Warlord Games 1/56 M10 Tank Destroyer & Rubicon 17pdr SP Achilles

 Some time ago I bought the Rubicon M10/Achilles kit for my stash, but only decided to build it when I received the Warlord M10 model as part of my recent Bolt Action £100 Bargain Box.

My thinking was I'd compare the two to see which I preferred.

To be honest, there was little to pick between them, as they both went together very well and are almost identical in size, so could be used on the table together.

The Rubicon model is in the lefthand tray and the Warlord model in the righthand tray - Primed ready to spray

There are pro's and con's with both, but nothing that sets one apart from the other. It's down to what do you need in a model? I've tried to summarise the comparisons in the table below

If it's variety, then the Rubicon allows more options. If it's a crewed vehicle, then the Warlord model has this covered. You'll need to invest in aftermarket figures for the Rubicon - as I did. Don't forget to watch what glue you use. The ABS used by Rubicon needs something like Tamiya Extra thin cement - not standard polystyrene glue.

Incidentally, these figures came from eBay, 3D resin printed by Garrison Miniatures. They needed very little clean-up (just an odd bobble of resin where the supports were attached) and painted up extremely well.

Nice figures, depicted in their cold weather "Pixie Suits"

I painted the vehicle in almost identical schemes for initial comparison. I pre-shaded with a dark panzer grey, before over-spraying a couple of coats of thinned Olive Drab.

I then sprayed the centres of each panel with a slightly lightened Olive drab to add some depth. The panel detail was brought out with a Dark Brown pin-wash, before a light dry-brush of Iraqi sand.

17pdr. SP Achilles - Rubicon

Finally I added some dark Chocolate brown chips and a dusting of AK powders. All paints were Vallejo. Finally both received a coat of Lucky Ultra-matt varnish.

M10 Tank Destroyer - Warlord/Italeri

I had already decided I'd paint the M10 to represent a Battle of the Bulge vehicle. To do this I masked the big areas of the vehicle that I did not want covered in whitewash, with decorators tape. Then areas like the open turret top and vehicle markings were masked with AK masking putty.

This is weird stuff to use, but works well. As I masked it one evening and painted the following day, the putty settled until it completely filled the turret! Easy enough to remove, but weird.

I then sprayed with AK Washable White Paint. I haven't used this before, but I'm really impressed! It does exactly what it says on the tin. Once dry I washed some off with water and a stiff brush to give a very realistic worn finish. Finally another coat of Lucky Ultra-matt and some AK powders.

Both of these were good models to build, I'd recommend them both!

M36 90mm Turret included with Rubicon model

Warlord Games 1/56 Jagdtiger

 Next from my ever growing stash of 1/56th scale AFVs I chose to build the Jagdtiger from Warlord Games/Italeri.

Moulded in the usual grey polystyrene, this is a very simple kit that would pose no problems for any level of modeller.

The running gear come complete which greatly reduces the time taken to assemble the kit, at th cost of some loss of detail to the wheels. The tracks come in four pieces that wrap around the running gear, which allows them to be painted off the model. I'd already decided I was going to represent a vehicle in an "Ambush" camouflage scheme, so sprayed some of the wheels in red brown and olive green.

I'm learning and trying out new techniques all the time. To enhance the rolled armour plate and the cast mantelt, I applied Mr Surfacer 500 and stippled the surface with a stiff brush as it dried. All this was applied over a coat of white primer. I opted to assemble the model in stages and paint each before final assembly, which worked quite well.

I decided to have a try at pre-shading once again and sprayed earth brown on the areas where I wanted shadow to appear.

I then sprayed the base coat of dark yellow. I thinned the paint with Vallejo thinners and flow enhancer. This seems to have made the paint coat thin enough for the darker areas to show through. I then sprayed lightened adrk yellow (just a few drops of white added) to spray the centre of every panel and any raised areas. This gave a good finish with some nice variety of shading - I think the term is colour modulation?

I proceeded with spraying the red brown and olive green camouflage patches.

And then applied the same process to these. Spraying a slightly lightened colour in the centre of each patch.

Finally, I added the dabble effect over the base coat using AK Paint pens. These are awesome, and made this job quick and easy.

All that was left to do was assemble the sub-assemblies and then weathering could take place.

I gloss varnished the points where decals were to go and then applied them using setting & fixing agents.

Then all the tools and other gear were painted  along with the crew figure.

I kept weathering subdued as I was quite happy with the effect of my "Colour Modulation" work. I just applied a pin wash using Vallejo dark brown wash. Followed by a very light dry brush of Iraqi sand to pick out the raised edges. Finally I dry brushed some very dark brown to simulate chips and scuffs here and there, and it was finished.

An excellent kit, easy to assemble, sufficient detail and fun to paint.