Blitzscales 11 PDF [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

March 2018

AML-90

Spanish Legion

BRDM-2

Serbian military police

E-100 Flakpanzer Twin massive barrel SPAAG

Nuremberg

Toy fair 2018, the modelling news for this year

Three new gifts inside

Fokker Dr.I Mercedes Benz

L1500S

Sponsored by

The Red Baron choice

Is published by Coronel Caramel S.l. CIF B54483052 Editorial office & administration Club de fútbol Hercules 6 03008 Alicante Spain Te: 965112833 Email: [email protected] Director: Federico Collada Editor: Federico Collada Design: Federico Collada Graphics: Federico Collada Models and photographs: Federico Collada Miguel Angel Ruiz

Editorial

Checking the recent releases from many model kits manufacturers I can now see a tendency for providing complete kits that include full interiors, a policy that may have started with Ukrainian producers like Miniart and ICM that applied this policy to their soft-skin military vehicles which always included a nicely detailed engine, cabin, transmission, chassis, etc. Then they continued this same tendency with their AFVs of which the T54/55 family is a perfect example, not only provided with full interior but also exhaustively detailed. Now other brands seem to have decided to offer some of their new kits this way, Rye Field Model and Takom have released amazingly detailed Panthers kits which include exhaustive interior detailing and even functional parts and workable tracks. Are these the definitive AFV kits? Certainly it’s a tendency that many modellers like very much despite the long time work they require. I guess that we will see many more “absolute” kits in the near future. This issue I welcome my friend Javier Redondo who shows his skills with a BRDM-2 form the Serbian military police, two new gifts provided by Martin Csanadi and Pierre Piveteau. Many thanks guys! And to add some variety to the magazine I got out of my comfort zone and tackled two very different kits; the Eduard Fokker DR.I 1/48 scale, I always wanted to have this beautiful plane in my collection! And the Miniart Milk delivery truck Mercedes L1500S. I hope you like them.

Federico Collada

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Index

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Page 32

Page 40

6 - Spanish Legion base 8 - Blitzscales previews 22 - Nuremberg toy fair 2018 32 - Spanish Legion AML-90 40 - BRDM-2 Military police 47 - The Martin Csanadi gift galore 49 - E-100 Flakpanzer 56 - Red Baron’s Fokker Dr.I 68 - What to do with ugly old kits; magnets 70 - Mercedes Benz milk delivery truck 4

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Cut & paste 1- Print the opposite page, resize if you need to fit your wood base 2- Varnsh to protect the printing 3- Glue onto a wood base using white glue 4- Press softly with a sponge to eliminate any air bubbles

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International Toy Fair Nuremberg

The International Toy Fair is the world’s leading fair for toys, hobby and leisure-time articles. The fair, which is open exclusively to the specialist trade, is the perfect communication and order platform for international manufacturers as well as specialist traders and buyers from around the globe. The presentation of new products and comprehensive overview of the industry which it provides are an indispensable source of information for annual market orientation. As every year Nuremberg houses the fair in which many Model kits producers shows their most recent products and the ones they’re soon to release. In this occasion some very interesting models have caught our attention, some due to their originality and some for their excellent quality. Let’s have a look at some of them. The radio controlled AFVs are always very impressive, mostly when they’re 1/10 scale. This new full metal Tiger will soon hit the stores. If you have space enough at home you may want to build one.

Aside some mayor companies that didn’t show up like Bronco, Meng, Dragon, etc. Some others left just a poster at their booth, like this one where they showed an impressive radio controlled FT-17 made of 1500 metal parts!

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Tamiya showed their new M3 Stuart kit, easy modelling for begginers. Few parts and perfect fit, a policy that have always distinguished the company.

The new M3 Stuart is provided in the typical Tamiya good quality olive drab plastic colour. Details have been simplified and even oversized to avoid fragility and ease the building. An old kit updated, the Tamiya Wespe includes now new figures and links and lenght tracks, better than the old vinyl ones.

