This past Sunday I entered several builds from the past year in a large model show in my area. I took the week before the show to try a few new painting techniques to try and improve the looks of the models. Many thanks (and some roses and a dinner out) to my SWMBO for her tyrannical teaching methods and advice.

I reviewed the Dragon 1+1 kit of the "Heavy Uniform Personnel Vehicle Type 40" for Armorama and if you haven't read it, you can find it HERE!

This was the first vehicle where I attempted to employ some new painting methods. Since this is a dual vehicle kit my SWMBO did one and I tried to emulate what was shown. The first few pictures are of my attempt about 90% complete. The top is not yet glued on.







The painting was done mostly using Delta Ceramcoat "craft acrylics" and occasionally some Tamiya acrylics. The next images are of the vehicle on a base ready to be entered into the Softskin Category at the show. The base is a natural cork sheet cut to size. I used DecoArt Texture Fierro medium as the start point to cover the base, coloured Sno-Tex was used on top of that to add a different texture and both are acrylic based products. Some cat littler pieces were added to represent some stones and we used the Alex Clark book's section on groundwork for finishing ideas.









The category it was entered in had the second most numerous entries in the show. I didn't hold out much hope that such a simple vehicle had a chance to be noticed against some pretty impressive Dragon Hummers and IBG Bedford trucks. To my great surprise, the Horch won Bronze (3rd).

Cheers,
Jan

Jan,

I was at the Hamilton show and I think I saw this little truck in the softskin area. I thnk I might have even taken a picture of it (will have to check). It looks super but I swear it looked even better in person. My group had to leave before the awards were over so I didn't know if you entered anything or won. Anyway congrats on the medal.

Regards,
AJ

Thanks AJ. It was quite a show and I also took quite a few pictures. I'd be interested to see any pictures you might have as I'm thinking of "maybe" doing a photo feature of the show. If you have any, please post them in a separate thread (although any images of the Horch could also be placed here).

Cheers,
Jan

Very good work with this little kit.
I like it.
Good pin wash and dust on it.

Regards Daniel

@tread_geek – Jan,

That is an impressive vignette. I think you did a super job on that vehicle and although the camera can be somewhat deceitful to the viewer I’m sure it looks far better in person. Your modeling skills and attention to detail have far exceeded those you started with when you first posted a build here at Armorama (not to mention the great help you have with your wife on your projects).

Your becoming a legend around here in the Braille community and we’re all benefiting from it. Congratulation on a very well deserved win and keep up the excellent build logs and builds.

Also, I enjoy reading through your reviews because I always find something of value that I can take with me and use on my builds. Thanks for pointing out all of the pitfalls and good points too on the kits you have reviewed. Keep up the good work and especially thanks for inspiring all of us with your dedication to this most happy hobby.

~ Eddy

@SchoeniR6 - Daniel, I am happy that you liked the little vehicle. Many of the methods of this new experimental finishing techniques are based on ideas from the Small Scale Modelling book. Some had to be changed quite a bit due to the type of paints I use.

Braille - Eddy, you are too kind and I'd hardly consider myself legendary. After returning to the hobby, I just wanted to recapture lost skills and perhaps learn a few new ones. Part of this process has been a commitment to a single scale and subject area (Braille & AFV's). I also noted that quite a few build articles (almost the majority) were written for those with advanced skills and not those with more modest abilities. It has been and still is my intention to cater to this area.

As for photos, this too appears to be a near never ending quest. Every time I think that I've got something, I find or try something that might be better. At the present, all the photos I take are predominantly using macro filters of from 1 to 6 times magnification. This is to help me during construction to correct flaws and refine appearance. The only software features that I use on the images is cropping and occasionally exposure modification. I usually shoot pictures with a minus modifier to help compensate for minor distortion caused by the macro filters. Bases are still quite new to me as are the painting of figures.

Again, thanks to those that have taken the time to comment. In many cases it is the comments of others that have enlightened me as to a direction I should be heading in.

Cheers
Jan

Nice model and very interesting review. Thanks for posting. It is a great help for us.

Regards.

Pedro.

@PedroA - thanks for having a look and commenting. It is always best if one can be warned of possible problems with a kit in advance. For someone with your skills I would expect that you would find this kit a good start for creating some of the numerous variants that existed. PLUS, you get two in the box!

Cheers,
Jan

It's been almost a year since I finished the first Horch while the second one just sat unfinished in the box. Certain parts of it were done to teach me some new techniques but it was never fully finished.

The first order of business was to strip it down to almost bare plastic using an ammonia enhanced glass cleaner (Windex). Next was the application of a new sprayed base coat of lightened Tamiya German Grey (XF-63). As no decals were ever used on it the dreaded task of creating them followed. Dreaded because Dragon in their "infinite wisdom," provided no optional, full license plates. These decals are provided for with blank white plates and then individual numbers and letters to make up your own. To make matters even worse, I wanted to make this an Waffen SS vehicle and each lightening bolt is made of of two separate decals (a top and bottom to each bolt)!

Here's the new base coated vehicle with the completed license plates.





As I intended to try my hand at a winter whitewash, the next step was to mask the decals, attach the four main wheels and apply the first white coating. As I am sure many readers know, this whitewash was applied by any means available including with brushes, mops, brooms or even rags. I used Tamiya Flat White (XF-2) with a tiny touch of the German Grey added. The paint was applied using a #2 Filbert brush and this camo method is outlined in my Sd. Kfz. 260 Blog.







With the next instalment I'll refine the camo (whitewash), do some pin washes and hopefully start on the interior.

