Modeller Cover 1_Layout 1 11/08/2016 09:00 Page 1

MODELLER one

Revell’s U-190
Type IX C/40 U-boat

Tamiya 1/35
Jagdpanzer IV/L70
Tank destroyer
Technique: mud and rust • Scratchbuild diorama: Colossus of Rhodes
DeAgostini 1:12 scale Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb
Modeller Cover 1_Layout 1 11/08/2016 09:01 Page 2

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01-Editorial_pp3-7_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 16:08 Page 3

mod el l er : 1

CONTENTS
4: Editorial.
5: Modeller Biographies.
8: Revell 1/72nd
U-190 Type IX.
22: Mini Video Reviews.
24: FineMolds Deckel FP1
Milling Machine.
34: Miniature FX–
‘Destroying Picher‘.
Editor-In-Chief/Co-Publisher: Michael G. Reccia. 46: DeAgostini 1/12th
Art Editor/Co-Publisher: David Openshaw. Supermarine Spitfire
Marketing: Jane Kneen. partwork–part 1.
Modelling Team: Gary Welsh, Jason Gares, 56: Scratchbuild–‘Colossus
Andy Pearson, Gary Roberts, of Rhodes‘ diorama.
Iain Costall, Barry Ford. 64: Tamiya 1/35th
Jagdpanzer IV/L70
Cover images: Gary Welsh, Gary Roberts. Tank Destroyer.
94: Weathering Techniques –
Published by Happy Medium Press. Airfix 1/12th ‘Shaun the
Copyright © 2016. Sheep’ with Land
web: www.modelermagazine.co.uk Rover.
editorial email: info@modelermagazine.co.uk

All rights reserved. This book may not
be reproduced in whole or in part without
written permission from the Publishers,
except by a reviewer who may quote
brief passages in a review, nor may any
part of the book be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or
other, without written permission from
the Publishers.
The views expressed by our contribu-
tors are not necessarily shared by Happy
Medium Press. Every care is taken to en-
sure that the contents of Modeller maga-
zine are accurate, but the Publishers can-
not accept responsibility for errors. Re-
sponsibility for correct copyrighting of
photographs, artwork and illustration lies
with the contributor. All copyrights are
acknowledged. Reasonable care is taken
when accepting advertising. However,
the Publishers cannot take any responsi-
bility for any resulting unsatisfactory
transactions, or any inaccuracies con-
tained within the ads themselves.
The Publishers and the authors (con-
tributors) take no responsibility for any
harm or injury to the reader as a result of
using the techniques described in this
publication. Safety and common sense
should always be foremost when using
these techniques and materials. Read all
instructions on tools, paint, glues and all
chemicals. Hobby knifes are very sharp
and serious injury can result from im-
proper use. Your work area should be
well ventilated at all times. Children
should be supervised at all times by an
adult familiar with hobby safety. Please
note that all hints, tips and procedures in
this publication are given in good faith
and based on actual experience. How-
ever, neither the Publishers nor the au-
thors (contributors) can be responsible if
something goes wrong during construc-
tion.

3
01-Editorial_pp3-7_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 16:08 Page 4
m o d e ll er: 1
Modeller: birth of a notion
For as long as I
can remember
I’ve been fasci-
Editorial
nated by the art
of recreating ob-
jects in minia-
ture. I grew up
with the TV se-
ries of Gerry An-
derson, and fell
head over heels
with the hard-
ware created
for those pro-
grammes and the way in which the studio miniatures
featured in them had been painstakingly panelled,
weathered and detailed to create the illusion of re-
ality.
Some twenty-plus years ago this passion led to
the publication of Sci-fi & fantasy models, a monthly
newsstand magazine created and co-published by
myself and a certain Mr. David Openshaw, business
partner, talented designer and good friend for many
decades as I write this. In 2006 Dave and myself
launched a new title – Sci-fi & fantasy modeller – a
quarterly ‘mook’ (half magazine, half book) which is
currently enjoying its 42nd issue and was recently
also made available in digital form.
...And producing a digital version set us to
thinking.
Could our fascination with and love for all types of
modelling possibly allow us to give form, via the
digital platform, to an entirely new type of generic
modelling magazine? Hopefully the volume you’re
viewing at this very moment answers that question
with a solid ‘yes’. Modeller, the end product of our
wonderings and of months of development, takes
full advantage of its all-digital format to bring you
not only words and pictures, but hi-def video
sequences and photo galleries too, meaning that,
uniquely, our modeller-writers are also modeller-
4
presenters, and that not only can you read this mag,
you can also watch it. Indeed, Volume 1 contains
hours of video footage, offering, we hope you’ll
agree, quite a bit of extra bang for your buck.
Modeller’s tag line is ‘for the love of modelling’ –
chosen because it pretty much sums up the ethos
of the title and our reasons for producing it. We
intend to feature all types of modelling project in
these pages, from IP kits and conversions to
scratchbuilding, diorama builds to film and TV
special FX models. We’ll also approach subjects
from all skill levels, too, so the novice modeller, the
professional, and those of us in between should find
something of interest in each edition. As to subject
matter - well, absolutely nothing is off limits. If it can
be represented in miniature it has a place in this
title...
...As does one other vital concept I’ve forgotten to
mention – one that can be distilled into a single
word: fun. After all, that’s what our hobby’s all
about, isn’t it? We therefore hope you’ll have as
much fun reading and watching Volume 1 as we’ve
had putting it together – and that you’ll sense our
writer-presenters are having fun with their projects
and find them fun to tune into.
Thank you for reading this first issue, and please
do join us again in three months time. We’d also be
delighted to hear from you and, if you can build,
write about and video models, no matter what your
specialisation, there might just be an opportunity for
you to join our merry band.
Comments and enquiries can be sent to us at:
info@modelermagazine.co.uk
Take care till next time.
Michael G. Reccia
Editor-In-Chief
Happy Medium Press
www.happymediumpress.co.uk
01-Editorial_pp3-7_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 16:08 Page 5
Andy Pearson (UK): a mercifully brief biography
Bald, old, overweight,
excessively fond of
liquids produced through
fermentation – all words that
have been used to describe
freelance writer and model
maker Andy Pearson, often
by his family.
In terms of the relationship
between the writing and model
building, they are both somewhat
intertwined.
I’ve been a freelance writer for
more years than some readers
will have been on the planet and
I’ve built models, not always very
successfully, for considerably
longer than that. Both disciplines
work in a similar way. Freelance
work has been described as
Born in 1971 and raised in
Milwaukee, WI, Jason grew up
going to movies and watching
SF TV shows. Based on his love
for what he saw on both the big
and small screens he eventually
discovered the world of drawing,
cartooning and model kit build-
ing as a way to take those
beloved characters and vehicles
and make them part of his sur-
roundings.
modelling TEAM BIOGR A P H I ES
being like prostitution, inasmuch
as the freelancer rents by the
hour and the client decides what
he or she is going to do. There is,
however, the saving grace of
being able to say ‘no, thank you’.
There is a degree of similarity
with the model building, as a
significant part of that entails
being presented with a kit and
asked to build and review it. The
chances of me saying ‘no’ in
those circumstances are slim,
although I have been known to
make little mewling noises when
asked to make yet another Star
Trek USS Enterprise.
I terms of preferences when it
comes to models I suppose my
first love is scratchbuilding,
which gives free-rein to the
imagination and avoids those
potentially embarrassing
encounters with well-meaning
people who are keen to point out
that one has missed a rivet off a
turret.
Jason C. Gares (USA)
Graduating from high school in
1990 and earning an Associates
Degree in Graphic Arts in 1992,
Jason decided to become a free-
lance teacher of the arts to many
people, both formally and non-
formally. From teaching disad-
vantaged inner-city children to
seasoned professionals, Jason
has taught people from many
I’ve enjoyed resin, injection
moulded and vac-formed kits and
even, on occasion, built things
from paper and card. In the
interests of balance I’ve also
come across kits of those types
that I’ve loathed, but too few of
them to mention.
Sculpting in clay is something I
enjoy greatly and is probably an
interest that I inherited from my
late father, although he was quite
good at it. I am not particularly
accomplished in this area but I
find simply pushing clay around
rather therapeutic and
sometimes people have even
recognised what my efforts
represent. I suspect there’s an
element of the infinite number of
monkeys syndrome at work
there.
In the case of both my writing
and model building I have the
rare privilege of being paid to do
it which, as I’ve observed on
many occasions, beats having a
proper job and I do get to meet
some wonderful and interesting
people.
5
01-Editorial_pp3-7_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 16:08 Page 6
m o d e ll er: 1
walks of life and continues to do
so through his library of Video
Workbench instructional DVDs
and free on-line videos located
at the  Video Workbench
YouTube channel.
Throughout his 20s Jason did
commission work for everyone
from friends to independent film
makers, fine-tuning his kit building
skills to the point of feeling ready
to compete against some of
America’s greatest modellers.
In 2004 he entered his first mod-
el kit building competition, a
HobbyTown USA show ... the first
time he would be judged by fellow
model kit builders on his building
and painting skills. At the end of
the competition Jason took home
Modeller Bio: Gary Roberts (USA).
An American Miniatures Artist in Europe...
Stats:
Years in the Hobby: 50
DOB: 22 February 1955 (61 years
old on 22 Feb, 2016)
POB: Hialeah, Florida, USA
Ethnic: American Indian/Irish
Family: 2 Sisters, 3 Brothers (all
younger), 1 Daughter, 2 Sons.
6
first, second and third place prizes
for his various efforts.
One of his proudest moments
was when his Terminator model
was showcased in the FineScale
Modeler publication Great Scale
Modeling 2008 from an entry in
the 2007 Wonderfest competition
in Louisville, KY as one of the
Best in Show for that publication.
From 2004-7 he competed in
many modelling competitions and
won numerous awards – in total
15 Merits, 9 Blue ribbons, 12 Red
ribbons, 3 White ribbons, 7
medals, 9 First Place Trophies, 4
Second Place Trophies and 3
Third Place Trophies. Finally,
judged by a closed panel of pro-
fessional IPMS judges going by
Married/Divorced twice.
Resident Status: US Citizen.
Czech Republic Temp. Residency,
eligible for Permanent Living in
Czech Republic w. Wife (Brenda).
Education: High School, Univer-
sity of Miami/Lowe School of Art.
Military: US Army, Armoured
Tank Crewman, Early ‘80s. Hon-
orable Discharge ‘82, E4.
Professional Experience:
Professional Artist/Illustrator/
Commercial Graphics Artist... Mo-
tion Picture Art Director/Produc-
tion Designer/Effects Artist/Prop
and Set Design and Construction;
Key Illustrator/Storyboard Artist,
Film And Video Production.
Has worked with several inde-
their strict guidelines and rules,
his Science Fiction Vehicle Best
in Show plaque at the 2007 IPMS
Mad City Modelers show was
won for his rendition of the Time
Machine prop from the 1960
movie. He then retired from com-
petition.
Since 2007 Jason has produced,
directed and featured in a series
of instructional videos allowing
modellers to learn his techniques.
In 2011 he took ownership
of Video Workbench to continue
teaching new, as well as seasoned,
modellers and extend the fine
tradition that the Video Work-
bench line of instructional videos
began in 1992.
pendent film producers, high-end
graphics/print producers, includ-
ing Disney/MGM, Warner Broth-
ers Animation Merchandising,
Warner Bros. Records, Geffen
Records.
Production Designer/Effects Co-
ordinator: Scarecrows (1984)
Action/Horror, Feature Film.
Effects Coordinator: Shallow
Grave (1985) Crime Drama, Fea-
ture Film.
Effects Coordinator: Deadly
Rivals (1989) Crime Drama, Fea-
ture Film.
Professional Musician. Electric/
Acoustic Guitarist. Bassist, Drum-
mer, Vocalist.
Professional Audio Engineer, 10
years managing a hi-end sound
company in Miami, Fl.
01-Editorial_pp3-7_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 16:08 Page 7
Owner/President of New Age
Arts & Sciences Inc., a US Cor-
poration.
Secondary: Trained and experi-
enced mechanic and machinist,
engine builder and general me-
chanic auto and truck. Specialist
in High Performance/Racing Mo-
torcycles, 2 stroke and 4 stroke
types; specialist in Road
Racing/GP machines.
Barry Ford (UK)
Barry hails from
Radcliffe, Manchester
U.K. and specialises in
figure kits and scratch
built dioramas. He is
the author of the best
selling book How to
Build Better Dioramas.
Here Barry introduces
himself...
Iain began modelling in the six-
ties, spending his pocket money
on Airfix and Revell aircraft and
cars, and since then he’s built
models as a hobby for over forty-
five years. In that time he’s mod-
elled every genre and every
scale. In the ‘70s and ‘80s Iain
found himself hugely influenced
by Francois Verlinden and Shep
Paine, and began to develop his
own weathering style based on
techniques garnered from the
pages of their diorama books. His
modelling TEAM BIOGR A P H I ES
Hobbies ing articles for modelling web-
Scale Models: Military Vehicles, sites. Will soon be marketing kits,
WW2, and soldier figures, Diora- tools, and instructional books on
mas. Some modern armour and Scale Modeling.
aircraft. Prefers 1/35 Scale. Spe-
cialising in superdetailing, up- Motorcycles: Road racing, build-
grading, scratchbuilt details—his- ing, restoring, racing vintage
torical accuracy and research a Japanese race bikes. ‘Retired’
high priority. Currently runs from active on-track racing due
ModelTankShop.com FaceBook to age and injuries.
page and building the
ModelTankShop.com website.
Currently doing commissioned
model builds for collectors, writ-
Gary R. Welsh (UK)
Gary lives by the coast
in Cromer, Norfolk, UK
with his wife Andrea
and two new cats. He
is the author of the
best selling book Epic
Scale Sci-Fi Modelling.
And now over to
Gary...
Iain Costall (UK)
favourite subject has always been partment in
science fiction, and in recent a local Fur-
years he has attempted to incor- ther Educa-
porate many of the superdetailing tion college
and weathering techniques more and lectures
commonly associated with mili- in Construc-
tary modelling into his sci-fi builds tion, draw-
and dioramas, along with elec- ing on his
tronics and lighting to help bring experience
the models to life. as a time-
served cabinetmaker and furniture
By day he runs a very busy de- designer.
7
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 16:04 Page 8

m o d e ll er: 1

RAISE THE BLACK FLAG

Building Revell’s 1/72nd U-190 Type IX

B
Text and images by ack in 2004 I built and
Gary R. Welsh reviewed (for Scale
Models International)
an at the time revolu-
UK MODELLER: tionary kit from Revell : a Type
SUBMARINE VII C U-boat in the eye-watering
scale of 1/72nd, which deservedly
www.revell.de/en won many plaudits around the
world, as well as being pro-
claimed kit of the year in many
countries. It also spawned three
amended toolings that covered
the major variants of the Type VII
– all for under £60 each.
Before this kit was made avail-
able the only way to get an accu-
rate U-boat in this scale was by
acquiring the Amati Type VII B, a
mixed media kit weighing in at
nearly £300!
Four years later Revell amazed
us a second time by producing a

8
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:06 Page 9

Na u ti ca l

1 2

3 4

5 6

1: Specified holes are drilled out on the conning tower halves.

2: More holes are drilled out on the hull to accommodate the handrails.
3: A second set of different sized holes are drilled out for the other conning tower half.
4: The final holes are drilled for the rudders to be fitted.
5: To protect the torpedo tube door openings, Revell have added some strengthening gates that need to be carefully removed with a
good set of shears.
6: The internal fore and aft torpedo tube assemblies. The detail is outstanding and deserves to be shown off on the finished model.

9
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:07 Page 10

m o d e ll er: 1

7 8 9

10 11 12

13 14 15

7: The rear hull halves are held together via a bulkhead, conveniently marked for correct orientation.
8: The second bulkhead sits just forward of the hull join, considerably strengthening the join area. Again it’s marked front and back...
9: The passive sonar array comprises of three parts that locate into the forward hull area.
10: The passive sonar fitted. The fit is OK but poor when compared to the rest of the kit’s fit, so filling and sanding will be required.
11: The rear hull parts are glued together, sandwiching in the rear torpedo tube detail, and the drive gear anchor points are secured in place
with tape until the glue is cured. The drives and screw placements are not glued but used to make sure that all is square.
12: Drive gear anchor points in place. Now the rear hull can be joined to the forward half.
13: Superglue is flowed into the joins on the hull parts and set with activator.
14: The schnorkel trench bulkhead needs to be attached to the hull side before adding the deck plates.
15: The completed hull sitting on its stand awaiting the addition of the decks.

spectacular 1/72nd Gato Class
sub. Then, in 2015, they hit the
bulls eye again by releasing a Type
IX U-boat (in the guise of the leg-
endary U505). A mere 6 months
later and an amended tooling of
this kit has appeared, offering us
the most successful of the Type
IX variants... and this modeller
cannot wait to get started on it.
list. Revell’s new Type IX C/40 kit
consists of 215 parts spread
across 10 sprues with a small de-
cal sheet and a wound of Black
Thread... (See Video 1).

I have every one of the 1/72nd Designed from the start as

submarine kits that Revell have
released, and when the Editor
1
told me that Revell would be sup-
plying kits for Modeller to review,
this kit was at the very top of my
long range commerce raiders,
Type IX U-boats were the most
successful type produced by the
Kriegsmarine in terms of tonnage
sunk. The C/40 type (of which

10
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:07 Page 11

Na u t i ca l

16 17

18 19

20 21

16: Some of the moulding is a bit rough in places, as shown in this close-up shot of the screws. Careful sanding and filing is required here.

17: The rear control surfaces are cleaned up and checked for fit – which is very good. I then stripped this area down to aid painting.

