Marder II - Pak 40/2 Diorama

[Gav0909]

Dude that is friggin excellent! Brilliant work there my friend!

[T3hGuppy]

Superb paintwork dude. Keep it up.

[Paul]

Great work, chipping looks awesome

[panzerman]

Fabulous work painting the interior parts of the Marder.
Looks very realistic.
Bill.

[reelmesh]

Thanks so much guys!

I was a bit unsure about that chipping, I felt it was a tad too much, but I really want to represent a used vehicle. Glad it worked out well.

Update:

So I masked the interior and applied the first steps of the painting process.

I applied a little more primer, then I pre shaded with black the shadow areas.





I then mixed Vallejo model Air Dark Yellow and Radome Tan (2/1) and laid the first coat of paint.





Then I painted the sprocket, spare and idler wheels with the same mix of paint.



And also sprayed the rest of the road wheels with Tamiya Nato Black and the tracks with Tamiya Flat Black.



Finally I sprayed some Model Air Radome Tan on specific areas of the hull and upper structure to add some highlights and break the shapes.









That's it for now.

I got to stop these long modelling nights... I start and then I just forget to stop... Too much fun.........

[alextheblue]

Exquisite work reelmesh, an absolute work of art!!

[HWGuderian23]

Exquisite work reelmesh, an absolute work of art!!

Have to second this utterly! It is a work of art indeed!
The manner of doing the color modulation and shading is that fine that all detail gets gently accentuated and the result so far is almost perfect virtually.
As good as it gets !

Hope to see a lot more of your work mate .

[reelmesh]

Thanks guys!

Today I only had time for a small update to the build.

I mixed some Vallejo Model Color paints to get a few very light tones in order to accentuate and highlight details on the model.







Next will be the camo.

[rm6239]

WoW, the dio base blew me away, then the chipping just awesome work mate and now the modulation, I will follow the rest of this very closely.

cheers

Rossco

[Vilkas]

Exactly as you said it very important not to give in to temptation to rush things. I absolutely love how subtle the the steps with color modulation are. It is turning out to be a show stopper !!!

[ScaleArmorBuilder]

Awesome work there buddy.

[reelmesh]

Thanks mates, it's been a nice ride!

Vilius: Thanks buddy, It's a technique i really like, I know it's not so realistic, but I love the dramatic effect on the finished model, if I can get there. We put so much effort into these models that one rushed step can simply ruin the whole thing, it should be, in my view a labor of love, so don't rush it. "Take your time and practice." my mantra.

I'm going to have a weekend away from the bench, I already miss it....

[garywintin]

First class work... I stand envious of your work... I can never do like this ...

[reelmesh]

First class work... I stand envious of your work... I can never do like this ...

Thanks Gary, but I think you are underestimating your own work, I love the Leo build your doing!

That PE work and the camo net are superb buddy!

Keep that work coming!

[reelmesh]

Another update guys.

I have chosen to set my scene in northern France 1944, so it had to be this hard edged camo scheme, my first of this sort.



I started by laying down a couple of AK's Worn effects product, I have never used it before, but as I wanted to have a quite used Marder I thought It would be a good opportunity to give it a try.

Next I painted the camo scheme with a good paint brush, I've used Vallejo Model air paints, which I found out brush fairly well, I still had to apply two coats to get the proper coverage.

The camo green was straight from the bottle and thinned a bit with water, and the red brown was mixed with a bit of radome tan to make a bit of a lighter tone (3/1), I also thinned those with a bit of water.







After that I wet the surface of the model and worked with a few brushes and a toothpick/cocktail stick to make the scratches and chips on the camo.





Then I applied some gloss varnish to the panels to apply the decals. I used Micro Sol and Micro Set for that process.



Once they were dry and set, I painted all the tools and details with Vallejo Model Color paints. After that a couple of satin varnish coats.







