The Terrapin Narrow Gauge Society
 
38(t) Ausf. 'E' (O.O.B.)
Building the Tristar  1/35 Scale Kit (#35020) "Out Of The Box"
by Marc Reusser
There is a category in I.P.M.S. (international Plastic Modelers Society) competition, that is called "Out Of The Box" (OOB).
this category requires that you are only allowed to use what came in the box as part of the kit to build the model. No aftermarket details, no styrene, no wire nothing...unless ist comes with the kit from the Mfr.

I decided I wanted to see how far I could take this (to a reasonable extent/limit due to time constraints in getting the model done).

 

 

 

 

This side view shows the dented and bent fender detail The fender was milled from the underside to a thickness of .020" to better mimic the appearance of the prototypes flimsiness, and allow them to be more easily bent and shaped. The holes for the tool holders were filled with styrene rod, and all the cast on tool detail on the topside was carefully removed with a chisel.

The engine cover hatch has had the intermediate rivets removed to properly represent those found on the Ausf. E.

 

 

Alterations at the rear include the absence of the left idler wheel tensioner cover, the broken column light bracket, 3 missing rivets, and the end of the bent fender.

 

 

This view shows the few spots of putty that were required.

 

 

This image shows the left side of the tank at the engine compartment area. To the left are cast in locator pin holes for tools, that needed to be filled. The white styrene strip at the engine compartment opening was necessary because the kit part allows for a visible gap when the lid is fitted, which needed to be closed up.

 

 

This image shows the styrene correction necessary at all the engine cover panel sides. 

 

 

Here we see how all the fender supports were drilled out for running electrical conduit.

 

 

This rear view of the turret shows the two added strips of styrene that were added after sanding and fitting the top plate.

 

 

This view of the turret shows some of the small putty patches. the PE visor at the front has been chemically blackened.

 

 

The kit toolbox (shown fitted) came without the rear half of the top; a piece was fabricated from the sprue label tab. The front lid of the toolbox was sanded to .020" thickness, so that it could be more realistically bent to show damage.

 

 


Panting & Finishing
This is where the  project went all to hell.....I think that it's pretty much the end of the project...at least as far as being IPMS material.

I was not happy with the underlying rust color once it was chipped through the Dunkelgrau, so I decided to try and add a wash of dark brown in the rust/chipped areas, to tone down the "orangey" hue.....I used a wash of Floquil "Roof Brown"...which is a lacquer based paint.....and was hoping that the primer, acrylic rust tone and the acrylic Dunkelgrau would protect the plastic......but alas it did not, and the lacquer thinner base seriously attacked the plastic in numerous areas...."softening" some of the detail edges, causing inside corners at to "fuse" together, losing parting lines, and causing the plastic to have some unsightly blisters/imperfections at areas....unfortunately many of these areas happened to be at the most visible locations...fenders, front glacis, bolt details, panel parting lines, turret edge, etc.

Were I doing a lot of caked on mud, I could probably salvage it almost completely.....but seeing that this tank is in an urban setting and would have limited caked on/dried mud, I will have to utilize a bit it selectively, to hide the worst areas.

Below are some photos of where it stands, after the wash fiasco. The solvent wash staining can easily be seen where it migrated out of control  (especially noticeable on the turret).

 

 

In this view in the red boxes, you can see some of the issues that have occurred in numerous places around the tank. Notice the corner between the fender support and the top of the fender, and how it has "melted" into a fillet. (this is likely a location for some "mud"). Also note in the small box where the Glacis meets the hull plate. The solvent attacked the lower edge of the Glacis, and made slightly "Irregular"

Despite this, I was actually pleased with the mottling and coloration of the rust areas, as well as with the flaked off paint.

 

 

In this overall view of the front you can see the previously mentioned issues, as well as another one that occurred in several places. Note the panel seam/joint between the hull and the transmission access panel....how the edges of the panel have become somewhat "irregular" in areas. and the joint has somewhat "filled in" for the most part, due to the solvent attacking the plastic. Another problem the solvent caused, was to glue/weld the MG pivot into a fixed position

 

 

This view of the rear shows how some of the details and edges have become slightly "softened" by the solvent.