18: The rear control surfaces stripped off the hull ready for painting.

19: Some filler was needed around the passive sonar and keel. To be fair this was the only area that required filler.

20: The rear of the hull keel being sanded smooth.

21: The main components of the conning tower assembled.

11
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:07 Page 12
m o d e ll er: 1
22: Following some stressful repair work, the
Winter Garden handrails were built on the
conning tower and held in place overnight
to make sure the glue was completely
cured.
23: The Winter Garden railings are removed
from the conning tower in readiness for
painting.
24: The kit’s AA armament is stunning. Here
the barrels are left off until painting is
completed.
25 & 26: The fit of the conning tower and
schnorkel are test fitted to make sure all is
good before painting starts.
27: Close-up of the schnorkel assembly. Again
I have nothing but praise for the fit and the
schnorkel itself is designed to operate on
the finished model.
28: The schnorkel is located in place with this
simple bracket.
29: Careful assembly is needed to complete the
periscope assembly if you want it to operate.
30: The bracket for holding the schnorkel in
place is Blu-Tack-ed into position in
readiness for painting.
12
U-167 was the first) was laid
down in 1941, becoming opera-
tional from mid 1942 onwards,
and had many improved features
over the standard Type IXC in-
cluding improved emergency div-
ing characteristics. It was also the
first of the Type IXs built from the
start without the fast firing deck
105mm gun and the larger ‘winter
garden’ to accommodate a
greater contingency of AA
weaponry. As per the previous
Type IX C kit, only one U-boat is
catered for in this kit, that being
U-190 – albeit in both end of war
and allied colour (or should that
be grey tone) schemes.
U-190 was launched on 8th
June 1942, commissioning in
September of that year. She was
refitted with a schnorkel between
March and August 1944 and sank
the very last allied ship off the
American Atlantic seaboard on
16th April, 1945.
She surrendeed to Royal
Canadian forces on 11th May
1945 along with boat U-889 (also
a Type IX C/40) as part of opera-
tion Black Flag, introduced by the
victorious Allies to facilitate sur-
render at sea for U-boats and
crews.
U-boat history is somewhat of
a passion of mine... a subject
about which I could bore for
some considerable time. For
those of you who would like to
22 23 24
25 26 27
28 29 30
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:07 Page 13
read more on the history of this
fascinating subject, or indeed visit
one of the two preserved Type IX
U-Boats, please follow the links
at {A}...
So... lets get started on the kit.
Construction began with some
initial prep on the main hull and
conning tower parts which
needed various holes drilling out
and the torpedo slots’ protective
sprues removing.
Once this is done the main hull
is constructed, being broken
down into forward and rear hull
halves with two internal support-
Websites: http://uboat.net/ http://www.uboatarchive.net/ http://www.u-boatstory.co.uk/Pages/default.aspx
{A} http://www.msichicago.org/experiment/videos/moving-the-u-505/
31 32 33
34 35 36
37 38
ing bulkheads (clearly labelled so
you cannot get them the wrong
way around). Once I had added
the schnorkel bulkhead the main
hull parts were brought together,
into which are sandwiched the
forward and rear torpedo tube de-
tails (the detail on these is so
good I just had to show them
open on the finished model).
The parts went together very
well and, with the addition of the
deck plates, everything was put
aside to cure thoroughly. I then
deviated from the instructions by
cleaning up, but not adding, the
dive planes or drive units as these
Na u t i ca l
31: The main colours on. Following a coat of
Black the Dark Sea Grey and Neutral Grey
have now been added as have the light and
dark shaded panels. The base Cork shading
has also been added to the wooden deck areas.
32: Close-up of the centre hull and conning
tower. Note the differing panels, some
masked, some sprayed freehand.
33 & 34: Close-ups of the decking showing
the Cork coloured shading, done with a
Post-it note used as a quick mask.
35: A low down shot under different light. Time
for another grey tone check.
36: Initial rust shading is added using Vallejo
Air Rust. This close-up of the bow is a guide
for where the main custom Rust colour will
be applied.
37: The conning tower is the first area to have
the splatter effect added as the 33-Flotilla
insignia decals need to be applied.
38 & 39: Port and starboard sides showing the
first round of Rust and dark wash added.
13
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:07 Page 14
m o d e ll er: 1
would hamper painting the worn
finish later on. I therefore at this
stage added the passive sonar ar-
ray, followed by the deck details
(except for the railings, of which
more later...) before starting on
the conning tower.
The main conning tower parts
went together very well indeed.
However, when I started to re-
move some of the finer parts on
14
sprue ‘I’ it became clear that these
were broken...
An examination of sprues
‘I’,‘B’ and ‘F’ highlighted further
damage, especially to the railings
along the deck and those around
the Winter Garden. It was obvious
that they would require major re-
building. It took a few sessions to
get these parts finalised ready for
paint. I brushed them with liquid
39
40 41
42 43
glue and waited for it to harden
before removing them from the
sprues. However, they still frac-
tured when removing them from
the gates, requiring further repair
work and a significant amount of
reworking to remove any burrs.
There was also a bit of flash and
mould slip here and there on
other parts which also needed to
be dealt with via some sanding
and careful reshaping with files.
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:08 Page 15

Na u t i ca l

40: Close-up of the mid section once the first round of Rust and shading has been applied.
41: Another close-up of the conning tower and mid hull.
42 & 43: Two more shots of the model post first round shading.
44: Before the main splatter effect is added to the hull areas, the flood vents are masked with sausages of Blu-Tack.
45: With masking complete, the splatter is airbrushed. Although I am using an Iwata Hi-line HP-BH the same effect can be achieved with a
standard airbrush, playing with the compressor pressure.
46: Masking the deck area allowed me to splatter the engine vents.
47: Graphite powder sanded from a graphite stick is applied to the AA armament barrels using a cotton bud over Matt Black, giving a great effect.
48: The custom Rust colour is added following another round of dark wash.
49: The vents are filled in black using a fine tipped permanent pen. Note the splatter effect, dark wash and custom rust effect.

44 45

46 47

48 49

15
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:08 Page 16
m o d e ll er: 1
50: Using elasticised thread instead of the kit-
supplied black thread meant that the
rigging needed to be done in really good
light. Note the black flag made from black
dyed toilet paper coated in thinned PVA.
When this was completed, I
mounted parts and subassem-
blies on board with Blu-Tack. A
small amount of filling and sand-
ing was required here and there
– specifically around the the pas-
sive radar and rear deck areas.
Then I could start thinking
about the paint scheme... (See
Videos 2 and 3). See websites {B}.
I wanted to produce the most
authentic finish I possibly could.
Websites: http://alclad2.com/ https://www.airbrushes.com/ http://www.graphicair.co.uk/categories/Airbrushes/
{B}
16
U-190 was extensively repainted
(although wrongly) by the Cana-
dians, including a bright white U-
190 featured on the conning tower
when she was refitted for post war
trials on her schnorkel and passive
radar systems. I wanted to finish
my U-190 as she had appeared
when she surrendered to the Al-
lies as part of Operation Black
Flag in May 1945, however.
By this time the surviving vet-
eran Type VII and IX boats were
50
not looking their best, having been
pushed back from their bases in
France and operating from North-
ern and Baltic bases. Many did not
have the luxury of receiving a
fresh paint job when returning
from patrol. However, although
looking beaten and dishevelled, it
would be wrong to assume that
they were mechanical wrecks.
At this stage of the war trained
U-boat crews were even more
valuable than their boats, so the
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:08 Page 17

Na u t i ca l

thought of putting these experi-

enced crews to sea in boats that
were not mechanically sound was
not even considered by the high
command... (See Video 4). See
Website {C}.
4 5
Luckily there are many photos
of U-190 and U-889 available to
the modeller, including a handful
of period colour images taken by
the American and Canadian Navy
crews the boats surrendered to
and these were regularly con- them in Photoshop to adjust con- that were rubbed with graphite
sulted while finishing, as well as trast and grain build-up and then powder, and a few black accents
many other period images of offered them up against period on the barrel ends/conning tower
Type VII and IX boats. As I went images to make sure I was going trumpets and radio wires, the en-
along, I took black and white pho- in the right direction. With the ex- tire finish would be produced us-
tos of the model, manipulated ception of the AA gun barrels, ing an airbrush... (See Video 5).

Website: http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/ Painting began with an all

{C}
over base coat of Alclad Matt

17
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:08 Page 18
m o d e ll er: 1
Black Microfiller and Primer, fol-
lowed by an application of Dark
Sea Grey (the colour for the main
hull and deck). Various panels
were then picked out using a
darker and then lighter mix of
this colour, some areas being
masked and some airbrushed
freehand.
18
Some careful masking was
then undertaken before the sec-
ondary hull and conning tower
colour (Neutral Grey) was added.
Again, darker and lighter versions
of this were used to create a
piebald look. Masking off the deck
areas, Vallejo Cork was air-
brushed over this using Post-it
notes for quick masks to start off
the weathering/ageing process. I
continued this process by mixing
up a heavy wash mix of Black,
Black Grey, Black Green, and Sea
Green, with which I started
adding streaking and enhancing
shadows in the flood vents across
the hull and conning tower.
Vallejo Air Rust was also added,
carefully blocking out the areas
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:08 Page 19
that would be enhanced by a sec-
ond, custom-mixed rust colour to
be applied later.
The salt water in sea will strip
paint quickly. This can be seen in
every day objects, if you are lucky
enough (like myself), to live by it.
This can also be seen in contem-
porary images of U-boats as a
splatter effect where the paint has
chipped off leaving duraluminium
showing. To replicate this I dialled
the air pressure down on my air-
brush using the MAC valve, al-
though this can also be accom-
plished by careful adjustment at
the compressor. I mixed up a
heavy mix (70:30) of Vallejo Flat
Website: http//everythingairbrush.com
{D}
Aluminum/White Grey and, after
a bit of practice, found that I could
create a controlled splatter, al-
though after a while the finger
does tend to hurt a bit with all
that rocking motion! See Website
{D}.
I started on the conning tower
and, once I had a good pattern
that matched the images I had of
U-190 tied up at her dock just af-
ter her surrender pretty well I
added the 33-U flotilla star in-
signia decals. You need to make
sure that you use the correct star
image as the star was repainted
after the war by the Canadians,
but again incorrectly, so be sure
Na u t i ca l
to follow the placement instruc-
tions.
Once the decals were on, I
used the heavy wash to soften
the effect. Happy that this tech-
nique was going to actually work,
I settled down to mask up the
Neutral Grey areas and flood
vents.
Creating the splatter effect
took a few hours to apply, going
slowly and consulting period im-
ages as I went. I didn’t try to
match dot for dot, as this would
have been impossible, as well as
a little bit bonkers. Instead I
looked for an overall look based
19
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m o d e ll er: 1

20
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:08 Page 21
on an amalgamation of U-190 and
U-889. I also went over the diving
planes and control surfaces, with
a heavy going over on the hand
rails for both the deck and con-
ning tower.
Once complete, further appli-
cations of the heavy wash were
applied. I then mixed up a more
realistic rust colour made from
Vallejo Air Rust, Flat Earth and
Orange. This was applied, fol-
lowed by more heavy wash and
a coat of Matt Varnish.
The smaller vents on the hull
were then picked out using a fine
tipped permanent marker and, af-
ter a period to allow the ink to go
off, the hull was resealed with Liq-
uitex Matt Varnish.
A black flag was not supplied
in the kit, so I made one by split-
ting a sheet of toilet paper into its
single plies. I then died it with
back indian ink suspended be-
tween two cocktail sticks. Once
dry, this was painted over with
thinned PVA and when this was
dry it was cut into the final shape.
Painting of the propellers was
then carried out, these being
sprayed with Vallejo Air Brass be-
fore being carefully aged with the
Heavy Wash and Vallejo Air Rust.
Final construction could now
be completed. The conning tower
was built up with the exception
of the AA armament that was as-
sembled (once the barrels were
rubbed with graphite powder)
and set aside for later in the build.
Na u t i ca l
The hull parts were then built
up adding the control surfaces,
screws, schnorkel and handrails.
Construction was uneventful with
everything going together with-
out any issues.
I now really needed to tackle
the antenna. I must confess that I
bottled out of using the supplied
thread and created mine using
elasticised thread.
Once I had attached the an-
tenna lines to the conning tower,
I attached the black flag to the
Winter Garden flag pole using a
bit of thinned PVA and strung a
line to it with elasticised thread.
The whole assembly was then
glued to the hull, the antenna at-
tached to its anchor points and
the lines painted dark grey using
21
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:08 Page 22
m o d e ll er: 1
a brush and Humbrol enamel.
A final round of careful air-
brushing with the heavy wash,
custom rust and a waft of Matt
Varnish completed the model...
To say I am pleased with my
U-190 is an understatement. This
model is absolutely fantastic and
should be at the very top of every
submarine modeller’s want list.
OK, so there is the odd niggle
here and there, especially with
the railings – but, to be fair, this
is an inherent problem with all
Revell 1/72nd sub kits and will be
expected by any modeller who
has ever built one. On the whole,
however, as a skill level 4 kit, it
surpassed my expectations in
both fit and build quality.
Not a quick build, but an ex-
tremely satisfying one.
The sheer size of the model is
something else; it’s bigger than
the Gato kit and in detail is ab-
solutely faultless. I simply can’t
recommend this kit enough – if
you’re interested in U-boats go
and buy one now!
Finally... Revell here’s a mod-
eller going down on his knees...
Please, please, please can we
now have a 1/72nd Type XXI to
complete the set? And then how
about some WW1 U-boats?
Review kit kindly supplied by
Revell. Revell model kits are
available from all good toy and
model stores. For details visit
www.revell.de/en
22
Revell: Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina
Scale: 1/48th.
Parts Count: 162 pieces, across 7 sprues.
Skill Level: Manufacturer recommends: Skill Level 3.
Modeller recommends: Moderately experienced modellers
should be able to finish this model to a competent level.
Decal Options:
Option 1: Navy Rescue OA-10A, 43-3999, Goose Bay, Labrador,
1948. Colours: Gloss Blue, Light Grey and Yellow.
Option 2: PBY-5A, EB-4 U.S. Navy Patrol Sq. VP-3, 1948.
Colours Dark Blue Grey, Light Blue Grey, Light Grey.
Recommended Retail Price: £36.99 (UK)
Status: Re-issued Monogram tooling with new decal sheet.
Available from: Revell. www.revell.de/en
IWATA: NEO CN
Spec: Entry Level Gravity Feed Dual Action Airbrush, 0.35
needle and head assembly. With large (1/3 oz) detachable paint
cup (with lid) and (1/16 oz) paint cup. Airbrush holds 1/32oz
without cups fitted.
NEO Recommended Retail Price: £60.50 (UK).
Available from: The Airbrush Company, sales@airbrushes.com
‘Pimped’ Parts
IWA-1551: Preset Adjust Handle HP-A/B/SB.
RRP: £29.50 (UK).
IWA- FA450: Pistol Grip Moisture Filter.
RRP: £15.95 (UK).
E-QDVALVE: Quick Release Mini Coupling Body with AirValve.
RRP: £16.00 (UK).
EQ-QDP-IWATA: Quick Disconnect Plug – Iwata Airbrush.
RRP: £4.50 (UK).
SPS-3501-1: Crown Needle Cap.
RRP: £6.35 (UK).
Available from: The Airbrush Company. sales@airbrushes.com
02-U-Boat_pp8-23_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:09 Page 23

Mini Video R ev i ew s

Revell: C-54D Skymaster

Scale: 1/72nd.
Parts Count: 352 pieces, across 14 sprues.
Skill Level: Manufacturer recommends: Skill Level 5.
Modeller recommends: Experienced/advanced modellers should
have no problems with this kit. Although be prepared for some
planning.
Decal Options:
Option 1: Douglas C-54 Skymaster, USAF 1949.
Colours: Polished aluminium, Light Grey, White and Dayglo.
Option 2: Douglas C-54 Skymaster, USAF, Berlin Airlift Wiesbaden
AB Winter 1948-1949. Colours overall Polished Aluminium with
Red lightning flash as per preserved C-54E ‘Spirit of Freedom’
(Berlin Airlift Historical Society).
Recommended Retail Price: £49.99 (UK).
Status: Brand new tooling.
Available from: Revell. www.revell.de/en

Revell/AIMS JU-88C6
Revell Kit Scale: 1/32nd.
Parts Count: 380 pieces, across
14 sprues.
AIMS resin Conversion Parts: 6
cleanly cast resin parts (custom
cast by manufacturer).
Project Skill Level: Manufac-
turer recommends: Skill Level
5.
Modeller recommends: experi-
enced/advanced modellers
should be able to finish this kit,
although some scratchbuilding
skill would be an advantage.
Revell Kit Decal Options
Option 1: JU-88 A4 of 4./
KG54: Catalina, Sicily: April
1943- Colours: topside Sand
with loose squiggles of White
and Green. Underside Dark
Green, Light Blue with Dark
Green squiggle pattern.
Option 2: JU-88 A4 2nd aircraft
from 4./ KG54: Wien-Aspern:
August 1943. Colours: Topside
Sand with loose squiggles of
White and Green. Underside
Dark Green, Light Blue with
Dark Green squiggle pattern.
Option 3: JU-88 A4 3./Ku.FI.Gr.
506 Leeuwarden, Netherlands:
April 1942. Colours: Topside
Dark Green splinter pattern
with Light Blue undersides.
AIMS Decal Options:
Option 1: JU-88 A4/A11, KG54
4th Staffel, 2nd Gruppe.
Colours: Topside Sand with
loose squiggles of White and
Green. Underside Dark Green,
Light Blue with Dark Green
squiggle pattern.
Option 2: JU-88 A6/U KG54.
Colours: Topside Dark Green
splinter pattern with Light Blue
squiggle pattern, with Black
and Blue undersides.
Option 3: JU-88 D1 3 (F)
Aufkl.Gr.Obdl. Colours: Topside
White over Dark Green splinter
with Light Blue undersides.
Option 4: JU-88 A-17 9./KG 77.
Colours: Topside Dark Green
splinter with Light Grey squig-
gle pattern. Undersides Light
Blue with Green squiggle pat-
tern.
Option 5: JU-88 C-6 8./NJG2.
Colours: Overall Light Grey
with Dark Grey topside mottle.
Option 6: JU-88 C-6 14th Staffel
KG40 V Gruppe ‘Bloody Biscay’.
Colours: Overall Light Grey
with Dark Green zebra striping.
Revell Kit Recommended Retail
Price: £49.99 (UK).
AIMS Conversion Kit R.R.P:
£15.00 (UK).
AIMS Decal Sheet R.R.P:
£10.25 (UK).
Revell Kit Status: Amended
tooling.
JU-88 Kit Available from:
Revell. www.revell.de/en
AIMS Conversion Kit Available
from: www.aimsmodels.co.uk
AMS Decal Sheet (32D009)
Available from:
www.aimsmodels.co.uk and
most specialist model shops.

