Global Scale Modeller

Tiger, HM, John - thanks for the kind comments fellas, always appreciated!

Right, now onto to some weathering!

I always have a rough plan of how I want the vehicle to look, but I'm quite happy to adapt and change this as I go along. I only dived into the world of proper weathering about 6 months ago, so much of what I'm doing is still new to me. When I first started, I was very nervous as there's always the fear that you are going to ruin all your hard work. But then I remembered something that we teach our students at karate; always go in 100% because if you hesitate it will be you that comes off worse. So, I always try and apply this principle to my weathering - but with a brush and paint of course! I dread to think what would be the result of a swift mawashi-geri to the turret!! (round-house kick)

First up is to apply the base wash. I try and always use a colour that will compliment the base colour and usually go for something slightly darker. Oil paints are normally my first choice, but there are a number of pre-prepared enamel washes out there that are very good and there's a huge range of colours ready made up. Now normally I would mix up a wash of about one part paint to ten parts white spirit and then apply this to the whole vehicle. But, for this one I mixed up something a little thicker, about 1:3 ratio and only applied it to certain areas. The idea was to put it fairly thick and then run it down panels and vertical surfaces to give a more natural "flow" to the wash. I've never actually tried this before, so I'm not sure what the final effect will be like - but what the hell, lets give it a go!!

Here's the products that I used, plus my brushes of choice. I love these brushes, there a mix between flat and round brushes and it gives you the best of both worlds. I applied the wash with the larger brush and then used the point to disperse the wash. Finally I used the smaller brush to dab off any excess and also to "drag" it into the nooks and crannies. I got them from Hobby Craft here in the UK and they were about £8 for a set of 10 or so.



And here's what I ended up with......





It was at this point that my wife came into the room. "You spent all that time deliberating over the base colour and now look what you've done to it!!" Pah! What does she know! I was fairly pleased with the result as it gives me the "dirty" look that I was after. I wanted to try and get the look of dirt, sand and grime collecting on the high points etc. Next up will be a pin wash to highlight all the nooks, crannies, panels and details and then onto some streaking and stains - dirty, dirty tank!!

Thanks for taking a look!

The next Gem in the road . I look forward finish

Awesome looking tank. One of my favorite modern main battle tanks.

Alex, get a lock on the door.
My wife did the same with the Jackal,
"You spent ages over the choice of colour and then slap mud over it".
Out, out, out........
Its a beaut Alex a real beaut.

John

Very impressive indeed so far.

Eryk, Robert, John, Paul - thanks for the kind words fellas!

Next up it's time for a pin wash and after much deliberating I've opted to use black rather than a brown for this one as I think it will give a better contrast to the body colour. It's at this stage that I must make an apology as I'm sure that you may well look at these next pictures and think, "Fhat the wuck, the lazy bugga hasn't done anything, he's just used the same photos as the last update!" But please believe me, I have been working hard (the wife wouldn't quite agree! ). I prefer to do all of my weathering with a brush and apply each element incrementally so that you get a small build of layers. By applying each layer gradually and then knocking it back, you can keep a good control and make sure that you don't go too far. Although there are plenty who think I just take the lid off and liberally splash it all over!!

Products used


I didn't spend too much time on the wheels and running gear as a lot of this won't be seen once the track skirts are attached.



I use the pin wash to emphasise all the contrasts and especially areas where you will get shadows and hopefully this will help to "lift" all the details out from the main model.




I did go to town a bit with the skirts ("yeah, and it looks like you dragged them behind you all the way!"). I have seen quite a few pictures of these beasts that are really quite dirty and beat up, although I know this is quite a can of worms as a lot of people will argue that modern armour wouldn't get this dirty as it's not experiencing the true rigours of a full on war scenario. For those of you that are offended by dirty pictures and utter filth - please look away now!!




You were warned! Somebody has recently posted a very interesting thread on "Rethinking Weathering" and it gives a very interesting view on the whole topic of over-weathering. For me you can't really over-weathering - but under-estimate just how dirty these things can get!!

Thanks for taking a look!