After the varnish dried I applied a filter from Sin industries on all the vehicle exterior and some washes from AK interactive in all the details and crevices.







More weathering tomorrow.

[Vilkas]

Oh my God this Marder is getting better and better as it goes! Just as you think ok the interior was superb this probably was the highlight of the build, NO! Not at all. The hard edge camo scheme looks absolutely superb, I really stay away from this pattern just cause it is so much more precise then airbrush soft edge stuff...

It just came out so naturally, BRAVO !!! It looks amazing as is, after weathering it will be a masterpiece all together. And thanks for such detailed update, because I will surely want to do something like it in the future.

Great job

[reelmesh]

Thanks mate, you are too kind my friend.

It's all about the sharing and learning, I feel very fortunate to have found this forum.

[Paul]

Love that Camo job, fantastic work, "chipping" and fading it, nice job.

The Mig filters are great at tying it altogether too, one of my favorite armor tools.

[alextheblue]

Truly excellent work! You can see why painting and weathering are your favourite bits, your skills with a brush shine through!!

[HWGuderian23]

Excellent mate! Really enjoy following your paragraphs ...

[reelmesh]

Paul: Thanks mate, I was risking it a bit on the Worn effects matter, but patiently I was able to make it work.
I feel exactly the same about the Mig filters, I use them all the time, they are an essential part of my modelling.

alextheblue: Thanks mate, I've been familiar with brushes ever since I can remember. My father used to paint and I've used them all my life too, I paint oil on canvas and I also worked as an illustrator for awhile. I guess sometimes it's harder for me to work with the airbrush than with the paint brush.

Markus: Thanks buddy, I'm glad I can entertain you.

Another update:

I like to separate the chipping in two parts, first one is a light sand tone to simulate the lighter scratches on the painting and the second is a dark red brown tone that simulates the primer underneath the painting, all of the paint used is Vallejo Model Color.

I used a bit scouring pad to apply the first stages of the chipping after I saw this technique being used in a video. I then used a very fine paint brush to tie everything together and make some scratches as well as larger chipps. The paint ratio was 1/1.







After that I mixed the colour for the inner chipps, the ratio was 2/1/1 and used the same brush.

When doing these I took care to apply them only where the lighter chipps were painted to give the impression that the damage went through the paint into the primer.







Then I sprayed a coat of satin varnish to seal this phase from further weathering.

Now it was the turn of the rain/grime streaks and rust spots. For that I used AK's streaking grime and rust streaks.

I applied them with a small round brush and toned them down with a flat brush moist with white spirit, this step must be done very gently.







After it all dried, I applied another coat of satin varnish to seal it.

Then I turned to the muffler and for that I used matte medium thinned with a bit of water, brushed it on the muffler and then stippled several colours of Vallejo pigments until I achieved a nice result.



After that I applied a bit of black pastel pigment to the muffler exhaust.



The results:





Next I'm going to focus on the lower hull and running gear.

[longlance67]

amazing scratching and weather mate,

really brings it all to life, great work



Shane.

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Truly amazing weathering here!
Really love your work and your tutorial

I noticed that you post a link in your threat from Flickr to get your photo's on the forum.
I use Flickr too (a lot) and it would save me a lot of time for posting pics. Can you help?
Thanks in advance

Ps, the fly1ngdutch4n is following you now

[reelmesh]

Thanks mate, I've just been posting to your build and I must say I am still picking up pieces of my head after I got happily blown away...

Of course I can help, when you click to see your photos, look for the bottom right part of your screen, there is a share button there, click it and choose "Grab the HTML/BBCode", after that choose your resolution and copy the text.

Then just paste that on your post. That's about it.

Screen shot 2013-11-25 at 11.14.12 PM.jpg (146.8 KiB) Viewed 2744 times

Flickr Adds a link that I usually delete, but that has to be done when you're posting. Otherwise just leave it there, I just delete it because it makes the post a bit confusing.

Tell me if you need any more help.

