Panzer IV, Tamiya, 1/35

and after some work i am at this point

i have to keep reminding myself that its not going to be as bad as it looks.......got all the sprockets/road wheels, tracks, tools and gubbins to put on, then a wash and maybe some weathering so to a certain extent its going to get covered up/toned down

tried to keep the rubbed off effect to places like steps or where crew would walk or things would scrape against the sides

Very noice. How about sharing the hair spray trick. Might be something I could use on a car.

the hair spray technique is kinda well known in armour modelling.....loads of vids on youtube


basically paint the base colour..(in my case Panzer Grau)....give two coats of hair spray......let dry for a few hours......spray topcoat (white)....let it dry a few hours......then use a brush and water to very carefully dab the paint......the hair spray is water soluble and will remove easily (VERY easily lol) taking the white with it.....you can use anything pointy like a cocktail stick to make scratches..........then leave it for a while to really dry off, add a matt varnish to seal it all before weathering

theres several variations that people have come up with including a clear lacquer to seal between the base coat and the hair spray but it didnt work for me when i was practising, had some bad reactions............i got to this point after practising for a week on 3 different scrap tank hulls

Got ya. That's for the quick reply.

Hmmm. Something I might have to test out for weathering a car. The tank looks awesome and thanx for sharing your technique. I can't wait to see what all else you add to this.

Yeah, hair spray on Y.T. is fascinating and is an alternate of sorts to the "salt" technique. The one where a model 55 gallon oil drum is aged with hair spray and rust colors is a real lesson.
The hair spray for a splotchy snow effect does work well on Winter war equipment, as you show so well! Thanks for good fotos.

road wheels on, tried giving it a bit of a wash, first with umber but i didnt like the look of it, too brown so then changed to a black one

im now thinking of trying to put some streaks on it, as in rain/water streaks.....or rusty streaks......just need to work out how to do it

im not going to be able to do that for a few days as we are taking a trip up north to see family for a few days so at least that will give the oils a change to dry off properly

Lookin' good Paul! Can't wait to see more. Have a safe trip visiting family.

Have a safe trip and a good visit. The tank is looking well worn but serviceable Just like it should.

thanks guys....im only going to be about 40 miles from Al but im on a tight schedule so yet again im not going to get the chance to meet up.......still annoyed we missed each other at Donnington Race track a few years ago

Pretty good frosting. A bit of rust would help too. War machines get hard use and don't stay "new" for more than a few weeks (if they last that long).
Take your time and it makes sense to let the paint have a long drying time.

I've tried using thinned enamels for some stains to a certain amount of success
I've also made a mess of the commander figure so I substituted the driver figure in the turret instead
I'm no longer scared of having a go at figures but boy do need some practice! lol
I'm calling it quits as although there's stuff I'd like to do I'm scared of ruining what I've done so far as I need to practice first, I also want to concentrate on some other builds for a while so it will go in the display and I shall return to it one day
more pics in the finished thread

We tend to get so enthused with a new technique or tool, we want to use it on our latest build, but really we should keep some "test bed" old model to try new things on.  I wouldn't want to mess with something going well either.  The panzer looks good and later when you're more comfortable with washes and bits of rust streaks, you can return to this.  Meanwhile it looks done to me, thanx!