Armor/Beginners

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M25 Dragon Wagon

Tamiya 1/35 scale

by  Rafael Zambrino

 

A long time ago I read an article in a modeling magazine on the Tamiya's Dragon Wagon, where it states that it has been released to the market to celebrate the anniversary of the manufacturing company.

Due to the great quality products offered by this manufacturer, I decided to build this kit, my first armored vehicle. But when I started analyzing it I found that it was really more complex than expected and that it had many details, for which reason I decided not to introduce any additions or modifications, with the exception of Sherman M4 tank.


The model was completely painted using an airbrush, with Tamiya's acrylics (XF62, olive drab). These paints give a perfect finish, due to the color itself, dry time, and the perfect and subtle satin finish, not completely matte.

In order to represent "weathering" with dirt on the lower part of the vehicle, I used XF59 (desert yellow). Using the same paint, you can apply a dry brush to highlight all edges. I also used the dry brush technique with X11 chrome silver on all metal parts that should show the usual wear and tear (shovels, axes, oxy-acetylene bottles, etc.)

The inner part of the cockpit was painted according to the instruction manual, and on all uniforms of the soldiers I applied the highlights technique on all folds of the fabric.

This kit supplies some photoetched parts (anti-slip plates, perforated protector for the exhausts, towing hooks), which were kind of thick and hard to handle, maybe the only weakness of this kit. Decals were applied using Microset and Microsol.

Once the kit was already built, I realized how good a quality model looks. It is a straight-from-the-box model, with just the addition of paint. Obviously an ideal basis for a superdetailed kit.


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