23
03-Milling Machine_pp24-33_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 16:06 Page 24

m o d e ll er: 1

FineMold’s
DECKEL MILLING MACHINE

M
Build by ost modellers start out
Iain Costall by building different
types of kits but even-
tually settle on one subject, be it
UK MODELLER: aircraft, armour, ships or cars,
MACHINERY and naturally manufacturers cater
for all these interests, resulting in
www.finemolds.co.jp kits of every conceivable vehicle
being made available. Now and
again, however, a kit manufac-
turer will take a chance and pro-
duce something totally unique
and unexpected; something
which doesn’t fit into any of the
more familiar categories...
FineMolds of Japan have be-
come well known for producing
very high grade kits. Initially they
earned respect for their Japanese
WWII aircraft and armour, subse-
quently expanding their range

24
03-Milling Machine_pp24-33_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:02 Page 25

Ma ch i ner y

with a series of constant-scale

Star Wars vehicles (now sold un-
der the Revell Master Series label
3 after FM lost the licence to
Bandai).

The subject of this kit repre-

sents a bit of a departure for
them: an exact replica in 1/12
scale of a Deckel FP-1 Milling Ma-
chine. These machines have been
used around the world since the
1930s and a variation of this de-
sign was even installed on some
U-boats to effect repairs whilst at
sea.

The kit comes in a well-illus-

trated box (1) that is crammed
with exquisitely detailed parts in
grey styrene (2-7). Actual work-
5
ing worm gears are provided in

25
03-Milling Machine_pp24-33_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:02 Page 26

m o d e ll er: 1

10

black ABS plastic (8) and a set of

self-adhesive markings com- 8

pletes the kit (9). A set of instruc-

tions divide the assembly into
easy stages and provide a de-
tailed painting and marking guide
(10).

Construction is handled in
sub-assemblies, much like the
real machine, with some minor
ejector marks requiring filling
along the way (11). Great care
was taken when assembling the
worm gears to ensure no cement
reached them and stopped their
rotation (12). Parts such as the 9

motor housing went together

with little effort and many of the
seams are situated where com-
ponents would come apart in re-
ality (13-16).
The main upright of the body
houses the gearbox and chain
drives along with the pump for the
oil sump and these are all faithfully
reproduced inside the machine,
very little of which is visible once
assembled but which offers scope
to any builder wishing to create a
cutaway model (17-18). Most of
these components were sprayed
matt black prior to a drybrushing
with Humbrol 56 Aluminium. The
interior of the body was then
painted white before applying a
dirty wash.
Although the instructions sug-
gest grey or blue for the overall
colour, I chose a green as it is typ-
ical of much of the machinery I’ve
worked with over the years. The
main sub-assemblies were first
primed in grey followed by sev-
eral mist coats of Halfords Ford
Meadow Green (19).
After leaving for a week to fully
harden, the green components
were then weathered, first by ap-
plying a grimy oil wash followed
by drybrushing with gradually
lighter green enamels. The vari-
ous elements could then be as-
sembled and other details, such

26
03-Milling Machine_pp24-33_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:02 Page 27
11 12
13 14
15 16
as the pulleys and drive belts,
picked out in metallics and matt
black. The capstan wheels were
painted with Games Workshop
metallics which give a nice scale
brightness (20).
At this point some of the self-
adhesive markings were applied.
These represent the maker’s
plates, measuring scales and pul-
ley ratios, and have to be seen to
be believed... the sharpness of
detail is astonishing. The stickers
Ma ch i ner y
were trimmed right to the edge
of the designs before carefully ap-
plying and burnishing on with a
soft tissue (21).
Incredibly, if you take care with
assembly and don’t get any glue
27
03-Milling Machine_pp24-33_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:02 Page 28

m o d e ll er: 1

17 18

19 20

21 22

23

28
03-Milling Machine_pp24-33_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:02 Page 29
on the moving parts, the bed can
be made to traverse and rise or
fall by turning the appropriate cap-
stan wheel. To aid this, the mating
surfaces of these components
were coated with graphite from
an 8B artist’s pencil which acts as
both a lubricant and a realistic
24
metallic finish (22-23).
25 26
27 28
Ma ch i ner y
Final assembly consists of
mounting the milling head (24) to
the column then fixing the col-
umn to the base (25). The swarf
bin can then be added if desired
(26-28).
Chipping effects were created
using a small brush and mid-grey
29
03-Milling Machine_pp24-33_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:03 Page 30

m o d e ll er: 1

29

30
03-Milling Machine_pp24-33_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:03 Page 31

Ma ch i ner y

30

31

31
03-Milling Machine_pp24-33_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:04 Page 32

m o d e ll er: 1

enamel... remember, rust would

be out of place here as these ma-
chines operate in an oily environ-
ment and are generally well
greased and maintained (29-36).

I plan to eventually mount this

model in a small workshop dio-
rama... however, finding suitable
accessories is problematic de-
spite 1/12 being the most popular
dolls house scale. Most dolls’ ac-
cessories are poorly detailed and,
so far, the wrench is the only de-
cent item I’ve found (see photo
top-left page 33).

To summarise, the FineMolds

Deckel FP1 Universal Precision-
Milling Machine is a fabulous kit
and well worth the effort to seek
out (try HobbyLink Japan –
www.hlj.com) and I’d like to think
it might be followed by further
pieces of machinery.... a lathe, for
example, would be very wel-
come.

www.finemolds.co.jp

34

36

32
03-Milling Machine_pp24-33_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:05 Page 33

Ma ch i ner y

33
04-Destroying Picher_pp34-45_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:26 Page 34
m o d e ll er: 1
DESTROYING PICHER
Miniature Effects for ‘Raging Planet’
Article and images by
I
n May of 2008, one hundred
Mike Tucker and fifty homes in the lead
of The Model Unit mining town of Picher, Okla-
homa, were destroyed by an F4
UK category tornado. This devastating
SPECIAL EFFECTS event would form the core of a
documentary about the effects of
www.themodelunit.co.uk tornados, as part of Discovery
Channel’s Raging Planet series.
In July 2008, just two months
after the disaster, I was contacted
by Alice Harper at Pioneer Pro-
ductions, and asked to come and
34
discuss the visual effects require-
ments for the show. The Model
Unit already had a good working
relationship with Pioneer, as we
had previously provided tornado,
hurricane and tsunami effects se-
quences for the first series of Rag-
ing Planet back in 1997, and fur-
ther tornado effects for a one-off
special about a freak weather
event in Birmingham in 2006. We
also had a large-scale tornado se-
quence on our reel from the
Emmy nominated ‘Strength’
04-Destroying Picher_pp34-45_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:26 Page 35

FX Min i a t u r es

episode of Human Body: Pushing

the Limits.

After discussions with execu-

tive producer Alice Harper, and
effects co-ordinator Jessica Nor-
ton, I worked with director Alex
Williamson and researcher Emma
Pound to establish exactly what
scenarios could be recreated, us-
ing the extensive archive of sur-
vivor testimony and photographic
research that the team had col-
lated. It was also decided that my
collaborators on Human Body –
the CG team from Rushes – would

Top: The completed ¼ scale miniature of the kitchen interior. Middle row left: Colin Mapson starts construction of the kitchen fittings.
Right: Alan ‘Rocky’ Marshall assembles the basic timber structure of the model. Bottom row left: Nick Kool waxes the moulds used
to create the ¼ scale plasterboard sheets. Right: Rocky constructs breakaway balsa doors.

35
04-Destroying Picher_pp34-45_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:27 Page 36
m o d e ll er: 1
come on-board to provide addi-
tional digital effects and com-
positing.
Ultimately it was decided that
we would construct large-scale
miniatures of a portion of the lead
mine, and the exterior and interior
of one specific building. In addition
36
we would provide effects for two
further stories being featured in
the show – practical wind effects
involving a full sized car, and an-
other, more contained miniature
sequence, recreating the collapse
of the Big Well water tower in
Greensburg, Kansas.
The house interior and exterior
models were constructed at ¼ of
full size. Picking such a large scale
allowed us to construct the model
in exactly the same manner as a
real building – stud walls clad in
plasterboard with internal insula-
tion. This meant that the model
would come apart in a realistic
04-Destroying Picher_pp34-45_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:27 Page 37

FX Min i a t u r es

manner when hit with high-pres-
sure blasts from our air mortars.
It also allowed us to use some of
the scale dressing retained from
previous productions, and also
to reuse the moulds that we had
generated to produce ¼ scale
plasterboard sheets.
Using several of these moulds,
foamed breakaway plaster sheets
(created by mixing a small quantity
of detergent with the plaster and
then whisking it) were produced
in bulk, and left to dry whist the
main construction took place.
We had made the decision to
make the principal interior minia-
ture a kitchen set, giving us a
scenario with lots of individual
pieces of debris. Using photos
taken of the aftermath of the Picher
event, Model Unit regular Alan
‘Rocky’ Marshall blocked out the
basic floor plan of the model,
fixing down solid walls where we
wanted structure to remain stand-
ing, and building breakaway balsa
wood wall and ceiling structures
for the remainder. These break-
away pieces were then clad with
our foamed plaster sheets, and
the surfaces filled, sanded and
painted.
With the basic structure com-
plete, Rocky, Colin Mapson and
myself started construction of the

Opposite—Top left: Rocky fixes trimmed plaster sheets to a breakaway wall structure. Top right: Test fitting the breakaway walls
and doors. Centre left: The right hand wall of the model was designed to be totally breakaway. Centre right: This top shot shows the
sections of the model designed to remain standing after the air mortars have fired. Bottom left: Chairs and tables were constructed
from balsa and turned wooden shapes. Bottom right: With walls and doors painted, interior dressing was added in sufficient quantity
to make the model look ‘lived in’.
This page—Top left: Images of American packaging were printed out on card and folded into shape. Top right: ¼ scale kitchen
appliances were sourced through a specialist fridge magnet company. Above left: Cupboards were fully stocked with miniature
produce so that they wouldn’t appear bare when the doors were torn off. Above right: Small ceramic mugs and pots were found in
antique stores.

37
04-Destroying Picher_pp34-45_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:27 Page 38
m o d e ll er: 1
detail pieces – doors, cupboards,
window frames, furniture and
kitchen appliances. With each
piece, care was taken to construct
it in the same manner as its full
sized counterpart, so that if it did
break up under the force of the
air blast, it would come apart in a
realistic manner.
38
Most pieces were custom built
to match the reference material,
although we did manage to utilise
fridge and cooker miniatures from
the Model Unit stock of parts, as
well as a number of smaller scale
items like cups, saucers and plates,
also left over from previous pro-
ductions.
Cupboards within the miniature
were stocked with dozens of scale
boxes of various foodstuffs – ce-
reals, cake mixes, etc. – with my
wife, Karen (a US citizen, living in
New York) furnishing us with a
huge quantity of photographs of
American products. These photos
were then printed out, mounted
04-Destroying Picher_pp34-45_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:27 Page 39

FX Min i a t u r es

Opposite—Top: The fully dressed miniature interior. Left: Despite the large scale, camera positions were still cramped. Right: The
remains of the model following a successful take. This page—Top left: A top shot shows how the one wall remained intact as planned.
Top right: Once the kitchen interior had been shot a minimal bathroom set was constructed in front of the remains for one quick
cutaway shot. Below: Nick Kool constructs the ¼ scale exterior of the house.

onto thin card, and folded into
shape to create the ¼ scale ver-
sions. Further small items – in-
cluding irons, kettles, coffee mak-
ers, food mixers and wine bottles
– were sourced through a company
with an extensive range of beauti-
fully scaled fridge magnets. Each
of these was weathered and, where
necessary, fitted with a trailing
electrical flex and US style plug.
The exterior of the house was
constructed as a partial ¼ scale
miniature by Nick Kool, featuring
a hinged screen door that could
swing freely, and recognisable
American style dressing such as
mail boxes.
With the house set underway,
Colin Mapson and Alan Brannan
began construction of the lead
mine exterior. Budget restrictions

39
04-Destroying Picher_pp34-45_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:27 Page 40

m o d e ll er: 1

Top left: Nick Kool attends to the breakaway sections of the veranda. Top right: American style post boxes were designed to rock in
the wind. Centre left: A swinging screen door and real foliage ensured that there was constant movement in the shots. Centre right:
DoP Peter Tyler sets up camera positions. Above left: A view of the completed model from just behind the camera position. Above
right: Colin Mapson and Rocky operate the electric fans used to simulate the early stages of the tornado’s approach.

precluded us building to the same ings in the foreground, with back- With the bulk of the mine build-
scale as the interior, and we even- ground structures being built at ings seemingly built of corrugated
tually opted for a forced perspec- 1/12th scale. iron, Alan produced several plaster
tive miniature – 1/6th scale build- patterns allowing us to vac-form

40
04-Destroying Picher_pp34-45_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:27 Page 41

FX Min i a t u r es

sheets in quantity. These were like air conditioning units and stor- The rear half of the model fea-
then clad onto breakaway timber age crates were custom built, and tured distant slag heaps and a
structures in a similar manner to oil drums sourced from a 1/6th large rusted mineral hopper. The
the interior models. Smaller details scale military modelling supplier. slag heaps were sculpted by Colin

Top left: Colin Mapson sculpts the slag heap used as a background to the lead mine set from polystyrene. Top right: Nick Kool begins
construction of a collapsible water tower using sheet aluminium over a balsa frame. Centre left: Alan Brannan adds rivet detail to a
smaller scale miniature mineral hopper to be used as part of the background dressing. Centre right: Stairs and girder work were added
using parts from EMA Model Supplies. Above left: The hopper miniature was given a heavily distressed pant job. Above right: Miniature
oil drums were sourced at a variety of scales in order to force the perspective.

41
04-Destroying Picher_pp34-45_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:27 Page 42

m o d e ll er: 1

Top left: 1/6th scale buildings were constructed using custom made vacuum form patterns to simulate corrugated sheet metal. Top
right: Like the mineral hopper, the models were heavily distressed. Centre left: Rocky on the miniature set. Centre right: Foreground
fence sections were added to further enhance the sense of depth. Bottom left: A high angle shows the scale change from front to
back. Bottom right: Peter Tyler inspects the painted sky backing hung behind the set.

from polystyrene and plaster over
a timber and chicken-wire frame,
whist Alan concentrated on the
hopper, using EMA model sup-
plies ladders, handrails and I-
beams to detail a basic timber
and sheet aluminium structure.
This was then further detailed
with individually placed rivet
heads, and the entire model given
a distressed and rusted paint
finish.
Nick Kool took responsibility
for the model of the water tower,

42
04-Destroying Picher_pp34-45_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:27 Page 43
Above: The completed lead mine miniature, dressed with scale oil drums, wheels and debris.
required for the additional shots.
Because this miniature had to hold
a significant quantity of water, and
be breakaway, the central core
structure was based around an
aluminium scaffolding pole, at-
tached via a hinge to a baseplate,
and topped with a commercially
available acrylic hemisphere. This
structure was then clad in balsa
and sheet aluminium, with truss-
work legs assembled from CNC
cut styrene pieces. Giving the mod-
el a solid core meant that it was
sturdy enough to hold the quantity
of water needed, and had enough
weight to ensure that the break-
away sections would get crushed.
The model shoot took place
from the 7th – 10th October 2008,
on Stage 2 at Ealing Film Studios
in West London. Effects sequences
were shot in a logical story order,
allowing each destroyed model
to become the backdrop for the
next shot – the lead mine becom-
ing a background for the house
interior, the interior becoming a
background for the exterior, and
so on.
Preferring to achieve as many
of the shots ‘in camera’ as possi-
ble, a painted sky-backing was
hired in to act as a backdrop to
the lead mine, and scale foliage
FX Min i a t u r es
was added by using large quanti-
ties of ming fir, purchased from
well known film industry greens
company, Palmbrokers.
Wind effects were achieved by
lining up several high-speed electric
fans out of shot and feeding in a
steady stream of suitably scaled
lightweight debris. For the actual
tornado strike two large capacity
air mortars were set up to destroy
the breakaway portions of the set
on cue, the action captured on
high speed 16mm film cameras.
For the lead mine scenes, a
series of coarse mesh screens
43
04-Destroying Picher_pp34-45_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:27 Page 44

m o d e ll er: 1

Top left: Nick Kool inspects the water tower miniature. Top right: Upper sections of the model were constructed from thin sheet
materials over a breakaway balsa frame. Above left: The lower hemisphere was acrylic, rigged to an aluminium scaffold bar to take
the weight of water required in the shot. Above right: The legs were CNC cut from styrene, pre-weakened for the collapse.

were erected, representing a fence
around the mine workings, suit-
ably dressed with ‘keep out’ signs
and scaled padlocks.
Once we had several success-
ful takes in the can, the ¼ scale
kitchen interior was set up with
the lead mine miniature visible
though the window. The balsa
stud walls were then pre-cut, and
the spaces between the timbers
packed with shredding fibre
insulation.
Small air cannons were used
to initiate specific destructive el-
ements such as window breaks,
before the two large air mortars
were positioned to effect the final
destruction. With only one attempt
possible at the sequence, the
action was covered with three
cameras.
With the interior destroyed,
the exterior was then set up and
shots of doors swinging in the
storm, and debris impacting on
the front of the house were
captured, again using multiple
cameras.
With the bulk of the destruction
achieved, the majority of the crew
attended to shots revolving around
the full sized car interior, whist
Nick concentrated on setting up
the water tower miniature.
Because the show revolved
entirely around events in the US,
an American car had been sourced
from a specialised hire company.
Specific action required one of
the side windows to be blown
out by the force of the tornado,
so glass rigged with high explosive
detonators was taped to the ex-
terior of the vehicle, and the se-
quence shot against a greenscreen
to allow digital freeway footage
to be inserted in post production.

