Before commencing the first weathering stages of the build, there were a few areas of the model that I still wasn’t 100% happy with. Firstly, the paint colour on the re-worked sprockets wasn’t a great match to the rest of the running gear. Although this was more likely due to my choice of primer colour than the actual base coat mix, they definately exhibited a more creamier tone as opposed to the greyish hue of the existing track wheels. Rather than masking and re-spraying paint I stumbled upon a solution. Applying Abteilung buff oil paint seemed to be the perfect answer. This was carefully stippled on and blended out from the wheel centre.
Left for 72hrs to cure I then sealed the oil paint work with VMS matt varnish. This was essential as both enamels and pigment effect work would still be required to harmonise with the existing chassis tones.
Sprocket colour before
Sprocket after adding oil paints
The second thing I was still not 100% happy with was 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.
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 paint tones.
Pictures minus front wheels but taken after the body was fixed to the chassis and the steering linkages added.
Note the lifted track over the first wheel station. Working on the vehicle without the front wheels added had put pressure on and loosened the swing arm to the first wheel on the drivers side. This will be remedied before moving on to the next stage.
Chapter 11
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