I was wonder how to make a vehicle destroyed. I plan on making a German SDKFz232 look like its been beatin to the point where its not goin anywhere . Any tips from you pros out there? thanks

I have heard that building vehicles that have been heavily damaged or knocked out in combat is quite a bit harder that building them in a usable state.

There's lots of extra planning that has to go into them. Lots. And the more 'blown apart' they are, the more planning you'll have to do. You first have to decide just exactly 'what' knocked them out in the first place. Either an AT round or a rocket from an aircraft, bazzoka, etc., etc., etc. Then you have to figure how just 'how' much damage said weapon would actually do to the vehicle. Whether it would set off the ammo inside, causing more damage, or simply punch or melt a hole into the armor. And, of course, the more 'blown part' they are, the more you'll have to add to the insides of said vehicle, also in a damaged state. Not to mention the painting and weathering to help make this damage look real.

Luckily there are lots and lots of photos in various books and magazines that show what the real knocked out vehicles looked like and also there are other modelers out there who have done this sort of thing that show their work on this and various other web sites. From mild to wild.


Now I've never modeled a knocked out AFV, but one of these days I would like to try my hand at this. I really take my hat to those modelers that can do this and do it sucessfully.

The key here, I would think, is to make the model and scene look "believeable" to the viewer. And I would have to think that sometimes 'less' would look better than 'more' damage, again, depending on the scene you're trying to depict.

Good luck and take care, sgirty

Ive read Shep Paines book and he has a section on knocked out vehicles,also Steve Zaloga has done many knocked out vehicles both say its very hard as you have to show detail which you never see and it is destroyed quite a challenge, Shep Paine reccomends trying a vehicle which has taken a A.P. round but not exploded a nice hole burn marks hatches open rubbish strewn around, might be a good starter,i am trying to model a pak 37 which has taken a close hit from a sherman Im still pondering

thanks for the replys guys. I will toy around with it and see what i can do. IM probably just gonna try to make it look like its abandoned orsomething like that. alot of thinking to do. Thanks again

I think sgirty has made some very important points. best bet is to get a reference picture and work from there. Theings that look normal to you are totally different when burnt out. A seat for example will only have frame and supports or spring left. Painting this effectively will be much harder also, especially if it not totally burnt out ....... where the burnt and undamaged parts meet. I dont think I would attempt this with out a reference first! Good luck with the project though, its something I have been thinking about for some time!