The new Wespe is offered as operating in the “Italian front” and includes new decals and a few accessories liek ammunition and some stowage. 23

Another new release form the Japanese company, this M4A3E8 Sherman in the Korea war includes all the neccessary details to build this iconic tank form the early cold war years. The reinterpretation of the dragon face in red colour instead of yellow has caugh the attention of the modelling community.

The new figures set from Tamiya includes a demolition device Goliath, similar to the one released by Esci some decades ago.

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Another reedition of an old glory, the tamiya Centurion 1/35 scale is one of the first AFV kits they produced some decades ago, now it’s offered in one of their original and beautifully illustrated boxes. Although the kit is not up to the nowadays quality standards it may surely be a collectors piece. Special for nostalgics.

For the 1/48 scale AFV fans Tamiya is releasing the Churchill Mk. VII Crocodile, the British flamethrower tank.

The new kit looks nice, made of few parts to ensure an easy building for the less experienced modellers.

The Polish company IBG will continue releasing versions of the Scammell Pioneer truck in 1/35 scale, good news for the British softskins fans.

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ICM has some very interesting news for this year, one of them is the Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf. A in 1/35 scale, available for the first time in plastic. Hopefully we will see it built in the next magazine.

Following wit their tradition of WWII softskins they will add to their catalogue this Le.gl. Einheits Pkw Kfz 1. This new Ford T utility car of the Australian army is another addition to the basic car range in the ICM collection, surely welcome by the WWI fans.

The 1/16 figures kits have been a success, this new one shows a Royal Canada Mounted police female officer with her dog. A very nice looking pair. 26

Certainly one of the most exciting surprises in the fair was the new Rye Field Model kit of the Egyptian T34/122, available for the first time in plastic 1/35 scale and looking really nice.

Another Rye Field Model eye-catching new kit was the “look-through” panther Ausf.G that includes absolutely all the interior, a model that is now hitting the stores everywhere and that will surely give modellers a lot to talk about. Amusing Hobby new “what íf” beast, the Japanese massive SPG Type 5 Ho-ri. Japanese tanks and AFV are very appreciated in this magazine so let’s hope we can see it built pretty soon.

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Trumpeter and Hobbyboss are the companies that releases more kits during the year, here is a Maus with part of the turret interior that is soon to be released.

The T-72 based BMO-T is a Russian special heavy armoured troop carrier. This is another AFV available for the first time in plastic 1/35 scale.

Every model kit producer must have a Tiger in their catalogue and Trumpeter can’t be less, thsi year the will be releasing their own 1/35 scale, and the price will surely surprise everybody.

2018 may be the Panther year, many manufaturers will add their renditions to their respective catalogues to fight for the modellers budget. Hobbyboss shows us the Ausf.A version. 28

The German WWII big cats were absent in the Trumpeter and Hobbyboss catalogue. Now they will have the panther, Tiger and these King Tigers with both Porsche and Henschel turret, provided with separate zimmerit coating.

The 1/35 MBV-2 armoured train is one of the most recet kits released bu the Chinese company.

The Polish company IBG has developed a beautiful kit of the TK tanquette which will be released in different configurations, all of them including full interiors and optional parts.

To increase their excellent 1/72 AFV kits range IBG are about to release the Japanese Type 3 Chi-nu including some really nice looking figures. 29

Our sponsor Miniart will be very busy this year, they will keep increasing their great T54/55 tanks family with some more modern versions and the Israeli Tiran. Another really interesting subject is the German WWII helicopter Kolibri, released in 1/35 scale in both single and two crew configurations.

The T-55 tanks family kits will keep growing to be the absolute reference in the modelling world.

Some brands like Revell rely on other producers moulds to offer the domestic market with some news along the year, in this case we can see some AFV kits previously released by ICM and Zvezda.

