To avoid any confusion, it's P-A-S-T-E-L, not P-A-S-T-A.

Well, not quite a panzer. It's a StuG. I just couldn't think of anything lame enough to call the StuG. Anyway, I bought my eight year old son the Revell Germany 1/72 Surmgeschutz IV and helped him build it. We built it to represent the famous "StuG IV from an unknown unit, Eastern/Western Front 1944/5". There aren't any markings because they would detract from the historical accuracy in depicting this well known and and legendary vehicle.




It was a straight OOB. I couldn't find an interior set or metal tracks for it. ;D My son did the construction work and I, per his request, did the painting and weathering. He wanted the model to look like the picture of tank he saw, bogged down in mud, in one of my books. "Painting" is somewhat innacurate, though. The only paint used was a basecoat of AKAN 81081 Dunkelgelb RAL 7028. The other camouflage and weathering colors were applied using Alphacolor Soft Pastel sticks.











After applying the basecoat, I applied finely ground Alphacolor Soft Pastels, mixed with Polly Scale Flat Finish, in successive layers, using microbrushes.







Once the camo scheme was layered on, I used the dry powder to add some depth to the pattern. Again, using microbrushes, along with 0 and 1 sable brushes, I rubbed and outlined the colors to obtain subtle variations and replicate a soft-edged appearance.








I highlighted edges on various locations with powdered grahite (pencils are like, yah, so pedestrian, man) to get a worn-to-the-skin bare metal look. I also gouged fine lines into the schurtzen with a scribe and layered orange, yellow, gray, brown and black pastel powders to simulate oxidizing scrapes. To blend and weather it all together, I lightly scrubbed different earthtone pastel powders over the schurtzen and vehicle. Using a worn toothbrush, I lightly burnished the model to create a slightly worn, semigloss finish.










The final step was to slap on some mud onto this mini steel beast. I mixed various brown, ochre and yellow pastel powders with Model Master Acryl Gloss Finish to simulate wet, slimy mud and applied this goop to the lower areas of the hull and schurtzen. If done properly, you can get a nice, realistic sludge buildup. Once the "mud" was dry, I applied some flat finish on the area immediately above the "wet" mess to simulate a damp, drying transitional boundary.

Well, it was a welcome and interesting break fom my Trumpy KT project, which should be completed before the first scheduled manned mission to Mars. I hope that some of you might find the idea of applying alternate materials as a finishing medium useful for your own projects.

The dearth of comments good, bad or indifferent notwithstanding, my son thanks all of those who took the time to at least look at his first armor model.

Congrats to both of you on your work.
I think it's a great effort and keep up the good work.


It's nice to see a kid take an interest in the hobby. I have a nephew the same age and I've been trying to cultivate an interest, but it seems like he's too interested in cartoons and video games. His Dad owns a hobby shop and his Grandfather has been gluing plastic since the 50's so it drives them both bananas that when he goes to the store after school and plays his DS. My first kid is on the way and boy or girl I hope they take an interest in the hobby like your son has.

Cheers

Jeff

Hello

I remember my first effort when I was 8 years old. I was pleased as punch of it, and I expect your son is rightly pleased too. I think I know a similar picture to the one this model is based on, might have been on the Seelow Heights, near the Oder. I think if it was on a small muddy base it would look just great.

cheers
Neil

His Dad owns a hobby shop?!? That's like being in Heaven without actually dying to get there. I hope your nephew comes around and understands how lucky he is.

Boy or girl, I hope your child will take an interest in something creative that encourages him/her to use their mind as well as their hands, and, not just the opposable thumbs to push buttons on a game console. Take my word, it was a minor ordeal to get my son to build this; but, after looking at it when it was completed, he had an ear-to-ear grin and wanted to let "everybody" see it.

Joseph & Son,

The pictures probably don't do your Stug justice, but from what I can see, it does look pretty good. Your use of pastels are a more traditional art-style of application, and for this scale it looks like it should even though it's not actual paint.

The camera flash or lights make the mud look like the Stug ran through a huge pool of metled chocolate.

Well done!

Joe,

I hope your son had a blast buildng it! Good job to both of you, too (and not just with the model!). It's great to see some "junior" modelers coming up through the ranks.

You need to find him some of those old Tamiya kits that were motorized. I wasn't much older than your son when I built some of them.

I remember the best running one was the M551 Sheridan which had different speed settings, although the M4A3E8 with the remote control was also a fun as the dickens to play with. That Sheridan was fast, tho!

Let your sone build a few to play with out in the yard, and he'll be an armor modeler for life!

Happy modeling,

This is the picture my son was looking at. it:



It was in a book about Operation Barbarossa. The base is planned for the near future. After all, all that mud needs a source, right?

My son agrees with you 100%. We just placed the model on a posterboard he's going to use for a school project and took some quick pictures. He wanted me to post them on the "Big Guys' site" to see if the guys who make all those cool models can give hime som advice. I didn't pay him to make that comment either. The mixture of pastel powders does have the appearance of melted chocolate, though. It actually looks better in person than in the photos. I might adjust the level of gloss a wee bit to tone it down. After this, it's his ballgame for the next model.

Thanks Mike. He'll appreciate your comments. Time for him to get ready (bedtime ) for school tomorrow.

There's a hobby shop in Manhattan (it's the only one left) that has a couple of the old Tamiya motorized kits, in 1/35 and 1/48 scale, stuffed in the corner. they're covered with thirty years' worth of dust, too. They're the ones with the great box art paintings of the vehicle. There's also a couple of the old Nichimo kits, as well. We'll see what happens when he brings home the first report card for the year in two weeks.

I wish my first armor model had turned out half as good as this one. It was a 1/72 Revell T-80 that I painted yellow and gloss black! I like the nice weathered and dirty finish. I agree that a wee bit of matt varnish might tone down the finish...but you've got to ask the artist first right? !

@Headhunter506 – Joseph an son,

This isn’t the first time seeing someone posting their son’s or daughter’s model on this website and I hope it won’t be the last time. It is always wonderful to see anyone taking the time to share this hobby with his or her son, daughter or any interested young person(s). This in MHO is time well spent.

Your son did a great job on building his first armor model. Joseph, painting and weathering his model is something that no amount of photographs and text could match and convey to him what he learned from watching you. This is very important, as this will help him later in developing his own skills and methods.

I remember how elated I was with my first model tank, Airfix’s 76th scale Stug with decals placed on the unpainted green plastic and silver tracks surrounded by Airfix soft plastic solders. That was a long time ago . . . I was perhaps 8 or 9 years old then. The child is still there in all of us who share in this hobby. My father got me started and he has since passed away but not forgotten.

I hope your son and you will enjoy many happy times building and being together. Thanks for posting and sharing your son’s build, wished mine could have looked as authentic. Waiting to see more.

Happy modeling,
-Eddy

Hello Joseph..

Your son is very lucky, because his father is modeler.
The first models are always beautiful and where the second model.

Best regards....

It's always great to see a young person giving this hobby a try and doing such a credible job on a first build. Not to mention father and child sharing time together. It's also always interesting to see the use of "alternate" materials and techniques for the finishing process. Others have mentioned about the mud being a bit too glossy but that is easy enough to remedy. I hope that you two continue to share the hobby with each other and this community.

Cheers,
Jan

Joe,
Tell your son, well done. The construction looks great but he needs to assist that guy that did the painting and weathering... Kidding of course.

I am with Mr Roof, let the Boy play with it in the sand box (those things still around in this world of X=Box & Playstation??) and he will become an armor modeler or better yet, a tanker... Make sure that you show him this link

John