Thanks again!

[AchtungPanzer]

Total Front version I like that ! . .

[Vilkas]

Looks great, I think 2014 will be about investing in to AK and Vallejo. They should share some proceed with you man (that has to be the reason why my tanks don't look as good .... sure... )

It looks like a proper old banger! well done

[reelmesh]

Looks great, I think 2014 will be about investing in to AK and Vallejo. They should share some proceed with you man (that has to be the reason why my tanks don't look as good .... sure... )

It looks like a proper old banger! well done

Thanks mate! I wish they would!!!

I find their products really handy, all these effects can be made one way or the other, but having them ready made saves a ton of time, time for modelling.

I include what I use for explanation purposes, in no way shape or form I care from where they come nor am I in any sort of business with them, as long as they work, I'm a happy camper!

[reelmesh]

Total Front version I like that ! . .

Thanks mate!

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Thanks mate, I've just been posting to your build and I must say I am still picking up pieces of my head after I got happily blown away...

Of course I can help, when you click to see your photos, look for the bottom right part of your screen, there is a share button there, click it and choose "Grab the HTML/BBCode", after that choose your resolution and copy the text.

Then just paste that on your post. That's about it.


Flickr Adds a link that I usually delete, but that has to be done when you're posting. Otherwise just leave it there, I just delete it because it makes the post a bit confusing.

Tell me if you need any more help.

Thanks again!

Thanks buddy
It works! This would save me a lot of time now!

Thanks mate, I've just been posting to your build and I must say I am still picking up pieces of my head after I got happily blown away...

[rm6239]

Awsome work , I don't know where to start but definately a masterclass on chipping and weathering.

cheers

Rossco

[garywintin]

awesome .. awesome .. awesome... mind=blown

[reelmesh]

Thanks guys! It's been a real pleasure, though the kit isn't the easiest kit in the world, it's well worth the effort.

[reelmesh]

Small update guys:

I noticed that the model was a bit too brown with the weathering I had done so I've applied some rain marks using AK's dust effects and then toned them down with a flat brush and damp with white spirit.



I liked the effect a lot, It broke the boring brownish colour and made the model a bit more interesting, in my opinion of course.

Example:



I started to apply the mud on the model using plaster with AK's africa dust effects, summer Kursk earth and dark mud.

I mixed several tones in order to get some volume and variation, these effects were applied with an old brush and the airbrush, spraying the wet brush in front of the surface until i got the desired effect.



When I was getting to the front of the model I realized that I hadn't finished the front track links...

So I painted the track links in the front of the hull, I first applied a coat of diluted matt medium, then stabbed some vallejo pigments on to the wet surface.

After that I mixed a Vallejo model color flat brown and black in equal parts and drybrushed the track links. Then I applied a bit of AK's rust streaks around the area of the links to simulate the friction of the rusted links on the hull and brackets.





Since I already had the AK's dust effects mixed and ready I applied some of the mixture on the top surfaces of the model just to make them a bit dustier.



The effect isn't all that visible on this photo, but as soon as I finish the model I'll post some good photos of it.

After this I finished the mud effects on the hull and left it to dry.













Hope you like it. Next I will prepare the wheels and tracks.

[Coen]

That's probably the best mud effects that I've eve seen buddy! That's just beautiful!
The layering on your weathering is perfect too.
Well freaking done dude!

[Radzy]

Oh... I can second Coen ... Your work... blows mind!!!
Out of scale skills there, buddy...


Carpet monster ate my jaws...

[NorthernSwede]

Mind blowing work.

The mud work and the weathering in general is just top notch.

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Top shelf weathering! Love it!

[HWGuderian23]

Sadly my english vocabulary comes to its end meanwhile that I guess the time has come to use the following new smily for the very first time myself: !

Outstanding mud/dust effects mate and if I watch your pics again and again I have to note that the rust effects on the exhaust are masterclass-work !

