FYI ~ Tamiya Dark Yellow (TS-3 rattle can) makes for a real good starting point for doing German vehicles. If you need to do touch ups just spray out a puddle on a piece of clean typing paper and use your brush.
Follow that with a finish over spray of Tamiya Matte Clear (TS-80 rattle can) sprayed on very dry (hold the can well away form the model) then use brushed on pigments to lighten, darken and/or dirty the base color as you wish.
The rough tooth of the dry clear will allow you to scrub the pigments into the surface making the pigments almost permanent and requiring no further top coat. (Just don’t overly handle your finished model from then on - pick it up by the edges or by sliding your fingers in under the end frames. Don’t grab it as though it were a Coke bottle.)
Should I do the pigments very last, after washes and chipping, and in the same step as mud/debris?
Also, what color should I make the tarp that’s rolled up on the back?
Research, research, research . . . need to do some.
For some of us the research is half the fun. (or most all the fun) With the internet today the research is all fairly much laying at your feet. And you may be surprised at now many other points: historical, mechanical and artistic you learn along the way!
p.s. HINT: Do multiple searches describing the subject in different ways: Ketten, Kettenkraft, Kettenrad, Kettenkraftrad, Keenes Kettenkraftrad, Sd. Kfz. 2, as you will get differing results. And be sure to watch the movie “Saving Private Ryan” for a few shots on the Ketten there towards the end when they are trying to bate the Tiger.
I like doing the research, don’t take it to rivet counting standards. I just like to have real-life references for my models. For example, I found a picture of a very faded Pak 40, which I plan on emulating on the Pak 40 I have sitting primed in my box.
Also, my German uncle, who also is a modeller, gave me a book of german ww2 vehicles, with stats, stories, and photos, but it lacks this little guy .
Nobody here wants to make a rivet counter out of you but you can probably find 200+ photo references for the PAK 40 in 5 minutes of internet searching,
Is you PAK 40 again primed in solid black??? I don’t know any auto/body man that primes in black primer unless they are doing a flat black vehicle but then I have been out of that industry for A LOT of years! Even the Germans primed in Red Oxide.
I am not always referring to doing internet researching of the equipment itself. On this KitMaker site you can find untold numbers of painting and weathering how-to’s. I don’t know how many times on here I have described my painting and weathering techniques and trust me, most disagree with what I have to say. So you need to get out there and check what others have to say and come to your own conclusions.
As far as I am concerned the finish is what puts the “ART” in scale modeling and not the building.
Nothing wrong with priming in solid black. I do it all the time. You can get great tonal variation on a black base, and it offers free shadow. All of these were primed jet black
And not just there. I know after covid and the shooting the museum at NAS Pensacola has been limited if not closed for awhile. My dad (when he was alive) was a volunteer there, he was a retired naval aviator. On one of my visits he took me over and then we wandered out back to the restoration hanger. Oh man, for a aviation nut it was 7th heaven. Of course that wasnt open to the public so it was fun having that access. I recall a full cockpit and say forward half of a Mig 21 i believe they acquired from a farmer in Poland. Story was it crashed and he hauled what was left to his barn. Those collections are so valuable so i think its a shame when public access disappears as you’ve described. Another thing fun about back there was an SH3 Seaking that he had time in was on display too! The chances of that were slim as you can imagine, also a training helo in the museum was one he logged time in also, my mom has kept his log books so eventually my brother and i will each have one.
Like I said plenty of folks who will disagree with me so Rouge, go rogue, and see what others have to say in the “Painting and Weathering” discussion group.
In my (humble) opinion going darker with you highlights or weathering at the end is far easier and more controllable than going dark as a dungeon to begin with and then trying to climb back out of that black hole with lighter colors and weathering.
However Mead Sir, you are a master of the technique! Kudos.
This is the only response I can offer here is this partly finished Spitfire, where I am using washes and pigments but I openly admit I like your results more than my own.
The Benning Collection was closed from the get go. Kinda makes it difficult to build an “open” Museum right in the middle of a high security military base. At least towards the end the Patton had their own entrance and secured parking area. You could get into the base on foot through the Museum but then you had a long trek around the well fenced air field plus an additional mile of so before you got anywhere near anything remotely important.
Beautiful work there Mead. I do the same thing, I call it a preshade coat kinda instead of a primer coat but I find it much easier to do that first rather than trying to get a shadow color into tight spots later.
Thank you kindly! I agree, the thing I love about black basing is that you can take your time with the “primer” making sure all those nooks and crannies get black, then if you miss them or only hit them a bit on the base color you get free shadow!
I seem to have found a way to get a more accurate Dunkelgelb color! I mixed Vallejo German Yellow and Dark Yellow in a roughly 1:1 ratio, and you can see the difference!
What material were vehicle tarps made of? I tried searching for it, but got mixed results. I’d assume that they were canvas, which is still a mystery for me to paint.
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