Italeri keeps releasing very simple kits for wargamers 1/56 scale, this Jagdpanzer hetzer will be provided as a 3 in 1 kit to be built in different configurations.

These resin kits from CMK have been 3D designed for a perfect detail reproducing, the quality is worth the price. 31

The Panhard AML armoured vehicles were developed in France in the 50s decade after the French army asked for a reconnaissance light vehicle that could be equipped with powerful armament. After winning the army contest, Panhard begun producing the AML-245 in two different basic versions, one armed with a 60mm mortar and another with Scale; 1/35 Producer;Takom

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a DEFA low pressure 90mm gun. Aside these two models Panhard also produced other vehicles based in the basic model armed with different guns and even one troop’s transport. With more than 5000 units produced, the AML-60 and AML-90 have been in service with many countries for decades.

The kit Takom has released both AML-60 and AML-90 at the same time in 1/35 scale, this is certainly very good news as up to now the only models available of the AML were resin cast, some of them very good quality and other ones not so good. Although Takom is a rather new company they have released quite a lot of models in a few years and they have become very popular among military modellers due to their constant models release and the subjects they select to produce, most of the times very original and previously unreleased. Some says that Takom is the new Tamiya, they certainly seem to have the same policy about how the engineer their kits; not too many parts, good quality detail and easy building. In my opinion there are many companies that share this policy while other ones seem to

produce kits targeted for the most experienced modellers, and there are still some companies that keep releasing very old models at a lower price for the less demanding and novels. The new Takom kit is a good example of their policy and is made of some 200 grey plastic parts, 5 vinyl tires 4 transparent parts for the lights and the decals sheet. All this provided in a medium size box. Building the kit is rather easy and fast, the instructions are very clear and the parts

need no preparation. Some parts have been simplified for an easier manipulation and building so novel modellers can tackle the kit with no mayor problems. The most demanding ones would surely prefer plastic tires instead of the vinyl ones, a photoetched basket for the jerry can instead of both elements moulded together, an empty stowage cage for the front fender, transparent plastic periscopes, etc. but maybe the most strange thing about the kit is the painting guide size; 5 colourful drawings 9x12cm where is very difficult to see where the decals must be placed as they’re not even signalled, only the colours to be used in each one. These decals will allow you to represent vehicles from France,

Argentina, Israel, Iraq and Lebanon. I have built the kit in just a few hours and had no problem of any kind; the process was really amusing and once built the kit looks really fine.

The kit is made of few parts, they all fix very well so the whole building process doesn’t take more than a couple of hours. As the kit doesn’t include PE details the building doesn’t require any special skill and any average modeller can tackle it without any problem. 33

The suspension arms are not movable so any variation on the vehicle position would require some minor surgery. In my case I just wanted to show the finished model on an exhibition base so the fixed wheels position was fine for me.

The transparent plastic parts include the headlights glasses but unfortunately not the periscopes, these will have to be simulated with special paints later on.

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The Spanish legion deployed in Africa have changed the colour of their vehicles along the decades, in the time they used the AML 60 and 90 they painted them in a light sand colour. I started priming the model with a darker tone to later add this tone as a highlighting filter.

I used the Vallejo colours 71141 IDF sand grey and 71106 Ivory as filters to reach the desired light sand tone highlighting different zones to obtain it by “light accumulation”

While waiting for the varnish to cure properly I started painting the vinyl tires, I used an acrylic black primer and then some filters mixing black, brown and grey tones to imitate the tone of worn rubber. With the decals fixed and dry I applied a very subtle wash diluting ivory and white colours with pure water to create a first dust accumulation filter that helped softening the contrast between the vehicle and decals tones.

Once I got the desired base tone I protected the job with a layer of gloss varnish in order to proceed with the decals placing. This phase is important both to better adapt the decals but also to avoid the silvering so I always recommend it independently of the decals quality.

