Bergepanzer 1 – Photo gallery
The 28th model I made represents a US-built M88 A1G armored recovery vehicle (ARV), operated by the German armed forces (Bundeswehr) under the designation Bergepanzer 1. It took approximately one year and 9 months to build, from September 2018 to late May 2020.
Assembling
The kit is a Revell (no. 03023) issued in 1997, which is in turn a reboxing of a 1994 AFV kit with new parts added.
The box contains 10 sprues in dark olive green styrene, plus the two halves of the hull of the same material; the wheel hubs and the tracks are in black vinyl. In addition, there are also a photo-etched fret, a decal sheet and the instruction manual, together with a nylon thread and a brass chain.
The assembling of the Bergepanzer 1 requires a bit of care for the complexity of the model, the several cables and the number of pieces. Not always the sequence described in the manual is exact, so it's better to study in advance all the steps. Pay attention also when handling pieces with fragile parts, such the main frame boom, whose side rungs can easily be broken.
Painting and weathering
I chose to airbrush a plain olive drab camouflage, using Tamiya alcohol-based acrylic colors by (XF-62 Olive Drab brightened with XF-3 Flat Yellow).
After the base paint I furtherly brightened the protruding parts with light olive green (Vallejo 70.967 Olive Drab + 70.976 Buff). Then I painted the rubber parts with a mix of dark grey and blue (Vallejo 71.056 Panzer Dark Grey + 70.965 Prussian Blue) and several other details.
I made a yellow ochre oil filter, then I used Mig pigments to vary the tones of the surfaces and for mud and dust effects. Finally, I made some oil and fuel stains on the engine deck, with a mix of black and clear gloss paint.
Photo gallery
Here are the photos of the finished model!
