Clayton Ockerby's 35th scale Panzer I build review is here with Pt. II in this series. See how he paints, weathers, & finishes Tamiya's new kit in a lovely three-tone scheme in pictures & video...
Video build review Pt.II: 1/35th scale Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf.B from Tamiya.
From Tamiya
Kit No. 35388
1/35th scale
Plastic kit including one figure.
Length: 123mm, Width: 60mm.
Decals included three different markings for the Polish, French, & Russian fronts.
Price: $25 USD from Hobbylink Japan
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Previous parts of this story:
Today: Video review Pt. II: 35th scale Tamiya Panzer I: Painting, weathering & finishing...
If Panzer Grey doesn’t float your boat, fear not, because today I’m going to show you how to create a unique, hard-edged 3-tone camouflage on the new Tamiya Panzer 1. This is an early German scheme seen during the Spanish Civil War. So, without delay, let’s get started.
These are just some of the Panzer I's that overall inspired me on this build process.
I touched on prepainting the wheels in the build video, but I’ll talk you through the reasons I did that in the video, and I'll also explain why I chose to prime the model in a red oxide rather than the traditional grey or black.
There is a heap of contradicting information as to the makeup of these pre-war 3-tone schemes. Some suggest soft edge, whilst other references clearly show hard edge schemes. If the truth be known, they were probably both correct depending on the time and the subject.
I’d debated the best way to achieve this, and I like to try something new in every build. So I set about using a masking putty to get my base camouflage scheme in place.
The air recognition markings on the commander's hatch were created with a couple of strips and Tamiya tape over a black base and then sprayed in a white.
The Spanish Civil War decals were from FC Model Tips but were horribly out of scale. I did the best I could with what I had, although crumbling decals made this task even less enjoyable. I had some fun with the numbering on the model, although completely fictitious.
Another thing of note is the lenses for the headlights. The fit of the lenses was so perfect I didn’t ever use glue. SO perfect that I could remove them after the test fitting... so I just left them in place without any glue required.
Weathering complex, multi-colour schemes like this can be a delicate balancing act, so I was mindful to keep the weathering reasonably low key. Check out the video for a complete tutorial; however, the model was weathered over multiple layers of acrylic dusting and enhanced using pigments and oil paints.
CONCLUSION
I’d been wanting to paint a scheme like this for a long time now, so as soon as I saw this Panzer I announced, I knew this would be the model that would provide me with the perfect canvas to execute it.
The pre-war schemes that saw action during the Spanish civil war offer us some interesting options other than the Panzer Grey you may be used to. The conflict saw pre-war Russian tanks levelled against their German counterparts in an experiment to see how each of the vehicles performed in actual conflict. There were modifications made to these Panzer 1’s during the conflict in an attempt to give them greater firepower, which again opens opportunities for the keen scale modeller to explore. Should the camouflage be soft edge or hard edge? I think you could make an argument either way, but for me this build was all about creating an interesting scheme from an important conflict that was the precursor to the Second World War and having a bit of fun along the way. To see how this result was achieved, check out my YouTube page for the second part of this build in glorious technicolour—and be sure to watch all the way to the end for my Christmas message...
Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.
Clayton Ockerby
You can pick this kit up from Hobbylink Japan for $25 USD at this link
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