I designed a whole lot of markings for the Spanish AML-60 and 90 covering most of the cavalry units that used them in the seventies and eighties, the decals can be found at the webstore www. fcmodeltrend.com. This example belongs to the “Grupo ligero sahariano 1, 3er tercio de la Legión” (1 Sahara Light Group, 3rd Legion corps) and aside the standard markings of their vehicles it has painted a typical Spanish cartoon character on the turret side, something that was possibly painted for a special occasion.

Time now for some shading, as the vehicle base colour is quite light I opted to use a combination of medium and dark brown instead of a darker tone to avoid a too exaggerated contrast. The Vallejo acrylic washes did their job perfectly, just dropping little amounts at the details and recessed lines. 35

A mix of brown oil and much turpentine served as the next wash, this was not to add shadows but some stains on the surface that were immediately blurred downwards with a soft brush and clear turpentine.

At this stage the model looks pretty much as I expected, although the vehicles of the Legion were kept in pretty good shape and they rarely seen any action aside some manoeuvres I took some artistic license to show it a bit spoiled just to add some interest to the plain light sand colour base.

Another general and subtle wash to create some desert dirty look, using colour 71132 Aged white diluted at 95% with water and applied all over the model, insisting on the wheels so the pigment could deposit on the tires recessed parts. 36

I used some rust colours to imitate some chipping using the sponge technique, the key here is not to charge the sponge too much and leave the first traces elsewhere before hitting the model. Once you see you are producing very little marks is time to do onto the model.

After painting the details I used a metallic dark tone for the periscopes lenses, once dry I applied a couple of gloss varnish coats to imitate the glass shine.

A last sand wash, this time using pigment mixed with thinner, this wash is special as the thinner allows the pigment to deposit around the details and recessed zones and once dry you can eliminate any excess with a dry brush. If you’re satisfied with the result you can fix the pigments with a special product or just turpentine applied with a sprayer or the airbrush with very little pressure.

After fixing the resin part to the base with some white glue I primed it all with black colour.

The base is very simple, a plastic tray that imitates the slate and a resin piece that reproduces the Spanish Legion symbol (also designed by myself to offer in the web store)

I applied some dry pigment 73114 Dark slate grey to the base surrounding the Legion symbol and later protected with a varnish layer.

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By

Javier Redondo

Scale; 1/35 Producer;Trumpeter

Serbian Military police

The BRDM-2 ( Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina ) Combat Reconnaissance/Patrol Vehicle is an amphibious armoured vehicle designed and built in the former USSR in the early sixties that served in all the Warsaw pact countries during the cold war. Same as its predecessor, the BRDM-1, the design keeps the intermediate wheels used mainly to negotiate trenches but also to give the vehicle more stability if required. The BRDM-2 was firstly equipped with a GAZ-41 gasoline engine that provided 140HP, later it was changed by a diesel YaMZ-534.10 that provided a maximum speed of 100km/h and 750 km range. When using the hidrojets, the speed was of 10km/h. The BPA-1 conical turret housed a 14,5mm heavy MG and a coaxial PKT 7,62mm as a secondary MG. Having been accepted for service in 1962, the BRDM-2 was produced until 1989 and like the BRDM-1 it was used as a base for some special vehicles like anti-tank and anti-air platforms, recce and NBQ. The BRDM-2 was a Vehicle of easy maintenance although the GAZ engines that equipped the first series proved unstable when operating on hot weather. The weak armour and the hatches location proved also inadequate for the crew protection; despite all this the vehicle served in more than 40 countries armies for nearly half a century. 40

The kit

This is the Trumpeter model 5511 BRDM-2, with more than 250 parts provided in 7 light grey plastic frames, another one of transparent plastic, both hull halves provided separately, rubber tires, decals for three vehicles, a nylon thread and a metal wire piece. The hull lower part is very well detailed including some of the interior, the upper part is common to other versions so we will have to study carefully the instructions to see which holes are to be filled and which to be drilled. The model was built out of the box except for the welding lines that are omitted in the kit, for this I used an Archer special product. I changed too the handles for others made of metal wire.