 

Figuring that this vehicle was field painted "Dunkelgelb" by it's crew, I am taking the approach that areas such as behind the wheels, under the fenders, interiors of sprockets, behind stowage boxes, hull underside, etc, will not have much if any yellow paint, as they would not have been concerned much about these areas.
A couple of days ago I painted the model with the final color. This was done using a mix of Vallejo, 'Desert Yellow' (#977), 'Sand Yellow' (#916), and 'Beige' (#917). A panel fading coat was done by adding 'Sand Light' (#837) to the mix.

Tonight after 3 Martinis, I sat at my bench sipping a nice glass of Mezcal when I decided to see if the airbrushed Vallejos would chip like the brushed ones in the previous experiment. Using water as I had done in the previous had no effect on the paint.....what now....isopropyl alcohol was too strong and would ruin all the layers of the paint....then it hit me!. I poured a small amount of the Mezcal in an artists tray, and tried removing the paint with that....BINGO!....it began softening and chipping only the Vallejo layers..

I went to the kitchen, and got some cheaper Tequila. I filled one artists tray with Tequila, and another with water.
After some practice, I found that by dipping my brush into the tequila, brushing it on an area, and starting to chip, I could then somewhat control and vary the softening of the paint, the amount of chipping, and the texture, by at then dipping the brush into the water and diluting the Tequila. This was done at different points and times of the chipping. The control was not perfect, and apparently still depends on the adhesion factor of the Vallejo....but I was happy to find it could be done to an airbrushed application.

Though I went overboard with what is shown in the images,..... it did give me an opportunity to play around. With some practice, I think there might be some applicable situations for the technique.

The small chips and linear chips/scratches, were done by applying a bit of the Tequila, then when slightly softened, lightly chipping or drawing the point of an Xacto blade across it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

As with all model kits, all the parts were carefully washed with warm soapy water and a soft brush prior to assembly and painting. (I  washed them on the sprue before assembly, and then one more time after they had been sanded, fitted glued, etc., prior to priming).

All parts were painted using a Paasche 'VL' double-action, internal mix airbrush, with a #1 tip. Brush painting was only employed for filters, weathering and some minor areas of touch-up. The exception was the Primer coat of Mr. Hobby "Mr. Surfacer 2000, which was applied from a spray can.

I broke the painting & weathering  process down into the following steps:

 

Interior Painting & Weathering

Primer Coat

Color Coat

Panel Shading

Washes & Filters

Insignias & Markings

Fading, Chipping & Rust

Clear Coat

Dust & Dirt

Oil Stains

Tracks

Final Pick-up & Touch-up

Finishing and painting any model is really a matter of choice, information from reference materials, your artistic impression, and modeling "style/look". Herein I am merely explaining my own "personal" approach, and may not be to your taste, or 100% prototypically accurate. 

 

Interior

 

 

 

Sub-Assemblies

 

Dust, Dust, Dirt & Oil Staining

 

Pre-Shading

After the entire model received a primer coat of "Mr. Surfacer 1200"

 

Color Coat

.

 

Panel Shading

 

Road Wheels

    

 

Filters & Washes

 

Insignia & Markings

 

Fading, Chipping & Rust

Muffler & Exhaust

This was done to simulate rust as it would occur on an exposed exhaust pipe. A surface which is regularly heated and cooled, and exposed to the weather, thus obtaining both a dark base color, with a worn surface, and multiple layers of  more freshly oxidized flakes, and texture.

The exhaust pipe was drilled out to obtain a thinner wall thickness. The dents were first drawn out with a pencil to make sure the locations looked correct (used tip from Adam), and then made using a small Dremel round headed bit. Final shaping and blending were done with 400 grit wet sandpaper.

The surface texture was created using Bragdon's Rust Powders mixed with Plastruct liquid styrene cement. Using an old brush, the surface was given a coat of solvent to soften it. While tacky, the entire surface was then coated with a mixture of "Soot" and "Medium Rust" for the darker base coat. When pretty much dry, using another old brush with the bristles cut short, the brush was dipped into the solvent and immediately dipped into lighter rust colored pigments, and then stippled onto the surface.....softening the surface, making it "tacky" and creating a raised texture of varied colors. This was done repeatedly in multiple layers to obtain the coloring, layering and depth desired. Once satisfied it was set aside to thoroughly dry. When dry, some additional "Soot" color was added to the end of the exhaust.

