Last of the Assault Guns - Hungarian StuG Ausf. G

This is a heavily-converted Italeri/Warlord Games 1/56 StuG which I detailed in the link below. Stowage was a variety of 1/48 plastic jerry cans, an O Gauge railroad milk can, a Warlord 75mm shell canister, a wooden barrel from some basing kit, and a tarp made from milliput. The crewman is a Warlord Italian crewman painted in the same manner as the crewman of my CV-33.

For the paint job, I really wanted to impart the feeling of the long bitter retreat towards Budapest during 1944 - that the vehicle had fought a long series of fighting withdrawals and defensive actions with little in the way of rest or relaxation, so there's a lot of chipping, wear, rain streaks, and dust. The AFV was overall primered in Krylon Red Oxide, hairspray applied for chipping, and then basecoated in a 75/25 mix of Tamiya Yellow-Green and Dark Yellow. Rubber wheels are done in VMC German Grey and washed with P3 Armor Wash. The tracks are just primed in Krylon Grey Primer, washed with a enamel brown, drybrushed with VMC Oily Steel, then washed again with Vallejo European Dirt Wash. Most of the stowage is a variety of blues and blue-greys to offset the yellow of the tank itself.

Decals are by Mad Bob. The most distinguishing aspect of the Hungarian assault guns were the extremely large insignia and numbering applied to them. As I could not find suitable decals in this scale, I designed my own mask - I printed out the numbers from the computer, cut those out, retraced them unto painter's table, cut those out, applied them to the tank and airbrushed them in flat black. While there was a little touchup to be done, since all the insignia was meant to be battered, it's hardly noticeable.

After chipping, the tank was sealed and weathering was done with oil pin washes, oil rendering, Vallejo European Mud effects, and dry pigments. I'm very pleased with the end result.

empireofghosts.blogs..bolt-action-156.html

1st Place, Armor/All Category - IPMS Mad City Modelers 2021