Well, that’s about it for the Luchs; a project started so long ago I can hardly believe it. The eternal trouble I have in maintaining focus and not going off on tangents.
Anyway, here we are:
As mentioned above, the Revell kit moulded in their horrible green, but went together well enough, and looked just fine in grey primer. Because I started this so long ago, I used the Revell version of Gelboliv (their enamel 42). These days I tend to use Tamiya XF-51 as it just seems to be slightly lighter, thus factoring in a bit of scale colour; that said, to be honest once I’ve finished weathering and dusting my models, the base colour is almost often irrelevant.
I detailed the interior of the turret with a bit of gizmology as some is visible. The 2 driver figures come from Valkyrie as does the gunner figure.
The Commander figure – dismounted – is a metal figure from Dolp, with a Hornet Head and beret from Milliput. He is shown in discussion with another Dolp figure, again with a Hornet Head; he represents a Panzer Grenadier officer and he has a soldier figure accompanying him – another Dolp effort. I moved the Gunner figure over to the Commander’s station as I thought that might be Standard Operating Procedure when the actual Commander is away from the vehicle. I replaced the Dolp heads with ones from Hornet, and added name tags on the uniforms using thin plastic card. I should really have added an Uzi SMG and respirator case to the commander figure but completely overlooked it until it was too late.
The vehicle was covered in my normal method of depicting camouflage nets using gauze and used tea leaves. I further added some etched branches from Aber. After all this concealment, one can hardly see the base kit, and I know to some modellers that is anathema – all that lovely detail hidden, but I like to try and represent vehicles in service doing their job, hence my camouflage efforts – essential in this case for a recce vehicle.
The base was 12mm MDF, made specifically for me, and measures the same as an A4 piece of paper; I utilise A4 paper boxes to store and transport my models. I invert the box, which means the base is secure in what was the lid, and the remainder of the box gives me antennae clearance. I then label it all as necessary.
The scenic effects, such as they are, come from tiling grout over cardboard formers for the track banks, sprinkled with whatever model railway flock I have to hand, and again, tea leaves for a sort of forest floor scatter; a few ferns from etched brass, some stalky bits of grass from my long suffering shaving brush and that was about it. I had planned to impress the wheels from the model itself into the grout as if dried but was distracted and forgot; I normally do this by covering the base with clingfilm, then pressing the model into the groundwork. I ended up having to sand most of it off to enable the kit to sit level.
And that folks is really about it: on exercise, at the edge of a forest, a Luchs has stopped to facilitate a face-to-face discussion with an officer from the Panzer Grenadier unit they are supporting; judging by the pointing finger of the Panzer Grenadier, the tactical intercourse may not be going well! Such confrontations are not unknown on any exercise especially as fatigue and pressure all impact.
So, not too shabby a start to the New Year- perhaps; it took me longer than expected mainly because my modelling methodology had changed so much since I began this project. Anyway, onwards and upwards to address all those other half started/half completed projects!
