Sd.Kfz.8 DB10 Gepanzerte 12T (Trumpeter 1/35 kit #01584) Chapter 13: Oil paint rendering

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. These oil paint stages are not for everyone but as soon as I saw Mike Rinaldi’s work in his Tank Art books this was something that very much appealed to me. The richness, depth and versatility that working with oils brings is unparalleled in my opinion, and has now become an important step in many of my projects. In my pursuit of in-scale realism I will happily spend days going back and forth adding tiny effects to try and compliment the overall look, often spending hours on one particular feature. I love the results that can be achieved and find the whole process enormously therapeutic.

 

I do throughout this process take many images to assist me. It is not always obvious at a distance how realistic these effects can impart. Continually looking at progress images allows me to home in on areas that I still feel needs re-working or enhancing. I can then move methodically around a subject enabling me to pick out and enhance smaller features that I would otherwise not have been aware of.

 

 

The first thing I do is pick out a selection of oil paints that I figure will complement the painted surface tones, together with ones that would highlight wear and tear and general staining. I put these onto a piece of cardboard and leave them for an hour to let the linseed leach out. This insures you always get a lovely matt finish.

 

 

With my palette of oil paints and brushes to hand and Abteilung turpentine to thin and clean, I slowly make my way around the vehicle adding the oils dry in one small area before moving on to the next. Once the oils have been added to the second area I return to the first, to blend them out. Working like this enables that first application of oil paint to dry sufficiently to get the effects I’m after. It also allows any mixture of colours to blend effectively without washing out. I always have some reference pictures to hand which allows me to try and replicate the surface textures, and general effects that I’m trying to replicate. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out, but the beauty of oils is they are very forgiving. You can easily remove them and start again.

 

Oil paint grease stain effects on the idler. 

 

Chapter 14