These are all valid observations but I say; (hopefully without offending anyone) WHO CARES? After all isn't this a hobby? Aren't we in it to express ourselves, to show off our skills and knowledge and to have fun. Some people tend to nit pick too much. So what if a Panther has a few paint chips too many or it seems to rust quite a bit or it is covered in mud. I see this as someone's interpretation of what once was. As far as the authenticity goes, do you really think that when the German army was retreating from the Eastern front, tank crews were worried about re-painting their tanks and removing all the rust. It is unfortunate that most of the WWII photos are black and white but I bet if we could all go back in time and witness things in person, we would find many of the vehicles in less than perfect shape.

To Marty and Stuke, I guess JRNELSON cared enough to bring the subject up and the other posters cared enough to discuss this idea. Discussion of ideas is waht forums are about, and hopefully from that discussion, learning might take place.

This is art, who's to say who's right or wrong. I constantly see modeller's nitpicking this technique or that. The majority of what I see in this thread is anti-paint-chipping. The defense being we do not see this amount of wear and tear on modern vehicles. I was a crewmember on an Abrams, and let me tell you...gobs of mud were all over our tank at times. Sure we cleaned it them off, but we weren't in the heat of battle. We had the time to clean. Secondly, we took care not to harm our tanks. When you have people shooting at you, you drive through walls, houses, trees whatever the hell is in your way. My driver backed into a concrete wall on one field excersice and let me tell you...there was some major paint chipping going on there. Just by backing into one little concrete wall.

A good point was made above (sorry forgot the poster of it) about the thinning of paints, and what effect that had on chipping. I am positive that the paints used on modern armor are of much better quality then German paints towards the end of the war. Imagine the beating it would take going through structures, woods, whatever. Then take into account the hob-nailed boots the soldiers wore, and the amount of soldiers seen on these vehicles as they were battlefield taxi's. You can start to see some damage that might just take place on these vehicles.

Modelling is about artistic lisence. Nobody's right, nobody's wrong. So it can be pretty frustrating to see people shoot down another's work because they feel it's "too worn". We should appreciate all work done, whether we think the style is "right" or "wrong".

Hey gang-

This is just something I've had on my mind lately, so I thought I post it here and see if anybody else feels the same way.

The last few years I have noticed that German WWII armor has been getting more and more derilict. Somebody said recently after coming back from a regional show, "man, it looked as if half the models there had been stoned for weeks be Palastinian rioters." What's up with that? This trend seems to be mainly focused on German and Soviet vehicles from WWII. While I think that the techniques look cool - I don't really think overly chipped paint and rust all over is very realistic - and here is why.

Why do you think we never see an Abrams, or Challenger depicted this way? I think it is because we relate to these vehicles in a more "current" sense. We see them on the news, in magazines and such... and we (at least I can't) can't picture the US or British military letting their main battle tanks deteriorate to the levels we assume the Germans let THEIR vehicles get to. I can't imagine an M1A2 rolling into Bagdad half rusted to death, with birds flying through it. Sure, I can deal with some paint chipping and the like - but some of these German vehicles look more like crewed out wrecks, than vehicles of combat. I think we associate more directly with the more modern vehicles - and as such weather them (as modelers) in a more realistic sense.

Just for kicks, I went over to the Missing Links gallery and looked at some models. Yup - Sure enough "master builders" have these awesome looking modern vehicles - muddy and the like -but VERY FEW if any paint chips and NO rust. I then went to the WWII German gallery - you guessed it - rusted jalopies with SS crewmembers. At this time I'd also like to point out that the service life of a tank in the German armed forces circa WWII was measured in weeks, while some of the Abrams tanks that served in OIF were built in the late '80's/early 90's. I just don't get it....

All this ranting doesn't mean that I think excessive weathering stinks or anything - do what you think makes your model look good to you. I just want to know if anybody else feels this way - or am I gonna have to learn to destroy a tank to fit the current style:)

Later-
Jeff