44
04-Destroying Picher_pp34-45_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:27 Page 45

FX Min i a t u r es

Model Unit Crew

Miniature Effects Supervisor: Mike Tucker Pyrotechnics: Mark Holt

Senior VFX technician: Nick Kool Miniature Effects DoP: Peter Tyler
Senior VFX technician: Alan ‘Rocky’ Marshall 1st Assistant Camera: Ania Bogall
Senior VFX technician: Colin Mapson Gaffer: Alan ‘Spike’ Graham
Senior VFX technician: Alan Brannan Spark: Phil Baker

Having completed filming on
the vehicle, the crew then set up
to shoot the collapse of the water
tower. Because there was only the
budget for one take, the event was
again shot using two high-speed
cameras. Once camera positions
were set, the CNC legs of the tower
were pre-cut, and the Perspex bowl
filled with water. The collapse was
then initiated using a bungee-cord
rig, fired on cue using an electric
release, a foreground building sec-
tion, positioned directly in the arc
of the collapse, ensuring that the
main barrel of the water tower
would break up directly in front of
camera.
The finished effects work was
extensively used within the pro-
gramme, adding dramatic punc-
tuation to the extraordinary stories
of the survivors.
The show is available on
DVD in the UK/US.

Left: Nick adds final railing detail to the miniature. Right top: A close-up showing the completed water tower. Above right: Nick
checks that the scaffold pole support is rigged correctly prior to a take.

45
05-DeAgostini Spitfire 1-4_pp46-55_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:44 Page 46
m o d e ll er: 1
Building the
De AGOSTINI SPITFIRE
Part One: Packs One to Four
T
hose kind people at De
Agostini Model Space have
been sending me succes-
sive packs from their 1:12 scale
Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb model
kit part-work, which is supposed
to be a faithful reproduction of
the most widespread and char-
acteristic version of this fighter
plane used during world war two
and specifically flown by RAF
fighter ace Robert Stanford-Tuck1
in 1941 and 1942.
In coming weeks I will be sup-
plied with all the necessary pieces,
along with easy-to-follow, step-
by-step instructions enabling me
to build this highly detailed model
from the cockpit, with all its ac-
cessories, to the landing gear.
Each pack in the monthly sub-
scription series includes an in-
struction book and pieces supplied
are either ready to be cut out or
pre-cut for ease of assembly. The
Build and videos by instructions provide clear expla-
Jason C. Gares nations illustrated with photo-
graphs on how to construct and
paint the model.
US MODELLER: The kit has been designed by
Part-work video how-to. aeroplane modelling specialists
from original plans and specifica-
shop.deagostini.co.uk/ tions from the period, enabling
buildthespitfire.html the modeller to build up a high-
quality aircraft model in terms of
detailing and materials used. All
1
http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Tuck.htm components are made from high-
46
quality materials – the exterior
panels are aluminium sheet and
the parts that form the internal
airframe are balsa wood, laser-
cut for ease of assembly.
Later in the build De Agostini
will also be supplying or making
available for purchase all the ele-
ments needed to give this scale
model an extra degree of realism:
an electric motor to turn the pro-
peller, signal lights, controls to
deploy the landing gear and a
display stand.
In this first video-build in a se-
ries for Modeller chronicling the
entire build I will begin the process
of assembly from the inside out
starting with the internal body air-
frame. The tyres and propellers
will also be touched on.
I want to make clear from the
beginning of this project that this
isn’t like any other model kit you
buy at your local hobby store as
it builds up via a 12-month sub-
scription that’s mailed out to you.
Each month you receive a set
number of parts to complete cer-
tain sections that in the end will
combine to create the Superma-
rine Spitfire Mk Vb.
At any stage De Agostini offers
the option of cancelling your sub-
scription, although to finish the
model in its entirety you will, of
course, need to receive all the
05-DeAgostini Spitfire 1-4_pp46-55_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:45 Page 47
parts, meaning patience will be re-
quired as the build slowly evolves.
Each pack you receive will help
you progress the build by providing
you with the specific parts needed
to either start or completely finish
PACK 1
1 2
3 4
sections of the Spitfire. I can’t
therefore stress enough how im-
portant it is to keep your subscrip-
tion going from start to finish. With
all that said, let’s begin with Pack
#1 of the build, which consists of
Military A v i a t i on
stages 1 through to 10.
1: Stage 1–initial propeller construction.
2: Stage 2–first step in fuselage build.
3. Stage 3 completed.
4. Stage 6–build of rear fuselage.
47
05-DeAgostini Spitfire 1-4_pp46-55_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:45 Page 48

m o d e ll er: 1

Refer to video 1 on previous

page. That’s it for Pack #1. As 5

you can see, even though you

receive certain parts in each pack,
not all of them are utilised imme-
diately, so keep those remaining
parts or the sub-assemblies you’ve
put together in a safe place so
they don’t get lost or damaged.
You will have noticed I sug-
gested the use of superglue during
assembly to speed up the glue
drying time on the majority of
the build thus far, which in turn
makes the use of clamps pretty 6

non-existent. This was a personal

choice... you can use the wood
glue provided or any glue of your
choice you feel comfortable with.
It’s entirely up to you, there’s no
right or wrong as this is your kit
project. What you see in the in-
structions and in the build videos
are only suggestions to help guide
you along. If you know other pro-
ficient ways to do something that
you’re more comfortable with, by
all means use them and have fun 7

with the build.

5: Stage 8–rear bulkheads added.

6: Stage 9–rear fuselage.
7: Stage 9–rear fuselage.
8: Stage 10–runners added to fuselage.
9: Stage 13–spars held level.
10: Stage 13–jig for right-angled cuts. 8

48
05-DeAgostini Spitfire 1-4_pp46-55_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:45 Page 49
Video 2 features Pack #2,
stages 11 through 20, which con-
sist of mostly one wing and con-
tinued fuselage construction.
Pack #2 is a pretty straightfor-
ward build until you reach the
wing tip near the end. If you don’t
pay close attention to the instruc-
PACK 2
9 10
tions and take an even closer look
at the pictures of the upper and
lower wing tip ribs, you could mis-
takenly attach them on the wrong
side. I’ll explain in more detail
when I get to that point, so without
further ado, let’s get to the build—
refer to video 2 below.
That’s it for stages 11 through
20. Unfortunately there were a
couple of discrepancies I ran into
that needed to be addressed. One
was pretty minor with just the
switching around of a couple of
wing ribs, while the other one
could be a major setback and
more time consuming to correct
if not extra careful and making a
Military A v i a t i on
double check as to which wing
tip ribs go where before perma-
nently gluing them down into po-
sition.
This pack was a good reminder
that, no matter how well designed
and high end a kit is, it can still
have issues during construction.
Keeping a level head, being patient
and staying positive will ensure
you come out on top, not letting
the kit get the best of you. Re-
member, this is supposed to be a
relaxing and enjoyable hobby. If
you ever feel frustrated by a build,
put it down and walk away from
it for a while.
40 41
49
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m o d e ll er: 1

11 (and inset): Stage 13–fuselage runners are trimmed to fit flush.

12: Stage 15–a set square helps position struts at 90° to spar.
13: Stage 15–runner is held in place against spar while glue sets.
14: Stage 16–wing tip is fixed in place on right wing.
15: Stage 17–measuring runner before cutting and cementing in place.
16 (and inset): Stage 18–wing tip is built up with short spars to provide contour (see 19 and 20).
17: Stage 18–right wing at the end of this stage.
18 (and inset): Stage 19–building up struts to strengthen them.
19-20: Correcting the wing tip error from pack 2. One side is built up with putty and the opposite is sanded down.

11 12

13 14

15 16

17 18

50
05-DeAgostini Spitfire 1-4_pp46-55_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:45 Page 51
Our third video this issue fea-
tures Pack #3, stages 21 through
30, which consist of mostly left
wing construction, continued right
wing reinforcement and very mi-
nor fuselage construction.
Going back to the right wing
19 20
PACK 3
for a moment, because of my
mistake in Pack #2 in gluing on
the wrong size wing tip ribs on
either side of the wing tip, I had
to build up the top ribs and sand
down the bottom ones to fit the
contour of the very end of the
wing. I accomplished the build-
up of the top ribs by going to
my local hardware store and
purchasing plumber’s epoxy put-
ty. When mixed, this dries fast
and rock hard. Also, when ready,
I used an electric hand sander
and shaped the putty to fit the
contour of the end of the last
rib of the wing.
Military A v i a t i on
I’ve learned in putting together
just two packs of this Spitfire build
that it is very important to not
only thoroughly read the instruc-
tions, but to also look at the pic-
tures and study them more than
once. Doing so can and will save
you a lot of time and frustration
over the course of the build. How-
ever, one of the reasons you are
reading/viewing is to learn from
my mistakes so you don’t have
to go through them, hopefully
making your building experience
easier and more enjoyable. With
all that said, let’s go to the build—
refer to video 3 below.
51
05-DeAgostini Spitfire 1-4_pp46-55_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:46 Page 52
m o d e ll er: 1
Pack #3, stages 21 through 30,
is now complete. As mentioned at
the beginning of the video, thor-
oughly reading the instructions
and studying the pictures more
than once will give you a more en-
joyable time with this build, as
demonstrated with the construction
of this pack. Now, the only thing I
52
noticed I made a mistake with was
at Stage 25 when I had to attach
the 3 x 5 x 300mm wooden strips
to both sides of the fuselage for
support. I attached them too low,
so we shall see how that turns out
and if I’ll have to do any changing
down the road. Other than that
mistake I believe 98% of this pack’s
build went smoothly and without
any major incidents.
21-23: Stage 21–work to left wing.
24: Stage 22–cutting out strut supports.
25: Stage 24–clear tube in circular recess.
26: Stage 25–work to fuselage.
27-28: Stage 29–wing tip and top view.
29-30: Stage 31–gluing contour struts to
underside of wing tip.
21 22
23 24
25 26
27 28
05-DeAgostini Spitfire 1-4_pp46-55_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:46 Page 53
We conclude part one of the
build with Pack #4, stages 31
through 40, which deals mostly
with further construction and
structural reinforcing of both wings
and fuselage.
PACK 4
29 30
Fuselage construction also con-
tinues with the beginnings of shap-
ing the cockpit and reinforcing
the outside bottom. Note that a
lot of the parts you receive with
this pack will need to be stored
away for later use, as not many
are used in this part of the as-
sembly. Lastly, be aware that most
parts used for these stages came
from previous packs, so have
them at the ready. Pack #4 as-
sembly is very straightforward
and for the most part very easy.
Refer to video 4 below. ...And
that’s it for Pack #4! I didn’t really
Military A v i a t i on
run into any problems with parts
placement this time around... the
only areas I had a little problem
with were (1) the shorter strip that
I glued into place on the left side
of the fuselage, as I think it may
stick out a little too much and (2)
there might be an issue with the
bottom outside reinforcements
being lined up correctly. If place-
ment of either causes problems, I
will have to make adjustments to
ensure that corresponding parts
fit properly. Other than those two
minor challenges, this pack was a
breeze to put together.
53
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m o d e ll er: 1

31-31a: Stage 31–leading edge supports.

32-32a: Stage 32–strut supports.
33: Stage 32–strut supports. 31a 32a
34: Stage 34–leading edge supports.
35: Stage 35–support inside of wing tip.
36: Stage 36–positioning strut support.
37: Stage 37–fuselage reinforcement.
38: Stage 38–curved section between
wing and underside fuselage.
39: Stage 39–at the end of this stage.
40: Stage 40–final stage for pack 4.

31 32

33 34

35 36

37 38

54
05-DeAgostini Spitfire 1-4_pp46-55_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 17:47 Page 55
39
40
Pack #5, Stages 41-50, is with
me now and involves left and right
wing levelling, seat, cockpit, aileron
and further fuselage construction.
By the look of what’s in store, we
start getting into a bit more detail
and construction that will demand
a little more from the modeller in
the way of technique and build
skills.
I do hope you’ll join me for the
second part of this project in
Modeller 2.
Military A v i a t i on
Until next time, I’m Jason Gares
for Modeller magazine. Thank you
for reading, watching, subscribing
and for your support!
See more of Jason’s work at:
Videoworkbench.com
55
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m o d e ll er: 1

SCRATCHBUILD-DIORAMA
Tiny Colossus

I
enjoy working on quite small
models, not least because I
have limited work and display
space. Some time ago I produced
a slightly surreal diorama featuring
a seascape and a number of fig-
ures which went down quite well
at a model show. I’d also made a
Text and images by tiny moon-base model for a book
Andy Pearson on scratchbuilding techniques
which had also been well received,
so I thought I would try something
UK MODELLER: similar.
SCRATCHBUILD/DIORAMA
My chosen scale was 1:400
and I thought a classical scene
would be interesting. A childhood
fascination with the seven won-
ders of the ancient world brought
forth the suggestion of tackling
the Colossus of Rhodes, not least
because it would enable me to
contrast figures in two vastly dif-
ferent scales.
Having looked at various ref-
erence images I drew up a rough
sketch of the scene and then be-

www.preiser-figuren.de/
1: Colossus picture frame base. 2: Slate mat harbour base. 3: Sea colour to paper
insert. 4: Basic card fishing boat. 5: Fishing boat with deck and seats. 6: Fishing boat
prior to paint. 7: Re-cast figures. 8: Card hull for galley. 9: Galley hull with ram.
10: Openings for oars.

56
06_Colossus_pp56-63_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 18:15 Page 57

D i or a ma

1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

9 10

57
06_Colossus_pp56-63_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 18:15 Page 58

m o d e ll er: 1

11 12

13 14

15 16

11: Seats added to galley. 12: Mast and rear cabin added. 13: Paint and sail to galley.
14: Superglue to bulk up photo-etched figures. 15: Paint to PE figures. 16: Test fit of oarsmen.

gan to assemble materials. I had
bought some very inexpensive
drinks coasters for use as a base
for a sculpture of the Minotaur
I’d made a while ago. These were
roughly cut slate squares and it
seemed that one of these would
provide an almost ready-made
harbour setting. I then bought a
cheap 5½” x 7½” picture frame,
with glass, which would serve as
the base for the seascape.
In terms of figures, some lim-
ited research suggested that, if
the human figures were to be
1:400, the Colossus himself would
be around 1:24 so I ordered a set
of Preiser figures in that scale.
These were their ‘Adam’ set,
which provides the components
for six figures plus several spare
limbs and heads so that the mod-
eller can achieve a wide variety
of poses.
Whilst awaiting the arrival of
these from Germany I delved into
the spares box, confident that I
had quite a number of 1:400 scale
figures in stock, only to discover
that there were just seven so it
was back to the internet and a
further order, this time from a
company based in the UK. Both
sets of figures arrived at the same
time and it was then that I realised
that I had ordered the smaller fig-
ures as a photo-etched (effectively
two-dimensional) set.
It is here that I must confess
to the commission of a minor
offence. Further moulded figures
in the smaller scale seemed to

58
06_Colossus_pp56-63_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 18:16 Page 59

D i or a ma

be in limited supply, with my
favoured retailers both declaring
them to be out of stock for the
foreseeable future. I have a num-
ber of friends and acquaintances
who sculpt, manufacture and
paint fantasy figures so I’m aware
that re-casting is frowned upon
but I thought that trying that
technique with my dwindling
stock might be forgiven. I also
had the excuse of altering the
figures so that they looked a little
more like citizens of ancient
Rhodes rather than aircrew and
passengers.
I took my existing septet and
began to experiment. It transpired
that a reasonably good facsimile
could be made using a silicone
moulding putty and casts in fine
white Milliput. If the tiny figures
were removed from the moulds
before the casting material was
fully hardened it was also rela-
tively easy to manipulate the
poses.
One of the components of the
seascape was to be a sailing vessel
of some description and images
of suitable subjects from the pe-
riod suggested that most of the
larger of these were galleys with
oarsmen, which brought me back
to the photo-etched figures. Whilst
these could be bent into seated
positions, I was less than happy
with them as flat figures.
As I now had plenty of these
to play with I tried to find a way

17: Galley crew figures. 18: Components for colossus figure. 19: Assembled Colossus figure.
20: Finished galley with crew. 21: Preiser 'Adam' kit. 22: Columns and basic building block.

