How to build Armour for the Beginner, the Basics.
Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 3:20 pm
Hey Fellas,
This was originally written to be published in a magazine but plans changed and I decided to post it here.
I hope that you find it useful
Armour for the Beginner
We all have to start somewhere; every one of us began our hobby in simple ways. Making glue bombs with thumb printed paintjobs. That didn’t seem to stop us though. Something inside of us modellers always seems to pull us onward, to try to improve our skill so that we can put something on our shelves and say proudly, “I built that!”
Many of us had to do that on our own, taking years to develop our skills, others had access to peer groups that they could get tips and advice from. Often times we had to make use of books and magazines that had work done by master modellers that have skills and experience that most of us only dream of, myself included. In fact, this is how I had to learn my skills.
This will be an article that is focused on the newer modeller. Someone that is just venturing into the armour building genre, maybe with a few kits under their belts. In as simple terms as possible, an “out of the box” build of Revell’s Sherman M4 Calliope. I want to concentrate on the steps, not so much the subject or the research.
It all begins with a box. Revell’s M4A3 Sherman with the Calliope rocket launching system.
The first thing I normally do (a few weeks before I want to start a build) is inspect all the parts to see what condition that they’re in. I decide then if I’ll need to replace or update any parts in general. I’ll order any parts or aftermarket items so that I have them on hand when I begin.
I mostly look for damage, flash, seam lines, ejector pin marks, missing surface textures, and manufacturing flaws. Things that I would have to clean up, add, or fix myself. Like this transmission cover for example, it’s completely devoid of surface texture, among other things. I would have to add that.
Or this glacis plate, it has flash, location lines for the brush guards that need to be removed, as well as no surface texture.
Once I’m happy with the condition of the kit and I’ve replaced or fixed anything that was damaged, I’ve collected any relevant reference material for the build that I’ll need, I’ll begin to build the kit.
As with most kits, assembly began with the road wheels and suspension. A few simple things can be done to improve them as you build. These road wheels for example, you can use a small jewelers file to add damage to the rubber surfaces. The surface can be sanded with a rough sanding stick to wear the surface as well. You need to be careful not to completely remove the center seem on the rubber as they’re supposed to be there, just maybe not so pronounced.
The boogie assembly is missing a bit of details that can easily be added with a pin vise or with the tip of your hobby knife. The seams should also be sanded down and filled. Small things like this can greatly improve the appearance and the accuracy of your work.
The next step that I took was to add the cast texture to the turret and the rolled steel texture to the hull.
For this I chose to use Mr. Surfacer 1000. There are several other methods that can be used to add this texture, but for my own tastes this one is best.
I apply it with an old stiff bristled brush in a thin coat over all of the turret’s surface. Doing small patches at a time. It dries fairly quickly and you don’t want to overdo the texturing so apply, stipple and move on.
Improving the appearance of a part is usually preferable to replacing it with aftermarket, and far cheaper. A simple improvement for these brush guards would be to thin them out a bit as they’re far too thick. A round jeweler’s file or soft sponge sander is used to thin out the material on the inside of the guards.
Figures always add to the life like feel of a build, they also help add a sense of scale to a piece, more than any other addition would. Mocking up your build to test fits and progress is also a very good habit to get into. It can help catch errors or things that you’ve missed, as well as confirm that your plan for the build is still on track and everything is fitting. This is especially important if your piece is part of a vignette or diorama.
Some of the tools that came with the kit were in poor condition. They were oddly shaped and badly moulded, so I chose to replace them from my spare parts bins. As you build more and more models you will begin to accumulate a large stash of extra parts. These are still of value for future work and can really save a build when the carpet monster has eaten and important bit.
The calliope launcher system was a very straight forward build and went together very well. It could use some details like the wiring added, but that would be a somewhat more advanced addition.
With the calliope finished I could add all the small details to the vehicle. I prefer to paint all of the tools and stowage while it’s on the vehicle rather than keeping everything separate. This is a personal preference, and I find that it makes things easier for me. It also allows me to do shadows the way that I prefer on a model. Other modellers will paint with everything left separate, to be glued on later. There’s no right or wrong with either of these methods, it’s what every you’re comfortable with that’s important.
