Representing the Porsche Maus prototype (155 tons!) after capture by the Russians, I really tried to portray this thing in the condition I imagined it would be in- namely very abused. I referenced the sequence of photos during which the Russians had placed it on a flatbed train car for the move back to Russia in 1945. It features both the mix and matched hull and turret from both prototypes the V1 and V2. In the photos it looks very worn, dirty and in bad shape.
The kit is the Dragon kit 1/35 scale. The deck was horribly warped and presented the biggest challenge of the build. I boiled it in hot water and then glued it down inch by inch and adding Scotch tape as I went. I then did quite a bit of filling and sanding to get it to work. I additionally added some additional features around the external gas tank with masking tape, styrene and some photo etch and wire.
Painting of the hull and turret was done seperately as I wanted to convey the fact that these two items were combined by the Russians and would not have been painted together. I preshaded both with Tamiya Red Hull and then went over some areas with a home made rust color. I then preshaded the seams and edges with black. I then used masking fluid and a 3M pad to dab fluid around the edges and everywhere I saw paint chipping in the original photo. For the hull main color on the hull I used a coat of Tamiya Buff with a hint of yellow and white added and then lightened the centers of the panels with the same mixture with white added. The turret I used varying shades of dark yellow while the canon was masked off.
Camo was penciled in lightly and then freehanded with an airbrush using dark green that I added a bit more yellow to. The camo in the pics is rather rough and brushy so I went back over the camo with both dark and light greens to "roughen" it up. It has a mottled appearance. Tracks were sprayed with black and then a rust mix of brown and yellow.
After the masking fluid ws rubbed off with an eraser I began weathering. I used some oil paint filters on the hull using blue, red, yellow and white. On the turret I used a filter wash of burnt sieanna and white. I then did pin washes of black and burnt sieanna. Tracks got a wash of rusty oil colors. I then used a fine brush to add chips and rust spots. I used colored pencils to add variation to the masked rust patches and I used pigments and thinner to rust the barrel and the exhaust pipes. Tracks were muddied up with some children's pastel chalk and I dripped this solution onto the sides of the tank.
Hammer and sickle USSR emblem was hand painted.
The history of this tank and its connection to Porsche fascinates me.
