Decals
Now the Alliance Model Works instrument decals had finally arrived it was time to get back to work on the 8-ton. As well as the instrument decals the Wehrmacht licence plates were also added. These were made up from the individually numbered kit decals. A weight stencil included on the kit decal sheet was also added to the driver’s side of the cab. They were all sealed with an airbrushed coat of VMS satin varnish.
One thing I had noticed was that this 6th Pz.Div vehicle had a set of the original larger style lamps. I had already added some smaller size headlamps to this build so they were removed, Both the lenses were missing so I thinned out the kit lamps and added some photoetch to simulate the bulb housings. These were painted separately and added back onto the vehicle.
Faded whitewash
The whole whitewash process turned into quite a prolonged affair. Although I first made half a dozen test pieces with various paint mixes using both rattle-can hairspray and chipping fluid, when it came to laying down the whitewash layer on the model and 'chipping' it back, it didn’t perform anything close to how my selected test piece turned out! I guess it's what can happen when attempting only my second whitewash on a vehicle!
The problem I had, was that I was barely able to chip back the acrylic whitewash layer. It did react in places, but in the main I was disappointed in how virtually impossible it was to distress and remove any of the overlying coat of paint! My main bugbear was that I had covered a lot of previous work, particularly on the bonnet/hood in the hope of exposing much of it. Analysing what went wrong I put it down to a couple of things. Firstly, none of my test pieces received a layer of VMS varnish like the model had. Although the varnish had cured for around 24hrs could the proceeding acrylic whitewash paint have bonded to it in a way the test piece obviously had not? Secondly, and probably more likely is my unusual choice of going for chipping fluid over rattle can hairspray. I used the AK regular 'worn effects’ type and not the 'heavy chipping' type. It chipped back great on the test piece but typically clung onto dear life on the model! I guess the heavy chipping fluid type is the one to go for next time!
My first solution to removing more of the whitewash layer was to go a second round of chipping, only this time being a bit more aggressive using some slightly stiffer brushes. The result was it still looked like I had layered a cloudy highlight colour over most of the previous work! Not deterred and as a final option I went all in on selected areas with a dab of thinner on the brush. This time it did remove the white acrylic but the desired effect and softer transitions I was after between the base coat and the whitewash didn't look right.
In the end I resorted to first adding a MIG Neutral pin wash to bring back some contrast, then once dry I went a second round with acrylic whitewash, only this time over some Tresemme hairspray. It still wasn't how I had envisaged it turning out, but I conceded it was going to require far too much work to start over. I got the look I was after in places like the fenders and cab sides, but the bonnet and radiator housing were going to need some further work. What I had originally intended to do was to dry fit some tools to the bonnet and whitewash over with them in place but I completely forgot to add them😕 This would have left some nice tool witness marks and probably have helped the overall look of the bonnet/hood. So, with that effect in mind I am going to attempt to recreate that effect with masking tape and a pointy stick dampened with thinner. It's either that or start completely over with the kit's second bonnet/hood. It might still come to that...........
Progress so far.
Chapter 11
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