Back to the bench - Fell rusted - Jagdpanther

Hi everyone! It's been such a long time and I have had so many good things happening lately, namely, the birth of my son, Andréas, who is a lovely young boy. He fills us with joy, but he also fills our time, so I take his nap times for modelling.

Well, this Jagdpanther was lying on my bench for so many months, I kinda liked its camouflage and wanted to finish it. But as my last article was 2 years ago, I can tell you it was hard to find my old reflexes and gather the courage to put everything back together, as we had a lot of work in the house.

So, the bench is back to its place and everything is going smoothly.

It was a great occasion for me to test some new AMMO products I got, the Oilbrushers and the Splashes and Mud effects.

I like the Oilbrushers as they are already thinned to a good consistency, which is perfect for a direct application on the model. Moreover, being left-handed is a plague (lol) and I always tend to put my hand in the fresh paint, but that's my problem. The colors are fine as well as they come in a large variety of shades, my favorite being the "Space Filth", which is perfect to add shadows and grime.

The Splashes effects are quite interesting too. As a ready-to-use product, it really allows you to put the right amount of splashes you intend to put on the model. I had never really given into making my own mud (too much plaster, not enough enamel product... it always ended up in a total mess), so this was just what I needed to add mud quickly.

Now talking about the model itself: it is a 1/48 Tamiya model, an old reference and I didn't really want it to be historically realistic. The different elements on the model are painted in late war and the lateral skirts are painted in some kind of what-if camouflage. I really was looking for diversity on this model, but I now understand that it is not that much elements that bring variety, but the effects.

And the effects, although I like them, are to plain to my taste. I'm still struggling using pigments and really need a good modeler (and friend) to spend time with me (that is, not on social media nor somewhere on the phone) to teach me this medium. My biggest problem is that I always feel pigments are uncontrollable, that whenever I add some thinner, they just make a total mess, fading the original paint so much that the model loses all personality. I know I made some progress with pigments, but there is so much left to learn, and I'm always very anxious when it is time to apply some dust or mud, because I know this last step might ruin all my previous work.

So, I like this model, it really feels good to be back to the bench. I definitely missed it so much. But I'm far from getting the results I am after.

Still, I hope you like the model!