2024 Jagdpanther No43 build log.

[chris fry]

Thanks Dereck,
Couple more days of painting and fitting up then install the audio and recoil,
kind regards, Chris.

[Andre Meylan]

Chris, that sprocket is, amongst the other art, a masterpiece of its own class !!! Congratulations, Andre

[chris fry]

Some more progress with the weathering,

Tracks getting some color, By using the black as the base color it doesn't need much second color to start bring them to life.

Tracks on, My favorite point in the build, although in my haste put the wrong side on for the picture, With them on some more weathering can take place like, Adding the wear lines from the tires etc.

Exhaust on now, A lot easier to paint off the tank, Trying to achieve that rusting from heat look, Will add the soot later.

Some tools and extinguisher fitted, I like to replace the white metal handles on the tools with wooden ones, This way its much easier to stain them to look real, Very easy to do with wooden baton.

Spare track links fitted, Quite time consuming as there are several layers of different colors to achieve the rusty look,

Side skirts on next and tank number and emblems to add.

[chris fry]

Side skirts on,

Hope you like.

[Timo Haehnle]

your weathering looks really good!
Your skill is amazing.

No offense at all, but on the other side, is it maybe too much?
As a reminder: The Jagdpanther hits the battelfield not before June 44. The average survival time of a german tank during this times has been about 3 month. So the get lost for any reasons almost brand new.

Happily I had the oportunity to visit the Tank Museum recently and tfor me he surface of the Jagdpanther looked not that rough as it appears on your model. Can this be?

At the end of the day, every RC-Tanker builds his model the way he wants it to do, so again no offense in any way.

[chris fry]

Hello Timo,
Ah, That age old discussion on weathering, Not enough to much!!!!, No offence taken from your comments, Every one is different that's what makes the world an interesting place,
My take on vehicles in museums, Is that most have been restored etc and many have been repainted several times so this tends to mask the surface texture finish, Its quite rare to find a vehicle that's in its natural patina so you could see how they looked, What me and Simon are trying to achieve is tricking the eye so its accentuates the details that in miniature would be lost due to scale,
The other point you made on condition, Unless we were there its difficult to say how they looked, Pictured here how i would imagine most tanks would have looked in the height of war,

Jagdpanther_color_photo.jpg (67.68 KiB) Viewed 545 times

You only have to view images of tanks in Ukraine know to see what condition they get in, There not washed and pretty well beat up due to the conditions they are operating in,
Most of the models me and Simon produce have this weathered look because we enjoy it, We like sharing what can be produced from these fantastic kits, Its harder and much more time consuming to do this than simply having a new look, which i know they were all once,
Hope my view on your thoughts are justified,
Take good care, Chris.

[Timo Haehnle]

Hi Chris,
thank you for that brief explanation. Indeed you are right if we see how quick the tanks in Ukraine looking "rocked down" (hope this term is correct).
Thank oyu I think my Hetzer will get some weathering, too. However I need to learn a lot in this skill until then. I will try some of your advices from the building of your JP.

Thanksy,
Timo

[chris fry]

Hello all,
A forum member has asked how we achieve the rusting effects on the models,
A product we have used mainly on the exhaust, spare track links etc. is this kit,

It has 2 bottles in the kit, One is a iron oxide paste like paint which you paint on to the area you want to rust once this has dried you use the 2nd bottle which is a solution that rusts the iron oxide, Rust appears, You can give it several coats of the solution to achieve different rusting shades, Its not an easy kit to buy as i think there is only one supplier here in the Uk, But there maybe different products worldwide,
Another way to achieve the rust look is by these products, MIG products are very good and easy to purchase worldwide,

This product can be applied with a fine paint brush, Or by the sponging effect, And its airbrush ready so you can spray it on, Normally this method is good for streaking effects. Just have a practice, Its fun to do and once you start you cant stop, Just try and pick areas that would have heavy damage/wear that rust might appear and areas that would be affected buy high heat cycles like exhausts,
Hope this info is of interest to forum members,
Kind regards, Chris.