Sunday, July 12, 2015

6MMRPC Week Six: Sd Kfz 221 Patrol and Beute T-34

After switching lists for Nationals I needed to paint a patrol of three Sd Kfz 221 armored cars and a captured T-34 obr 1941.  The 221s will give my little force a mobile unit armed with MGs and some needed recon.  The T-34 should prove tough, as it's heavy armor and long-range main gun will out-class most tanks it will encounter.
I haven't painted any Panzer Grey vehicles yet, and I decided to try out a panel-shading technique.  The models (all Battlefront) were prepped and primed with Tamiya light grey.  Then I used Tamiya acrylics, XF-63 German Grey, then a mix of XF-63 and XF-19 Sky Grey on the center of large flat panels, then a mix of XF-19 and XF-18 Medium Blue on the top panels only.

First time painting with tracks off.  Think it'll be standard for me from now on.
After two layers of Migs blue-brown filter for Panzer Grey the light grey was more muted.  Decals were from Battlefront, except for licence plates.  A panel wash using AK Interactive was next, followed by cleanup and stowage painting.  Some light chipping and other weathering came next,  then I added crew, sprayed them with matte varnish, and used some dry pigments around the tracks and wheels.  

The shading is pretty subtle in the pictures, but looks brighter on the table.
Painting those road wheels was mucho better off the tank.
The little 221s should give me some mobility.
Went with Grossdeutchland decals since eventually they will be my primary Early War force.
The recon should prove beneficial.
Group shot.
I also got some other infantry and gun crew painted and ready for basing.  Need to do five more stands tomorrow.

10.5cm NW35 Battery, painted to match my HG troops.
Two Anti-tank Rifle teams and four 3.7cm PaK36s.
I was able to make some progress this week and I will finish the rest in the next couple of days.  I also got to mark four vehicles off of the mountain!  Only 308 more to go!

5 comments:

  1. Good work! They look nice. Colour modulation and panel.highlights are the way to go imo. They add a lot of visual interest to models. I love greys with the blue tones in them.

    I'm don't know those tamiya colours, and it may just be the pictures, but I think you could leave a little more of the darkest grey to increase the contrast. Again, it may just be the pictures. I'm not very subtle in my painting though (I tend to be cartoonish with extreme highlights).

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  2. It's part the pictures, part me using too much of the middle color. First time using any of these colors, the shading technique, or the filter. Probably would've been ok just using one layer of the filter but I always needed to use two for the late war colors. We're always learning in this hobby!

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  3. Looking great Rich. T34 in grey looks weird, but I like it.

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    1. Quite a shock for the German's how good the T-34 was for the summer of 1941. Even a few KV2s (giant turret) were about.

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  4. Sharp looking progress. I've envious of your airbrushing techniques. I've mostly confined myself to priming and base coating so far. Not adventuresome enough to do fancy stuff.

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