The silvery-grey areas are intended to represent where an adjacent object has recently rubbed against/come in contact with the an adjacent surface/object.

 

 

 

 


Tracks

Tracks always seem like a daunting task on a tracked vehicle. Many modelers tend to represent their tracks with rusty finish/appearance with only a few dry-brushed, or graphite bare metal highlight areas at the exterior of the track; and many completely ignore or forget to do the worn metal areas/surfaces at the interior side of the track where  the drive sprockets, idlers, and road wheels come in contact.

I take great issue with this approach. Though it may be seen as stylized, or interpretive, it is generally incorrect and prototypically inaccurate. Most modelers appear to copy from display and museum vehicles whose tracks have sat idle for a long time, and oxidized/rusted over time.

This image shows the tracks of a 38t as on static display in a museum. Note the oxidation/rust.

 

 

These images show the tracks of the same 38t after a short cross country excursion. Note the lack of "red/orange" rust color. The rust has worn off very quickly, to a mix of bare metal, old brown "deep oxidation" and dust/dirt; giving the outside of the tracks a soft warm grey/brown shade.

Note also the  lack of any rust on the interior track surface. Note how areas are polished/worn where they come in contact with moving parts.

 

            

 

 

 

Looking at these examples I decided to take a somewhat different approach to the tracks, than frequently shown/described elsewhere.

I decided rather than painting the tracks, and then highlighting the worn and exposed steel parts by dry-brushing with metallic paint, or using graphite. The idea was to paint the tracks a steel base color, and then "wear" the over painted colors off, to expose the steel color underneath; like prototype tracks, and like is done with Friul metal tracks.

The first step was to airbrush all the individual track links (prior to assembly) with Alclad II Lacquer "Steel" (#ALC-112),  then overspray with a light dusting of Alclad II "Chrome" (#ALC-107) to lightly accentuate the high points and edges.

 

 

These are two quick test pieces that were done to see/experiment with what the process would be. The photos render the red/brown hue a bit stronger and more opaque than in reality, where more subtle suggestions of the underlying steel gray color can be seen. With a bit more dusting on the right example, I think I can match the prototype tracks in the images above.

After acrylic washes, the piece on the left was dusted with "Rottenstone" and washed into the crannies with Grumbacher "Odorless Thinner" (note to self: odorless thinner attacks/softens the Alclad II paints), this was followed with a dusting of MIG "Europe Dust" (#P208), which ended up being a bit more yellow than I had hoped for, and hinted at more of a "rust" finish, rather than dust.

The section on the right was dusted with a mixture of MIG "Europe Dust" (#P208), & "Panzer Grey Fading" (#P305), and yielded a better dust color for my eventual needs.

 

 

  On the exterior of the track, the low spots and recesses were colored using very thinned washes of acrylic paints. The first wash was Tamiya "Nato Black" (XF-69). When thoroughly dry, this was followed by several more washes, consisting of random mixtures/shades of Tamiya "Nato Black" (XF-69), "Flat Brown" (XF-10), and Vallejo "Leather Brown" (#872). Each wash layer was allowed to dry prior to applying the next layer. Once The washes had the look and coverage desired, a soft rag dampened with water diluted 70% isopropyl alcohol, was used to clean any wash residue that might have settled on the high spots/contact surfaces.

 


Steel Cables

Every tank needs some steel cables....so I decided to experiment with some stretched sprue, and see if I could make "plausible" steel cables.

This cable has "field" made ends (so not really a true "tow cable").....The entire cable is a bit less than 3 inches (7.5 cm) long. It has been brush painted with Floquil "Roof Brown", dusted with some powders, and been rubbed with pencil graphite. Far from perfect, but it makes me think there might be a possibility to do this for my project.

 

 

I wasn't quite happy with the cable....so I thought I would have a try at it again.

I built a tool to better help me hold and turn the stretched sprue pieces:

 

 

After about the fifth try I ended up with a 19cm long cable that was acceptable.

I devised a story for this cable: It was to be a cable that had once broken in the field at one end during use.