17 18

19 20

21 22

59
06_Colossus_pp56-63_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 18:16 Page 60

m o d e ll er: 1

of giving them a third dimension.
Having cleaned the bare brass
with methylated spirit I applied
layers of superglue with the point
of a cocktail stick and, to my
pleasant surprise, this worked
rather well and the dried glue
coating still allowed the figures
to be manipulated into seated po-
sitions. Primer and paint was then
applied to these figures and the
re-casts and they were set aside.
The 1:24 scale Colossus figure
was a much more straightforward
proposition. The original figure
was believed to have represented
Helios who was, in turn, the per-
sonification of the sun for the an-
cient Greeks.
Some representations of the
statue show him holding a flaming
bowl or torch aloft, perhaps to act
as a guiding light to the island’s
harbour. This is, of course, specu-
lation, and I thought that he might,
instead, be shown holding a sphere
representing our native star.
The Preiser models are of
naked figures and, whilst there is
nothing untoward in the un-clad
male body, there were two con-
siderations. The first was that the
illustrations I had found of the
Rhodes statue showed the figure
minimally clothed. Secondly there
was the consideration of a family
audience for this article.
The provision of some sort of
kilt-like garment seemed to be
the answer and the material to

23: Building assembly. 24: Halo detail. 25: Card roofs. 26: Buildings pre-paint.
27: Test fit of harbour and buildings. 28: Fabric kilt added.

23 24

25 26

27 28

60
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D i or a ma

create such a garment was at
hand in the form of the finely wo-
ven cleaning cloth supplied with
my laptop PC. A section of this
was cut using a new no.15 scalpel
blade and glued in place with a
PVA adhesive which also infused
the fabric, enabling me to create
folds. A length of thin linen cord,
used as a belt, completed the
garment and the whole figure was
airbrushed in mid-grey. When this
was dry MIG Panzer Grey (Fading)
was used to add some shading
to enhance the clothing and the
figure’s musculature. The sun
globe was a plastic bead painted
Tamiya Titanium Gold. I also
added a halo of plastic card spikes
to the head, inspired by an image
found on the internet and seem-
ingly in keeping with the deity’s
status.
There are two vessels in the
seascape: a galley, for which the
crew had already been made, and
a small fishing vessel. Both of
these were made from thin card.
The galley needed a sail which I
made from tissue paper and its
crew needed oars to be made
from brass wire painted wood
brown. With these accessories
completed I carried out a dry run
to position the harbour and the
boats.
It was then time to add some
buildings and the internet once
again provided a wealth of refer-
ences. Essentially there would be

29: Colossus with primer. 30: Further positional test fit. 31: Milliput detailing and water effect.
32: Galley detail. 33: Detail with figures and boat. 34: Building detail.

29 30

31 32

33 34

61
06_Colossus_pp56-63_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 18:16 Page 62
m o d e ll er: 1
a plinth for the statue and two
ancillary buildings and the style
of each would be very much
the same. These were, again,
made from card with sections
of wooden cocktail sticks serv-
ing as columns. The card avail-
able from the local craft shop
was rather thin for my purposes
here and it took a while for my
ageing brain to access the fact
that business cards would be
perfect. I think I used just three
or four of these to create the
entire thing.
The slate harbour base was
airbrushed in very thin buffs and
sand yellows and, when dry, was
positioned onto the glass supplied
with the picture frame along with
the galley and fishing boat. Un-
derneath the glass was an area
of blues and greens airbrushed
Top: Colossus with pigment powder shading. Below: Workstation view of finished model.
62
onto white paper. In anticipation
of creating the water effect I had
sealed the back of the frame with
masking tape and now poured a
quantity of Woodland Scenics Re-
alistic Water to a depth of perhaps
1/16th of an inch. I had some con-
cern that this liquid would warp
the card boat and galley and had
given these several coats of acrylic
sealer which seemed to provide
the protection needed.
The galley’s crew were al-
ready seated so I now needed
to add the oars whilst the artifi-
cial water was still wet. This
was a somewhat delicate task
requiring a steady hand and
tweezers but one that was car-
ried out with only one minor
mishap. It was only after the
galley, oars, crew and all, was
set in the sea that it occurred
to me that the oarsmen were
probably facing the wrong way
but, you never know, perhaps
Greek sailors preferred to push
rather than pull.
When the Woodland Scenics
water had set I realised that the
harbour itself was sitting slightly
above the tideline. This would
have occurred earlier to anybody
with half a brain but it was an ob-
stacle easily overcome. I mixed
06_Colossus_pp56-63_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 18:16 Page 63
roughly equal portions of black
and original grey/green Milliput
and ran a bead of this round the
base of the slate, sculpted it to
match the texture of the stone
and painted the resulting exten-
sion.
Achieving some apparent
movement in the sea was a two-
part process. As the artificial water
dries (which can take up to 24
hours) it gains in viscosity so it is
possible to disturb the surface
slightly to create details such as
a bow-wave for the galley, a wake
and oar splashes. With these
added (and the water effect com-
pletely set) I added a further shal-
low layer overall and left this to
D i or a ma
dry. To make a more general
point, placing the water effect ma-
terial on top of a sheet of glass
with the colour element beneath
enhances the appearance of depth
quite nicely.
The buildings were added, as
were some trees in the back-
ground and several of my re-cast
1:400 figures. The majority of
these were gathered in one spot
as though watching the passing
galley. Finally, the figure of Helios
was placed on his plinth and the
lightest of weathering touches
added to the structures.
I was genuinely sorry when
this project was completed as I’d
found the process very enjoyable.
As far as the finished thing is con-
cerned, I could probably have
made a better job of the galley
but it is, perhaps, passable for a
first effort using the materials I
did for a subject that was new to
me.
63
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m o d e ll er: 1
Tamiya 1/35 scale Jagdpanzer IV/L70 Tank Destroyer
Kit Review, Complete Build Tutorial, Including
Detailing, Upgrades and Accessories
N
ow considering the size
of my model kit ‘stash’
(this is what we dedicated
modellers call our personal stock-
pile of unbuilt kits), one might
find it hard to believe that I would
order in yet another 1/35 scale
Text and images by WW2 armour kit... because, really,
Gary Roberts I must have a hundred already.
I’m not short on projects to tackle.
And my stash has, in all likelihood,
US MODELLER: outgrown my life expectancy by
MILITARY several years worth of building.
So what’s got into me, buying
www.tamiya.com yet another WW2 armour kit?
I blame Tamiya. They went
and released an all-new, all re-
64
tooled 1/35 model kit of the Sd.Kfz
162/1 JagdPanzer IV/70 (V) LANG...
a vehicle I am particularly fond
of, yet do not have on my shelf of
WW2 German fighting vehicles.
Oh sure, Tamiya already has
a kit dedicated to this subject...
and it is very much typical of
the older Tamiya 1/35 model kits
– which means, yes, it’s a good
kit, it goes together with no fuss,
and will paint up into a decent
model tank to sit on the shelf
for the casual observer to go
‘Ooooo, Nice!’ over. But alas, I
am not one to build models for
the casual observer alone. When
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:22 Page 65
I build, I am trying to duplicate
reality. I am attempting to pro-
duce a scale replica which rep-
resents, as closely as possible,
the real-life armoured vehicle. I
am a devotee of detail and, ad-
mittedly, afflicted with a level of
OCD which says I just can’t let
the little things go. I want... no...
I demand accuracy and detail. I
want a finished model which I
can sit on a small base dressed
to look like a dirt road, mount it
outside with a background of
the natural landscape, and shoot
pics the average person (and
some pros) will have difficulty
discerning from absolute reality.
A1 A2
A4 A5
A6 A7
I want people to ask me if this is
a real tank.
Trouble is, the ‘old’ Tamiya
kits usually take a great deal of
work to meet this level of scale
reality, needing a lot of research,
scratchbuilding of details, occa-
sionally replacement of certain
parts – overall a lot of work. And,
in the 30-40 years since Tamiya
released these kits, other manu-
facturers have come into the mar-
ket with armour model kits of
very high quality which contain a
great deal of very fine details...
already equipped with workable
link tracks, one-piece or metal
Mi l i ta r y
A3
gun barrels, and brass photo-
etch small parts. This makes their
models come out a huge step
above in realism, right out of the
box.
The newest Tamiya kits are
quite obviously making great effort
to come up to speed and compete
on even ground with the high
quality (and high priced) kits from
China, and I must tell you, this
JagdPanzer IV/L70 kit scores very
high... definitely not the Tamiya
kits you remember from your Jr.
High School days... and they still
beat the other guys on price.
65
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:22 Page 66
m o d e ll er: 1
So yes, I went and bought yet
another new model kit. And yes,
I am very happy with it. So happy,
in fact, that I am going to lavish
upon my new kit the peak of my
modelling love and attention, have
also bought for it key upgrade
kits – namely the Tamiya Detail-
Up Parts kit and a Workable Track
set from AFV Club – and have
even completely cleaned up and
made orderly my modelling work
table in the studio. Oh my.
Oh, and I’m going to tell you
guys all about the process of
building, detailing, and painting
my new polystyrene lust object,
A12
66
in luridly detailed cleverly crafted
prose, combined with voluminous
detailed close-up photos... tank
model porn of the highest order,
my friends.
Shall we? Yes. I say let’s have
at it.
Unboxing the kit
You will find the new TAMIYA
JAGDPANZER IV/70(V) LANG
(Sd.Kfz.162/1) in 1/35 scale pack-
aged in a very nice typical Tamiya
white box with a beautiful hand-
painted illustration of the vehicle
this model kit will give you when
correctly built and painted. There
A8 A9
A10 A11
A13
is no spectacular over the top
battlefield scene or clutter of stuff
in the box art to confuse some
into thinking more is included in
the kit than just the vehicle. With
this kit, you get exactly what you
see, no more, no less. I think
that’s important. [A1]
Upon opening our prize, we
find more happiness. Tamiya has
provided, along with their typical,
crystal-clear, easily understandable
directions, a booklet of back-
ground information with a history
of the vehicle, and a full-spread
sheet of colour illustrations with
painting and camouflage schemes
A14
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:22 Page 67
for 3 different units this type of
vehicle served with during WW2.
Very impressive, Tamiya... very
impressive...
Now, not to throw any political
hand grenades through our little
window of joy here, but one thing
was, at least to me, glaringly ob-
vious in its omission from the
paint scheme spread sheet... and
let’s just be out with it: some of
these vehicles were assigned to
SS Panzer units in the West Front
from the defense against the Nor-
mandy Invasion onward, probably
best known would be 12 SS Panz-
er during the Battle of the Bulge/
A17
A20
Ardennes Offensive. We get three
colour illustrations in 3 view, and
two of these are ‘Unit Unknown’...I
mean really, guys. C’mon. The
units are not ‘unknown’. OK, rant
over. [A2-A8]
The kit comes moulded in a
very close replication of post-
’43 Panzer Yellow, the sprues
are neatly laid out and nicely
bagged, as we have come to ex-
pect from a high quality manu-
facturer like Tamiya. I like to use
some Tamiya kits for my super
detail builds because of the de-
pendable nature of their models...
the parts always fit together right,
A15 A16
A18
A21
Mi l i ta r y
the moulding is always crisp and
sharp. Surface details are some-
times good, sometimes iffy,
sometimes missing, but overall
it’s always a good base model
to work my magic on. You usu-
ally don’t have huge mould split
seams to sand or carve smooth,
though some are inevitable, and
this kit is no exception. There
are some to deal with, but noth-
ing terrible and all within reason.
Overall, the parts are very nice,
but in examining the kit closely,
we can begin to take note of all
the areas we can improve in the
build. [A10-A29]
A19
A22
67
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m o d e ll er: 1
A23
We notice upon inspection
that the ends of the armour
plates in the upper hull where
they interlock have no texture
on the ends... I’m talking about
the cutting marks: lines in the
plate where it was cut. This is
visible in every reference photo
I see of the real vehicle, so I
must sculpt this detail in. Also
missing are the tiny tie down
loops all around the roof of the
crew compartment. In typical
Tamiya fashion they are tiny
bumps of plastic instead of the
needed tie loops welded to the
hull. These will be made and
added. [A12-A14]
68
A24
A26 A27
A28 A29
Also of note is the bow ma-
chine gun port. On the real tank
it’s a flattened cone of armour
mounted on a shaft which is ro-
tated from inside to open and
close off the gun port. An MG42
machine gun is used in this posi-
tion. Though not really included
in the directions as an optional
part to be assembled open or
closed, Tamiya has provided
enough detail to work with here
so I can carve open the gun port
and view port, replace the two
lumps of plastic with small PE an-
gle iron stops, and place an MG42
in its ready position on my model.
I love options! [A17]
A25
As I said, I’m using some up-
grades. Tamiya makes a ‘Detail-
Up’ kit for this model, which in-
cludes a machined aluminium
gun barrel, and a complete model
of the 7.5cm L70 antitank gun to
install in your vehicle interior,
giving you a much more accurate
view down through the hatches
should you choose to model them
open. Now at first I was a bit
puzzled about why Tamiya pro-
vided such a highly detailed main
gun kit, as even with hatches
open you don’t see it much, and
if you place your crew figures in
their hatches, well, you really
don’t see it. But then I got it... the
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:22 Page 69
A32
model is made so the roof can
be removed. You have the option
to make the roof a removable
panel to show off the very nice
L70 main gun. Of course this will
immediately bring to your atten-
tion the fact that the entire rest
of the interior is missing – and
looking at my reference pics,
that’s a lot of stuff – but I’m sure
there’s an aftermarket company
already on this issue with a com-
plete interior upgrade. I’m not
going there for this build, but I
will do the complete L70 main
gun and install it in the tank,
along with my two crewmen in
the hatches.
A30 A31
A33
A34 A35
I am also using the AFV Club
workable track set for PzKw IV
40cm wide track. JagdPanzer IV is
one of the many derivative vehicles
built on the reliable PzKw IV plat-
form during the war, so these are
the correct tracks, and AFV Club
is one of my favourite aftermarket
track makers. [A32-A33]
Looking closely at the sprues,
I can see the tools provided have
some issues with the representa-
tion of the tool clamps and holders
keeping them mounted to the ve-
hicle. Now, Tamiya, don’t get an-
noyed with me – you did a pretty
good job. These tools and tool
Mi l i ta r y
holders are actually much im-
proved over the others found in
Tamiya PzKw IV kits. I’m just a
pain. So, I am going to grab some
tool brackets and holders from a
Griffon Model PE set for PzKw IV-
J. Most of the tools are the same
on both vehicles, so we’ll have
no issues finding what is needed
here. I just want to see scale-
sized metal brackets and those
wing nuts and little turn keys on
the tool holders. Yes, yes, the af-
fliction of OCD has a firm grip on
my scale modelling, a fact which
is both curse and blessing. You
will see this in practical demon-
stration as we proceed. [A34-A35]
69
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m o d e ll er: 1

B1 B2

B3 B4

B5 B6

B7 B8

70
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Mi l i ta r y

Then, of course, there are the decals included in

the kit. Yes... kit decals. I’m going to be honest. I’m
no fan of anyone’s decals included in their kits. I
don’t exactly know what happened, but somewhere
between the mid-1960s, when all you needed to
apply decals was a bowl of warm water and a
paper towel, and they stuck like iron totally smooth,
and nowadays, where you need a whole specialised
tool kit full of stuff to apply your kit decals and still
get absolutely no guarantee of any sort of success,
B9
something happened to the art of water decal
making. And it’s no good at all.

I hate everybody’s decals.

But I’m in a bit of a time crunch on this build and

I’m in the middle of Europe, which means there’s
no corner hobby shop to run over to and grab
some nice dry transfers from, so I’m going to make
an effort with these. Wish me luck.

