My Tamiya Jagdpanther is back on the bench once again; in the photos below you can see I am trying the black and white method of modulation which seems very popular at the moment. With this method I'm striving to create artificial lighting effects and although maybe not the most realistic method, to my eyes models that others have finished in this manner look fantastic!
Okay, so in the photo above you we have a very basic hull minus the tools and any other accessories you might expect to find on a late-war Jagdpanther; in case you haven't read my previous post regarding this build, my machine is going to have been rushed out of the factory, and for inspiration I used WWII photos of actual machines in and outside a Jagdpanther factory.
The paint job was actually a lot of fun (little did I know much of this hard work was to be in vain, but more of that later......) and I'll definitely be using this method again, albeit with more attention when it comes to adding a base coat!
For the paintwork I simply used Vallejo Air black and white built up in thin layers; I want the light areas to be on all the exposed horizontal surfaces while sloping verticals can be graduated into the black.
Sadly much of my hard work in these photos was lost when I failed to sufficiently thin my base coat, which is surprising considering I was working with such intense concentration - you know how sometimes when trying to sign your best signature, you some how end up spelling your own bloody name wrong? No? Well, that's what happened here, I'm sure.................
In the photo above you can see a few modifications I made. WWII factory photos show partially assembled Jagpanthers already adorned in their dunkelgelb base-coats, yet their stowage bins to the rear are missing although the brackets to which they would affix are present and apparently coated in red-oxide primer - I have recreated this detail. I also used plastic card as a tiny back-plate to hold the fire extinguisher to the rear of the upper hull instead of the hull's side.
Weld marks were created using putty and brass wire represents my Notek light's conduit.
Not sure if I'll use the side skirts; they've been thinned down using a sanding stick and the then pliable plastic bent on the corners to represent wear and tear.
And above you can see I have my complete model ready for it's base coat. Had I thinned the dunkelgelb paints I would have had a spectacular hull (at least to my eyes, and who elses' are more important on a model built solely for my own cabinet) so the fact I didn't thin my paint frustrates the crap out of me. It's not all bad news though, some of the shading did remain and I'll still endeavour to build my best model to date.
More soon...................