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The vinyl tires were copied in resin to substitute them as the resin is better material to work with.

The four inner wheels were also changed for another resin ones from Hussar.

I started airbrushing the whole model with the Vallejo grey primer.

7.- For the tires I used a Black primer, also from Vallejo.

The reason to Guild this BRMD-2 was a photograph I found of a vehicle form the Serbian military police operating during the Yugoslavian war. I found the bright blue colour very attractive so I tried to replicate it mixing Andrea basic blue with Vallejo neutral grey.

Once the base layer was dry I applied a White oil filter to soften the colour..

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In this point I used the Vallejo decal fix and decal medium products to place the decals, these are a reference from the Star Decals brand.

Once placed and dry I airbrushed a layer of matt varnish in order to protect them from the further weathering process work. Using little amount of blue, White and grey oils I melted them on the model surface to obtain subtle filters.

I painted large scratches to show the original green colour of the JNA (Yugoslav people’s army) For this I used verde cinabrio tostado from the Titan oils range. The seats were textured using liquid cement and stencilling with a hard hair brush.

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The side scratches were painted with an arts colour pencil. This way we can obtain a worn look in which the blue colour is not so evident.

Some more scratches, this time using pure red at the zones where the rubbing is constant to imitate the rusted chipping.

The splashed mud is painted with diluted acrylic paints speckled from a brush with the aid of a toothpick.

The grease and oil stains were painted using oils and Judea bitumen.

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The Martin Csanadi gift galore

Our friend from Germany shares his beautiful designs. Another altruist modeller that joins Blitzscales to provide us with some very useful stuff for our models, just print and enjoy.

1/35 scale Generic boxes

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Scale; 1/35 Producer; Amusing Hobby

The E-100 series was supposed to be the base for a new range of AFV for the German army, including a new AA Vehicle armed with twin 88mm guns. At the end of the war only one hull was finished so all the project vanished in the air. Although the E-100 series project started in 1943 parallel to the Maus heavy tank, in July 1944 Hitler himself ordered the super heavy tanks development to stop to let the already saturated German war industry concentrate in the Tiger and Panther vehicles.

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The new kit from Amusing Hobby makes use of the former E-100 parts with which shares the complete hull, wheels, tracks, etc. The new parts will allow us to build the special twin 88mm AA guns turret. This is a very impressive vehicle, not only due to its size but also for carrying so powerful guns. Once finished the model is almost 35cm long! Quite massive for a vehicle in that times. As all the Amusing Hobby models, this one is made of a reasonable amount of plastic parts with no flaws, flash, etc. Good detail and fitting. A few photoetched parts complete the kit as well as some generic markings provided in the decals sheet. Same as the E-100, this kit builds very easily if you follow the instructions straightforward, mostly due to the size of the parts that allow them to be manipulated without any special care. This makes the kit a very good option for the beginners. The building starts the traditional way, adding the suspension elements and wheels to the lower part of the hull, then the exhausts and other details to the rear plate and then we pass to the upper part where we must locate a few parts, access doors, periscopes and little else. With both parts of the hull glued it’s time to place the tracks, I skip this step until the end just to paint the tracks more easily. The last step to finish the hull is adding the inclined side walls. As I used them in the previous model I decided to do without them in this one, just for the tracks not to be hidden under them. Once finished I felt satisfied with this decision as the vehicle looks more aggressive this way. The turret is even easier to build, so you can have your model finished in just a couple of hours. Painting this kind of kits may be the most interesting part of the project as it requires some imagination and provides quite a lot of liberty in deciding the context in which you want to represent it. I imagined an alternative ending for the war where Germany and the allies had reached to a point where the armistice was the best solution and thus Europe entered in a cold war between three blocks; the axis, the allies and the Soviet Union. The E-100 flakpanzer I built is supposed to be part of an AA platoon of the new Reich Wehrmacht. I decided to recover the Dark grey colour form the early stages of the war, now called “Reich grey” and add some big stripes of dark yellow colour in a disruptive pattern. Using the Bundeswehr black cross instead of the balkankreuz was an idea I had to suggest some developing on the German army after the war.