Now that the construction is complete painting can begin. It all begins with primer. I find that there are many different opinions about what primer works best, acrylic or cellulose based, what brand works best, etc.
I tried many of them myself, disregarding the opinions of everyone else, until I found the one that works for me. In the end, as with any product or procedure, it’s what works best for you after trying them out yourself.
This being said, Badger’s Stynylrez black primer is what I currently use for an acrylic primer.
Whether it be primer or paint you should always shake/mix your paint very well before you use it. Unless the manufacture instructs otherwise (like Alclad’s Aqua Gloss for example). I can’t stress the importance of mixing your paint enough. A non-corroding ball bearing added to the bottles of some paints can really help with this.
Airbrush setup is something that is so wide and varied in usage that it’s not something that I could possibly cover in an article for a build. There are far too many brands, types, usages, and opinions on them to talk about here. Myself and very briefly, I use a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution Silverline and a Badger Anthem 155 running off a cheap no-name compressor that I bought off of Ebay a few years ago. I spray most acrylics between 15-20psi and I thin some of my paints and spray others neat. That’s about all that I could honestly say about airbrushing without writing another article.
I use a black primer for almost everything that I build because I use a method called preshading to add depth to my models. I use the black as a base colour to highlight all of the recessed and overhung areas on the model, areas where light would have a hard time reaching. More on that later.
After the primer has had a solid day to dry and cure, I start the base painting. The base painting is simply adding all the colours to the model without any effects added. For the main colour I chose Mig’s AMMO Olive Drab Base. I spray all of the surface first with a very thin layer of colour so that the black from the primer isn’t absolute but still visible, then I gradually build up the colour from the centre of the panels outward to the edges, leaving a thin shadow of darkness.
Then I added a thin coat of Olive Drab Highlight to all of the topmost surfaces to offer the impression of fading from the sun. You can take this effect even further into an effect called colour modulation, but that’s a more advanced technique that has a fair amount of controversy over its usage, and I want this to be a more simple approach.
After the base coats are on and dry I’m ready for decals and detail painting. I use Alclad’s Aqua Gloss for all of my gloss varnish work. The stuff is near bullet proof and even stands up to acrylic thinners once it’s dry. With that in mind, it’s nearly impossible to remove if you make a mistake with it.
I add the Aqua Gloss to all the areas where I plan to add decals first, then I’ll use a small fine tipped paint brush to paint all the details on the vehicle, tools, stowage, rubber on the wheels, vehicle damage, etc.
Decals come in all shapes, sizes, makes, and qualities, but I have yet to find any that I have had trouble with applying with Walther’s Solvaset. I’ve tried every brand out there that I could get my hands on and I can’t beat the ease of use and reliability that I got from the Walther’s.
To add decals to a model I make sure that the surface is as smooth and glossy as possible, so a few thin coats of Aqua Gloss takes care of that. Then most fellas will use a small container of warm water, a pair of soft edged tweezers, a cotton bud, and a cocktail stick for tools.
I use all of these things except I don’t bother with the warm water. I just use room temperature water, unless the decals are particularly thick like Tamiya’s. The Walther’s will to the work that I need to soften the decal once it’s on the vehicle after I’ve stopped trying to move it around, and I tend to be a bit rough handed with decals, so the cooler water keeps me from tearing them.
Cut your decal free from the paper as closely to the decal image as possible, trimming off the excess film that carries off the edge as much as possible. Place it face up in your water and submerge it. Allow it to soak until the paper has no dry spots left on it, then remove the decal from the water to rest on a piece of paper towel. The towel will draw out the excess water.
After a few minutes (it depends on the manufacture of the decal, some take longer than others), try to move the decal about the surface of the paper, if it moves freely you can apply it to your model.
I will add a drop of water to the spot where the decal is going just before, to aid in the transfer of the decal. It will help keep the decal from folding. Slide the decal off the paper onto the model, then using a moist cotton bud, move the decal into its final position. Roll the cotton bud over the decal to push out the bubbles, then add a thin layer of the Walther’s Solvaset or other solution to the decal.
