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Tauchpanzer

The Kit

The idea for this particular build was something that had always interested me but the fear of working with resin had kept it just that, an idea. So when I bought the Tristar Tauchpanzer kit at a great price I figured it’s now or never. I expected good things from Tristar and for the most part that’s what I got. The first kit, (yes that’s right I bought 2) had what appeared to be issues from being pulled too early causing the rear of the upper hull to warp. This was beyond my ability to fix and no amount of CA was going to fix it, so that’s where kit #2 comes in.

Further issues with the build were concerning the suspension for the running gear, mainly the instructions. They were not clear in the positioning of the leaf springs so as you can see I assembled one totally wrong. With this corrected I moved to the rear idler which the instructions show the wrong end installed which would move the idler wheel outside the track.

Moving to the hull the plastic parts for the pioneer tools were too small. Perhaps I should have used PE for these, mainly it was the wing nuts for securing the pioneer tools that seemed too small to deal with but too big to seem realistic. The main gun mantlet had fit issues also. A gap existed that I could not tell if it was intended or not. My hunt for photos was no help. A good walk around photo set would have been a great help if one even exists. I only assembled half of the full track length because the rest would be under water and there is no sense in cutting, sanding, gluing those tiny parts if you can’t see them. In hindsight I would not have assembled the road wheels and suspension because it too is underwater. The other reason for this will be discussed later.

Painting

I wanted to show this tank in a darker color than the typical Panzer grey. I had seen a Pz.I at Aberdeen Proving Ground that was painted in as close to original Panzer grey as could be matched from a paint sample. The grey is in fact black. I have seen some B&W photos of Pz.III’s that do look black and that was the look I was after.

So I started with Vallejo German Tkcr Black as my basecoat. I then took Vallejo Black Grey and airbrushed this on the horizontal surfaces only. The decals were applied as usual. I applied Mig filters for Panzer grey in several coats, I found this almost too blue. Next was the oil paint dot method for rain/dirt/grime streaks on the vertical panels. I do not drybrush, as I find that unrealistic; more of an artistic approach. Mig pigments were applied from top to bottom with the idea of less is sometimes better. I try not to overdo my weathering, what looks real to me is my approach rather than cover all the artistic techniques.

Base

Fear of resin had dictated the size of my original box, but a friend suggested going bigger and he was right. Once the box was built and painted it was time to tackle my fear. I chose Magic Water because of what it said it could do - it shouldn’t yellow, generate heat or fumes, simple to mix and pour, could be tinted with both enamels or acrylics, and could be poured in a half inch layer at a time. All of these things are true, it is a great product.

This is where I should have cut my lower hull in half. It would have saved me time and some money. Because my tank sat higher I had to pour 3 kits worth of water to cover the wheels and come up to where my tracks ended. I have seen 2 or 3 other models in water bases but none to me captured the true look of a tank crossing a river bed. Their water was always clear, this just isn’t realistic. A river in my opinion is going to be a bluish/green to start and then a several ton tank running over the river bottom is going to kick up quite a mess as it passes through the water. So I found two colors that worked for me, Vallejo English Uniform and Model Master Dark Green.

Originally I thought of separating the 2 colors as I poured them but I found out that Magic Water will travel through the tiniest of holes and I ended up just spinning my wheels. So my first pour ended up covering the entire bottom of the box. At this point I decided to pour both colors together and let them do what comes naturally and it worked out perfect. I did a 3rd and final pour and it was on to the next product, ModgePodge.

The ModgePodge I used for the surface of the water and it worked perfectly. It also can be tinted with paints, but it dries much faster than the resin. I added digital leaves and a small twig to the water as debris that would be kicked up as the tank travels through the river. A lot of this process was trial and error and there were some errors, nothing that an additional pour or application of ModgePodge wouldn’t take care of.

I built up the waves at the front sprocket wheel and at the rear Idler wheel using a thick line of Liquitex Gloss Heavy Gel. I also applied several applications ofLiquitex string gel to the tracks as water running off of them as the tracks traveled forward from the rear of the tank. A slight white drybrush to the waves and that was it, my fear was conquered.

Figure

The figure is an Alpine one, that as the norm with Alpine, they produce fantastic figures. He was modified from an SS tanker to Wermacht and painted by a very good friend of mine; Rick Rock, who did a great job on short notice.

Conclusion

I believe that I have achieved what I had hoped to when I started this project. I always try to produce models that I believe portray tanks as they are in the field. As the saying goes “there are field soldiers and there are garrison soldiers”, I opt for the field AFV’s.