Faux Zimmerit

[Blue Elephant]

Does anyone please have any clues as to how I can represent Zimmerit semi-convincingly in 1/76 scale? I know that Trumpeter make a tool to mark it out, but I have no idia what to use for the "Paste".... I experimented on an old model with Mr Surfacer 500, but it wasn't satisfactory. Use Putty?

[ShaunW]

Despite the aircraft currently littering my workbench I am also a keen builder of military vehicles. I've only done home made zimmerit once on a 1/35th scale Tiger I using Squadron Green Stuff putty and a shaping tool made out of thick plastic card. The method worked but was messy and time consuming. If I recall correctly, the method came from a Shep Paine book. Basically I worked in sections, allowing the putty to slightly cure until a skin was observed on its surface before texturing using the plastic tool. I found the real knack came in judging the thickness of the putty, too thin and the zimmerit lacked scale depth, too thick and the zimmerit folds collapsed in on themselves. I remember removing and re-coating areas of the model on several occasions before I was happy. Those challenges will also be faced in the smaller scales and it is probably very easy to overwhelm the model if the zimmerit is too deep. There are alternatives nowadays in the form of aftermarket zimmerit sheets but I have no experience of using such products.

Hope that helps.

[Blue Elephant]

Yes ShaunW, that does....I'll investigate these sheets you speak of further

[ShaunW]

I can't remember who makes them or even if such are still available, perhaps Eduard? I just recall sheets being made but they may have been just for 1/35th scale. I did the Tiger back in the late 1990's.

[ntrocket88]

I found the putty methods work well on 1/35 but I never could get it to work on 1/76. Putty methods, with or without special tools like the ones produced by Tamiya, should give the best results as they mimic the application method of the real thing. But not necessarily on 1/76 (or 1/72...). This is a good link for various materials that can be used and instructions for how to do it in 1/35.

There are also a variety of alternate methods that I have seen and/or tried in smaller scales.
- There have been decal sheets made (Almark offered some, years ago) where you just apply them over the finished model to provide light and shadow. Some modelers still use this and print the patterns up on custom clear inkjet sheets. Modelers that use this method maintain that in-scale, Zimmerit wouldn't be much thicker than a decal anyway!
- Not sure if there are aftermarket resin or PE Zimmerit panels for specific vehicles in 1/72. Certainly, there aren't any for 1/76... All the ones I have seen are for 1/35 but others may know better.
- A hot micro-screwdriver can be pressed into the kit plastic directly and this is a popular method in 1/76 and 1/72. The results can look very effective, but make sure you do this well away from flammable materials (like glue, paint and thinners...), as you will need to keep reheating the tip. This is the small scale equivalent of the hot knife method advocated by Verlinden (I believe) for 1/35.
- A cold micro-screwdriver can also be used to press the pattern into the plastic. On models with very soft plastic, this can be done just by applying force. On harder plastics, liquid polystyrene cement can be applied all over the surface to soften the plastic first, working in sections as you would with filler/putty etc.
- Regular polystyrene cement can be spread on the model and then the pattern either scribed with a knife or pressed in with a micro-screwdriver.
- However, after trying most of these, my preferred method is to scribe the pattern directly into the plastic using an engraving bit in a Dremel.

For example, I used this method on a 1/76 Fujimi Panzer IV Ausf. J (converted to Ausf. H...)


This is what it looked like before painting:


Same method used on other 1/76 Fujimi kits:




Hope this helps and good luck!

[ShaunW]

There you go Blue Elephant, Neil knows his stuff and is one of the best armour modellers on here. I'm a bit more of your bungling amateur although I do try me best, honest guv I do

[Blue Elephant]

Thanks guys...........a fountain of info,both of you, and terrific builds,Neil......I'm in awe

[BWP]

Part make PE zimmerit (different patterns) for some specific kits in 1/72 (e.g., they do several sets for Revell 1/72 Panther kits). It would be pretty hard to do "generic kit" sheets because two different kits of the same subject are rarely identical, and therefore a set made for one kit might not fit well onto a different one. I'm not off-hand aware of other 3rd-party zimmerit solutions for 1/72 or 1/76. I don't think I'd care to see any resin sets, as the resin would have to be so thin as to be almost impossible to work with; if it was thick enough, then it would be grossly out-of-scale and therefore pretty pointless.

The Trumpeter zimmerit tools are for 1/35 only! One of the tools is for a pretty fine pattern that might look ok on a braille-scale kit, but it's not designed for that purpose. (It would probably work better on a 1/48 kit.)

You should be aware that there are different zimmerit patterns. Where possible, if you can find photos of the specific vehicle that you're representing, you should be able to see what pattern was in use.

There's certainly nothing wrong with Neil's method, and he has produced some outstanding results with it. In the past the technique I tried was to apply a thin layer of Tamiya grey putty; then brushed over it with extra-thin cement. That partly dissolves the putty and makes it soft, and I then used a jeweller's screwdriver to make the pattern. In my mind the advantage of this method over making the indentations directly into the kit plastic is that you can chip away whole sections of the zimmerit, as it was in real-life quite "flaky" and could come off the vehicle in big chunks - a bit difficult if you've directly attacked the kit plastic.

Here's my approach used on a Fujimi 1/76 Panther G:



and on an Airfix 1/76 Panther built as an "A":





No matter your approach, it's pretty tedious!

[Blue Elephant]

Thanks BWP, I might be making a rod for my own back.....I may just content myself with making the fiddly little bibs & bobs (eg tools) that the manufacturers leave off ..............having said that, I'll have a stab on an old model which use for experiments..........ever want to see a zimmerit coated P47..watch this space