Painting a Wirbelwind

Guy: After chatting with Steve at the Rubicon stand at Salute, he kindly gave a Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind so my friend Joe could test his airbrushing skills. This blog covers his progress from kit to finished model.

Over to you, Joe! 

"For this project, I decided to take the bull by the horns and test my mettle with an airbrush. This was my first Rubicon kit, I was incredibly impressed by the packaging and contents of the box. Each sprue was clearly labelled having the options for “modellers” or “gamers” is a really nice touch. The kit comes with a stand-alone commander, which can be secured to the miniature, but I decided to turn it into a “token” for the unit or as a stand-in Platoon Commander for games of Bolt Action!"

"I began painting by base coating the entire miniature in Zandri Dust Primer, from Citadel. I find this provides an excellent overall base colour close to the Dunkelgeld base in the tricolour camouflage pattern seen on German tanks in Europe."

"Areas of pea-dot received a base of German Camo Orange Ocre, from Vallejo. Then patches of German Camo Dark Green and German Camo Light Green, both from Vallejo. It was then time for the pea-dot. After a wash of thinned Soft Tone from Army Painter, I used a detail brush and added dots in the previous 3 colours. Once dry, I the. Added dots of Light Brown, from Vallejo in groups all over the uniforms."

"I then moved on to the visible crew. After recently finishing a Waffen SS infantry platoon, the oak leaf and peadot pattern was still fresh in my mind, so I went with this option for uniform. With the crew done, I then moved on to the flak cannons. I first washed the weapons system with Agrax Earthshade from Citadel (on the Zandri Dust Base), then added chipping using German Grey from Vallejo on a sponge on the end of an old paintbrush cover. After this, I coated the barrel and visible parts of the flak cannons that weren't casings in matte black from Vallejo and dry brushed them with Leadbelcher from Citadel for a subtle metallic look."

"With the crew complete, the observant among you will have noticed that the tone of the Wirbelwind is richer, that’s because it is. Being my first go at using an airbrush, I decided to give the model a coat of Vallejo Desert Sand. I was pleased with the tone here so then moved on to the tri-colour."

"My first attempt at the tricolour had a mixed success, as can be seen in this image. I wanted to try a finer line on the pattern but found the balance of paint, airbrush medium and pressure a challenge on my first attempt. After a number of failed attempts, I decided it was back to the drawing board and I went back over the entire model in Zandri Dust, minus the crew and visible interior of course."

"After a few failed attempts, I settled for a thicker pattern. I first sprayed lines of Chocolate Brown from Vallejo before repeating with Refractive Green from Vallejo, trying not to make one colour more prominent than the other."

"After a coat of Agrax Earthshade from Citadel, I then dry-brushed Buff from Vallejo. After this step the mini really starts to come together."

"It was then time to pick out the details, the equipment and tyre treads. These materials received a variety of brown tones from Citadel and Leadbelcher for the metallics. The tyres were simply done in a matte black from Vallejo. These then had their own wash of Dark Tone from Army Painter, to dirty them up. I then highlighted in their base colour where needed for some subtle highlights."

"Then came the transfers and weathering. I applied the transfers and sealed them with a coat of matte varnish from Vallejo. Once dry, I then used German Grey from Vallejo, a sponge and an old brush cover to apply a chipping effect all the while reminding myself that less is more!"

"By this point, I could’ve called the model done but something jumped out at me when I was looking at reference images. Many Wirbelwind images I saw had foliage camouflage. I looked online and found a set of modelling foliage on Amazon with two different tones of leaves, and next-day delivery! Although covering the mini in as much foliage as possible would be more historically accurate, I wanted to keep much of the vehicle visible as I had invested so much time in the paint job. I subtly applied the foliage, keeping it out of places that would impede the crew operating the vehicle. To apply it, I watered down some PVA at a 1:1 ratio and held the clumps in place until they dried. With the foliage apples, I called my Wirbelwind done and ready for the table."

"This was a thoroughly enjoyable project and a great addition to my forces for future Normandy theatre games. Thank you, Steve, for giving me this project. I’m looking forward to picking up my next Rubicon kit at Partizan!"