After a considerable break - I decided to give weathering another shot. I followed the tutorial that Piers wrote on the Guild and began by adding Weathering Fixer to the model with a brush.
Once that was done, I added MIG earth pigment with an old brush. Stippling around the edge of the tank and the paying particularly attention to the tracks and rear.
When I added the pigment, it looked very odd, like I'd splashed paint on the model. However, once it dried and I brushed the excess off with an old makeup brush of Mrs. Kinch's. A considerable amount of the pigment came off and what was there was spread out a lot more. I think I'll have to make sure I do this step on a piece of white paper as it struck me that I was wasting quite a bit of pigment that could be reused.
It's not bad and I think it looks rather better than it did before, I'm just not sure I'm happy with the final look. I think I'll have reread the tutorial and look at a few more examples. But a definite improvement and definitely something I'll be doing more often.
I think it's another skill and as such needs practice.
ReplyDeleteI think your heading in the right direction and already looks good
Ian
Practice makes perfect - there's a lesson there somewhere.
DeleteThanks Ian.
Your work looks very nice and will certainly look great when following the three foot rule. It does relly make the models look like combat veterans!
ReplyDeleteJerry
A/K/A the Celtic Curmudgeon
I think once I look at them in a bit of group it'll make the difference.
DeleteIt looks good. I encourage you to keep hacking away at these experiments. What pray tell is weathering fixer?
ReplyDeleteOnce the war room is up and running there will a rush of armour I think.
DeleteWeathering fixer is what normal people call pigment fixer. That'll teach me to post after nights.
Conrad - If that were on the Western Front, I might - just might - be inclined to suggest that maybe less would be more. But we are talikng Russian front, here, the Rasputitsa and all that. I saw recently a well known rapper and tank nut driving a T-34 though muddy puddles (and wearing what came in through the open driver's hatch). He was having a ball.
ReplyDeleteAnd the tank looked none too different in overall appearance to your Russian Sherman in terms of its beautifying mud treatment. You won't be going too far wrong if all your Russian armour got the similar treatment.
I mentioned earlier the 'less is more' thing, but I'm suddenly reminded of a practice of many US tankmen in North Africa. They used to wet their vehicles and then throw sand and dust over all. Even when it dried the sand tended to stick, and served as an effective a camo scheme as anything else they might have devised.
Cheers,
Ion