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I started priming the whole model with Vallejo 73603 dark grey; the kit is so massive that I spent quite a lot of paint. Lucky enough the primer has a very nice coverage so just one layer was enough.

A first filter using diluted 71115 Blue grey provided the first illuminations. I airbrushed this colour at the centre of the bigger surfaces.

A second filters, airbrushing heavily diluted 71114 US blue grey from the top provided the zenithal illumination.

Thinking in making some scratches on the dark yellow stripes I masked the parts of the kit to remain grey and airbrushed a diluted layer of chipping medium. Then I painted the camouflage large stripes using Dark yellow primer and later a 71107 Ivory filter to provide some illumination to this colour.

After scratching part of the yellow stripes with a brush and warm water I let the model rest for some hours and then proceeded to the rust chipping. For this I used the dark brown acrylic paints of the Vallejo rust set. I made use of both the sponging and drybrushing techniques to obtain different kind of effects.

I used a steel colour paint to imitate the polished metal at the wheels where the rubbing is constant.

A wash with diluted enamel paint created the first dirt accumulation on the lower part of the hull. This washes can be done with old paints we don’t use anymore, we can prepare enough to have it always ready in a jar..

Different acrylic washes speckled over the previously humidified surface of the model created a stained look on the camouflage.

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The tracks were primed dark brown and then covered with a layer of the Vallejo 73821 rust texture. This paint provides an excellent rust look thanks to some micro particles mixed in the paint that creates a very convincing rough surface.

I used brown and light grey enamel washes to create some dirt stains on the vehicle surface. I applied these colours with a large brush and once dry I cleaned off most of it blurring the layer down with a brush and clean turpentine.

A thicker dust and dirt accumulation was provided with a pigments wash, this is mixing the pigment with thinner like a very light mud and applying with a brush (don’t try to do it with an airbrush, you will clog it) the pigment will deposit mostly at the recessed zones like dust does. Once dry you can clean any excess with a dry brush. Again, a home made wash mixing dark brown oil and turpentine was used to create some shadows around the details to enhance them.

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At this stage I proceeded to protect the job with a layer of matt varnish. Diluted at 50% and airbrushed all over the model.

Continuing with the tracks I applied some rust toes washes to add some variety to the dark rust colour base.

The combination of several rust tones in successive wash applications provided the chromatic variety I was looking for.

As previously on the hull and turret I used a pigments wash at the tracks, this time using dark orange colour.

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Some more chipping strikes, this time painted using a fine pointed brush and mixing black and dark red colours.

A last earth and dust wash for thick deposits at the tracks, here the mix was thicker than previously to let the pigments create crusts at the links recessed parts.

The oil, grease and fuel stains were painted with a small brush and special effects paints varying the diluting proportion to provide random transparency.

The graphite pigments and pencils are very adequate to imitate the polished metal. Rubbing them with a cloth or a felt pencil is enough for the metallic look. Don’t varnish over them or you will turn off the shine.

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French army ration boxes 1/35 scale provided by Pierre Piveteau from Market Garden Thank you very much Pierre!