Thankfully, there are not many markings or in-

B10 B11
signia on this vehicle, so we shouldn’t get into
much trouble. (Ahem...) [A31]

So, here we have it: a fresh, new Tamiya kit

ready to assemble. As the manufacturing label
moulded on the inside of the tank hull says Copyright
2014 the model we’re going to build was likely run
and packaged in 2015. They don’t get much fresher
than this one. So off we go, let’s build a model
tank! [A30]

B12

B13 B14 B15

71
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m o d e ll er: 1
B21
B23
The Build
Every model builder has his own
‘way’, so let me begin by saying
that this article is in no way in-
tended to be some sort of absolute
dictate on how to build and paint
this kit. I have my way of doing
things, developed over 50 years
in the hobby of building scale
models. In no way do I intend to
come off as some indisputable
expert or absolute authority. Do I
know stuff? Oh yes, I do. I have
ways of doing things that work
well. I do pretty good. But please
don’t think I know everything, I
certainly do not, and should you
know a better way of doing some-
thing I show here, TELL ME! I
need to know! Never, never stop
learning. Never close off your
mind to new ideas. If you do that,
72
B16
B22
B24
you’ve one foot in the grave al-
ready. And, of course, I intend to
live forever...
My basic method goes like
this: assemble the entire vehicle
so it can be painted in the same
sort of method used to paint the
real one at the ‘PanzerWerkes’
back in the day, which means
build the whole tank but leave off
the wheels and tracks, all the ex-
ternal accessories like tools and
MG mounts or spare gear – just
the basic vehicle. That way it can
be painted overall colours, have
camo sprayed on, decals, weath-
ering, dirt, without messing up
the small details. THEN do all the
tools and tarps and spare wheels,
the roadwheels and tracks; once
all that is installed, final touch-
B17 B18
B19 B20
B25 B26
B27 B28
ups and dirt/mud/rust/snow or
whatever.
Here is something to consider:
it is not one model. It is a whole
collection of models. Every tool,
every MG, every gas can, every
track link, is an individual model
of that object. Build your model
armoured vehicle with this attitude
and watch what happens. You’ll
like it.
I start with the lower hull and
the automotive parts. Wheels,
sprockets, suspension. Every part
needs to have at least some level
of clean-up of the mould lines,
and on these wheels we have our
share of work, along with the sus-
pension arms and springs. We
have 32 wheels, 8 suspension
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Mi l i ta r y

B29 B30 B31

B32 B33 B34

B35 B36 B37

B38 B39 B40

B41 B42 B43

B44 B45 B46

73
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:23 Page 74
m o d e ll er: 1
B47
B50
B53
units, 2 sprockets and 2 rear idler
wheels. A lot of clean-ups to do,
so have patience. A sharp #11
blade and some fine sandpaper
are in order for this.
The sprockets in this kit are
very well done, but the mould
lines are very prominent on the
inner surfaces of the outside
sprocket gear, so you’ll have to
do a bit of work there.
Every wheel on this kit has a
poly cap inside, including the
sprockets and idler wheels, so
you have the ability to mount and
dismount the wheels through the
build process, which I found to
be very useful indeed.
74
B48
B51
B54
Once all this is properly cleaned
up, we glue them all together and
set them aside to dry. Glue MUST
be completely dry before any
paint is applied, so you have a
couple of hours to stand down.
Or, if you’re good at multi-tasking,
go to another part of the plan
sheet and assemble some parts
you’ll be needing later on, but be
sure you’re not doing something
that will cause you a problem be-
cause it’s out of sequence. Don’t
paint yourself into any corners,
or out of the bathroom. [B1-B16]
When all the wheels are dry I
usually take this opportunity to
paint the basic post ’43 Panzer
Yellow on all of them and the
sprockets and idlers. Using Model
Master Enamels, as I do for every-
B49
B52
B55
thing, I don’t have a long wait for
dry time, especially for military
flat finishes. With 32 road wheels
to paint, I’m usually ready to paint
black rubber tyres on the first
wheels by the time I’m done with
yellow on the last. [B17-B20] But
we’re going to do something a
bit more – the beginning of our
realism and detailing work.
Armoured vehicles are ex-
tremely heavy. Many tons of steel,
in fact. Supported by very heavy
suspensions and wheels running
on steel caterpillar tracks. These
components take a tremendous
beating and bashing running cross
country and through rough coun-
try, turning sharply, all the while
supporting and propelling these
multi-ton monsters.
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:23 Page 75
B56
B59
B62
As a modeller interested in re-
alistic portrayals of armoured fight-
ing vehicles as they appeared in
action, I try to add these details
as needed. In the case of road
wheels, this means adding some
chipping and cracking to the hard
rubber tyres. As the tank turns,
the guide teeth sometimes scuff
and gouge the inner surfaces.
There are big stones which get
caught in the tracks or other de-
bris. All of this can cause cracks
or big chunks in the tyre, so I
take my #11 knife and go about
carving some of this into my road
wheels. Tyres closest to the front
or rear of the vehicle will have
worse damage than those in the
middle, which should show very
little wear and tear. The JagdPanz-
er IV, due to the immense weight
B57
B60
B63
of the thick frontal armour and
the big L70 gun, had solid steel
road wheels in the first two posi-
tions at front. This was done to
eliminate down time to switch
out terminally damaged rubber
wheels which would crumble un-
der the enormous load. The steel
wheels obviously took the beating
far better. [B21-B24]
Painting the black rubber tyres
is a bit of a trick – always has
been. Some manufacturers don’t
give us much help here, making
their parts with indistinct lines
and difficult to see separations
between rubber tyre and steel
wheel. Some modellers use wheel
masks: round masks to cover the
tyre part so the centre wheel can
be sprayed neatly with an air-
Mi l i ta r y
B58
B61
B64
brush. I prefer hand painting the
tyres.
I use a wood toothpick broken
in half to mount each wheel on,
so I can spin it while holding it. I
have a very long bristle soft sable
brush, made for lettering and pin-
striping, which holds a lot of paint
and will paint a tight line a long
distance. Using Model Master Flat
Black, thinned almost 50-50, I spin
the wheel while holding the brush
on the edge of the tyre. The super
thin black naturally runs to the
sharp edge of the wheel and stops,
and flows evenly as the wheel
spins. I’ve used this method for
many years on all kinds of road
wheels, even on 1/72 scale mod-
els. For me, it works. I think the
results are very nice.
75
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m o d e ll er: 1
B67
B70
Now all the wheels are done
and set aside to make room for
the big stuff. [B25-B28]
Moving to the next part of the
directions, we can now build the
main part of the hull, both upper
and lower. This vehicle, being a
classic German WW2 tank destroy-
er, has no gun turret, which for us
offers the same advantage it offered
the over-stressed German industrial
plants: we don’t have to bother
building a turret or all that complex
stuff that goes along with it.
This is a Tamiya model kit,
which means most of all the di-
76
B65 B66
B68
B71
rections are clear and understand-
able and the parts fit exactly as
shown. The next few steps of the
build, the upper and lower hull
and all the related components,
go very smoothly and the tank
begins to take shape very quickly
now. As seen in my pics, the
parts offer you the option of ap-
plying very thin plastic cement
along the inside of the major
seams. This will give you virtually
invisible glue joints, which is ob-
viously desireable. [B29-B55]
In this stage I choose to cut
out the forward machine gun port
and sight port with a sharp #11
B69
B72
blade. This needs to be done be-
fore we get too much delicate
stuff glued to the tank which would
prevent rough handling due to
potential breakage. So do this if
you want before you get anything
else glued to the upper hull –
you’ll be a lot happier. [B43-B44]
Looking at more of my refer-
ence pics, I am looking at the
things I need to add – little details
in order to bring more realism to
the model. I can see that the rack
of wood blocks, provided on most
german tanks for use with the
jack, is in need of some detailing.
There are numerous tie down
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:24 Page 77
loops around the roof of the tank,
which will require the removal of
all those little bumps of plastic
Tamiya moulded onto the hull to
represent those tie loops. Also
needed will be a couple of very
tiny retainer chains for the rear of
the tank, as 2 cover caps have
these and the trailer hitch pin
also. I will source these from pho-
to-etch parts I already have saved
up from other builds.
Also at this time, I remove the
little alignment tabs along the low-
er edge of the upper hull, there to
help locate the brackets for the
hanging skirt armour. These are
not on the real vehicle and will
show very clearly on the finished
model – just cut them off flush. I
had no problem getting all the
B73 B74
B75 B76
hangers on straight. There is no
skirt armour included in this kit,
however, so if you want those
side plates hung on there, you’ll
need to make them from very thin
sheet styrene. Very thin, as the
real ones are a bit less than 1/4”
thick. So whatever material you
choose to scratchbuild these with
it will need to be correct scale
thickness. Figure this out by taking
the decimal version of 1/4” and
dividing it by 35. They’re about
.007” ...Yeah. Thin. [B47-B48]
Obviously the most tedious
job is the tiny wire tie down loops,
so this is next. Using .009” soft
steel wire I keep for this exact
task, making all these tiny loops
by hand using my collection of
very fine stainless tweezers is the
Mi l i ta r y
job which pretty much consumes
the whole night. They are attached
to the tank hull with Loctite Attak
CA glue and allowed to dry. [B51-
B55]
So now, since we have quite
a few parts glued and in need of
cure time, we should divert our
attention over to some other part
of the vehicle and spend time
with that for a while. And since
we have the Tamiya Detail-Up kit
with the very nice L70 gun, we’re
going to go build and paint this
while our other parts are curing
completely.
The Detail-Up kit is an alumini-
um gun barrel with all the added
parts you need to build an accu-
rate gun mount, gun breech and
77
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:24 Page 78
m o d e ll er: 1
gun guards for your interior. The
kit has its own instructions, and
the Tamiya JagdPanzer IV kit in-
structions sync up perfectly with
these to give you more trouble
free building. It all goes together
like a dream. [B56]
Now we are getting to some-
thing which must be painted as
we go along, so things will slow
down a bit for this stage. Needed
will be Model Master Flat White,
Flat Black, and Flat Steel. You
can see from my pics which parts
receive which colours, and in what
order, but it’s basically Flat Black
on any interior parts I don’t want
to be seen, Interior Flat White for
the gun mount and all the interior
of the upper hull, and Flat Steel
for the gun breech block and parts
of the gun mechanism. Since the
B79
78
gun really is not clearly visible
through the hatches, especially
with the crew members there, I’m
not spending extraordinary time
in super-detailing. One thing I am
doing is to use #400 fine sand-
paper on the aluminium metal
barrel. I sand it completely. This
will allow the primer to adhere to
the metal without issues.
The interior of the lower hull I
paint Flat Black, as I want it to
pretty much vanish. I paint the
crew compartment interior Flat
White, as it is visible in places.
Looking at this interior with this
really nice gun installed, it’s obvi-
ous that a full interior kit is badly
needed to accompany this De-
tail-Up gun kit. A complete interior
would just be super exciting, and
I await the arrival of a really good
B77 B78
B80
one so I have an excuse to build
another of these great kits, this
time with even more detail and
realism. [B56-B64]
Now I’m going to get seriously
into the exterior details of the
model. Even though I said the
tools will be left off the tank in or-
der to give it a proper paint and
camo scheme, all of the tool hold-
ers and brackets need to be in-
stalled so it can all be painted at
once just like the real thing would
be. First thing I take on in the
small details is the cable for the
driving headlight, which is a small
thing a lot of modellers seem to
forget, or just not notice. Well,
the headlight on the left fender
has a short cable running from it
down to the hull, and to get this
in scale I use a piece of soft
B81
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:24 Page 79
copper wire, .018” diameter. Care-
fully bent to shape to fit between
the connectors, it is finally secured
in place with Loctite CA glue.
[B65-B66]
This is the part of the model
build which usually gets wide-
eyed looks from my dear sweet
wife Brenda. Yes, I’m going to
put tool clamps with little handles,
tiny chains, tie down straps, and
wing nuts on this model tank.
Yes, I am. I’m also going to as-
semble about 200 individual 1/35
scale tank track links and have
them be fully flexible after I’m
done, but we’ll do that part later.
As I said earlier, I’m going to
rob some tool holders and hard-
ware from a Griffon Model photo
etch set for a PzKw IV-J. It’s one
of those things I just happen to
have, as I don’t have any Ausf. J
PzKw IV kits on the shelf to be
built, but I knew it would come in
handy somewhere, so when a
cheap score came along I just
nabbed it. Now I’m happy I did.
This set has the tool holders I
need, as the JagdPanzer carries
all the standard PzKw IV tool kit.
And it’s neat stuff, with the tiny
turn key latches and bail handles
for the clamps and wing nuts...
cool stuff.
Working with PE brass a lot,
I’ve discovered that you do your-
self a big favour if you take the
#400 fine sandpaper and go over
your PE sheets completely on
both sides and scuff them up.
Break that shiny glaze totally off
and you’ll find your CA glue fas-
Mi l i ta r y
tens this stuff like iron. Big parts el, we have one more bit of rough
will solder together with ease, work to complete: the cut lines
and your primer coat will bond in the ends of the interlocked ar-
like never before. Be gentle and mour plates forming the heavy
don’t crumple up your small bits! armoured hull. As shown previ-
But do fine sand that PE before ously, these were moulded
you use it. [B68] smooth. Tamiya, bless them, went
to some effort to reproduce the
First thing to do is gather all weld beads between the armour
the tools for the tank and prepare plates, and duplicate the rough
to carve cut and resculpt, because texture of the gun mantlet and
most of them have the tool brack- housing in the hull front, but do
ets and holders moulded as part drop the ball on some other things
of them, which is no good for a that could have been nice. Like
high-detail model like I am going the ends of the armour plates, or
for. But to get this, we need all a bit of texture on the front plate
the tools bar, so the shovel must itself, which we know is never
be carved down to only be the smooth like glass. Oh well, this is
shovel, the axe the same, the what separates the good builders
hand crank, etc., etc. [B67-B71] from the great builders, I suppose.
[B72-B76]
I also do at this time the pack-
age of wood blocks, which on It’s time to do the really fiddly
this tank sit in a holder on the left bits. The tool holder clamps and
rear of the back plate. I have brackets and little tiny parts which
carved away the moulded-on strap
and buckle and the holder, plus B82
the metal straps that hold them
in place. I replaced all this with
parts from the PE set and mounted
it to the rear of the tank, as painting
the wood blocks is no big hassle
and the holder needs to be painted
with the tank. The strap and buckle
holding the blocks will be among
the very last de-
tails added to B83
the model. [B69-
B71]
But, before
starting into at-
taching all these
tiny, delicate
brass tool hold-
ers to the mod-
79
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:24 Page 80
m o d e ll er: 1
B84
B88
B92
B94
should, if we do it well, look like
the real thing. Cutting and properly
bending to the correct shapes these
miniature parts without destroying
them completely is a daunting chal-
lenge which I recommend only to
the most sharp of eye and steady
of hand. And patient. Oh yes, you
must be patient.
Use the tools in the kit to help
align the tool holders and get the
fit right. Loctite CA does the job
to secure them to the rear deck.
Don’t glue the tools in yet! Once
you have it all lined up right and
the tool holders properly glued
down, take all the tools away and
let that CA glue cure for awhile,
because we’re very close to be-
ginning the paint process.
80
B85
B89
B93
B95
I have left off the tops of some
tool holders and the turn keys or
wing nuts which secure the tools.
This allows me to paint the tank
and not worry about what will
happen later when I need to open
these holders and place the tools.
I’ll just glue the last parts on at
the end and hand paint those
small parts when the glue dries.
The cleaning rods and holders
are unique to the L70 armed ver-
sion of this vehicle, and since I
do not have the specific PE set
for this tank, I don’t have the tool
holders for these. Well, I made a
decision, you can thrash me for it
if you wish, but I simply added a
needed strap and buckle around
the middle of the rod bundle and
left the moulded plastic ends.
B86 B87
B90 B91
B96
Yeah, yeah, sue me. It’s a judge-
ment call, and I just didn’t feel
like scratchbuilding the tool hold-
ers and making new cleaning rod
segments. [B77-B79]
We now need to assemble the
crew compartment roof. And this
is actually a lot more involved
than it might seem! Those two
hatches actually have a lot in-
volved in them, and Tamiya did
not see fit to reproduce any of
this detail, sorry to say. And, as I
said earlier, you can make the
roof removable to show off your
really neat and groovy L70 7.5cm
anti tank gun, so nicely reproduced
by Tamiya in the Detail-Up kit.
Believe it or not, there’s a lot
of detail work in this roof alone.
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:24 Page 81
I’ve already done the row of tie
down loops that run across the
rear edge, now I’ll address the
rest. Of course, if you happen to
be a builder who isn’t all that big
on super-accurate details and is
fine with out of the box models
built as is, well OK then. That’s
not me, and this article isn’t going
to light your fire. I’m OCD and
can’t stand to let so many obvious
details be omitted. Looking at a
couple of reference photos points
out the scope of the issue very
quickly, and let’s thank Google
Images right off, OK? Every build
I do is preceeded by a period of
research online – looking up mili-
tary history and old photos, gath-
ering data from every direction.
This build is no different. You’ll
be pleasantly surprised at the
floods of data and images in the
cyber universe just waiting for
you to put a vehicle name into a
search engine. I use this priceless
resource constantly.
First off, I replace the periscope
guards with brass PE guards made
of leftovers in my spare parts
box. [B80-B81]
B97 B98
Looking at two key reference
photographs [B82-B83] we see
plainly visible springs on the hatch
pivot shafts, big exposed nuts on
the hatches, a lock knob on the
small commander’s range scope
hatch, a wing nut to hold the
command hatch periscope in...
none of which is represented in
the kit parts. This is where a spares
box comes along and saves the
day. Never ever throw away left-
over parts or extra pieces! Save
all the brass left from PE sets!
This stuff is gold!
So, with the help of some cop-
per wire, leftover bolt heads and
nuts from an old PE set, some
thicker wire wound around some
thin plastic rod, a leftover door
handle, a turn knob from an old
AA gun, a couple of keyhole cov-
ers from a PE set, we get the roof
and hatches going in the proper
direction and get some necessary
details added. The hatches are
left closeable, so they can be
painted on the tank. [B84-B96]
My painting process begins
with a very light, thinned grey
primer. I spray using my old faith-
ful Badger, actually manufactured
Mi l i ta r y
before they etched the model
number into the gun. It just says
Badger Airbrush... but it matches
up with a model 150. I have a
new 150 I use for my painting.
The old gun does the big spray
jobs, like grey primer or overall
colours like OD Green or Dunkel-
gelb. I don’t always use primer
on plastic models as enamel paints
are compatible with polystyrene
and bond to that material but if I
have photo-etch brass or metal
gun barrels, or resin parts added,
then primer MUST be used. Es-
pecially in the case of acrylic
paints, you must use a primer,
no matter what. For me, only if I
have metal or resin parts. Which
I do. PE and aluminium gun barrel
make primer a must. I spray it on
in thin light overall coats.
I use a pre-shade technique
under the entire fenders and
around the components of the
suspension, to darken those areas
through the paint, using thinned
Model Master Flat Black. [B97-
B98]
Primer should be allowed to
dry at least overnight, really 24 to
48 hours. So, while that sits in a
81
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:24 Page 82
m o d e ll er: 1
B99
B102
B105
dry environment with a tempera-
ture not below 70°F to cure the
primer, I’m going to go do the
most time consuming part of the
build. Yes, the workable tracks,
which, on German tracked vehi-
cles, are always a challenge. I
love them.
On vehicles based on the PzKw
IV chassis, you’ll have right around
100 links to assemble per track.
There are a few brands to choose
from on the market, but I usually
look for AFV Club or try to find a
set of Dragon Magic Tracks. In
this case, the AFV Club were avail-
able and priced right. It wasn’t
entirely a great choice as it turns
out. The links are attached to
sprues and need to be cut free
and very delicately cleaned up
82
B100
B103
B106
due to a prominent mould seam
which is visible when assembled.
The centre guide teeth are sepa-
rate and serve to secure the links
together, which means some very
precise glue application. Now I
do love delicate, even tedious at
times, but these two track runs
all in all took a full week out of
my life. Mostly just cutting the
links free and removing that
&%$$@@? mould seam from
each and every link. That line
would be visible on every track
link at the end if not removed.
I’m thinking I’ll try ModelKasten
tracks next, yes?
Well, they get built finally and
the end result is pretty nice. They
are totally flexible and the way
B101
B104
B107
they are fastened together pretty
strong, so you can handle them
and install them on the tank with-
out destroying them. Always a
good thing! [B99-B107]
After all those tiny glue joints
dry, out comes the old Badger
again, this time loaded with
thinned out Flat Steel, overall
coats being applied evenly until
my tracks are totally steel
coloured. After that dries, it’s a
wash of thinned Flat Black to fill
low areas and darken lines. This
is set aside to fully dry. [B108-
B111]
Well, at long last it’s time to
paint the tank.
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:24 Page 83
B108
B111
Primer is fully dry and we are
ready to do the overall paint
scheme. On the JagdPanzer there
are two pieces of armour which
cover the sides of the rear engine
compartment where the cooling
vents are. These are left unmount-
ed until the base colour is applied
and the camo pattern is going to
go on. I mix my own colours for
my model projects, using Model
Master Enamels always... after 50
years of models, it’s hard to leave
a long established comfort zone
and all this experience with a par-
ticular brand. I like their paint. Us-
ing Model Master Flat Sand, Flat
Dark Tan and Flat Yellow, I mix
my own Post ’43 Panzer Sand
B109
B112
Yellow by pure eyeball measure.
I’m rather pleased with it. Again
the old trusty Badger gets loaded
with a highly thinned cup of this
wizard’s brew and the tank gets
its overall post ’43 factory colour
applied. In a couple of thin even
coats I must stress, not one big
blob of heavy paint. We are paint-
ing a miniature with tiny details
we would like to see in the final
work – let’s not drown them under
a huge thick coat of paint. We’re
going to have primer, base colour,
and 2 camo colours, so, yes,
LIGHT coats always! [B17 & B112]
After some reasonable drying
time, glue those two side armour
B114 B115
Mi l i ta r y
B110
B113
plates on and it’s the camo colours
next. Since I’m doing a tank de-
stroyer on the West Front facing
the Allies in ’44, Ardennes Offen-
sive or soon thereafter, our camo
is a red-brown and a dark green...
I use Model Master Burnt Sienna
with a dab of Flat Black to darken
it slightly, and MM Olive Green
(not Olive Drab. NO!), again slight-
ly darkened with Flat Black. This
time the newer Badger 150 gets
called into action to evenly spray
a random camouflage of red-
brown first, then the Olive Green.
Now this must be allowed to dry
before any further handling, so it
is set aside once more. [B113]
83
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:24 Page 84
m o d e ll er: 1
C1
C4
C7
Once this is dry I open up the
hatches. I have left the roof re-
movable for now to make life eas-
ier, placing the two crew figures
and to paint the inside of the hatch-
es and do a little detailing there. I
haven’t done the crew figures yet,
so I need to get busy with it! In
fact, that’s next. [B114-B115]
Tamiya has provided two crew
figures – busts, really – to place in
the hatches of the vehicle: a com-
mander, and another figure we
will assume to be either the loader
or bow machine gunner/radio op-
erator. They are held in position
by two little platforms on posts
which hang down from the inside
of the roof once glued in place.
They are really very nice figures
and Tamiya gets my applause for
84
C2
C5
C8
the improvements being made in
every category of accuracy and
detail in their military models.
Their recent crew figures are no
exception. Very nicely done.
Once they are glued together
and allowed to dry properly, I use
my tried and true figure painting
method to get a reasonably good
look out of my crewmen, You
can see in my sequence of photos
how this method works. It’s rather
basic, and I lay no claim whatso-
ever to being a Master at miniature
figure painting. Oh heavens, no!
But I have a little system and, for
me, it works OK.
First off, I paint the eyes white
and let dry. Next, I outline the
eyes, dot in the pupils, and paint
C3
C6
C9
the deepest recesses, darkest
shadows, in a pre-shade of Flat
Black. Then comes Burnt Sienna
over the Flat Black, to shade the
dark recesses of the skin. Then
overall Dark Tan to pull it all to-
gether. These layers are thinned
paint so that each colour goes
over the last and melts a bit to-
gether with it. If you paint too
thick you will lose the fine lines
and bury the pre-shading totally.
Light Tan is now used on only
the very highest points to highlight
the most prominent features, and
finally, hair and eyebrows. Uni-
forms and gear come last in the
process. [C1-12]
German Panzer crews were
famous for many things and many
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:24 Page 85
innovations, one of which was
their excellent communications
between the vehicle crew mem-
bers through an in-vehicle inter-
com. Panzer crews wore large,
full cup headphones and used a
contact microphone set on a band
around their neck placing the mics
at the throat. A small switchbox
at chest level gave them the ability
to turn on or off, or speak through
the radio system, virtually hands-
free. Very, VERY handy when life
got extremely hectic in the heat
of battle.
For my headphones, I cut the
ear cups from the Tamiya head-
bands, which are just too fat to
look realistic. Instead, I glue them
to headbands from a DML/Dragon
radio communications centre kit,
(which I have a good number of)
C11
C14
C17
which are very thin metal PE. For
my throat mics and switch boxes,
I have some brilliant little resin
and PE sets from a company
called K59. Peter at K59 makes
the planet Earth’s most crazy, in-
sane, psychotic, ultra-accurate,
super-detail upgrade kits anyone
has ever seen. Some are on the
edge of being impossible to as-
semble, really. I like adding up-
grades to my models which cause
people to blink and jaws to drop
and K59 never fails in this depart-
ment.
Wiring for these is provided
by stripping 24 gauge stranded
copper wire into individual tiny
wires measuring .006” diameter.
Loctite CA glue secures them in
proper order. [C14-C19]
C12
C15
C18
Mi l i ta r y
So... now we continue with
the final stages of the vehicle
build, while our action-ready crew-
men are allowed to thoroughly
dry. If your temperature and hu-
midity are properly controlled,
this actually does not take very
long, especially using good quality
enamels applied in proper thin
coats. Temperature should be no
lower than 70°F (21°C) and hu-
midity not above 70% – a kind of
70/70 sweet spot. I happen to live
in a place that is very damp almost
year round, so in fall/winter there’s
a fire in the stove over in the cor-
ner; in summer we have a small
one-room AC unit, plus a portable
dehumidifier unit. Climate control
is vital to good results with ce-
ments and paints alike. You’ll find
that glue, especially CA glue, really
likes warm and dry environments.
C13
C16
C19
85
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:25 Page 86
m o d e ll er: 1
So, if you’re trying to build and
paint something and you notice
your glue taking unusually long
to set up and your paints staying
wet too long, go check your ther-
mometer. If it’s 17°C and damp in
there, you’re not going to have a
good time.
The vehicle gets a coat of
Testors’ DullCote flat clear spray
now, as do the crewmen, to seal
the paint and protect it from what’s
coming next. After this lacquer
quickly dries, we get to dirty up
this nice fresh paint job.
Remember those stock kit de-
cals? Oh yeah, those...
Time to have a go at making
something of these, hopefully
86
D1 D2
D3 D4
something we can use. Now you’ll
hear a whole bunch of various
techniques for making decals
work... buffing the surface, spray-
ing with gloss clearcoat or acrylic
spray, even using a coat of Future
floor wax on the model (YEEEKS!).
Well, I’m not sure about all this.
I’ve got my scissors, my bowl of
steamy hot water, my paper tow-
els, and, just in case, a fresh bottle
of both ‘Regular’ Decal Set Solu-
tion and ‘Irregular Surface’ Decal
Set Solution. Hmmm...
I wet my finger and use it to
wet polish the flat paint on the
spots I want to give the decal a
smooth surface to lie flat and
blend into. Then, without much
fuss, the 4 decals slide on and
are dabbed down with damp pa-
per towel as usual. So far so
good. But as I need to let these
set for a good while before sealing
over them with DullCote, I put
the project aside until morning.
At this stage they look real good.
By morning the square decal
is obvious, its shape a distinct sil-
very shade of translucent film.
This is an issue. The German
crosses are looking OK, as the
manufacturer made the image fit
the film exactly, so even if it is a
bit ‘silvered’, you can’t see it. But
the vehicle numbers? Yeah, they
are silvered.
I take warm water and re-float
the decals. Yes... of course both
sides are being a pain. Then I get
the Decal Set solution. This stuff
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:25 Page 87
is actually a mild solvent to prac-
tically melt the decal into the sur-
face, and if you’re not careful you
WILL melt the decal, so care is
essential. And, well, it looks like
it’s going to cooperate after all...
so I press it dry with soft paper
and leave it.
Couple of hours go by, and
we still have some silvery looking
stuff in our vehicle numbers. Well,
OK. I have liquid Dullcote in a
bottle and clean brushes, so yes,
I brush down the decal in a layer
of Dullcote, which has worked for
me before with cranky decals.
This does seem to do it, so I let
that dry. I am now cranky myself,
as I want this tank up on its tracks
and getting dirty already!
Before installing the tracks, dirt
washes of mostly thinner stained
with a dab of Flat Black gets
slopped all over the underside,
under the fenders, all over the
wheels, and allowed to run down-
ward naturally, giving the impres-
sion of splashed dirty water and
rain streaking. This is done re-
peatedly to get it very random
and in various amounts, not too
consistent. It has to be allowed
dry time between washes, as the
thinner will strip off the DullCote
if it stays wet and eat the paint,
which is a bad result we do not
desire at all.
After a few black dirt washes I
then mix another wash of Dark
Earth and thinner, and slop a couple
of washes of that all over the lower
parts to give the dirty look I want.
D5 D6
D7 D8
Mi l i ta r y
Finally, some random Flat Black
wash again, to run here and there
and make things stand out. [D1]
I’ve left one link loose on the
track runs so they can be installed
on the assembled tank with ease.
A couple of washes were applied
to the steel painted tracks: a Flat
Black and a couple of Rust wash-
es, and allowed to dry. Track on
armoured vehicles, unless brand
factory new, always have rust.
Depending on the age, either just
a surface crust or, if really old,
they can be a whole project by
themselves. Since our vehicle had
a brief but glorious combat history,
we can assume that it was a pretty
clean machine all the way up to
its capture or demise, related of
course to where it was in action
during the war. None of these
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m o d e ll er: 1
tank destroyers of this version
were more than six months to a
year old at the time of the Ar-
dennes Offensive, so doing a crazy
weathering job and tons of rust
just isn’t proper for that young
age. [D2-D4]
Wherever the steel meets steel,
or meets the road, it is going to
be worn clean, so I portray this
in my model. Sprocket teeth, the
surface of the idlers, the inner
surfaces of road wheels, the return
rollers, and on the track itself, all
get a bright steel wear point wher-
ever contact is made. [D5]
Time to position the crew in
their respective hatches and glue
them in, so the commander’s
ranging scope is painted and in-
stalled, and then the commander.
88
His figure is sculpted to fit exactly
as if he is leaning on the rim of
the open hatch, and indeed he
fits perfectly. Very nice, Tamiya.
The loader figure goes in best if
fed in through the underside, and
he is keeping a sharp eye to the
right flank. A dab of thin cement
ensures their permanent assign-
ment to these positions. The roof
is then glued down permanently.
[D6-D7]
Time for the final stage of de-
tailing, and it’s mostly tool related.
The pack of wood blocks racked
on the rear gets some wood tone
paint and a leather strap with a
brass buckle ...a strap of 20lbs.
Printer paper soaked in MM
Leather coloured enamel with a
tiny PE buckle makes this happen.
[D8]
D9 D10
D11 D12
Time to complete the tool stor-
age on the rear engine deck. But
first it’s time for more dirt washes!
Yes, now over the entire tank:
very thin washes using Flat Black,
streaked from top to bottom, al-
lowed to run in streaks, drooling,
dripping, but not too dark, not
too ‘hard’. Better to take time and
do three or four gradual washes.
This, of course, takes time, but I
did tell you about patience. I let it
dry between each wash, or it’ll
lift all my paint right off. Right off
everything, decals and all. I allow
it to dry, and yet again hit it overall
with DullCote.
After painting the fire extin-
guisher Post ’43 Yellow, I glue
the cleaning rod bundle in position
and install all the tools in their
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Mi l i ta r y

