Hey folks, I decided to take a quick break from building tanks and went with this 1/35 German troop/personnel transport - the Horch 4X4 1A. I messed up the masking on the clear parts of the vehicle so I decided to go all in on the dust coat all over the vehicle. Not my best work, but I’m happy to have built something with wheels rather than tracks.
Thanks for looking!
James,
That is an excellent build and paint job!
I assume that the canvas roof is included in the kit…correct?
Cheers,
Nicely done and weathered!
Wow. The dust and mud really look excellent. You shouldn’t tell anybody it was based on a screw-up.
Thanks Joe! Yes, the canvas roof came with the kit 
there’s also an option to display it folded and for the windshield to be covered in canvas as well. Decent option choices for an old kit
Thanks Wade! Highly appreciate it.
Thanks Matthew! To be honest, I was planning on making a relatively clean paint job with her, but because I had left quite a bit of paint residue seep in the glass, I went for the dirty look instead. This was my first time dirtying up clear parts so it was a learning experience for me as well
An oldie but goodie. Really like the dusted up look. 
I’ve always liked the sort of brutish look of these wagons and to me they look far more modern than most WW2 softskins. I might just have to get one myself; if I do I’ll opt for the same kit I think, not least due to having seen this one.
Thanks mate gotta say, being an armor modeller has given me a subconscious urge to add dust to everything, be it cars, armor or planes haha
Thanks Brian. If you want to do a Horch though, give the ICM kits a try. They seem to be much more refined than the Tamiya kit, but they represent a slightly later variant I think.
Ah but James I have a perverse nature; I’d much rather tackle these old kits and get them up to spec, or at least looking as reasonable as possible.
I normally major in Cold War stuff but do have the occasional hankering for WW2. We’ll see – it’s not like as though I have nothing to build!
I really like the dust streaking on the sides of the model. As if light rain had partially washed off the dust. I have a Subaru Forester. When we go birding along dirt section roads and I come back home, there is quite an accumulation of dust on the back and more higher up on the rear window ( read rear canvas top ) than there is elsewhere. Look at vehicles driving on dirt roads and there is more accumulation on forward facing pieces than the back of fenders, and around the front of windshields and in door handle recesses. In Jose Britos Scale modeling book he mentions taking dust or dirt pigments and mixing them with Tamiya thinner and painting the tire sides and wiping off the raised surfaces to create the dust in the tread effect. Then the actual traction surface of the tires on hard ground get purely black grey from the friction. On the top of the canopy seems like more dust on the aft than the fore surfaces. Lastly, I would think the driver’s and front side windows would be clearer than those aft. At least in N. Africa, the Germans would use oil or similar product on vertical windows and then throw dirt on it leaving a slit for the driver as a crude form of anti reflective coating. Just some thoughts to consider with your soft skins. I like the model as it came out. I have thought about covering the plastic in kit canopy with PVA soaked Kleenex to give it more fabric texture. Has anyone else tried that and how did it turn out?
DAKjunkie
I love the old Tamiya Horch and Kommandurwagen kits. Nice job on this one.
Cheers,
C.
Thanks for the tips Jack! I don’t do much cars or trucks, so these are very instructive to me. I’m taking a liking to trucks that were used in WW2, especially those deployed in either the desert or really muddy terrain as they create interesting weathering patterns on the vehicles. I’ll do a bit more research on how to recreate these before I work on my next softop Thanks!
Thanks Charles! I’m planning to get a hold of the Tamiya Kommandeurwagen one of these days - pretty interesting looking vehicle!
James,
You’ll love it when you get it. Goes together like butter. Optional tops. Two figures. It’s an exceptional kit. Even though it’s older, it stands with current kits. There are numerous aftermarket detail kits to dress it up. The only really obvious ‘out of box’ issue is the thickness of the clear part side windows. They scale out at about 2"
The Kommenduerwagen is my favorite Tamiya kit.
Looks sharp
