Bill,
Thanks for the detailed reply. It may have solved my mystery. The Testors thinned I have used is the Thinner/Brush Cleaner in the bottles, not the one you use. Maybe the thinner/brush cleaner is a much stronger compound. I'll pick up a can of the one you've suggested & give it a shot. Thanks so much!

On the note of the dot method, I've noticed you tend to stick with just a few different colors that are more subtle and compliment the base color as opposed to the usual mix of primary colors I usually see when others are doing the dot method (like red, blue, yellow, etc). What is your reasoning behind your choices? It looks like it gives a nice subtle effect (thanks for the additional picks as well).

One last thing, while looking at the new pics I noticed the rubber on the extra road wheels mounted on the side of the hull looked clean & somewhat shiny (may be the flash). do you weather them the same way as the rest of the Stug or was it just the pic making them look that way?

Thanks again for all the help!!

That could be the case...brush cleaner tends to be a stronger mix. Hopefully that's the culprit!




The technique is the same but the use of the colors changes the effect. Using primary colors will make the finish more "vibrant" in the sense that it will add those kind of hues/tints to the underlying colors. I've experimented with using them and still use them on occasion depending on the scheme in question. I've found that on three tone schemes that have large patches of different colors for example or even on monotone schemes that using primary colors can be a great way to achieve a varied finish. The use of primary colors has to be done very carefully though as they are, by their nature, strong colors so a little bit goes a very long way. In this particular scheme I didn't use primary colors because the green pattern was alredy quite strong and my intention was to get it more subtle and settled in along with the basecoat, so my selection of colors was geared towards that.

The dot filter technique is a very versatile tool to have in the arsenal but there's no iron-clad rule that you must use primary colors only for it to work. All depends on what effects you are after and I continue to experiment with them all the time in terms of different finishes, effects, etc.




You are seeing residual shine from the Future coat that was laid down to protect the finish prior to the weathering being completed. That shine will get knocked down with additional weathering and the application of an overall sealing dull-coat that is yet to come.

Bill,

Isn't there a weld at the gun collar/mantlet intersection? Looks like your previous washes have missed that area??

Jesse,

If I understand your question correctly, the answer is no. The mantlet was cast as a single piece so there aren't any weld seams present. DML accurately replicated this by molding the mantlet as a single piece in the kit.

Hi Bill

That's one heck of a busy cam scheme there. Good job.


Bill

Thanks Bill, appreciate the comments!

The last remaining hurdle was cleared today and this build got across the finish line! The first thing I needed to do was give the whole vehicle a once-over to see if there were any spots needing adjustments from the filter/wash treatments applied earlier. I made a couple of small adjustments and then applied a sealing coat of Testors Lusterless Flat via spray can. This removed all the remaining shine from the Future application, dulled the finish, and also provided some "tooth" to facilitate the use of pigments on the lower hull and running gear.

For the pigment application, I mixed up a dry powder combination using Mig Rubble Dust, Dark Mud, and Europe Dust in an old prescription bottle lid I keep around for just this type of thing. After playing around with the color ratios a bit, I had the mixture I wanted and I added tap water that I had added a drop of dish-washing liquid to in order to break the surface tension. The consistency of the wet mixture is watery since I didn't want to apply the pigments as a paste, I was just using the water as a carrier. This was applied using a round 0 sable brush where desired and allowed to air dry. This took about an hour or so and looked like this...



It's rough but that's ok because the next steps are designed to remove the excess and smooth things out to get it the way I wanted it. I first used a series of stiff bristled brushes to gently remove the excess powder. I wear a sanding/dust mask while doing this to avoid inhaling the very fine particles that go airborne and hang around in the air. Then I used a combination of wet and dry q-tip ends to remove more pigment and adjust things, working carefully a section at a time.



At this point it of course becomes much more difficult to handle the model to avoid disturbing the pigments so I always leave that step to the very end or as close as possible. The last remaining thing was to install the tow cable on the rear deck as well as the radio antennas. The antennas were installed using RB models brass 2m antennas and CA gel. These were painted with MM Non-Buffing Metalizer Gunmetal to complete their look.