It will wrinkle up and look like it’s falling apart at first but that’s normal. Don’t touch it. Once the decal had laid down flat again you can examine it for bubbles and roll it again gently with a moist cotton bud if needed.
Wait a few hours and seal the decals with another layer of the gloss coat. I usually do this when I seal the entire model before weathering.
After the decals are dry I’ll start with the detail painting. All of the tools, stowage, vehicle damage (round hits, scratches, chipping) is done. Wood, leather, bare metal, rope, canvass, cloth, all are present and take a variety of colours to look convincing. My preferred paints for doing details are mostly Vallejo Model Colour and Life Colour. Excellent brush paintable materials. Though I do use Mig’s AMMO for some colours as well as AK Intereactive.
For this build it was mostly Mig’s AMMO and Vallejo Model Colour for the detail painting. The wooden tool handles were painted with AMMO’s light wood, tool heads with flat black and drybrushed with gunmetal. The straps for the tool clamps were painted with VMC’s leather then stained with VMC’s smoke.
For the tracks and their base coats I again chose Mig’s AMMO for the colours.
They make several colours of rust that blend very nicely together and when I’ve used them on tracks and exhausts I find them quite appealing.
Dark tracks as a base followed by track rust thinned into a wash is how I handled these. This style of track is the all steel type so I didn’t have to contend with the rubber block that appears on many Sherman tracks. If I did I would just paint the rubber by hand after handling the metal parts.
The metal wear parts were handled next. An HB pencil combined with a drybrushing of Vallejo Model Air’s Gungrey do wonders for adding worn exposed metal. It’s not too shiny and not too dull, and when combined with the proper use of weathering later I find looks quite convincing.
Futher detail painting is done by painting the rubber on the road wheels followed by the chipping. Mig’s AMMO makes my favourite colour in rubber, and Vallejo Model Colour makes my favourite chipping colour for armour, Germ. Cam. Black Brown 70822
Chipping is probably by far one of the most interesting and most overdone element of weathering used in armour modelling. It’s very easy to go overboard with chipping, so it’s best to be able to fix it if you do. Especially if you’re using acrylics. With oils you have more forgiveness but also more drying time.
I use acrylic to do my chipping so I’ll talk about those this time.
When I do chipping I always do it over a glosscoat of Alclad Aqua gloss. This is so I can easily correct mistakes and reverse excessive chipping. To do this I use the gloss as a base then I use the Vallejo 70822 for the chipping. I usually add the chips using one of or a combination of a torn make-up sponge, a piece of torn green plastic scouring pad, and a small paint brush, but for this build it was just the torn green scouring pad.
I chose this because the type of chipping that I wanted to impart is the single layer type, meaning only two colours, the base paint and the chipping paint. It’s also the simplest form of chipping.
The scoring pad is a good material to use as it will make a variety of marks that are irregular. Not only will it make small dots and lines, it will make large and small scratches. The effect can be very interesting and realistic.
And the final look and check before the washes and weathering begins.
Once the base painting, detail painting, decals, and chipping are applied it’s time for the weathering to begin.
These all begin with a solid gloss coat varnish, in this case, Alclad Aqua Gloss.
There are two kinds of weathering when building models, placement weathering and static weathering.
Static Weathering is weathering done to a subject that will be a stand-alone piece with no diorama or vignette as a base. The base is usually a well-chosen piece of wood or frame that is simple and only for displaying the model.
Placement weathering is the type of weathering done to a model if that model is going to be part of a vignette or diorama. Usually it follows static weathering or is a continuation of the static weathering. It is the blending of materials that is done to marry a model to the scene. So that the vehicle is in the diorama, not on the diorama.
The type of weathering that I will do to this model will be placement weathering, as it will be later added as part of a vignette.
The first part of weathering that I do is the washes. I’ll use a combination of oil washes and clay washes to accomplish this. I began this one with a clay based wash from Ultimate Modelling Products called Dark Dirt. I’ll use it to deepen the resolution of the panel lines and add age to the vehicle at the same time.
