Monday 16 November 2015

My 1000th Post is "Pimp my Panzer IVH" (The classic Esci/Italeri 1/72 kit)

In my previous Chain of Command battle AAR I stated that I was slightly embarrassed with the models I put on table for just having the basic paint scheme. Good enough fo the purposes of a tabletop wargame but privately I have always wanted to do justice to the Panzer IVH (an original Esci, but now released by Italeri) as I think of it as the "Normandy Classic", so hot from the tabletop I gave it a basic German late-war "three colour camo" scheme (see below):

Painting Guide Notes: Original base coat Tamiya XF-60 (Desert Yellow), brown patches Anita's Acrylic Earth Brown(11014) and Tamiya XF-61 (Dark Green)


In a parallel build I also primed one of the Plastic Soldier Company Panzer IV H's in my favourite Airfix 01 "Grey Undercoat". I had already assembled some, gulp that is very lazy of me, some year(s!) back. It will be interesting to see them side-by-side for comparison (see below, more of this PSC fun to come in another post):


Meanwhile I toned up the Green, Brown and Sand Yellow patches with lighter hues.
  • The Green went from Tamiya XF-61 (Dark Green) mixed with XF-62 Olive Drab, to pure XF-62 then I added XF-3 Yellow to highlight. 
  • The Brown went to Tamiya XF-52 (Flat Earth) and as I highlight I mixed in Anita's Acrylic Lemon Yellow (11055) [done more as an experiment rather than plan, my other option was to add white]
  • The Sand Yellow XF-60 was repainted to chase away some of the wandering wash errant flood areas then [as it was too hand] Anita's Acrylics Lemon Yellow (11055) to highlight and if memory serves me correct I probably drooped a little White Anita's Acrylic (11001) as a final highlight.
In addition I made plentiful use of Vallejo Wash (73201) Black Shade with a fine brush back into the corners and shadow areas. I used a new trick on the tracks. The tracks got a base coat of Vallejo Game Color [sic] Dark Fleshtone (72044) as the factory 'rust primer'. I then used the Vallejo Black Shade Wash, leaving it to dry before highlighting in Vallejo Model Color Gunmetal Grey (70863). The paint trick in the book was the classic Panzer IV exhaust tube was painted Vallejo Game Color Dark Fleshtone (72044) and highlighted with Tamiya XF-3 Yellow (see end product below):

Panzer IVH "pimped" 360 degree treatment - Facing Left: 


Rear: 


Front:


Side View: 


Quite happy with the results on this 'old timer', no immediate rush to put the decals on (no change there then) especially since it now represents a "wreck marker" in Operation Martlet for the first scenario ;)

Next: By way of comparison the PSC Panzer MkIVH

5 comments:

Service Ration Distribution (Hobby) said...

Perfect timing! Just about to embark on very similar project (give me a year or so) and this is right up my street. Nice job. Easy to see and well explained. Looking forward to the PSC one as that's what I've been investing in....that just feels so disloyal to Airfix doesn't it but they'll always have a place. Thanks for posting.

Paul Foster said...

Nice! It came up trumps!

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Thanks Gents

SRD, don't worry I have a few Airfix kits, but if you want those side skirts you have to look else where otherwise it's a whole heap of pain with plastic-card :(

Cheers Paul
It deserved a little bit of TLC, especially as it goy toasted in teh last Chain of Command scenario

Battlescale said...

Really nice looking paint job. I use the same colours for my panzers but prefer the TAmya NATO brown and NATO green for the camo.

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Thanks for the tip
I'll make sure to take a look when I next pass a Tamiya paint stand
Thanks :)