Ahh brilliant piece of work. you are de master

ozzie21

Well ditto what Ozzie said.
I had written a piece to you Alex, unfortunately I was at work and got waylaid with work type stuff and of course it clears.
So I shall have to write again, but then again Alex no hardship as its worth writing about once or twice.
As for your Pin-Wash, its great, subtle and not to OTT and it blends well which is the look required. You don't want it looking like a Polka Dot dress
The skirts are brilliant, really brilliant. Dirty, mucky and the fall away down the skirt is spot on.
I do think you can go over-board on weathering now. It seems some modellers choose every bit of weathering product out there and go way, way over the top.
each model and each subject needs careful and deliberate weathering. Obvious of course but some models I have seen on other sites seem a bit heavy with the dust and mud effects.
Now I know I have mentioned it before, and I apologise profusely for "Pulling up the Sandbag" and boring the Bejesus of everyone.
My time spent around AFV's in the British Army as a Driver / Mech gave me some insight into amounts of "Muck" and areas thrown on too vehicles. Every vehicle is different and every environment plays different effects on appearance.
Plus the first bit of kit issued to me on taking over the Driver seat, was a set of water-proof coveralls for wearing when jet washing down the Beasts
Colour Sergeants and MTO's never let mud and crap settle on the lovely Beasts for long.
Even in combat AFV's get looked after and taken care of.
To crews they are home and safety. Its like your bed space, your not going to crap all over it. Keep it clean and looked after and it will be less likely to break-down and fail.
I know in the Golan and Sinai areas where these Merks have worked, its dusty and dusty (some rain and even snow I'm told, by the chap who supplied me with a very nice IDF Fleece for cold nights).
Your Merk is gonna look the Dogs Danglies when finished and even now i surpasses most I have seen.
Ace Job Alex, keep up the brilliant work.
John

Ozzie21 wrote: Ahh brilliant piece of work. you are de master

ozzie21

Thanks Charles! Your words flatter me Sir, I am no more than a bumbling amatuer that was lucky enough to find ISM and I've been learning ever since!

Donkeywalloper wrote:Well ditto what Ozzie said.
I had written a piece to you Alex, unfortunately I was at work and got waylaid with work type stuff and of course it clears.
So I shall have to write again, but then again Alex no hardship as its worth writing about once or twice.
As for your Pin-Wash, its great, subtle and not to OTT and it blends well which is the look required. You don't want it looking like a Polka Dot dress
The skirts are brilliant, really brilliant. Dirty, mucky and the fall away down the skirt is spot on.
I do think you can go over-board on weathering now. It seems some modellers choose every bit of weathering product out there and go way, way over the top.
each model and each subject needs careful and deliberate weathering. Obvious of course but some models I have seen on other sites seem a bit heavy with the dust and mud effects.
Now I know I have mentioned it before, and I apologise profusely for "Pulling up the Sandbag" and boring the Bejesus of everyone.
My time spent around AFV's in the British Army as a Driver / Mech gave me some insight into amounts of "Muck" and areas thrown on too vehicles. Every vehicle is different and every environment plays different effects on appearance.
Plus the first bit of kit issued to me on taking over the Driver seat, was a set of water-proof coveralls for wearing when jet washing down the Beasts
Colour Sergeants and MTO's never let mud and crap settle on the lovely Beasts for long.
Even in combat AFV's get looked after and taken care of.
To crews they are home and safety. Its like your bed space, your not going to crap all over it. Keep it clean and looked after and it will be less likely to break-down and fail.
I know in the Golan and Sinai areas where these Merks have worked, its dusty and dusty (some rain and even snow I'm told, by the chap who supplied me with a very nice IDF Fleece for cold nights).
Your Merk is gonna look the Dogs Danglies when finished and even now i surpasses most I have seen.
Ace Job Alex, keep up the brilliant work.
John

Thanks John, appreciate the kind words!

One of my best mates is ex REME and he always berates me for "over-weathering" my models and as he loves to point out, he would have got a right beasting if he let a vehicle go out in that condition! I always like to pull the "artistic license" card, but am aware that it is very close to expiring and I may not be allowed to renew it!

LOL
John

The Merk has been a little neglected what with the D-Day GB and the Dangerous Cat SiG, but with the latter now being finished, I decided to turn my attention back to this one. Next step is the tracks and these come in the form of individual links. They've already been removed from their spruces and are loose in two separate bags.



