COVID SHELF QUEEN #1

1 down, 9 to go. This is the 1/48 scale Tamiya Marder III kit.  I started it about a year go and now am going to call it done.  I've been going through a 1/48 phase lately and as always the box art drew me to this kit.  These little kits are getting a bit pricey for me, but they are beauties.  The build was typical Tamiya, no issues at all on fit or assembly.   I think it only took me a Saturday night and a Sunday to fully assemble and have ready for paint.

After assembly I primed the model with Tamiya's rattle can grey primer.  I let that dry for about 3 hrs (with help from a hair dryer) and then I painted the entire model Tamiya's German Grey (XF-63).  I then left it all to dry for 48 hrs.

I decided to have a go at Ammo by Mig's Washable White.  After the German Grey was set (48hrs) I sprayed the entire model with Mig's Washable White (A.MIG-024).  I let that set for 3 to 4 hrs and then I used a water moistened coarse brush to scrub off the white in certain areas.  At first I was not happy with it, so the project was exiled to the Shelf of Doom and sat there until last week.

Going stir crazy, I picked this up and decided it was salvageable.  I gave it a filter of brown for white (A.MIG-1500) and then started some oil washes (overall with umber and 2nd pin wash with black).  I then did some chipping and rust applications with various acrylic paints. Last was the application of various dirty looking pigments.  It was all sealed with a coat for Testor's acrylic clear flat.

I constructed a small base and added a piece of fence I built from cut down coffee stir sticks. and weathered it with a wash of Tamiya enamel brown.  The little schrub is from SuperTrees that I flocked with some static grass.

All in all it turned out OK.  I can see many warts in the photos, but for being ignored for a year+ she came out satisfactory for me.  I've got 9 more Shelf of Doom queens remaining to be tackled.  Based on the current situation I think I'll have time to hit a few more.

Thanks for looking, George