13th August 2007


All the best laid plans, or so the old adage goes. Last week saw the construction and painting of my little Hetzer and so I was preparing to write up the feature this week after taking pictures of the thing. Great idea – never likely to work.

As you'll no doubt be aware, the Hetzer was often finished in a rather elaborate three-colour camouflage scheme that in turn, featured hard edges rather than soft, airbrushed, patterns. After some thought and no little trepidation, I decided to spray on a green basecoat, then mask off the brown and sand patterns using Gunze Sangyo's masking fluid – a process that work take as long as painting the model by hand… - but it was worth it; after all, there's no finish like an airbrushed finish eh..?!

Anyway, this was all diligently carried out – taking almost a day in the process - and the masking removed. The result? Absolute garbage! I can't remember a time when I had produced such a dreadful finish, ragged edges, speckles of colour when none should appear, masking fluid stuck into detail – it really was a shambles.

Resisting the temptation to place the model on the floor and then stamp on it repeatedly – something I have done on many occasions, just ask me one day about the F-5 that I'd spent three months building for a competition, that ended its days smashed across my bench three days before the show… - I decided to strip the paint off and start again.

Acrylic airbrush cleaner came to the rescue, removing the paint in relatively short order and thus I was able to start over, after getting past the sight of yet another stripped armour kit sitting forlornly by the side of my kitchen sink. This time, I decided to hand-paint the model's camouflage over an airbrushed basecoat of green, Vallejo acrylics coming to the rescue when it came to applying the green and sand patterns. At first, I thought that this would be difficult and would make the weathering of the finish more involved. I needn't have worried; by using the same techniques used on an airbrushed scheme I could see the model coming to life and in turn, produce a really attractive little replica.

As of today, the model needs some markings and the completion of some smaller details. Oh and then there's the crew, stowage and a little scene for it to live in. Then I need to photograph it and write up the review…