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Opel Kapitan

Paint, markings and camouflage

Well since it is a car it has a lot of windows which allow you to see inside. But it is also an enclosed space which means you first have to paint the interior. Again I went with a car that started it’s life as a civilian ride just as the Kadett K38 I did before. I airbrushed the interior metal bits with a nice Bordeaux red which was a mix I made out of Tamiya Acrylics. The floor and most of the other details like side panels, Dash details, the little rods and levers were all painted with Humbrol Enamel and Citadel paint. Some nice dashboard decals are added to the kit and to finish it off I gave the floor a wash with discoloured pigments. Which can’t be seen but it feels good to know it is there. Also in this step I painted the engine and engine bay black. They can’t be seen because I closed the bonnet.

After closing it up I reminded myself of a picture of a Kfz 2 which I saved to my computer some time ago which was painted in quite an interesting winter camouflage which consisted of crossing lines in white paint over a panzer grey basecoat. And I decided to copy this scheme to my Kapitän. So first I did a pre-shade with black Tamiya Acrylic. And after that it got airbrushed and highlighted in 3 shades of grey… I thought 50 was overdoing it a bit. I deliberately kept the greys fairly light because through the winter camouflage and after all the washes and filters it would appear darker. In between I added the markings. The Kit itself does not provide you with markings for an eastern front vehicle but since this car type saw action all over the war I decided to jump into the spare decals and found some “G” markings for Kampfgruppe Guderian. I also found some tactical markings for which division it belonged to. The license plates were from the kit.

Then it was time to apply the camouflage which I applied with a brush to get that hand painted effect. I choose an older medium sized brush which already had some split hair. The paint of choice for this was Humbrol enamel which I thinned. I first hand painted all the lines crossing each other and then I went over most of them in smaller strokes to give the idea that each line was made of several different brushstrokes. When I started I kind of wondered what I had done. But with more lines being added I decided I was on the right track to a quite interesting looking vehicle.

Weathering

After the camouflage was thoroughly dry it was time to weather it. First I did some pin washes with black and brown oil paints. I wanted to go for a vehicle that saw many miles on the eastern front roads against General Mud or Rasputitsa as it was known by the Soviets.

Step 1: I first started with several filters with oil paint by mixing van Dyk Brown with black and thin that heavily. Then apply it in a stippling motion to make the lower half of the car very dirty.

Step 2: adding some texture with the mud technique I described in the Opel Kadett K38 feature I send in before with an addition in the form of wood glue to make the mud mix adhere better to the flat sides of the car. I applied blotches of the mix with a toothpick and with a really old and stiff brush I stippled texture in it and pushed it against the sides so it would grip better.

Step 3: To make the mud look less monotone I added spatter with thinned oil paint in 2 colors. Black and really dark brown by loading it on an old stiff brush and flicking it with a toothpick. Make sure you cover where you don’t want spatter.

I cut out 2 masks for the areas where the windshield wipers do their work and with slate grey pigments from Vallejo I dirtied up the remaining areas. I also did this on the side and rear windows.

End result

When I started this built I had a nice idea which would have it end up as a vehicle in Lybia 1942. But the trouble with the doors made me decide different and in the end I am glad I did. Even though I really doubted myself when I started applying the less then standard winter camouflage. But at the time of that doubt I was already past the point of no return. And looking back I have no regrets. All-in all this kit builds up very well. Oddly enough it is not of the same standard as the Kadett K38. There are parts that are really well done. Like the engine and the interior and then there are odd omissions like no hinge system for the bonnet and the weird non-working of the doors. That said I did enjoy building and painting the kit.

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