1/35 scale

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Scale; 1/48 Producer; Eduard

Beyond any doubt the Fokker Dr.I triplane is one of the most recognisable aircrafts of the aviation history. The whole red fighter plane flew by Manfred Albrecht von Richtofen, known as the “Red Baron” during the last stages of the First World War has become emblematic not only for the aviation aces but also for the modelling community, it doesn’t matter if you prefer AFV, ships, figures or Sci-fi, everybody knows the Red Baron triplane. Fokker was a Dutch designer who built his first aircraft at the age of 20, having later moved to Berlin he founded the Fokker Aeroplanbau and some time later he moved again to Schwerin and founded the Fokker Aviatik GMBH company. Fokker built the Dr.I triplane in 1917 and delivered to the elite fighter units to be flown by experimented aces, one of them, Manfred A. von Richtofen who is considered the best aircraft pilot of the World War One, downed 18 enemy aircrafts with his red Dr.I before being downed himself in April 21st. 56

Out of the comfort zone

I used felt pens to imitate the wood grain over a layer of 73613 desert tan colour, using the pens one after another creates a dragged veil, depending on the tones you use you can achieve different woods effects.

I have been an AFV modeller since the first model I made more than 30 years ago, I tried to tackle other kind of models sometimes but always stopped somewhere during the process not being sure how to get along, mostly during the painting stages. The only other models I make from time to time with which I feel comfortable are spaceships and that is because they provide me a lot of freedom to choose the painting effects I want to use on them. Planes, cars, ships, figures….all of them are out of my comfort zone but that doesn’t mean I don’t like them or I wouldn’t like to build some from time to time. This is why this time I have taken the project seriously to see if I could finish it and to have some fun out of the AFVs world. Some acrylic washes gave the wood some depth and a satin finish.

The cockpit is almost finished, the prepainted photoetched elements save some time.

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All included The Eduard kit 8162 is provided as a profipack edition, this means that you will have colour printed photoetched details and adhesive masks in the box together with the plastic parts so no need to look for those extras elsewhere. The kit itself is not made of too many parts so building it is a rather fast job, even if you have to use all the photoetched parts, these are not too tiny and many of them are already painted so you can save some time here too. The decals provided include markings for 6 different aircrafts from different German groups, including the one flew by the Red Baron in two different painting schemes, the one he used since January 1917 and the one with the white tail that he was flying in April 1918 when he was downed.

All the kit parts fit smoothly and require no preparation; even the PE parts are quite well designed and can be fixed either with a little ciano, white glue or even varnish.

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A layer of satin varnish is adequate to place the decals as provides a perfect adherence surface. The engine is made of a couple of plastic parts and another photoetched one; you can have it ready for painting in a moment.

Building classics

The building part of the job is nearly finished and now it’s time to start painting the outside.

I built the model following the instructions straightforward, painting the inner elements before closing the fuselage. The cockpit is where most of the PE details are located so it’s where most of the time is consumed, once finished, both parts of the fuselage are to be glued and the joint line to be dissimulated with some putty and sanding. Fixing the wings is rather easy as all the parts fit nicely. After building and painting the engine I fixed it to the plane and proceeded to cover it with the fuselage correspondent section, then I added the wheels platform, the propeller, the wire struts made from extended plastic thread and the last PE elements on the fuselage. Having no experience on painting this kind of aircrafts with fabric covering so I decided not to try to replicate any illumination and represent the aircraft in a neat condition instead.

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Both engine and guns received a black primer coat and later a 77711 magnesium hand to imitate the dark metal tone.

A further black wash created the shadows at the recessed zones that enhanced the details.

Having protected the cockpit entrance I primed the kit with a light grey colour and then airbrushed some diluted layers of 62005 bright red colour until the aircraft was evenly covered.

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With the aid of the decals fix and decal medium products I placed the Red baron markings taking care of placing them correctly.

A satin varnish layer served to protect the decals and provide the neat finish I was looking for. Time now to paint the last details.

The propeller was painted with the desert tan primer and the wood grain with a dragged veil, this time I used acrylic washes instead of the felt pens, this technique can be used with many kinds of paints.

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www.fcmodeltrend.com

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Scale; 1/35 Producer; Miniart

In 1941 the Benz factory started producing the L 1500 A and S trucks for the Wehrmacht, while the first one was an open vehicle conceived to transport 7 soldiers, the second one was a cargo truck, both were developed from the previous civil 1500 civil truck and were produced in the Mercedes-Benz Works of Untertürkheim near Stuttgart German until 1944. The L1500 trucks used the same engine proved on the Mercedes typ 260. When the WWII was over many Wehrmacht vehicles still intact were used by both state and private companies for commercial purposes, some of the surviving Mercedes Benz L1550 S could be seen delivering goods, mail, beer, milk, etc.

