Over the past days I have been able to make steady on progress on few pieces on my bench, Ferdinand being one of them.
I have experimented with the mudding using mix of Wilder’s light brown textured earth, earth colored pigments and static grass. I am quite happy about the outcome.
The weathering on the lower hull is barely visible especially on the photographs, but the visible parts elsewhere look quite good to my eye. I spent quite a while weathering tracks only to find out that even on the top runs of the tracks only little can be seen.
The process I followed was as follows:
- Prime the tracks (I have used the kit provided tracks) and paint them in base coat using mix of black and earth colors.
- Apply the mud mix making sure the mud is accumulated in the recessed parts of the track, not on the outer parts that would be in contact with the ground. (One additional note here for the next time – just after applying the mix I need to make sure that the track holes, where the sprocket wheel teeth need go through the holes, are clear of mud. Clearing them once the mud has dried is much more complicated :-))
- Airbrush light coat of Tamiya earth acrylic to blend the colour.
- Apply mix of earth colored pigments.
- Highlight the track edges and raised parts with metallic pigment.
Mudding was added also on relevant surfaces at the front and rear of the vehicle using the same approach.
Vehicle was thus ready for weathering on the top surfaces. For this I started with adding oils replicating dust and dirt on the horizontal surfaces and streaking on the vertical and sloped ones. This was underlined with airbrushing the enamel earth coloured wash on the sides of the hull and using brush to add some more streaking and darkening on the surfaces, especially along the lower edges.
Light chipping was added as well, not going too much overboard. The markings of the vehicle are from the operation Zitadelle, so the vehicle would not be much worn out.
I have also played a bit with the pigments and engine dirt on one of the front panels and I am quite encouraged by the resulting look, so will be going over the rest of the vehicle shortly.
MiniArmour 