D13 D14

D15 D16

D17 D18

D19 D20

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m o d e ll er: 1
proper holders. most of which I
do NOT glue on, to keep the mod-
el as realistic and free of glue
runs and blobs as is possible.
Since the tool holders are made
like the real thing, I snap them
shut on the tools and install the
tiny wing nuts or turn keys to
close the holders and clamps.
Very nice. A small brush and
paints in Post ’43 Yellow, Steel,
Rust, are now employed to match
the new parts into the tool holders.
[D9-D11]
At this time I get into all of the
details and some weathering too,
while the paints are out and work-
ing! Some more small wear
marks, chips, dings, done with
MM Steel and a tiny brush. The
small fender tail lights are painted
red. The horizontal ‘convoy light’,
another interesting bit of late war
German technology on the left
90
rear fender, is painted gloss black.
This light glows a spooky blue
when activated, is black when off.
It’s so vehicles can follow each
other along roads at night without
Allied aircraft seeing them. I know
this part has confused many, and
so far no kit instructions have ex-
plained what this thing is. It’s a
tail light. [D12-D13]
There is a run of spare track
included in the Tamiya kit which
fits in a rack across the rear of the
tank. This is painted to match into
the rest of the track and mounted
in its rightful spot. I hit it with a bit
heavier rust wash and don’t high-
light it, as this track is just hanging
on the tank... well... rusting. Look-
ing at the vehicle after that last
spray of DullCote reveals that at
certain light angles, yes, that
%#@&()_ decal still shows! No,
not kidding. [D14-D15]
Well, I have one more option.
It’s time to get into the Tamiya
Weathering Master sets and see
what sort of dirt and gunk we can
scrub all over this war horse. I
like these little make-up compacts
for model builders! I use them a
lot, in fact. This time I’m going to
use some rust, some mud and
dirt, and black soot to further
battle wear my tank. I get a little
benefit in the decal department
too, as the dirt and dust does dull
out the decal and finally starts to
blend it into the finish. I put some
rust around the exhaust stacks,
gunpowder soot at the muzzle,
and streaky dirt everywhere else.
[D16-D17]
My machine gun port is stand-
ing open, so I think I had better
install a gun!
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:25 Page 91
I’ve got model guns by the
bags from all these kits. I choose
a Dragon Gen2 MG42 from a fig-
ures kit and hollow out the flash
suppressor cone properly, then
cut it to fit in the gun port and
paint it. Once dry, it gets some
liquid cement in the port and the
gun is placed at correct depth,
and it’s there forever. [D18-D19]
My tank commander needs
...something. It’s just too bare up
on the roof. He needs some stuff.
A cigarette. A bottle of schnapps.
A magazine to read ...or, better, a
road map. Oh well, I have it. Dig-
ging in my voluminous parts col-
lection, I come up with an MP44,
a mag pouch and magazine, and
binoculars. Seems like stuff you’d
want when driving around France
looking for trouble, I think, right?
I prefer Dragon Gen2 weapons
and equipment for my models –
there’s nice detail in their sculpts
and optional spare mags and mag
carriers with open pouches, I like
them. So again, a strap of 20lbs.
Printer paper soaked in black paint
makes a strap for the binoculars;
the MP44 and ammo mag and
pouch paint up nicely, and when
dry, get CA glued in handy spots
for my vehicle commander to use
if need be. [D20]
There comes a moment in
every artists’ life when he’s work-
ing on a creation... be it painting,
drawing, sculpture, wood carving,
or model making, when the critical
decision must be made. That mo-
ment is always horribly difficult
to pinpoint and tends to be based
entirely on intuition rather than
any technical specification. It re-
quires the artist to utter, either
aloud or internally, the most im-
portant word he/she will ever
speak or think while creating a
work.
Mi l i ta r y
STOP!
Artists and builders of every
kind will recognise the meaning
of this moment. I am calling this
model DONE.
Finished
So... there we are.
A finished model always carries
with it the satisfaction of taking
on a difficult tedious task and see-
ing it through to a successful com-
pletion. It also carries with it a
certain amount of regret, as one
looks over all those things which
had great intentions and high
hopes attached, but somehow
just didn’t come up to the original
vision, for whatever reasons. We’ll
not take up time commiserating
on those sad realisations, as we
who model are well aware of our
own shortcomings and simply
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m o d e ll er: 1
vow to do better next time. Armed
with a desire to improve, learn,
and not do things exactly ‘that
way’ again, and a healthy touch
of OCD, we move on to the next
miniature replica project. And thus
it shall be. But not before taking
ample time to admire our accom-
plishment here. This turns out to
be a really nice model when done.
And I really like it a lot!
The JagdPanzer IV L/70 tank
destroyer is a popular subject
with modellers, now that Tamiya
has released this excellent kit,
which embodies everything we
have come to expect from Tamiya,
plus some very nice improve-
ments. It is designed to stay ac-
cessible to modellers of moderate
skill level, yet still appeal to guys
like me who really like to build
super-detailed high-end collectors’
92
pieces. Right out of box, with no
added upgrades, it’s an impressive
model. With a few upgrades
added, it comes right up there on
the level of the best 1/35 models
on the market. And the price is
right. A quick look at social media
modelling groups and a Google
search of images based on this
vehicle name will show you quick-
ly the rapid response of the mod-
elling community toward this kit.
They really like it a lot too!
Representing a late war tank
destroyer designed and built by
Germany between 1943 and ’45,
the JagdPanzer IV L/70 ‘Lang’
(long) is a hybrid of the highly
reliable battle tested PzKw. Mk.IV
tank chassis and the L70 7.5cm
anti tank gun mounted in the
PzKw. Mk.V ‘Panther’. Mounted
in an armoured, low profile su-
perstructure with a crew of five
(driver, bow gunner/radio oper-
ator, loader, gunner, tank com-
mander), this anti tank gun be-
came a feared weapon to allied
tank crews, with range and ac-
curacy matching the dreaded 88
and with as much armour pene-
trating ability. The German gen-
eral staff actually made fun of
this design initially, calling it ‘Gud-
erian’s Duck’ or ‘Guderian’s Joke’,
as Germany in ’43 already had
several tank destroyers in pro-
duction: up-gunned Stug.III, 38t
Hetzer, Marder variants I, II, III
with Pak40 guns, and the deadly
JagdPanther, a Mk.V Panther
chassis carrying a brutal 88mm
gun. No one saw the need for
this vehicle.
That opinion changed with the
deployment of the second gen-
07-tank_pp64-93_Modeller-210x274.5 11/08/2016 14:25 Page 93
eration L70 armed JagdPanzer,
the initial model being a bit un-
der-gunned with a 7.5cm L48 gun.
The reliability of the Mk.IV chassis
combined with the low flat frontal
silhouette and deadly 2000 metre
tank-killing gun proved itself on
both fronts, but was especially
feared in the West, as both British
and US tankers in M4 Shermans
tried to advance out of the Nor-
mandy Bocage country and the
Brits struggled to get past Caen.
JagdPanzer IV tank destroyers
could be easily concealed in am-
bush positions, hide in crumbled
houses, or race into battle, shoot
the unprepared enemy to pieces,
then back out and be gone before
the artillery or air assets arrived.
In the hands of skilled armour
commanders with 12 SS holding
back the Allies in France, they
proved to be a holy terror. ‘Gud-
erian’s Joke’ was no laughing
matter.
As with all stories concerning
armoured vehicles of the Germans
in WW2, the ending is the same.
Too little, too late. Not enough of
them. No air cover from the Luft-
waffe. The JagdPanzer IV and all
of its brother tank destroyers and
parent tanks fell in battle to the
unstoppable flood of armour and
air power crushing in from both
East and West. Only a few exam-
ples of this vehicle survived intact,
now sitting in museums in Europe
and at least one in the US. Only
one fully functional vehicle still
exists.
Tamiya researched the one
US example sitting outdoors at
Mi l i ta r y
Aberdeen, Maryland, and have
included pics in their very nice
information sheet included in the
kit. My research for this build
turned up a good many pics online
of the other vehicles spread
through European museums and
video of the one running example
in operation. Good research is so
easy these days, there’s just no
reason to NOT get the details
right!
So, we end our adventure for
this issue! Stay tuned, for, as I
said, I’m hopelessly OCD. ...Think
I’ll be building another tank soon?
Rhetorical question, guys.
G. Roberts
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m o d e ll er: 1