Here the original end. The hasps were made out of paper from the kit instructions, and the rivets/screw heads, are pieces of stretched sprue.

 

 

Here the "field repaired" end.

 

Here both ends after some quick preliminary paint and finish.

 

 

 

 


Stowage Boxes

As was typical on these tanks, I needed some gear stowage boxes for on the fenders:

My first attempt was using the instruction sheet paper to fold one up....it was pretty much a disaster.

 

 

So it was time to implement Plan "B'.....this involved using the sprue tabs, which were removed, cut in half, and glued together:

 

 

These were then filled where needed, and sanded smooth and thinner.

 

 

...then cut to size, and assembled into the basic boxes. lower portion of the box at left is made from the unused smoke discharger rack.

 

 

Lastly the details were added. Hinges and rivet heads were made from stretched sprue. The hasps are a combination of stretched sprue, and parts formed from the PE sheet frame. The large box is 15mm wide, and 9mm tall.

 

 


Recovery Beam

German tanks used in the Russian and French campaigns often carried recovery beams, or bundled small logs to aid them in extricating themselves from unfavorable soil conditions. These were generally added by the crews in the field, and mounting methods varied widely. Though this would likely not be seen on a tank in late war Bulgarian Service, I thought it would make a fun detail to model. I may not include the beam in the end model, but I will leave the rack, as this detail would likely still be in place on a used tank.

The image below shows a 38t with the beam and mounting method I am using as an example.

 

 

In order to get the proper finished dimension for the beam, numerous pieces of sprue were glued together in the general shape.

 

 

This was then planed to the correct size, and length.

 

To fill the holes, gaps, and ends of shaped block; a putty was made by dissolving, chunks of the sprue, and shavings from sanding, in Plastruct liquid cement.

 

 

The beam was grained and carved. Painted with.

 

Here the beam can be seen in its rack on the fender.

 


Beam Rack

The rack in the photo appears to have been made out of steel angle iron, and tubing. To make the angle iron, a sprue tab was sanded to the proper thickness, and cut into strips. 

 

 

These strips were then glued together at right angles, to form the required shape.

 

Here the beam racks are shown installed on the fenders. The "tubing was made from extruded sprue; as were the rivet heads, which were then sliced from the proper diameter piece.

 

 

Here the racks with the beam before it was carved and painted. Some Tamiya putty was required to fill in small surface imperfections, which the "homemade" putty did not fill completely.

 

 


Bucket

Every tank needs a bucket hanging from it......and after two tries and two hours of work, I finally got one that I think is passable/useable. To make the side, two concentric circle/arc lines were cut  from primer coated paper from the instruction sheet.

 

 

 This was then slightly lapped at the ends (about 1/64-1/32") and glued with super glue. It was quite fussy to get it to sit right, and not kink the paper while working with it...hence the two tries. The Bottom is cardboard from the box lid, the details and handles are from stretched sprue. The top edge seam was sealed/filled with "Mr. Surfacer 500", thus the somewhat wobbly/uneven appearing edge.

 

 

 I wanted the appearance of an old used galvanized bucket that had developed surface oxidation, and had seen heavy use in a variety of tasks. Coloring was done with an initial Brush applied coat of a pale blue Humbrol matt enamel (#23), when dry this was lightly sprayed with a coat of Tamiya spray paint (TS-27 'Matte White'), this was folloewd by several light washes of Windsor Newton Artists Oils ('Ivory Black' , "Burt Umber"). These were followed with washes of Vallejo acrylics (#869 'Basalt Grey', # 862 'Black Grey)...while not fully dry Bragdon's rust powders were applied, and blended into the acrylic washes with a water dampened brush. Lastly the bucket was given a pin wash of 'Ivory Black'  in the seams and details, with a very light dusting of Doc O'Briens Grungy Gray" weathering powder.

 

 


Boots

The boots were made from the feet/boots of the included figure. The kit part was drilled out, and the loose fitting uppers were made from softened (in Plastruct solvent) leftover thinned sprue tab.

 


Cobblestones & Base

For the cobblestones, I initially drew a grid in Auto-Cad, and printed it on the inside of the box lid, with an inkjet printer.

