Sunday 29 March 2015

1/35 VK1602 Leopard update (part 3 - adding the camo)

There are many ways of creating a camouflage pattern, and I studied them all carefully. However, for some weird reason I opted to use masking fluid as my paint mask, a method I've never explored or even heard of being used in this particular fashion, so I was really asking for it! Luckily, and it was surely only luck, my method worked but required some clean-up with a damp toothpick once dried.  

It's important to mention that I had previously drawn out a camo design on paper so knew exactly where everything was going to go and how the finished pattern might look; this is a good idea if you want to save a lot of hard work later on.


I had planned on using Mig-003 Resedagrun, however, once applied it didn't look anything like the illustration of the late-war Panther I was using as my inspiration. I added Vallejo Model Color 70.883 Ger.Cam Bright Green (what a mouthful!) to the mixing cup,  test-shot it through my airbrush, and then onto my model.


Remember, once weathered you lose a lot of the vivid colour so I recommend going quite a bit brighter than your coloured illustration guide/mind's eye interpretation, especially if you intend to add heavy weathering effects. Also bear in mind that if a vehicle is in bright sunlight, this can fade paintwork in time - just look at an old red car.  Here in France there are many pink cars!



I forgot to mention if my previous posts that I had a go at creating my first cast gun mantlet with this build and it worked quite well.  I'm pretty sure I mixed glue with filler and stippled it onto the mantlet with an old, short-bristled brush (try saying that fast a few times!).


And here she is with tracks test fitted (and painted with AK's track wash). In this photo I'd begun the weathering process and added some chips around the corners.  For this I used tweezers to hold a small piece of sponge dipped into my chipping colour (dab off most of the paint on some scrap paper and leave only a minimal of colour on the sponge - like when dry brushing). 

See part 4 HERE



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