Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Lehman Russ Afrika Korps Green Scheme Take 2







My first attempt at a dark sand and green scheme LR was not fondly received, so I thought I would take another stab at it. I spread out the camouflage lines this time in order to let more of the color modulated yellow color to show through. A little web researched showed that the early german tanks in Tunisia had the option of green or grey camouflage over the brown/yellow base coat.

There were a couple of areas I struggled with on this model in addition to the camo. The first was the spotlight. I painted it black/grey in order to have it painted, but ideally I would rather of had it been covered. I like painting lenses, and small lights, but large lights look weird to me when they are painted as if they were glowing. I thought about painting the light various shades of silver as a way to show the reflective part at the back of the lens, and then heavily gloss it. That might be a way to go forward in the future.

Yesterday the great Simple Green bath of tanks finally finished eating away 19 years worth of paint. The griffin that just finished soaking has a 1995 mark on it! I'm tempted to build more griffin's just because the model is so cool. After watching orange scented simple green eat through dozens of layers of paint and glue, my wife decided that every tupperware container used had to go. So it looks like I have finally procured storage for my hobby room!


6 comments:

  1. Personally I think it would be better served with a fainter green camo scheme with heavier weathering similar to
    http://historiamilitarywargames.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/panzer-iv-ausf-f1-deutsche-afrika-korps-michael-green-thomas-anderson-y-frank-schulz-german-tanks-of-world-war-ii-in-color-osprey-2000/
    vs the hard lined green/grey mesh pattern. I think it would fit better with the color modulation as well.

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    1. Tim's suggestion to spread the cammo out worked, but the dark green is bugging me as well. I think you right. By the time I am done I am going to have a dozen mismatched camouflaged tanks. I hate the idea of stripping the paint off of the two green one's I've done. Maybe what I need to do is color modulate the green now. Kind of hard with the scheme already on the tank, but It might be worth a try.

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    2. I think all efforts so far look good, but I personally would have a lighter green.
      It is worth bearing in mind though, that the German tanks were painted yellow in the factory and sent to the field with tins of paint for the crews to apply the camouflage. So, that fact could potentially be a fluff justification for the slightly different schemes!

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  2. Definitely liking your models. Great job on those Leman Russ!

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  3. Hi John!
    I'm in the process of painting an Imperial GUard Vendetta and would like to use a similar sand tone and modulation as you did in your IG tanks.

    Could you barely tell me what colours you used?
    I'm not sure what VMA colours use, probably desert sand with mud brown for the shadows, but te test models have gone very badly.

    Thanks!

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