 

 

All the pieces were then cut out. I also cut a slight bevel at all the corners of the pieces. All cuts were made from the grey side of the cardboard, so that the pressure indentation would be the right direction.

 

 

Here are all the pieces and the shaved sprue "trolly track" glued in place.
once the "stone" pieces were glued to the board and dry (before track was added) I took the board outside and laid it face down on my asphalt driveway and some concrete, and stepped on the board, till I got the texture impressions I was after. This was then covered with a brushed on coat of Liquitex "Matte Medium". Just before the matte-medium completely dried, I took the rounded end of a small brush and drew/indented it along the stone lines/cracks, to great a slight depression and eased edges to the stones. Lastly the track detail was attached with superglue.

 

 

Here is about how the tank will sit on the base.

 

 

A view of the base after being sprayed with "Mr. Surfacer. 1000"

 

 

The result of the coloring of the cobblestone street......How exactly I achieved it is a bit tough to explain (can't fully remember the whole process myself). Random base washes were done with Tamiya acrylics (#XF-22 "RLM Grey", #XF-52 'Flat Earth'). This was followed by dry-brushing and highlights of varied mixes of Vallejo acrylics (#886 'Green-Grey', #905 'US Blue-Grey Pale', #874 'US Tan Earth"), followed by thinned washes of artists oils. At this point there was quite a bit of variation and highlights in the stones....however when the MIG pigments (P039 'Industrial City Dust', #P028 'Europe Dust') were applied for the cracks, it took away a lot of that. Thus some more random dry-brushing high-lighting with acrylics was done.  The rail was painted with Floquil "Roof Brown", into which pigment was rubbed. Staining and coloring was done with more artists oil washes in Turpentine. (what appears to be white spots/areas on the rail, is the photo lights reflecting in some of the sheen of the finish).

 

 

A detail photo.

 

 


Corrugated Metal

I needed some pieces of corrugated metal for clutter on the base......and went about adapting the technique posted in this thread,  http://www.finescalerr.com/smf/index.php?topic=15.0 .

For the "metal" I am utilizing cut pieces of the instruction sheet, that have been thoroughly brushed/soaked on both sides with diluted Liquitex "Matte Medium". My thought being that the matte medium will act as both a stiffener, and reduce the surface fuzz of the paper.

Two form halves were made using .050 styrene sheet. Onto which were glued .080" rods spaced at .060". This gives me pretty much a a prototypical 2-1/2" center to center corrugation. The spaced between the rods were filled using .060 x .040 styrene strips. This would strengthen and stabilize the round rods, and give me a positive "depth limit" stop on the corrugation.

 

 

The original intent was to merely sandwich the soaked piece of paper between the two forms....but this proved to be problematic due to the way the paper develops tension as it has to lay into the lower form grooves as the upper form is pressed into place. So I laid one edge of the soaked paper square on to, and lightly laid it across the form. I then began at one side and pressed individual .080" styrene rods into the grooves. Once these were all in place I weighted them down. [At this point I could have removed the rods, and just pressed the other form half in their place....but I decided this way the air would circulate better for the paper to dry, and I could do another piece in the other half of the form.]

 

This photo shows the paper dry in the form with the rods removed.

 

This image shows the dried corrugated paper removed from the form, and ready for paint with airbrush, and weathering. This same template and method is easily used on thin alum., brass, and copper for real metal roofing.

 

 

The finished corrugated roofing. I took a somewhat interpretative approach to the finish, and did it more overall rusty finish than actual roofing might be, but I needed it to act as an 'accent' color/finish on the base. 

The paper was brush painted with Floqiuil "Roof Brown". After the surface appeared dry, I used a pin to poke nail/fastening holes and randomly brushed the pieces with various Bragdon's rust and black colored powders. The high points/ridges were then lightly rubbed with a soft cotton rag.

 

 

A detail view.

 


Rubble

Here are the two components that will become the rubble. On the left are all the small leftover cardboard corner pieces, that I cut off the street pavers. On the right are sprue pieces that have been finely chopped with a razor blade.

 

 

These were then mixed together in a small plastic tray. To this was added some 95% Isopropyl Alcohol, a couple of drops of Vallejo acrylics (#821 German WW2 Camouflage Beige), MIG Powder (#PO38 African Earth), and a mix of powdered grey Rembrandt pastels. This mixture was then stirred together until everything had good color coverage.


