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.