A very good gloss coat is paramount for the wash process as any leaks or thin spots will cause any wash material to stick and stain your work.
I cover the surfaces of the entire model with a liberal coat of the Dark Dirt, making sure that there are no bubbles or voids in the coverage. Then I let it dry completely, this is usually about an hour or so.
Then I remove the wash from all of the open areas of the model using a cotton bud and pieces of paper towel, all the flat undetailed surfaces. For all of the vertical surfaces I use a downward or rainward motion to best imitate the flow of water during rain. This adds a very subtle streaking effect. The horizontal surfaces cleaned less regularly, as pooling of water tends to occur on those.
The results are a vehicle that looks as though it has a heavy shadowed and soiled appearance.
After the clay based wash a protective layer needs to be added to keep any further work from disturbing the delicate clay particals. A flat coat of Testors Dullcote was added to seal it in and left to cure for a few days.
Filters are another type of wash that is a tiny amount of paint suspended in a large amount of thinner. This is more like a tinted glaze than a wash, in fact that’s what they used to be called back in the day. Filters are a corrective measure or a blending feature used to either adjust a paint colour that is a few shades off, or to and a sense of homogeneity to a multiple coloured camouflage pattern. It can also be used to add aging to paint and fading if it’s added to specific areas like the turret roof or hatch covers.
In this case I wanted to add an aging feature to the olive drab colour of the tank. Often the paint of Shermans wold fade to a blue green to even a turquoise colour if left long enough.
I mixed some titanium white, a forest green, and a topaz blue oil colour together and added it at about 5% paint to 95% thinner, then added three layers of glaze to the entire tank. Letting it dry for several hours between layers. Then I added two more layers to the top most surfaces like the upper deck and the turret roof.
The next order of business is called a dot filter or mapping. This technique is used to add a very subtle tonal variation to all of the large open areas and break up the uniformity of colour. Small dots of oil paint are added in a random pattern to the surface and then removed with thinner dampened soft brush.
The colours that I chose are colours that are ones that are similar to the base coat colour or simulate another type of deposit that would occur on a vehicle. Green for the base coat, white for salt deposits and bird poo, burnt sienna for rust, and blue to add a deep tone to the greens.
Using a wide thinner dampened brush, and in downward motions, I remove the dots until all that is left is a stain.
This is done over the entire vehicle surface, including the tops, only on the tops you use a stippling motion instead of a streaking motion of the brush.
Once that has dried for several days I’ll add the fuel and oil stains. This is a mix of oil paints and thinner. Lamp Black, Burnt Umber and some Liquin. Liquin is an additive that I use in oils that will speed up drying time as well as add a glossy texture to it. It is for the glossiness that I’ve added it to this mix.
After that has had a couple of days more curing time (if you can still smell the paint, it’s still drying), I’ll move on to the next stage of the weathering, pigments.
I use a wide assortment of pigments to affect my vehicles. Pastel chalks, ground paint particles, wet, dry. The material that I use the most of is ground pastel chalks as they’re the cheapest and easiest to control for colours. I’m not a big user of “over the counter” pigment products, though I do use a few for very specific purposes.
For this project I started off with pigments made by Doc O’Brien, a railroad weathering set. It’s fairly cheap and the colours are very dynamic and easily identified by their name. I do have pet peeve with some companies naming their products with non-colour related names like eastern European Dust, or Egyptian Sand for example. These are useless for modellers that are looking to combine colours together. You spend time opening pots to see what colour is what. I would much prefer a simple dark tan, light brown, burnt umber, type of naming.
To start off I chose the green to fade some of the paint of the Sherman. Taking a small amount of colour out of the pot and set it on a piece of paper towel to mix out all of the large particles. Then I used a small medium soft bristled brush to pick up some of the pigment and applied it to the surfaces of the tank. Concentrating mostly on the upper surfaces and the centres of panels, leaving the edges in the original colour. This is a very much LESS IS MORE effect. You only need a tiny amount to apply this effect.