At first I thought, great, no need for any clean up! Alas, this is not quite the case. There are EPM's, but they are on the inside of each link and won't be seen once assembled, but there is an attachment point on each link that does really need a bit of a tidy up. They are pretty easy to put together though and build up to be quite nice tracks - not quite Dragons Magic Tracks, but pretty good non the less.





However, it was at this point that I realised that I've made a boo-boo (yeah, yeah - another one!). The tracks should have been fitted before the front and rear fenders and this is clearly indicated in the instructions. After several attempts it was clear that I would either have to disassemble the tracks and attach them in short sections, or try and remove the fenders. I could see downsides with either option and so I decided on the following third option instead...........



I've only ever used Friulmodel tracks once before, but I absolutely love them. I did notice with this set though that the wire that is supplied is the gold coloured brass wire, which seems a little stiffer, making assembly easier. The first set I made came with the silver "fuse" type wire and this seemed a lot softer and more prone to bending.



The tracks flew together and they were primed with Vallejo black primer, followed by track primer from Vallejo model colour. I then applied a track wash and finished up with a steel dry-brushing. Unfortunately I didn't get any more pictures as I sort of got in the zone and just ploughed on to the end. The Yanush stripe on the barrel caused a few problems. There is a decal included in the kit for this, but I had already decided not to use this in favour of masking and hand painting. However masking was tricky due to the details round the barrel (I believe they are heat exchangers of some sort sort), so I resorted to painting them by hand in the end. Checking with several reference materials, it seems as though there were different designs for this stripe and few of them seemed very straight. Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!















And that's about it for this one. The MG's need painting up and attaching, but that about do it. I would highly recommend Meng kits as the bits that are good are exceptionally good and the bits that are bad aren't really that bad at all.

Absolutely stunning !!

i'd love to build a merkava it looks so brutal!!

what s the best to nuil the meng one ir the academy one?

congrats

Goose

. Congrat mate !

By the looks of it Alex, you've completely and totally figured out armour buddy.
It's beautiful!!! That's a very fine piece of armour modelling my friend. Hands down gorgeous!!!

Oh Alex, what can I add that has not already been said?
Its a really stunning peice mate.
If I had a hat, I would take it off and leave it off, its that damn good.
The exhaust soot and the weathering
Bet you have that feeling of sadness as this great build comes to an end though?
What next?
NB: the Track thing, much better than the kit tracks

John

Awesome job, Alex!

Alex

Awesome work mate.

cheers
Rossco

Goose wrote:Absolutely stunning !!

i'd love to build a merkava it looks so brutal!!

what s the best to nuil the meng one ir the academy one?

congrats

Goose

Thanks Goose!

Can't comment on the Academy kit as I've not seen it personally, but I can definitely recommend the Meng - overall, a great kit.

AchtungPanzer wrote: . Congrat mate !

Thanks Eryk!

Coen wrote:By the looks of it Alex, you've completely and totally figured out armour buddy.
It's beautiful!!! That's a very fine piece of armour modelling my friend. Hands down gorgeous!!!

Thanks Mike, appreciate the very kind words,

Not sure about having figured out armour, just trying to put into practice what I've learnt from this site and YouTube etc. Like I've done most of my life, I'm just blagging it as I go along. As card players say, you don't always get a good poker hand, but you can always have a good poker face!

Donkeywalloper wrote:Oh Alex, what can I add that has not already been said?
Its a really stunning peice mate.
If I had a hat, I would take it off and leave it off, its that damn good.
The exhaust soot and the weathering
Bet you have that feeling of sadness as this great build comes to an end though?
What next?
NB: the Track thing, much better than the kit tracks

John

Thanks John, appreciate the very kind comment!

I find the best way of combating post build blues is to just crack open another kit (and having 3 or 4 on the go at once also helps!!)

UKguyInUSA wrote:Awesome job, Alex!

Thanks UKguy!

rm6239 wrote:Alex

Awesome work mate.

cheers
Rossco

Thanks Rossco!

Loving seeing you continuing with your Steel Rain build!

I'll take the Meng kit over the Hobby Boss kit any day,,,,,great job.