At this point the mixture was a coagulated lumpy mass. In the tray, it was then placed under a desk lamp to dry, during which I used a small artists spatula to constantly move  it around and break it apart, resulting in the finished material.

 

 


Bricks

The bricks were made using the torso of the figure. 

The torso was first planed to a block that had the proper brick cross section/dimension. In this case 4"x 8".

 

 

This was then sliced into individual bricks (like bread slices). Using an X-acto knife and a Mission Models chisel, these were then cut, reworked and sculpted, to give the appearance of older/damaged/rubble brick.

 

 

The finished bricks. The bricks were dry-brushed and "dabbed" with a mixture of Tamiya Acrylics (XF-9 'Hull Red', XF-68 'Nato Brown') and Vallejo Acrylics (#821 'German WW2 Camouflage Beige', #829 'Light Brown'), then lightly dusted with MIG Powder (#PO38 African Earth). The grout was made with a mixture of powdered Rembrandt pastel ('Raw Umber'), Vallejo Acrylics (#821 'German WW2 Camouflage Beige'), and MIG Powder (PO35 'Panzer Grey Fading'), and Windsor Newton Gouache ('Zinc White'), stirred till a thick paste was created, then stippled onto the brick pieces on the sides where mortar would occur.

 

 


Steel Debris Pieces

I wanted to include some pieces of bent/broken steel in the rubble. Pieces were fabricated from a leftover scrap of the beam rack, and a pieces of the PE sprue/frame. Holes were drilled and bolts were made from cut pieces of stretched sprue.

 


Conclusion

Though in the end it is probably too overboard to be allowed in the OOB entry category, it has been a lot of fun to do.

It has taken me back to some of the fun, adventure and creativity of modeling that I used to feel as a kid, when you would open that box and just be in wonder of all those parts and what would be created with them....and that great fun of seeing something evolve in front of your own eyes.

It has given me a nice opportunity to think outside the proverbial "box" as what is possible with these items, to do some great research, experimenting and creative thinking; and an interesting study on how I perceive ordinary unrelated things at first look. It was also fun/interesting to build all this without spending a dime on materials or aftermarket parts...(though an existing small fortune in tools, paints, etc., didn't hurt ) Above all though, it really helped to hone some of my existing modeling skills/techniques, and learn a number of new ones; as well as make me less regimented and afraid of trying certain things in my modeling.


Reference Material

 

PzKpfw 38(t) In Action; Squadron/Signal Books #2019

PRAGA; LT vz.38 Pz.Kpfw. 38(t), MBI Publishing

 

Tank Power vol. XXI; PzKpfw 38(t), Wydawnictwo Militaria No.241

 

TANKS & ARMOUR: PanzerKampfwagen 38(t), Ian Allen Publishing

 

Pz.Kpfw 38(t)Ausf.A-D in Detail,
Special Museum Line No.38; Wings & Wheels Publications

 Mig Productions F.A.Q

AFV Modeler Magazine

 

 


Materials List:

 

 

Tamiya:

 Putty ( Basic Type)

XF-1 Flat Black

XF-2 Flat White

XF-21 Flat Base

XF-58 Olive Green

XF-59 Desert Yellow

XF-65 NATO Back

X-22 Clear

X-20A Thinner

 

Mr. Hobby:

"Mr. Surfacer 2000"  Spray Can

"Mr. Surfacer 500"  Jar

 

Vallejo/Model Color

#822 German Camo Black Brown

#862 Black Grey

 

Humbrol:

Enamel Thinner

 

Grumbacher:

Turpentine

Pre-Tested Odorless Thinner

 

Windsor-Newton:

#2 Burnt Sienna

#24 Ivory Black

#33 Prussian Blue

 

MIG Productions:

#P035 Panzer Grey (Fading)

#P036 Allied Green (Fading)

#P028 Europe Dust

 

Bragdon's Enterprises:

"Rust" Weathering Powders Set

 

 Water

90% Denatured Alcohol

 

 

Marc Reusser

Feb. 2007

 

Home
 
Copyright 2006, Marc Reusser all rights reserved.