Before commencing the first weathering stages of the build, there were a few areas of the model that I wasn’t 100% happy with. Firstly, the paint colour on the re-worked sprockets still wasn’t a great match to the rest of the running gear. I realise now this was likely due to mixing the dark yellow with buff and not with deck tan. They exhibited a creamier tone as opposed to having a greyish hue. Adding dust pigments hadn't helped either! Rather than masking and re-spraying paint I found a solution. Abteilung buff oil paint was carefully stippled on and blended out from the centre. Left for 48hrs to cure I then sealed them with VMS matt varnish. This was essential as I would need to use both enamels and pigments again to maintain the tonal consistency in weathering them.
Sprocket colour before
Sprocket after adding oil paints
Secondly, I felt the paintwork on the frontal MG shield was not up to the job. I set about respraying all three camo colours again but this time utilised some chipping fluid so I could lightly distress any overlying paint.
MG shield image to follow
Finally, I had to add matching dirt and dust weathering tones to the visible underside portions of the bodywork assembly. This had to be done before the two main sub-assemblies could be fixed together. I had weathered the chassis many, many years ago but I could not recollect 100% what I had used. There was a small amount of greyish-brown dirt texture build up, but by the look of it I had mainly applied dust-coloured pigments and oils. A cocktail of textured AK light and dark mud was mixed and added first. Once dry the vehicle was turned on its side and pigments were added dry and sealed with VMS ballast freeze. This was followed by an airbrushed post shade mix of matching dust-toned acrylics. The final step was to apply a speckling and streaking of darker oil tones.
Pictures taken after the body was fixed to the chassis and the steering linkages added.
Chapter 11
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