How to wreck a tank

[Ochoin]

I find I have two Armourfast PZivs that I don't need.

It occurred to me that they might like good on the table as models of battle damaged tanks.
As you know, the treads on Armourfast tanks are hard plastic, moulded onto the wheel assembly: so no broken tracks.

This leaves tanks destroyed by enemy munitions. As there are quite a few expert modellers here, any tips, sites, photos of models (I've found enough of the real thing) that might help me out?
donald

[C M Dodson]

Something I used to use was to ' smoke' the tank by holding it over a piece of burning sprue.

Be careful to avoid the dripping plastic on yourself and the flame melting the model. The smoke looks great as a burnt out wreck but you will get sooty and leave fingerprints if you are moving your models a lot.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Ochoin]

Excellent idea. Surely I'd be able to spray a flat matte finish over it to "fix" the smoke?

donald

[C M Dodson]

I have never tried that as its so easy to re smoke it if necessary.

Do not forget, less is more!

Chris

[Ochoin]

Do not forget, less is more!

Chris

True in everything except bacon.

donald

[zulu`s 1000`s of em]

If you look at knocked out tanks, specifically those knocked out by anti tank guns or other tanks, the knocked out tank can look at first glance undamaged except for an entry hole
caused by a AP shell, so a small drilled hole could suffice , if the crew escaped then some hatches open, the other extreme is the AP shill ignites the stored ammo and you have the "RONSON" effect, But given you base model , a couple of drilled holes should do the trick.

[Ochoin]

I'll try the pin vise & see how it looks.

Would something like this be overdoing it?



donald

[Graeme]

Some of those glancing hits on the picture you posted could, perhaps, be made with a soldering iron or hot needle. A few near misses before the killer shot would increase the damaged look. Maybe try it on the underside where you can't see it or on a piece of sprue first to see if you can get an effect you like.

Slicing a sideplate or mudgaurd (I don't know what they're really called) with an exacto and using heat to bend the plates, perhaps in conjunction with a glancing hit might help.

This chap replacied the grills with wire mesh and then bent and twisted the mesh and gave it a burnt look, quite effective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf3ajanPXhs

Being a quick build model I suppose the old cliche of having the turret blown off might not work but how about having a hatch blown out and hanging by one hinge? I don't know if that actually happened but for the sake of the model it might look OK.

[Ochoin]

Thanks, Graeme. Sterling ideas.
I can experiment & as the models are only Armourfast (ie cheap) & I don't need them, success is not mandatory. I'll wait till the weather improves (winter's nearly over) so I can burn potentially toxic plastic out doors.

BTW I could have dead German crew draped over the tanks but personally, I find this a bit ghoulish. No offence to others who don't but my wargaming is rather stylised.

donald