As a break from my Academy Tiger build I'm doing something a bit different. I picked up a Dragon 1/144th German tank set. For 5.50$ you get a Hetzer 38T flamethrower model and a Jagdpanzer IV with PE side skirts. For now I'm just building the IV, the Hetzer will get its own vignette later.

Using a 3x4 inch wood base I'm going to build a small crest with a section of road. Off the road will be a wooden fence, built from whittled toothpicks. The IV will be rolling through the fence down the crest into a field. I'm going to experiment with materials as I've never done anything this small, but I expect to make some ground effects on a clay base with chalk dust, flour, a few kitty litter shards, maybe use some hair for tiny tufts of grass (my hair is getting long, could use a trim . If I feel adventurous I'll make a tree out of a bit of root with some chalk dust and spice leaves for "flocking". Shouldn't take me too long to pull this off.

The base and built IV... The tracks were sagged with bits of wire glued to the hull, and I added some shell damage to the side skirts. Aside from that all I did was drill out the exhaust tips. Very nice little kit, brilliant detailing for the scale. Check out the microscopic headlamp!

you sir are insane


1/144 i am wanting some of this lil ones now i have seen some, are they tricky?

Actually it's a pleasure to build, and a piece of cake. Very few parts, easy assembly. Only pain is cleaning the sprue off the tiny surfaces without destroying the part! Painting is tricky too, for my camo scheme I airbrushed a base of dark yellow and am currently drybuffing enamel green and brown with a 10/0 brush to make it look sprayed on. Looks good, but takes some practice to not look hand painted. I'm looking forward to weathering, I'd like to see if I can adapt subtle 1/35 scale techniques on this small scale.

its worth a try!!
good luck with it!!!

The finished IV... Once it's in the vignette I'll do a final coat of chalk "dirt".

Good result, so small, nice to look at and...Respect ! G.

I'm afraid the vignette got put on the backburner... I made the mistake of building the groundwork with clay - this is bad because I forgot that clay shrinks. It cracked, warped and lifted off the base - oops. I'm tinkering with the idea of building a ruined barn out of toothpicks and balsa and positioning the IV in an ambush position with just the barrel jutting out of the doorway. It will be ruined enough that you will be able to see the tank clearly, basically two partial walls and a little bit of roof. So far I have a paper mockup of the barn and... that's it. I'll tinker with it sometime later, probably after I get the Academy Tiger off my bench.