture of rare and classic models. Oddly enough, the firstarticle is neither of them. Of all the scarce range of World War II tank kits, the Whippet is,without a doubt, an interesting piece both because its size and features, as Javier Redondoshows us with his hyper realistic modelling work on this rare pioneer vehicle.

Nowadays, when is seems that detailing is an absolute necessity, a sudden feel forassembling a kit like the classic KV-1 arises. This out-of-the-box assembly was made byAbilio Piñeiro and includes a very realistic painting. We are certain that this article willsatisfy those impatient modellers who like to build their kits as soon as possible.

Rommel was the military man that took the concept of “Alexandrian war”, developedby Alexander the Great, to new levels. He obtained spectacular results in all the battlesthat he fought, especially considering the small amount of equipment and scare suppliesat his disposal. However, just as Alexander in India, he had to retreat due to theimpossibility of defeating a much bigger army opposing him. Agustin Pacheco Fernándezhas made a homage to this German military man with a figure, whose excellent paintingjob is explained in the article.

Now lets deal with the rarities. It’s about two versions of the reconnaissance Sd.Kfz.234 prototype that never made it to the to the factory, due to the manufacture of similarvehicles that were better adapted to the needs of the German Army. They were made byAgustín Lagartos. Rarely seen kits are always refreshing.

Another rarity is the AEC Mk. 1, the most effective armoured car of the allied arsenalduring World War II. The scarce production has made this vehicle less appealing tomodellers. Not to Juan Luis Mercadal, who has made an excellent and interesting model.

The closing article is about the frequently used but hardly well executed mudweathering. We hope you like this atypical issue and that you enjoy the variations.

Rodrigo Hernández Cabos

editorialeditorial

ING STAFF:ESP STAFF 25/04/13 19:31 Página 64

Documents

Panzer Aces No.23.pdf