Well here goes a WIP for my Tamiya 1/35 Marder III. My third build ever after an M41 and an A-10. I'll probably ask for some advice along the way, especially how to do that winter white-wash camo thing. I like the way that looks.


So here's a few pics. Most of the build is already done except for the parts I left off that will be different colors than the basecoat of the model. It's all straight out of the box.

Front of the hull and turret, painted in Tamiya's German Grey.




Back of the same.




Some of the parts on the sprue that need to be painted, primed with Model Master Acryl grey primer. I've never tried painting parts on the sprue, I'll see how that goes for removal and touch-up. I won't bore you with a pic of another set of sprue. And the figures I'll assemble here in a bit, and prime and paint them as a whole.




And the road wheels and spare track pieces. The track pieces will be my experiment to figure out how to do the main tracks.





I don't know how much there is to critique so far, but fire away. Any advice is welcome, especially for the tracks. These'll be my first set.

Thanks,
Bruce.

Wow. I need to put smaller pics in the future.

Nice progress.

A little trick if you want to try the paint on sprue again. Try to remove some of the attachment point. On the jack you could have removed at least one, if not two of them. Likewise you could have removed the sprue from the shovel handle and one on the block. Most of the items will still be securely stuck on the sprue with only one attachment point. That way you'll end up will less touch up to do. Hope my english is good enough so you understand what I mean

Thanks, I'll try that next time.

And I understand you just fine, so no problem there.

Looks good so far. This is an excellent kit to build and as you say it's your third kit to build don't expect them all to be like this

Looks good so far. A very minor thing is that you forgot to fill the two pin marks on the back of the seats, but that will hardly be visible on the finished model anyway.

For winter wash there are several possibilities:

One is the give a solid coat of white winter paint by brush to represent a freshlty painted vehicle. You could apply more or less densely if you like. Find pictures for reference.

Another is to spray small clouds of white on the panels to simulated worn winter paint.

Yet another is to use maskol to represent a very worn tank. In my opinion it should be used carefully - it is easy to overdo it. Here is an article on how to apply this.

Hope this helps a little bit. More inspiration can be found here on Armorama and on various pictures on the net.

Thanks everybody.

So I guess those are the ejector pin marks I've seen mentioned a few times. I didn't even really notice those, but now that I know what they are I'll catch them in the future.

Okay, I finally got a little more done. I got the hand painted bits put on, except for the jack, I forgot it. The detail painting is done, what little there is of it by the instructions anyway. The gloss coat is on and ready for decals and some washes.

I'm gonna try a little different way with oil washes this time. I read an article from someone who used oil paints with enamel thinner. It might not have been here, but I made a post on one forum about the one time I tried oil washes with odorless turpenoid thinner and it gave me the nastiest allergic reaction in the way of sneezing, sinuses draining, eyes watering, throat burning that anything has ever given me. So I'm gonna try it with a different thinner and see if that helps. If not, I guess I'm stuck with acrylics.

So here's some pics. Tell me what you think and I'm open to suggestions.

Bruce,
Looking Good. Keep it up.
-zon

Looks good so far. Keep us posted on your progress.

I made an interesting discovery tonight. Enamel thinner will lift Tamiya acrylics.

My basecoat is Tamiya German Gray with Model Master Gloss Acryl. The Tamiya was put on a few months ago so it's definitely cured. The gloss coat was put on Sunday night. I'm pretty sure it would be good enough to work over.

I started doing washes with black oil paint thinned with Testor's enamel thinner. On a first pass it's okay, but if I come back a few seconds later and put the brush across the same spot, the basecoat will come off pretty easily. It can be helped by being careful so it won't happen, but the effect is still there.

Anybody ever see anything like this? Is enamel thinner just too strong for this type of paint?

Also, this trouble didn't happen with the metallic paints I used on some parts. They're Reaper Master Series, which are similar too Vallejos, a water based acrylic.

It can be prevented by praying a sealing coat, like Future over it before applying your wash. It will help the wash flow better too. This is the method I use, and it works like a charm. Just don't use lacquer thinner for your wash as it will eat thru just about anything Trust me...I know this Hope this helps. "Q"

Would my MM gloss coat not do the same thing as a coat of Future?

Looks great so far! I see the box cover art got you to paint it German Gray. I did mine with the camo and folded the seats over the side just like yours!

I was going to fill the basket/back seat with spent shells but never got to that.


Jeff

I'll probably get some of the !/35 brass shells they make to go with mine.

Being as the MM Gloss is also an enamel, the thinner could react/soften it resulting in the same thing. The Future is acrylic based and won't react to the enamel thinner once fully dry. I spray it straight from the bottle at about 8-10 psi, building in light coats until I have a good clear coat. I let this set for 20-30 minutes, apply the decals, seal once more and then apply my washes. Have NEVER had a problem doing it this way. Hope it helps. "Q"

The gloss I used is the Model Master Acryl, which I do believe is acrylic. Could it have not been cured possibly, or is their formula maybe just not compatible with that type of thinner?

Yep, thats acrylic. Its possible it might not have cured fully. Also might consider switching thinners. I use odorless turpanoid (sp?) for different applications. Can be found just about where ever paint thinners are sold. A lot of this stuff I'm telling you was learned from experimentation, trial and error so on and so on. Feel free to tweak it to your needs and or liking. Good luck with the rest of the build. "Q"
ps. I initailly missed the part in your initial post about the gloss being MM Acrylic gloss. My bad..