The chassis with the engine, quite a lot of details, some of them are a bit delicate so a bit of care is advisable.

Inside the cabin; the levers and pedals are correctly reproduced and the seat cushion has a convincing quilted shape.

The cabin floor is now placed over the chassis and all the parts fit perfectly. The kit Miniart provided this very same kit some years before as the standard Wehrmacht cargo truck with all the correspondent military markings. Now they have changed the decals in the box to offer it as a civilian truck together with some very nice stowage to complete it as a beer or milk delivery vehicle. The painting options this time are really varied and eye-catching and you can choose between 8 different trucks, all of them perfectly identified. For those of you that don’t know the previous military version I can tell you that the kit is extremely well reproduced with very fine detail and flawless plastic parts. The photoetched elements included provide the finer and more subtle details and also some optional parts for you to decide whether using them or the correspondent plastic parts. Assembling the kit can be a bit difficult due to the many little details and fragile parts but the result is worth the effort.

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I airbrushed a light grey primer to the whole model, this was the start for all the parts painting.

A black acrylic wash provided the shadows that enhanced the details inside the cabin Out of the comfort zone again As you may have read in the previous article, lately I have been susceptible to come out of my comfort zone and tackle kits that have little or nothing to do with AFV. The more AFV kits I make the more important I have become to consider other options, mostly to try building and painting options that are not often used in AFV modeling. This new Miniart kit was a perfect occasion to make a break from all the AFV kits I’ve been building all these months. I started following the instructions and created different parts groups that should be painted the same colour. Once painted I put some of those groups together for the weathering keeping just three mayor groups separated; the chassis with the cabin, the cargo bay, and the wheels. Other minor details were added in the end. The many milk bottles crates were painted in both natural wood finish and aged green colour for some variety. The weathering was not too exaggerated, just some subtle chipping, drawn shadows around the details and some dirt stains, I wanted the truck to look just a bit aged, but most of all in good driving shape.

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Some dust and dirt effect was achieved with a pigments wash, mixing 73109 Natural Umber with much thinner for the wash to deposit on the floor and recessed zones

In order to imitate the wood grain at the cargo bay I started priming with a light sand colour.

Once I have painted all the wood planks this way I sealed the work with a layer of matt varnish.

As soon as the chipping medium was dry I painted the whole cargo bay with matt white.

Then I created a dragged veil using felt pens of many brown tones. Drawing little lines one after another and blurring the previous colours with each stroke.

I applied a coat of diluted chipping medium to the inner part of the cargo bay.

Some minutes later I rubbed gently with a soft brush and warm water to let part of the white paint peel off showing the wood planks.

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I used a medium blue colour for the bumper, chassis frame, etc

I used a satin varnish to provide some shine to the blue colour, knowing that the further weathering process would matt down it a bit.

The rest of the chassis was painted black, none of these parts would really be seen once finished.

The wheels rims were painted the same medium blue colour.

I painted the edges of the windows and windscreen black to help concealing them once placed onto the cabin.

I painted the tires using the Vallejo special paints set beginning with 71315 Tire black.

Then I drybrushed a filter made with the same colour mixed with 71800 rust to imitate the rubber worn look A wash using heavily diluted 71075 sand colour created the first dust accumulation within the tire drawing.

The milk bottles are provided in the kit made with transparent plastic. To make them look filled I painted them white and then added several layers of gloss varnish to create another “glass” over the paint. I airbrushed a layer of satin varnish to place the decals as I always do on the AFV models, using the decal fix and decal medium products to ensure a perfect adherence and avoid any silvering. 75

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