Cheers,
Jan

Jan, do you ever rest? Only wish I'd have the patience to even try those individual number plates! The start looks interesting and I can't to wait to see how this develops.

Regards,
AJ

@weatherubg_one - AJ,

Rest...what's rest??? Actually, this is all part of a plan to finish off all outstanding builds before I move on to something new.

***********************************************

Quite a bit of progress to this point. The whitewash is getting far enough along that I started some pin-washes all around, painted the interior and some weathering of the wheels.







The sad reality is that once you put the top on, vision inside is very limited. Here's the Horch with the top base coated and dry fit.







Next, the windshield was painted and attached and I decided to exaggerate the interior with the hope that it might be more visible when the top is in place.





The last parts to put on will be the spare wheels and attach the roof area after it is suitably weathered. Amusingly, I've never been particularly fond of whitewashed vehicles but doing this one is changing my mind.

Cheers,
Jan

The base for the Horch is finished and unless there are any glaring issues, I'll call this one finished. The base itself is perfectly flat but the backdrop poster-board is distorted, thus not appearing flat in a couple of pictures.













Comments or questions always welcome.

Cheers,
Jan

Jan,
You haven't gotten enough of the real white stuff outside this winter so you decided to do a whitewash!?

It looks really good! Very nice.

Keith

That's not exactly true! We've already had about eight times the amount of snow compared to last year! Thank heavens for our 1:1 scale Toro snow-blower! Actually, perhaps the winter did give me the inspiration to try a whitewash.




Thanks Keith, I'm glad that you like this experiment. I wanted something different from the first one I did and after experimenting with the Sd. Kfz. 260 camo application I thought that the same method would work for the whitewash. The model for the "model" was a picture of a similar Horch in the excellent Panzer Colors book by Squadron Signal Publications.

Cheers,
Jan

Jan,

I just have to say that although I thought your first Horch looked quite OK, this new one looks super! I just wonder why the windows look so clean, or is it just the picture making it look that way? Hmmm, how about a picture of both together? Appreciate you and others sharing your work and ideas.

Regards,
AJ

@weathering_one - AJ,

Thank for the comments and I somewhat agree that the second is a bit more interesting to look at. As to the windows, there are two points. To the actual eye, they appear dirty (not excessively so) and have little hints of snow on them (as does the rest of the vehicle and base). The other point is that I didn't overdo it as I want the interior to be visible as I spent quite a while on it. As for both in one picture, what's it worth to you! I'll see what I can do after the next show is under my belt.

Cheers,
Jan

Jan, what very fine pin washing that is. The material you used is what, please? And did you coat the white wash with a clear coat first?

Matthew,

????????..? Thanks, I think! I'm not very sure of what you are asking about when mention material. Firstly, the original base coat of the Horch was Tamiya German Grey, XF-63. A second spraying was done using the Grey lightened with Tamiya Flat White and this was restricted as much as possible to the centre of "panels." After the clear/decals/clear stage, the model was sprayed with Model Master 4636 Flat Clear Acryl.

The actual whitewash is a "wash" of Delta Ceramcoart (DC) Titanium white with a miniscule amount of DC Lamp Black added to tone down the whiteness of the white. It is applied using Stippler and Scrumbler brushes of a size suitable for the scale. In large part this is a trial and error process with the paint needing to be fairly thin. You want the paint on the brush to be quite "dry" before applying it. This process is rather hard to explain and the SWMBO hovered over/in the work area during it. This is a version of the same method used to add the camo stripes to both my Sd. Kfz. 260 and PaK 40 builds. Even she had trouble originally explaining the process to me but she found a rather good video that shows the potential.



While this video focuses on this method being used for the purposes of a decorative artist, one cannot but see the possibilities for our hobby.

As for the pin washing, I accidentally discovered that lightly wetting the area where it is to be applied increases the capillary action of the paint around objects. If there is too much "paint" one can use a clean dry brush that will act as a sponge or mop to take up the excess. I hope that some of this makes sense and that you and others that read this don't resort to bashing your head(s) against a wall. If you have any further questions I'll be happy to try to further explain.

Cheers,
Jan

Oh dear, sorry. As I said to you elsewhere I've been feeling a little strange recently, in other words, utterly dreadful, hence, probably, my odd phrasing of that question. I was wondering about the paint and thinner used for the pin wash! I think you answered just about everything except that.

Nice whitewash Jan.

Best regards.

Pedro.

@firstcircle - Matthew,

Depending on the circumstance, I used both Ceramcoat craft acrylics or Tamiya acrylic. With the former I use plain filtered water as a thinner with a dab of extender added, for the latter I use the dedicated Tamiya thinner.

@PedroA - Pedro,

I'm glad you like the effect with this method. I seriously thought about using the hairspray method but thought there might be a simpler way. Guess it sort of worked as the model received a Silver Medal at the show on Sunday!

Cheers,
Jan

An awful lot of doors on those models! All four doors mounted in the usual places along the sides, and two more mounted on the rear panel (where the doors could be carried if not in place along the sides).

Chris

And the point of your comment is?

Hi Jan,

Very nice whitewash. It has a cloudy effect that looks very appealing.
Most important, the result is unique and prototype.

P.A.

@PanzerAlexander - I'm very glad that you like the effect and find it appealing. If interest is any indicator, it got a lot of attention at the show I attended last week with people asking how I did it and also taking pictures of it (and being recognized by the judges). I also hope that there is something in this method that you might find useful in the future.

Thanks,
Jan