I did the same thing with the two dirt colours, the grungy grey and dirty brown. These I added to the lower areas of the hull and the leading edges of the sponsons, around the crew passage area like the hatches and climbing surfaces, etc. The pigments are gently scrubbed into the surface of the flat coat so that they stick, there’s no need to overload the surface with the dirt. Heavier effects will come later.
Mud effects are the next level of weathering that I apply after the pigments. They’re made from almost the same thing as the pigments so they blend very well together. I will mix a couple of colours of mud, usually one dark and one light and apply both to the vehicle to impress the effect of old and fresh mud. Pastel pigments, clay based washes, and static grass for texture are the usual ingredients for my muds.
I will grind up the colours that I need to make the mud body, then add some of the clay based wash to either darken or lighten it a bit. These Ultimate Modelling Products washes are cheap and extremely finely pigmented, much more so than anything that I could make myself, so it’s more than worth it for me to use these as an over the counter product. The colours are also very basic so they are very easy to mix and match. Once those are mixed I’ll add some of the static grass for texture.
Then I’ll add it to the underside of the hull, sponsons and around the running gear with a brush.
Once dry it has a nice base for a dried mud effect.
A variance of tones and wetness is also something that’s needed to make mud more like mud. Simply adding a gloss varnish (not future floor polish) to the mix after it’s dry will give it a wet look as well as darken it.
Mud spatter is also a feature that could be added to the vehicle. A Sherman wasn’t speedy, but was quick enough to kick up some mud at speed. It would also be a nice visual trick to make the spatter a slightly different colour than the rest of the mud. Making it glossy would do that nicely.
Mixing up some Ultimate Dark Dirt with Mud and adding a bit of Vallejo gloss varnish makes really nice mud spatter. Using a stiff bristled brush I use my thumb to flick the mixture onto the tank from below, so that the spatter travels upward in the same direction that it would if it were being thrown from the tracks.
This is usually the last effect that I will add to the model before I put it on the shelf.
Once all of that is completed I would call the vehicle finished and I could either place it on a simple display base, stand alone, or on a diorama/vignette. If the model was going on a dio or vignette (in this case that’s exactly what happened) even more weathering would have to be done in order to blend the vehicle into the diorama.
Coen
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This was originally written to be published in a magazine but plans changed and I decided to post it here.
I hope that you find it useful
Armour for the Beginner
We all have to start somewhere; every one of us began our hobby in simple ways. Making glue bombs with thumb printed paintjobs. That didn’t seem to stop us though. Something inside of us modellers always seems to pull us onward, to try to improve our skill so that we can put something on our shelves and say proudly, “I built that!”
Many of us had to do that on our own, taking years to develop our skills, others had access to peer groups that they could get tips and advice from. Often times we had to make use of books and magazines that had work done by master modellers that have skills and experience that most of us only dream of, myself included. In fact, this is how I had to learn my skills.
This will be an article that is focused on the newer modeller. Someone that is just venturing into the armour building genre, maybe with a few kits under their belts. In as simple terms as possible, an “out of the box” build of Revell’s Sherman M4 Calliope. I want to concentrate on the steps, not so much the subject or the research.
It all begins with a box. Revell’s M4A3 Sherman with the Calliope rocket launching system.
The first thing I normally do (a few weeks before I want to start a build) is inspect all the parts to see what condition that they’re in. I decide then if I’ll need to replace or update any parts in general. I’ll order any parts or aftermarket items so that I have them on hand when I begin.
I mostly look for damage, flash, seam lines, ejector pin marks, missing surface textures, and manufacturing flaws. Things that I would have to clean up, add, or fix myself. Like this transmission cover for example, it’s completely devoid of surface texture, among other things. I would have to add that.
Or this glacis plate, it has flash, location lines for the brush guards that need to be removed, as well as no surface texture.
Once I’m happy with the condition of the kit and I’ve replaced or fixed anything that was damaged, I’ve collected any relevant reference material for the build that I’ll need, I’ll begin to build the kit.
As with most kits, assembly began with the road wheels and suspension. A few simple things can be done to improve them as you build. These road wheels for example, you can use a small jewelers file to add damage to the rubber surfaces. The surface can be sanded with a rough sanding stick to wear the surface as well. You need to be careful not to completely remove the center seem on the rubber as they’re supposed to be there, just maybe not so pronounced.
