I originally had a dragon stug lined up, but in my experimentation with homemade zimmerit,I killed that kit (although I have plenty of nice extra parts for whenever I decide a stug build is in my future). Finally found milliput and it is the answer to my zimmerit problem; putties were a pain to apply and use, but rolling up some milliput and applying it with the 2-3 hour dry time is the best.

Here it is, about 75% done. Just have to touch up, wash, and add pigments. Lot's of lessons learned this time around. The kit itself is fantastically easy to slap together, despite lacking in fine detail. Still haven't had the pleasure of using any mig weathering products, using the hairspray technique, using pigments/pastels, or using oil paints/lacquer clear coats (future is alright...). Excited for build #3, Tamiya's Tiger I Ausf E 181, hopefully will get to use up a good amount of my milliput making beautiful zimmerit, or maybe not...

Your Hetzer looks pretty good. It's a shame the photo quality isn't a bit better. It makes it hard to give any kind of constructive analysis of the model.

There are a few things I did pick up on, though. The jack could use a pin wash. That would not only bring out details, but it would dirty it up a bit. Also, there seems to be quite a shine on the exhaust in the 1st pic. I also imagine the inside of that pipe would be darkened from the exhaust. Next, while the mantlet was cast and would have a texture from the process, the rest of the tank was steel plate and stamped metal and should have a smoother finish (problem with the paint?).

On the plus side, it looks like you did a great job with the paint scheme and general construction. I like the nicks and scratches added, and the damage to the markings.

Sorry about the low quality photos, I now found my camera after moving and have much nicer photos to post. Unfortunately I still don't have a lens that can really capture small details and colors, I should look into that.

Yes, I used vallejo model color with my airbrush and my basecoat was very rough . Both models I've made have rough texture because of my learning curve with the airbrush. Oh well, my next will have a smooth finish (it really adds to the final look).

Ok, other than brushing away excess paprika (my model smells like a bag of acrylic chips!), touching up a few paint chips, like on the exhaust pipe, and getting rid of any white that remains visible from the netting I am done with this guy. I didn't have much to work with again, and all the painting/weathering was done with tamiya, vallejo, water colors, and paprika... I very much look forward to using mediums such as oil paint, pigments, as well as the hairspray method.

I also need to add an antenna and fit the tracks tighter on the left side of the tank.

some more images.



Some branches and sand bags I am working on. What to do for leaves...?

Wow! That's quite a difference between to two sets of pics. It looks so much better in the new ones.

I'm not an expert at airbrushing, but I believe you can stop the pebbling of the paint by dropping the air pressure. The paint is partially drying before it even gets to the model.

What time of year are you shooting for? Were you wanting green leaves, or fall/winter foliage?

Towards VE day. So spring time. I'd like to imagine that this tank survived Ardennes and the Battle of the Bulge and is now in the spring with green leaves. I want to make them myself, just not quite sure what material would be easy to paint and look like leaves at the 1:35 scale.

Here's a thread that may be of interest to you:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/79060

If not, type in "making foliage" in the search box at the top of the page. A ton of pages come up.