What's on my desk? Part 100!
Hello and welcome to blog post 100!
It's December now, which means some admin announcements.
- Every Sunday in December is a shopping Sunday. Except the 14th, because then the BSMC convention takes place. Come by to look at and purchase some great models!
- Wednesday build meets are going on until the 17th. The 24th and 31st (obviously) there won't be a build evening.
- If you're looking for something specific for the holidays and I don't have it in stock, please don't hesitate to place an order as soon as possible. For my suppliers this is also a very busy period, so the sooner I can place orders, the easier it is for them to deliver on time.
- I'm planning some workshops for January/February (airbrush, figure painting, maybe a Start To Model...). Keep an eye on my socials and website.
That's it, on to the models!
The Buckeye is going slowly, I need to pick up the pace if I'm going to finish it before Christmas. I painted the underside, and have taped it off for the upper side tricolour:
Luckily I have all the paints ready (you can see them in the bottom of the picture). Hopefully we'll have full camo by the end of the week!
The Bergepanther is also finally in full colour. I used chipping fluid, sprayed the green camo on top and chipped it, then repeated the same for the brown colour. This time I took care not to let droplets of chipping fluid remain and blew them off with an empty airbrush. I'm pretty happy with the final effect. You can see a clearly damaged paint coat, but it looks like normal wear. Here's the front plate:
The spade obviously needed a lot more damage:
I also assembled the tracks. These are link-and-length, meaning the top and bottom runs, plus the connecting ones on each bottom side are one piece, leaving the individual links for wrapping around the drive sprocket and idler wheel. I like this. You get more detail than rubber/PVC tracks, and less work than full individual link tracks.
Furthermore Takom provides formers, allowing you to assemble, paint and weather off the vehicle and install the entire run in a finished state. You do need the sprocket and idler painted beforehand:
So here's all the Bergepanther things displayed in one shot:
The wheels in the plastic tray on the right have received a coat of matt varnish and are ready for weathering & installation.
I looked up some period pictures of the Bergepanther and most pictures show the vehicle without Schürzen (the thin metal plates or mesh you often see mounted to the sides of German vehicles). I was planning on mounting just one singular panel and have cut it out of the right-hand side part, but I'll see how it looks before I decide to fix it in place.
First off, the vehicle needs a gloss coat and a Wash. My customary Dark Wash may be too harsh a contrast, so I'll have a look in my collection at home to see if I have a German dark yellow/three-tone wash.
That's it.
See you next week!