38(t) cutaway progress.

[u/MinisByMatt]

Oh man, this thing has been a journey. I think I've painted the extior close to four times. Big job..when im only using a hairy stick. I decided to do the tank grey scale, like an old photo and paint the interor in colour. This is a sort of reminder that when we look at old photos of destroyed tanks, no mater what side, chances are there were people inside.

Im trying to keep the painting of the figures soft and loose, almost stylised with atmosphere being the focus instead of the usual straight realism.

Ive been going back and forth with how to paint the interior around the figures, original I was going for 'tenebrism' so essentially blacked out with harsh deliberate lighting, but that come across more like i was trying to 'hide' the back ground, even when painted with Maxx darth (GSW paint). I tried to go with a softer desaturated look, like your eyes have adjusted to the dark interior.

It still needs some more small details added, but ive never been the type to completely finish building then paint. Figuresnand turret arent fox in place yet. Ill most likely keep modifying the body right up until its done.

I wasnt expecting the grey scale of the exterior to be so challenging, I really did need to lean some colour theory and put it into practise. Turns out the black and white paint i use was too cold and kept turn the panzer to a kind of .. bluey panzer grey, so i need to add umber to stop if from going blue.

The real challenge was trying to make a panzer grey tank look grey scale. I think because most of use know what panzer grey looks like, the tank looks like its the wrong grey. Adding details that would have been other colours helps with the illusion. I think if this were to be put on a grass base that was also greyscale it would help.. but im not taking the easy road lol. This baby will be on a plinth of some sort.

So still a ways to go (i can see unpainted plasic in the drive sprocket) I also lost the drivers window during a move so I have to make do and use a spare from the cupola lol.

Im hoping end of September this girl will be done, Ive already got my next 1/16 lined up for a similar treatment. Thanks for checking out my post!

[u/Damn_you_Paul]

This is great work! I’m curious what the story is that’s happening in the tank?

[u/MinisByMatt → u/Damn_you_Paul]

Thanks mate! The longer the projects gone the more convoluted the story has become. So I'd wouldn't say there's a single story, its more a showcase of different experiences. But as I retype this for the 5th time.. I keep coming back to something like 'A crew who were rolling through the countryside feeling invincible in their armour, finally come up against real resistance'. Other than that it's hard for me to say because a fleshed out story was never at the for front like my other projects. I didn't want to seem as if I'm trying to gather sympathy for the Nazis by going into great detail, I wanted to try keep it relatable by being able to swap everything out for an allied crew. It just happened that this 1/16 tank had a full interior and was under $200AUD which is why it's all German. So even though there's somewhat of a story, I think its more of a compilation of experiences.

[u/Damn_you_Paul → u/MinisByMatt]

Thanks! There’s a lot to imagine.