[reelmesh]

That's probably the best mud effects that I've eve seen buddy! That's just beautiful!
The layering on your weathering is perfect too.
Well freaking done dude!

Thanks so much Coen! You're too kind mate.

[reelmesh]

Oh... I can second Coen ... Your work... blows mind!!!
Out of scale skills there, buddy...


Carpet monster ate my jaws...

Thanks Radzy, don't you let that monster keep them!

[reelmesh]

Mind blowing work.

The mud work and the weathering in general is just top notch.

You want us to like that? No I dont like that... I love that!

Top shelf weathering! Love it!

Thanks guys, It's been one hell of a ride but I'm loving every minute of it!

[reelmesh]

Sadly my english vocabulary comes to its end meanwhile that I guess the time has come to use the following new smily for the very first time myself: !

Outstanding mud/dust effects mate and if I watch your pics again and again I have to note that the rust effects on the exhaust are masterclass-work !

Thanks Markus! I tried that rusty effect a different way on another kit, but I much prefer to do it this way.

The mud is a whole different story, I had done mud a few times before, with pigments, and it's ok but this way is a lot faster to get to a similar result.

[HWGuderian23]

The mud is a whole different story, I had done mud a few times before, with pigments, and it's ok but this way is a lot faster to get to a similar result.

I guess that the major difficulty with all kind of weathering effects is not to overdo them otherwise you are at risk of ruin the whole model. But you did it in a perfect manner !
You know your craft mate - there's no doubt about it.

[Nige201980]

Great work with the mud mate it's fantastic.

[alextheblue]

Outstanding work reelmesh - the one thing that i really like about it though is - EVERYTHING!!

[Paul]

Fantastic weathering skills

[longlance67]

great job mate




Shane

[spruecutter]

Impressive work

[reelmesh]

Thanks guys!

I managed to do a bit of work on the wheels yesterday but I'm to be away from home for a few days, so I haven't had the chance to post an update.

Will do so ASAP.

The mud is a whole different story, I had done mud a few times before, with pigments, and it's ok but this way is a lot faster to get to a similar result.

I guess that the major difficulty with all kind of weathering effects is not to overdo them otherwise you are at risk of ruin the whole model. But you did it in a perfect manner !
You know your craft mate - there's no doubt about it.

Thanks mate, indeed that is the most difficult task of all, I still am very weary on each step I make and of course I have made tons of mistakes weathering in the past and will do so in the future.
It's a learning process and that's a good reason I love modelling!

[reelmesh]

After being away for a few days I got around finishing the Marder and integrated it on the diorama.

First off I finished the spare road wheel.

For that I applied the same washes that I had previously applied to the tank.



Then the light chipping.



And finally the dark chips.



I then painted the bare metal parts on the idler and sprockets using Vallejo model color silver and thinner.



After that I realized it was too shiny and too bright so applied a rub of AK's pigments Dark steel with a cotton bud.



I forgot to take a photo of the sprockets with but I think these will get the idea across. You can clearly see the difference here. The pigments also provided a very nice metallic sheen.



I then installed the tracks, which were an absolute nightmare has I broke several links off, I don't know if they were really brittle because of something I did or it was the plastic.

After a ton of fiddling and cursing as well as a emergency surgery to install several of the spare links I finally manage to install the tracks.

For a moment there I really thought I wasn't going to make it...

I really am not satisfied with these tracks and was really tempted to get some AM ones to replace these but I decided against that.

For me it's all part of the learning process and I am not looking for absolute perfection, I just want it to look good, or at least reasonably good.

For that reason I didn't take any photos of the process as I was too busy self commiserating and cursing...

After the storm was over and dry I glued the spare road wheel on the hull and front driver's hatch open.

I then shaved some track marks on the grass in the base, and applied some AK's effects on the marks.





So here it is placed on the base, I'll take better photos when I finish the whole diorama.











On to the figures and props.