Painting, Weathering & Finishing Guide:
Husky MKIII – VMMD (Vehicle-mounted mine detector)
From Panda Hobby
Kit No# PH35014,
1/35th scale
Price: ¥3,600/ USD $32.34/ €30.13
Product Link at HLJ
Pt.I- Panda Hobby's Husky III In-box & Construction Guide
Pt.II- Painting, Weathering & Finishing the Husky III.
Pt.I- Panda Hobby's Husky III In-box & Construction Guide
Pt.II- Painting, Weathering & Finishing the Husky III.
So the time had come to get some colour onto my Husky, and this is the way I went about it. The monotone schemes can often present a challenge in being able to extract some life from them, so the challenge was going to be to give the model some visual volume without over cooking it.
When we left off at Part 1 – the build review, I had just given the model (excluding the wheels), an all over coat of Alclad Grey Microfiller. This will help the future layers of paint adhere to the plastic and the photo-etched parts.
The model now gets the base colour applied. Firstly a layer of A.MIG025 – US modern vehicles is applied. Horizontal surfaces and leading edges are now highlighted with a thinned mix of the base colour with white.
Shadows are now created on the lower edges of the model and in logical places with a thinned mix of US Modern Vehicles and A.MIG035, Dark Tracks.
I noticed from reference photos, that the wheel hubs were subject to some heavy chipping. To achieve the result, a base colour of Dark Tracks was painted. Once dry, a layer of hairspray and then the US Modern Vehicles was painted. Once dry the top layer was carefully chipped off using a moistened brush. The end result is quite convincing.
I liked the result so much in the wheels, I went back and painted various parts of the model in AMMO Dark tracks, hit it with hairspray and then blew in the base colour again and repeated the chipping process.
I had to be careful not to overdo this process on this type of vehicle. Keeping it subtle was the key.
The PE hook mounts were now primed and sprayed with red. I wanted to paint these whilst still on the fret as I needed the red to had a strong, defined line against the desert yellow, so pre-painting them seemed like the best way to achieve that.
The parts are now removed and adhered to the model using CA Glue. You can see the sharp lines and contrast of the colours here.
The model is now coated with a gloss varnish and the decals are applied. As you can see, they were horribly out of registration and a real disappointment. I won't harp on about it too much because I highlighted this in the build review, but you can see the result of the poor registration. I would later go on to try and clean these up by removing the white slither with a sharp scalpel, but it really wasn’t ideal.
The model then is coated in Alclad Aqua Gloss clear to seal the decals and prepare the model for further weathering
It was about here I realised the Rhino device on the front of the vehicle needed to be a different colour. A quick mask and a spray of Tamiya XF-27 Black green and then highlighted with XF-71 was set in place. The dark colour on the front of the vehicle actually made a nice difference to the look of it. Something different from the mono scheme.
In order to create some streaking and weathering effects, as well as tie the colours together, I employed the dot rendering technique. Small dots of oil paint are applied over the model. Light Mud, Light Flesh, Industrial Earth and yellow were all used.
With a flat brush moistened with white spirit, the oils are dragged down the model to simulate a natural flow. It looks messy now but will make sense later in the build. On reflection, I used too much yellow for my liking. I was trying to warm the colour up a little, but I went a little too far. Nothing that couldn’t be corrected later.
The result should give you a somewhat streaky look and simulate wear as well as help tone the shadows and the highlights together. At this stage, you can also see the reflectors around the model have been painted in silver. These will later be painted in using Tamiya Clear Red.
The model then received a line wash using Ammo’s US Modern Vehicle Enamel wash. This was focused around the raised detail and panel lines.
The excess was then removed using an old makeup sponge.
The result is that the model now tends to ‘pop’ a little more, with the wash lifting the detail and introducing some artificial shadow lines.
Light Flesh and white oil paints are now sparingly used on some of the flat points and detail areas around the horizontal surfaces of the model.
With all the layers of weathering, some of the subtle shadows were getting lost, so a heavily thinned mix of Tamiya Flat Brown, Deck Tan and Flat Earth were sprayed on the lower surfaces of the model. Long, flowing vertical strokes were used to simulate runoff and streaking and help give the model a natural weathered look.
As outlined in my build review, the kit comes with some wiring but no instruction on how to use it. After looking at some reference photos of the Husky, I set about wiring mine up. THIS IS IN NO WAY ACCURATE!! So please, don’t take the way I have wired this than anything other artistic license. It is merely to add some visual interest to the model in the hope that looks a little like the real thing. Good, accurate reference material wasn’t easy to come by, so this was the best I could come up with. I used the supplied wire and also some finer lead wiring I had in order to add some variation to the wiring.
A slurry of Earth and Sand pigment is now applied to the model as well as selective buff oil washes. Its’ messy stuff, but should help sell a desert hardened vehicle.
The excess pigment is removed using a makeup sponge. The result is messy and needs to be refined a little, but you can see the pigment building up in the recesses and underside of the model.
To set and soften the look of the pigments, a 50/50 mix of AMIG012 Dunkelgelb 44 and Matt varnish and now sprayed over the model and built up around the lower edges to simulate more dust. The masks on the cabin windows are now removed revealing the cockpit. I was pretty harsh on the lack of detail in the cockpit in my build review, but now looking at it through the glazing, it is adequate for the model. I still wouldn’t want to pose it with the roof open though.
In order to get a little more depth out of the model, Buff and Industrial Earth oils from Abteilung and used around the model sparingly. The buff is applied to some high points like bolts, handles and brackets, and the Industrial Earth is used as a softened line wash around recesses and panel lines.
Conclusion
Let’s face it, this vehicle it isn’t going to appeal to everyone. Its’ odd looking framework and long drawn out body are far from the norm, but that is one of the things that drew me to the subject. For all of the shortcomings of the kit I outlined in the build review, I must confess I am reasonably happy with the finished product. Whilst posing the model with an open driver's hatch would have been nice, it isn’t a deal breaker. If it really was such a big deal, then I am sure, with a little research, a little work and some aftermarket decals on the dials, you could polish it up nicely.
Some of the details in close up of the Husky III from Panda
There is no hiding from the fact that my decals were just horrible. With any luck, the kit I got was the exception and not the rule. They are a small part of the kit, but are crucial none the less, and really should be addressed.
A larger walk around the finished model from all angles for ya...
All in all, this is an innovative vehicle that serves an important role in the modern day military. Do your research, and keep an eye out for some of the issues I came up against, and at the end of your build, you will have an interesting model to add to the collection. This release could have been a really good kit, but just fell short in a number of areas. That said, for the price it is selling for, I still believe it presents reasonable value if you are looking to add a Husky to the collection.
Clayton Ockerby
Thanks to Panda Hobby for sending us this kit to make up for you all, Check out their kits on the Kittyhawk/ Panda Hobby page...
See more of Clayton’s work at his website “The Workbench” or join him on his Facebook page
