Hi all, thought I’d share some pics of what I am working on at the moment.
Well.
It’s not my main project - that is the FAUN tank transporter, which rumbles on in the background very slowly in a manner very much befitting its subject matter. I got the trailer complete and needed a break so picked out a lovely palate cleanser from Tamiya to refresh the old mojo. Typically, it snowballed into a diorama in its own right but that’s just me.
The theory was that I wanted a beaten up, really heavy weathered, knackered Panzer driving through a wadi with a tribesman/Arab type gentleman looking on wistfully under some palm trees. Those who follow my builds know I am careful with my weathering and try to keep it restrained wherever possible, but I do want this old warhorse to look pretty beaten up and dirty.
Build was all you ever want from a Tamiya. If it is possible to get a nice, healing hug from a piece of styrene and some glue, this was the kit. When was the last time you built a kit that was genuinely fun, that made you smile repeatedly during the assemble? That’s why I love Tamiya.
Primer was MiG OneShot from the airbrush, with some thinned red primer sprayed over the flat parts that catch the light. Then a semi gloss clear coat.
First base coat was a very thinned layer of Camo Brown, then I started on the main base layer which was a couple of coats of very, very thinned Sand Ivory.
I did two highlight layers, lightening with White Grey before it started to get too light. I like the effect of the grey in the sand colour, makes it look sunbleached as if it has been out in the sun too long. I wanted to add some modulation so sprayed the first shadows on with a Clay coloured Shader which was a little more brown than I wanted but the effect was dramatic.
After that I gave it the first dust layer just to tie it together and did some chipping using a sponge on the mudguards and an old airbrush needle on the exposed areas. These wouldn’t be that stark on the real vehicle because of the layer of dust everywhere but do serve as markers on where to put the rust streaks later on, which was the next step.
I did another clear coat and then a couple of washes using MiG tan and a dark grey. Nowhere near as stark as the overdone washes on my Cypriot T-80. My instinct is always to go heavier on the wash but I stopped myself this time!
Next up after the decals was an oil dot filter using Abteilung 502 oils (which dry way too fast btw…) - I concentrated on adding fake shadows using the purple and the blue and differentiating parts of the exposed areas in yellows, oranges and greens. The result was some nice but restrained modulation.
I painted the muffler and did a brush highlight pass on the bolt heads and so on using my trusty Mission Models late dunkelgelb (because you can wipe it off using a wet cotton bud if you overdo it!) to make the details pop.
First texture layer on the sides went down using a mixture of AK muds and pigments, wet blended and left to dry. Will add streaks and washes later plus more raw pigments. I also painted the tracks, gave them a burnt umber oil wash and then dry brushed the exposed parts with steel, with every third or fourth track grip dulled with Tamiya black panel liner to make it look less uniform.
I also used black panel liner dabbed with a cotton bud and some localised NATO black sponge flecks (allowed to almost dry and then dabbed with a cotton bud) to look like grime and oil, general dirt etc on areas where this would build up, eg: around the turret hatches, sides, rear decking in places etc. Will do the same again with a more browny colour later after the dust effects to modulate the effects a little and add more visual interest.
Lots more to come on this - stowage, crew, dust effects, more pigments and some limited drybrushing but you can see where this is going.
Reverting with more updates.
