Military Modelling - July 2013

AFVABOVE: Fitting the netting using my ‘helping hands’. ABOVE RIGHT: The completed FlaK 38.ABOVE: The exhaust added.The exhaust painted various shades of orange.I will probably revert to only using Vandyke Brown infuture, but new ideas are always worth trying.A 4B pencil was rubbed over the tracks to pickout highlights and to produce the polished shine ofmetal caused by constant use. The substructurewas then given a very light dusting of a lightenedversion of the earth colour I had used to addcontrast to the dirty areas, after which a littlegunmetal acrylic paint was dry-brushed over thetracks, adding contrast to the shiny metal.Final detailsThe only parts left were the etched-brass and plasticframe to make the netting which was used to catchspent ammunition cases. I had deliberately left theseuntil last to avoid damaging them. They were notdifficult to assembly, just veryfiddly and the use ofmy ‘helping hands’was essential.With these in placethe FlaK was given acouple of washes ofVandyke Brown andthen highlighted by drybrushingwith the pureDunkelgelb colour beforefixing into the vehicle.ABOVE: The FlaK 38 placedinto position.RIGHT: Netting added tothe FlaK 38ABOVE: After a light coat of the basecolour to slightly subdue the contrastbetween the three camouflage colours.BELOW: The author’s completed model.ConclusionMaking the octagonal mountingwas very frustrating, and was probablythe most complicated part of the build. Withhindsight I think that I would have been better tohave used the mounting and the 2cm FlaK 38 from theItaleri “Gepard” then retained the rest in the sparesbox. Overall though, the result is quite a nice lookingvariant of the Hetzer and a satisfying conversion. MMwww.militarymodelling.com41