Sunday, 5 December 2021

15mm Sci Fi - Old Crow Hover Vehicles in German Panzer Grey

Trimming down the vehicle WIP pile has been the main effort for this past month.  Yesterday was another productive day, with 13 vehicles painted.  

I picked these up almost one year ago from Old Crow: 15mm Slammers Blowers and Hover vehicles.  My plan was to use them for my Control Battalion forces, creating an alternative Space Nazi force.  Hopefully I succeeded.  



Initially, I was planning on doing these in blue, to match my Control Battalion troops.  After several changes of mind I went with a more suitable neutral color: Sea Grey, a slight variation on the classic German Panzer Grey.  

The scheme was simple:

  1. Tamiya Grey Primer (acrylic primers do not always adhere to Old Crow resin).
  2. Tamiya German Grey as a shade.
  3. Tamiya Dark Sea Grey as the main base color.
  4. Tamiya Light Sea Grey, the first highlight.
  5. Vallejo Model Color Light Sea Grey for extreme highlights.
  6. The Blowers had their lower armor skirts done in Tamiya NATO Black.  I considered leaving them grey, but that would have been far to much grey on one vehicle.  The black breaks up the monotone nature of the scheme forces the eye move around the model
  7. Tamiya Metallic Grey on various bits.
  8. A variety of MIG Enamel washes and Filters were used to shade the recesses of these vehicles (I need to do an article on the amazing MIG products).  Specifically I used:
  • Neutral Wash & Accumulated Dust Wash.  A very thin brush and patience was all it took.  Enamel washes are surprising easy to use and clean up easily of you make a mistake.  
  • Filters: Dirt, Dust, Grey for Sand Yellow.  Useful as shades and or tinting a whole color slightly  
Filters change the base color ever so slightly.  It is a very subtle effect, but works extremely well.  The Neutral Wash was perfect for Sea Grey.  Anything darker would have been far too stark.



The tac missile turret is removable, allowing me to turn the Provider Transport into a standard cargo vehicle if I so wish.  




The vehicles were weathered with Tamiya Weathering Pigments: Grey, Mud, Sand and Light Sand.  As usual, photos do not adequately show the levels of contrast and weathering on the models.  




The old-style Old Crow Support turrets are larger than the new version.  I prefer them on the Lancer APCs for two reasons: they allow me to use the heavy Gatling cannons that come with the tank turrets, they allow me to install twin missile launchers on the top.  This creates my own version of the modern Russian BMP-Terminator vehicle.  



The stowage is just tacked for now.  Not sure if I will keep it on or not.  I probably will.  








To be fair, this was not the scheme I originally planned on doing.  I had thought of doing an urban camo with stick on 15mm scale stencils that I had lying around.  However, that was just too much work and the chance of the masking leaking was too much of a risk IMO.  This color goes with a number of forces that I have painted, which works out well.  

This completes the second major vehicle project that I had in my WIP pile.  Only one more to go: another 9 Old Crow Tracked vehicles.  

6 comments:

  1. Nice. Love the shading and weathering

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    1. Thanks Jim. The most frustrating aspect was applying the decals.

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  2. Those are gorgeous - I've been trying to avoid buying those Luftpanzers for years...

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    1. You need some. Jez is still around. Email him. They are cheap as chips too.

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