I am now in the final phases of this build – weathering. This usually means that things go extremely slowly, mostly because I use oil paints for lot of my weathering techniques and I usually let them dry for at least 24 hours before proceeding. At the same time the process is often iterative, such as with chipping – I add chips, let the paint dry, then add some more, then again and again after I feel I have the desired effect (though part of the excuse may as well be the fact that the weather is warmer outside and there is ton of work to be done in the garden and around the house, you know it…).

So I have spent last few evening adding chipping. I use my favourite mix of Winsor & Newton Ivory Black and Burnt Umber and apply the chips in very controlled, localized dry brushing. I think the effect you can achieve using this technique is by far more refined than by actually painting the chips with fine brush. This is partly because this technique actually replicates the process through which chipping occurs on real vehicles – abrasion of paint layers on places, which are exposed to the movement of the crews (e.g. edged of the hatches and turret) or to the environment and surrounding of the vehicle (e.g. edges of the main body of the vehicle).

Nevertheless, in this case, I am trying to keep chipping subtle. Ka-Mi most likely saw very limited action, so most of the weathering would be the regular “wear and tear”. Now given the fact that the punishments in the Imperial Army were rather draconian for even small infractions of the rules and discipline, one could assume that the tanks would be well maintained…

In the process I have also added last pieces that I kept separate to ease the painting of the model – second half of the turret upper hatch and exhaust grill.

I am now thinking where to go with this model, I still plan to add few more weathering effects, but I am becoming hesitant, as I quite like the vehicle with its current look. So let’s see…

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