The tow cable is something the instructions handle in Step 7 and it's very very important that you take into consideration that the length they quote, 150mm, is for the entire tow cable including the styrene ends and not the length of the cable between the ends. I've never liked the braided steel wire that DML provides since it's very stiff and springy, so I replaced the wire with similar diameter crochet rope thread. I cut the rope to the required length and glued the ends into the styrene cable ends with CA gel. To prevent the thread from going hairy once painted, I dipped the whole cable in Future and let it air dry. This has the added benefit of hardening the thread but not to the point that it isn't still flexible enough to bend into the required shape. The cable was then painted with Non-Buffing Metalizer Gunmetal and the same mix I used for the hull color earlier for the collars. The cable was installed onto the hooks and I had the length just right that it will stay on the hooks without any gluing, so it worked out perfectly.



With that out of the way, it was time to reset the white balance in the camera and take the final walk-around shots.

Let me be the first one Here to congratulate you on another masterpiece Bill!

Thanks Jim, glad you like it!

Great work Bill as usual. Whats next down the pipeline?

Thanks Jon! Up next will be Italeri's Sdkfz 10/5, it's been sitting in the stash for a while and it's about time it got its turn at the bench.

Bill, another high quality build and SBS. It always amazes me how you seem to be able to just "crank em out". Your build logs always remind me that I need to get in gear and start getting some of my shelf queens across the finish line. Nicely done!

Thanks Guy! I only work on one build at a time so that helps avoid the shelf-queen potential. Sometimes it's hard to be motivated to complete a build, so I use the "carrot" of if I can finish the current one I can then start on the next one as a little extra motivation. Usually works depending!

[quote]Bill,

Isn't there a weld at the gun collar/mantlet intersection?
__________________________________________

There were variations of the mantlet. There was indeed a seam on some. It would have also carried casting numbers. The Actung Panzer book on the Stugs show what youre referring to if memory serves me......

Excellent build log Bill. I really like the sprayed camo- it turned out great.

Chris

great job Bill.
Q: I see that for a wash you used burnt umber over the entire model. was that to achieve the affect of wash in recesses and such?
what I mostly do is with a fine brush I apply to recesses, but your method (if I got it right) seems easier.

Thanks Chris!. You're right in that there were variations in the mantlet but those variations were the differences between the cast "pot" mantlet and the welded "block" style mantlet. The block style was welded from rolled steel plate sections and had a weld seam at the base where it met the square collar. The cast style mantlet was cast with the collar integrated into the casting and there would often be casting numbers visible on the lower left hand side. I've flipped through my copy of Achtung Panzer on the StuG III/IV, Spielberger's Sturmgeschutz and Variants, and StuG III/IV at War and can't find any examples where the cast mantlet had a visible weld seam at the base with the collar. If you've got some pics I would love to see them since it would be an unusual thing to only cast the mantlet front part and then weld it to the back collar. Never say never with German armor of course but would like to see something to back that up if you've got it handy.




Thanks Matan! I used raw umber, not burnt umber, for the overall wash prior to the dot filters. It helps do two things...1) it reduces the number of dot colors I want to use while 2) still provides an additional color variation element for dirt/grime, etc. to the underlying finish. Typically I will use the pin wash of burnt umber for the recessess, weld seams, etc. to bring out the detail as the final step. All of the weathering steps "stack" on each other so to speak to produce the end result. HTH!

thanks for explaining. i'll try that on my next model - sometimes going through all the recesses drives me nuts

Thanks Matan! I used raw umber, not burnt umber, for the overall wash prior to the dot filters.}]

Bill,
Aside from personnal taste, What do you think the benefit/difference of Raw Umber vs Burnt Umber for the wash is?

Thanks for the previous help with the enamel thinner recommendation. I picked up the type you recomended and it worked like a charm! One less headache to worry about!

The Stug came out fantastic! Thanks for taking the time to post it and your methods

Thanks & enjoy!

Sean

My pleasure Matan!




Sean, glad to hear you've resolved the thinner issue! I use raw umber for the wash because it's not as powerful/dark as burnt umber but still provides the result I want. I use burnt umber very sparingly because of it's qualities and usually confine it to just the pin wash. By reserving the burnt umber for the pin wash, you get the additinal tonal variation without overpowering everything else in the process. HTH!

Excellent. Being away for 2 weeks, it really sprang to life in the interim. I knew you were doing good work because of all the email alerts I was getting on my Blackberry about new posts to this thread.

Thanks Bill! This one came together relatively quickly so glad you were able to catch up to it all.