The P.K.A. Ausf. C is a fan design that fits into Maschinen Krieger 1/20 scale World.
The "Cesar" suit should be an hardened, old P.K.A. Ausf. H converted to tank hunting use.
During WWII German were famous for converting many tank chassis retired from front line to Panzerjager... with good result.. usually.
Building the "Cesar"
You need a P.K.A. Ausf. H0 suit plus some surplus parts from 1/35 tanks:
- Dragon Tiger I (grey)
- Tristar PzIV (sand)
- AFVClub Tiger or Sturmtiger (dark green)
- Academy M51 ISherman (light green)
- Italeri Opel Blitz wheel rim in shoulder articulations
- Chest sensors bulge come from a 1/48 Bf109 airplane
- Antenna base and segmented armor for the elbows from a PKA Ausf.G Gustav suit
The casting texture was achieved with Mr Surfacer 500 and an old brush.
Weld beads and joints covers are sculpted with Aves Apoxie Sculpt.
Painting the "Cesar"
- Base color: overall Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black
- Base color #2: overall Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow (needed because the "camo paint" will be too light to cover the black base)
- Camo paint:Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow + XF-55 Deck Tan + XF-19 Sky Gey
- Green: Gunze H303 + H312
- White: Vallejo Ivory hand painted
I try sanding paint with a well used piece of 2000 grit sandpaper (consider that my model has an heavy textured surface and thin paint layers due airbrush use: I need a really light abrasive) and it works!..Though I can see some spots sanded down to the primer.
It isn't a problem but next time I will add some dark enamel brown to the Mr Surfacer 500 putty I use for replicate casted surfaces because I don't have a paint that can hold the "stress" of sandpaper.
Added a MIG Filter P242 TAN for Tritonal Camo.
Actually, it is an orange wash; useful to warm up the base color.
It tends to make spots but I don't mind because I will use a bit of drybrush.
General wash using Burnt Umber oil using a flat n.4 brush.
Note: for an oil wash you should paint the thinner not thin the paint.
Wait 10 minutes than remove the excesses leaving some brush strokes on ample surfaces.
Leave it dry using an hairdryer..
Adding darker shadows using Cassel Earth oil
This time I thin the oil to a consistency of a paper marker ink, use a n.0 pointed brush only around details.
Leave it dry then shade off with a n.0 flat brush and a very little bit of thinner.
Remember leaving some brush strokes.
Leave it dry overnight..
I think that the satin shine was excessive and would like a warm sand color in shadows so I added a bit of reddish brown around waist, knee, in arms shadows and light some weld seams using Vallejo Burnt Umber and a lot of water.
I choose an acrylic paint instead of an oil color because I don't want to wait the oil to be completely dry and because I know it will matte down the finish.
Model Master enamel Burnt Sienna for the tiny rust scrapes (a really orange and bright rust color) and Burnt Sienna oil for rust stains.. with a good 00 point brush.
Exhaust: dark brown color base, Vallejo Orange dabbed with a point brush, graphite powder for the smoked top.
Figure: standard PKA Ausf.H bust plus a reworked A8/R8 head. Nothing will be see trough the hatch apart the face.
Base: it is the resin base that comes with the 90mm Young Miniatures SS Panzer Officer figure, enlaged..
I need only the wreckage of the tank, actually but I was too lazy to scratchbuild one.
Taking a photo of your "Cesar"
The "Hardware" Mode :
Simple as is: hold a photo of your preferred landscape as the background of your model, keep if far away from your subject to avoid the model proiects shadows on it and to assure it will come out of focus a bit.
Cut and resize in postprocessing.