Roughly in parallel with the work on the Jagdtigers and
Ostwind from 1/512 Schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung I have been working on the
unit’s Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf J. These
are the ones you’ve seen in previous blog entries where I have gone through and
updated both the hull and the running gear of the Ausf. J to accurize it. Now that they are all together I’ve started
the painting process.
I’m also using a late war scheme from the AK Interactive
1945 German paint set, though this one is using the other three colors in the
pack of six – a different Dunkelgelb, a Rotbraun, and a different green. The Panzerkampfwagen IV were attached to the
unit from units in the area, so it would not have likely received the same
paint scheme as the core vehicles from 1/512.
The different paint schemes will also highlight the cobbled-together
feel of these late war units.
As before I started with a base coat of dunkelgelb and
then began masking. This time instead of
using silly putty, I used a white poster tacking compound – or “sticky tack.” In some ways it works much better than the
silly putty. You can get thinner lines
and the material holds its shape better.
However, it tends to adhere to the miniature. While I had no problems getting it to release
without stripping the paint, it was much stickier than the silly putty. I’ve heard of a product called “Panzer Putty”
that I’d like to try next, but I’m still searching for a U.S. source /
distributor. I’ve contacted the main
company in Germany, but haven’t heard back yet – wish me luck!
As before I went through and added the camouflage colors
in sequence starting with the dark green and finishing with the red brown. As before, the bulk of the putty becomes
quite thick, though with the poster tack you can get thinner masks if you so
desire. Another advantage of the poster
tack over the silly putty is it was possible to mask the barrel with the putty
rather than having to use blue tape.
Once the masks came off I was fairly pleased with the
result, but it is still hard to get a true “soft edge” scheme with either of
these techniques. Based on the Panzer
Putty guide, it looks like it holds its shape better, so I may be able to get a
soft edged scheme that way.
Next is marking and washes. I don’t have any data indicating what the
actual turret numbers were for the 1/512 Panzerkampfwagen IV were at this point
– so I’m likely going to go with 121 through 124 as the unit as a whole was
down to 3 or 4 Jagdtigers at that point in the war. I’m targeting having the army ready to go for
a Tanksgiving tournament in November, but I haven’t even started on the
infantry at this point (I’m planning at least one unit of Volkssturm).
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