The boogie assembly is missing a bit of details that can easily be added with a pin vise or with the tip of your hobby knife. The seams should also be sanded down and filled. Small things like this can greatly improve the appearance and the accuracy of your work.
The next step that I took was to add the cast texture to the turret and the rolled steel texture to the hull.
For this I chose to use Mr. Surfacer 1000. There are several other methods that can be used to add this texture, but for my own tastes this one is best.
I apply it with an old stiff bristled brush in a thin coat over all of the turret’s surface. Doing small patches at a time. It dries fairly quickly and you don’t want to overdo the texturing so apply, stipple and move on.
Improving the appearance of a part is usually preferable to replacing it with aftermarket, and far cheaper. A simple improvement for these brush guards would be to thin them out a bit as they’re far too thick. A round jeweler’s file or soft sponge sander is used to thin out the material on the inside of the guards.
Figures always add to the life like feel of a build, they also help add a sense of scale to a piece, more than any other addition would. Mocking up your build to test fits and progress is also a very good habit to get into. It can help catch errors or things that you’ve missed, as well as confirm that your plan for the build is still on track and everything is fitting. This is especially important if your piece is part of a vignette or diorama.
Some of the tools that came with the kit were in poor condition. They were oddly shaped and badly moulded, so I chose to replace them from my spare parts bins. As you build more and more models you will begin to accumulate a large stash of extra parts. These are still of value for future work and can really save a build when the carpet monster has eaten and important bit.
The calliope launcher system was a very straight forward build and went together very well. It could use some details like the wiring added, but that would be a somewhat more advanced addition.
With the calliope finished I could add all the small details to the vehicle. I prefer to paint all of the tools and stowage while it’s on the vehicle rather than keeping everything separate. This is a personal preference, and I find that it makes things easier for me. It also allows me to do shadows the way that I prefer on a model. Other modellers will paint with everything left separate, to be glued on later. There’s no right or wrong with either of these methods, it’s what every you’re comfortable with that’s important.
Now that the construction is complete painting can begin. It all begins with primer. I find that there are many different opinions about what primer works best, acrylic or cellulose based, what brand works best, etc.
I tried many of them myself, disregarding the opinions of everyone else, until I found the one that works for me. In the end, as with any product or procedure, it’s what works best for you after trying them out yourself.
This being said, Badger’s Stynylrez black primer is what I currently use for an acrylic primer.
Whether it be primer or paint you should always shake/mix your paint very well before you use it. Unless the manufacture instructs otherwise (like Alclad’s Aqua Gloss for example). I can’t stress the importance of mixing your paint enough. A non-corroding ball bearing added to the bottles of some paints can really help with this.
Airbrush setup is something that is so wide and varied in usage that it’s not something that I could possibly cover in an article for a build. There are far too many brands, types, usages, and opinions on them to talk about here. Myself and very briefly, I use a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution Silverline and a Badger Anthem 155 running off a cheap no-name compressor that I bought off of Ebay a few years ago. I spray most acrylics between 15-20psi and I thin some of my paints and spray others neat. That’s about all that I could honestly say about airbrushing without writing another article.
I use a black primer for almost everything that I build because I use a method called preshading to add depth to my models. I use the black as a base colour to highlight all of the recessed and overhung areas on the model, areas where light would have a hard time reaching. More on that later.
After the primer has had a solid day to dry and cure, I start the base painting. The base painting is simply adding all the colours to the model without any effects added. For the main colour I chose Mig’s AMMO Olive Drab Base. I spray all of the surface first with a very thin layer of colour so that the black from the primer isn’t absolute but still visible, then I gradually build up the colour from the centre of the panels outward to the edges, leaving a thin shadow of darkness.
Then I added a thin coat of Olive Drab Highlight to all of the topmost surfaces to offer the impression of fading from the sun. You can take this effect even further into an effect called colour modulation, but that’s a more advanced technique that has a fair amount of controversy over its usage, and I want this to be a more simple approach.