...And now for something

completely different
Airfix’s 1:12 scale model of Shaun the Sheep with Land Rover.

S
Text and images by ometimes model building
Barry Ford can become very intense:
whether it be struggling
to find an appropriate reference,
U K MODELLER: poor parts fit or just a concentrated
TECHNIQUE—create realistic rust, painting session. And with that
mud and countryside effects. intensity we sometimes forget
why we got into model building
www.airfix.com in the first place: to enjoy our-
selves and have some fun creating
something. After one such intense
period of model making I felt I
deserved to have a bit of the
aforementioned fun with my next
project and therefore set about
building Airfix’s 1:12 scale model
of Shaun the Sheep with Land
Rover.
I’m sure most of you are fa-
miliar with Nick Park’s and Aard-
man Animation’s Wallace and

94
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Tech ni qu es

1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

1-5: Base paint to Land Rover. 6: Gesso and Resin stucco added to base. 7: Asphalt pigment and wall added to base. 8: Foam wall detail.

95
08-Shaun_pp94-105_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 19:51 Page 96
m o d e ll er: 1
Gromit films, which are not only
great entertainment but also fea-
ture some absolutely fantastic,
traditional model work. However,
I only recently discovered that
they had created a spin-off series
starring Shaun the Sheep, first
seen in the Wallace and Gromit
special A Close Shave. These
short films are a modern equiva-
lent of the silent comedy and,
again, feature some fantastic mod-
el work. Most importantly, per-
haps, in this day and age of so-
called ‘hilarious comedies’, is the
fact that these films are genuinely
funny and often make me laugh
out loud.
That grand bastion of British
model making, Airfix, have in re-
cent years produced two kits
9. Foam wall detail. 10. Wall coated with Gesso. 11. Water, PVA and pigment mix with Celluclay waiting to be added. 12. Completed mix.
96
based on the series: one featuring
a tractor and the other, which I
will be building, a Land Rover –
both with to-scale characters from
the programmes. As a nice touch
to encourage first time model
makers Airfix have included all
the paint, glue and brushes nec-
essary to complete the kits. As a
slightly more advanced (I hope)
model maker the tube of poly-
styrene cement will be consigned
to the bottom drawer and replaced
with some liquid Plastic-weld. I
will use certain of the paints and
substitute some others, most no-
tably to include a paint colour for
the main body of the Land Rover,
which the instructions assume
will be left unpainted, as the plastic
the kit is cast in is a very close
match to the studio model. I chose
t o
paint the main body of the Land
Rover as I felt it would give a
more realistic finish and it allows
for touching up of the paintwork
if something happens that should-
n’t. The supplied paintbrushes are
of a reasonably good quality and
will become part of my painting
arsenal.
I started off the kit by priming
all the Land Rover parts individu-
ally for ease of painting. The three
pig figures were assembled as
per the instructions and the seams
were filled and sanded prior to
priming. Bitzer the Dog, created
from two sub-assemblies of head
and body, and the titular Shaun
and little Timmy the lamb were
kept as separate components ex-
cept for joining the body and head
9 10
11 12
08-Shaun_pp94-105_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 19:51 Page 97

Tech ni qu es

13 14

15 16

17 18

19 20

13: Earth added to base. 14: Coat of stain brushed on and wiped off. 15: Stain coat. 16: Drybrushing complete. 17: Scenic Rust just applied.
18: Scenic Rust + 2 hours. 19: Scenic Rust + 4 hours. 20: Scenic Rust + 12 hours.

97
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m o d e ll er: 1

21 22

23 24

25 26

27 28

21: Pigments added to wall and tracks. 22: Wall complete. 23-24: Rust added.
25: First coat grass added. 26: Second coat grass added. 27-28: Ground cover added.

98
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29 30
31 32
29: Pigments added to road. 30: Pigments softened. 31-32. Bushes added.
halves together. Because the two
sheep have heavily textured body
parts the join would need to be
covered with some sculpted mod-
elling putty. Whilst I could have
made a texture stamp I felt that
the most straightforward method
was to create small balls of putty,
press them in place and smooth
out the join between them.
Knowing that some of the
products I would use to create
the base would take a few days
to dry I now turned my attention
to setting the scene. I masked off
the edge of a timber cutting board
and primed the surface with a
coat of gesso.
To build the road I first bor-
dered its perimeter with temporary
cardboard strips and trowelled in
some Liquitex Resin Stucco. This
is a modelling paste that dries
rock hard but has a very fine,
open textured surface that is ideal
for replicating tarmac and other
surface finishes. I scraped over
the surface using the flat edge of
a ruler to give a smooth finish,
not worrying about any slight sur-
face imperfections, as these would
be more than likely to happen in
real life and so added to the real-
istic finish I was aiming for. The
cardboard strips served a two-
fold purpose: they formed a
boundary so that the Stucco
would not go all over the place,
and because they were raised
above the surface of the board
they gave me a level for the sur-
face scrape. When the Stucco
Tech ni qu es
was dry I gave it a base coat of
Woodland Scenics Road Surface
Pigment.
Using some 25mm thick insu-
lation foam board I carved a sec-
tion of dry stonewalling with riffler
files. Caution has to be taken
when working with this material
as it is very fragile and it’s very
easy to inadvertently break a sec-
tion off. This was covered with
gesso to seal the foam and prime
it to accept a paint finish. When it
was dry the wall was glued in
place with PVA.
In order to create the field and
earth banking to the base of the
wall I mixed up some Celluclay
with a water/PVA mixture that
had been pre-coloured with Wood-
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m o d e ll er: 1

33 34

35 36

37

100
08-Shaun_pp94-105_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 19:51 Page 101
land Scenics Earth Pigment. The
PVA is added to the mix to try
and avoid any cracking as the
Celluclay dries out. The resultant
‘mud’ was trowelled onto the base
using an artist’s palette knife and
before it was set aside to dry for
a couple of days I temporarily fit-
ted the wheels to the bottom half
of the Land Rover and ran it over
the ‘mud’ to leave the appropriate
tyre tracks. Please rest assured
that whilst carrying out this pro-
cedure I did not run out of Cellu-
clay and any claims that I was
seen scouring the fields to the
back of my house with a ‘poop-
er-scooper’ in hand are completely
unfounded. Some may think my
models are a load of old doggy-
doo, but I’ve not started making
them from it. Yet.
38 39
40 41
33-34 & 37: Resin Mud applied. 35: Pigments applied. 36. Cast complete. 38-41: The completed Land Rover.
When the Celluclay had dried
out I painted the ‘stone’ wall using
Woodland Scenics’ Concrete,
Stone Grey and Slate Grey pig-
ments. Working from light to dark
the pigments are added to water
to create a very thin wash that is
applied randomly over the white
gesso base. I made a less diluted
wash using the Slate Grey and
applied this to the joints between
stones. I finished the painting of
the wall with a spot wash of olive
green paint near the base and
other likely areas where the wall
might get damp.
I now turned my attention to
adding some ground cover to the
base. To the perimeter of the Cel-
luclay and to the base of the wall
I sprinkled a mix of Woodland
Tec h ni qu es
Scenics Soil and Earth Fine Scat-
ters. When applying scatter, rather
than applying straight from the
bag, I decant the scatter into an
empty dried herb bottle. Obviously
you can re-use bottles that have
been bought full of dried herbs,
or you can buy racks of empty
bottles from discount home fur-
nishing stores for a reasonable
price. By sprinkling the scatter
you have a better degree of con-
trol than going straight from the
bag and it gives you the ability to
mix different coloured scatters
together to create a more natural
effect.
To stick the scatter or any
ground cover to the base I use
Woodland Scenics Scenic Ce-
ment, which is a very thin PVA-
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m o d e ll er: 1

102
08-Shaun_pp94-105_Modeller-210x274.5 10/08/2016 19:51 Page 103
type glue that has the advantage
of drying with a matt finish. This
can either be brushed or sprayed
onto a base for applying the first
layer of ground cover, but I would
not recommend using the brush
again for further layers until the
first is dry as you will end up with
missing clumps of cover. If you
want to apply more cover on a
wet base either spray more glue
on top of the area you are working
on, or, for localised work, apply
the cement with either a medicine
dropper or syringe. When you
have completed your application
of ground cover give the whole
area a further spray coat of the
cement, which will ‘fix’ everything
in place.
With the earth and soil in place
I then added the grassed areas
by applying a Spring Mix of Static
Flock Grass. I tore up small pieces
of a Rough Grass Mat and applied
these around the base of the wall
to the edge of the grass next to
the road and to a few random ar-
eas. To build up the general grass
near the rough areas, and to add
a little more colour variety, I ap-
plied a Summer Mix of Static
Flock Grass. When you have shak-
en off any loose grass you may
find an odd area where the base
shows through. Whilst you can
always add more grass to any
bare patches it may not be nec-
essary as the earth coloured base
showing through adds to the nat-
ural variation.
To give a bit of colour to the
wall I glued some of the static
grass in the nooks and crannies,
along with some course, light
green scatter to the top of the
wall and elsewhere to represent
moss growth.
Tec h ni qu es
To add some long grass
around the base of the wall and
to the banking I used some of the
field grass available from Wood-
land Scenics and Faller, as always
using a variety of colours to repli-
cate nature. To apply the grass I
gathered together a small bunch
of strands and cut them in half,
with an additional trim, if need
be, to give me a flat end to the
bunch. Using a bradawl or Philips
head screwdriver I formed a hole
in the base, dipped the end of
the grass in PVA glue and pushed
the bunch in the hole. This was
repeated in a random pattern,
with different colours, until I was
satisfied with the results. When
the glue was dry I returned to the
grass with a pair of scissors to
give it a random trim, and spread
the blades of grass out with my
fingers.
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m o d e ll er: 1
I decided to develop the scene
further with hedges made using
Hornby’s Wire Stem Foliage, snip-
ping off the base of the stems to
reduce their height and add vari-
ety. These were then fixed as per
the long grass. To give the bushes
a bit of colour I sprinkled on some
of Faller’s coloured petals, fixed
with the Scenic Cement.
To break up the road finish I
applied MIG pigments in enamel
thinners and allowed them to dry.
Using a stiff stencilling brush, I
then attacked the dry pigments
to break them up and give them
a more natural appearance of dust
and dirt.
While the base was drying I
painted the kit parts as sub-com-
ponents for the figures and as in-
dividual parts on the sprue for
the Land Rover. For the main
body colour of the vehicle I chose
Games Workshop Arctic Blue,
along with their Mithril Silver and
104
Boltgun Metal for the metallic ar-
eas. The pigs were painted Liqui-
tex Dark Portrait Pink. The sheep’s
fleeces were painted a mixture of
Liquitex Soft White and Un-
bleached Titanium White, and
then dry brushed with a mixture
of Soft White and Titanium White.
I initially painted Bitzer the Dog
in Games Workshop Snakebite
Leather, but decided it was too
dark and subsequently highlighted
the figure with some Golden Yel-
low added to the base colour.
Otherwise everything else was
painted using the colours included
with the kit.
I assembled the Land Rover
as per the instructions, but omitted
the tyres until I had completed
the weathering of the body. I de-
cided to go to town on weathering
the vehicle and, after creating
some initial distress by nearly-
dry brushing Raw Sienna, Neutral
Grey and Earth Brown paints I
tried out two new techniques.
The Land Rover has obviously
seen better days and, to recreate
rust, I used a product I had not
tried before called Scenic Rust
by Deluxe. This comes as three
components: powder, binder and
developer. The powder and binder
are mixed together in roughly
equal quantities and brush applied
to the areas where you want to
see rust appear. When this is dry
the developer is brushed over the
surface and left for eight hours.
During that period the applied
texture develops into a very real-
istic rust finish. A quick word of
warning: please clean your brush-
es and mixing pot in an old bowl
or pan if you don’t want your sink
to age ten years in appearance
overnight.
I decided I would add copious
amounts of mud to the vehicle
by using a mixture of MIG pig-
ments, plaster and MIG Acrylic
Resin. The three components
were mixed up in roughly equal
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amounts and applied using an
artist’s palette knife as a trowel
to the areas most likely to get
covered with mud. I did not go
overboard on the underside as
this would never be seen when
the model was complete and it
seemed pointless wasting money
and materials. I used two pig-
ments: Dark Mud and Russian
Earth. Now I must admit that,
with the addition of plaster to
the pigments, I expected the
mixes to dry lighter in colour...
however, the addition of the
acrylic resin caused them to dry
darker than I thought. To try and
lighten them I added some ad-
ditional pigments, but this time
just mixed with enamel thinner
as a carrier. In addition to the
previously used colours I chose
Dry Mud and Industrial City Dirt.
Mostly I used a normal brush to
apply the pigments, but I wanted
to get a proper splatter effect.
So out came an old, stiff tooth-
brush, dipped into the pigment
mix, which was splattered on
with my thumb rubbing across
the top of the brush in the di-
rection I wanted the splatter to
appear.
I only worked on the underside
at first as I wanted to put the
wheels on before I completed the
weathering. It was at this stage
that I applied some pigment be-
tween the treads of the tyres. As
with the road surface, when the
pigments were dry I used a stiff
brush to loosen, soften and blend
the colours.
The rear wheels went on fine,
but I found that the two metal
pins provided for the front wheels
would not fit through the plastic
parts on the kit. Not wanting to
get into a heavy filing session at
this stage of construction I used
Tec h ni qu es
two 3mm diameter bolts that fit
perfectly with a little bit of super-
glue to fix them to the wheels.
Turning the model over, I repeated
the same weathering process for
the top side of the Land Rover.
With all the components com-
plete I came to the final assembly
and discovered two things: firstly,
Shaun has to have his tail re-
moved if he is to sit in the cabin.
Second, the three pigs do not
stand in the back of the Land
Rover as per the box art and a
little bit of careful arrangement
has to be carried out to get them
all in.
And there we have it: a fun
project of a fun subject that allows
you to go to town with your
weathering techniques and create
a tranquil scene to go with it.
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Next time, in Modeller 2...

’Pl a n e s
T r a i n s

and Automobiles
Plus much more...
Publishes November, 2016.
Be sure to join us then—for the love of modelling.