After the base coats are on and dry I’m ready for decals and detail painting. I use Alclad’s Aqua Gloss for all of my gloss varnish work. The stuff is near bullet proof and even stands up to acrylic thinners once it’s dry. With that in mind, it’s nearly impossible to remove if you make a mistake with it.
I add the Aqua Gloss to all the areas where I plan to add decals first, then I’ll use a small fine tipped paint brush to paint all the details on the vehicle, tools, stowage, rubber on the wheels, vehicle damage, etc.
Decals come in all shapes, sizes, makes, and qualities, but I have yet to find any that I have had trouble with applying with Walther’s Solvaset. I’ve tried every brand out there that I could get my hands on and I can’t beat the ease of use and reliability that I got from the Walther’s.
To add decals to a model I make sure that the surface is as smooth and glossy as possible, so a few thin coats of Aqua Gloss takes care of that. Then most fellas will use a small container of warm water, a pair of soft edged tweezers, a cotton bud, and a cocktail stick for tools.
I use all of these things except I don’t bother with the warm water. I just use room temperature water, unless the decals are particularly thick like Tamiya’s. The Walther’s will to the work that I need to soften the decal once it’s on the vehicle after I’ve stopped trying to move it around, and I tend to be a bit rough handed with decals, so the cooler water keeps me from tearing them.
Cut your decal free from the paper as closely to the decal image as possible, trimming off the excess film that carries off the edge as much as possible. Place it face up in your water and submerge it. Allow it to soak until the paper has no dry spots left on it, then remove the decal from the water to rest on a piece of paper towel. The towel will draw out the excess water.
After a few minutes (it depends on the manufacture of the decal, some take longer than others), try to move the decal about the surface of the paper, if it moves freely you can apply it to your model.
I will add a drop of water to the spot where the decal is going just before, to aid in the transfer of the decal. It will help keep the decal from folding. Slide the decal off the paper onto the model, then using a moist cotton bud, move the decal into its final position. Roll the cotton bud over the decal to push out the bubbles, then add a thin layer of the Walther’s Solvaset or other solution to the decal.
It will wrinkle up and look like it’s falling apart at first but that’s normal. Don’t touch it. Once the decal had laid down flat again you can examine it for bubbles and roll it again gently with a moist cotton bud if needed.
Wait a few hours and seal the decals with another layer of the gloss coat. I usually do this when I seal the entire model before weathering.
After the decals are dry I’ll start with the detail painting. All of the tools, stowage, vehicle damage (round hits, scratches, chipping) is done. Wood, leather, bare metal, rope, canvass, cloth, all are present and take a variety of colours to look convincing. My preferred paints for doing details are mostly Vallejo Model Colour and Life Colour. Excellent brush paintable materials. Though I do use Mig’s AMMO for some colours as well as AK Intereactive.
For this build it was mostly Mig’s AMMO and Vallejo Model Colour for the detail painting. The wooden tool handles were painted with AMMO’s light wood, tool heads with flat black and drybrushed with gunmetal. The straps for the tool clamps were painted with VMC’s leather then stained with VMC’s smoke.
For the tracks and their base coats I again chose Mig’s AMMO for the colours.
They make several colours of rust that blend very nicely together and when I’ve used them on tracks and exhausts I find them quite appealing.
Dark tracks as a base followed by track rust thinned into a wash is how I handled these. This style of track is the all steel type so I didn’t have to contend with the rubber block that appears on many Sherman tracks. If I did I would just paint the rubber by hand after handling the metal parts.
The metal wear parts were handled next. An HB pencil combined with a drybrushing of Vallejo Model Air’s Gungrey do wonders for adding worn exposed metal. It’s not too shiny and not too dull, and when combined with the proper use of weathering later I find looks quite convincing.
Futher detail painting is done by painting the rubber on the road wheels followed by the chipping. Mig’s AMMO makes my favourite colour in rubber, and Vallejo Model Colour makes my favourite chipping colour for armour, Germ. Cam. Black Brown 70822
Chipping is probably by far one of the most interesting and most overdone element of weathering used in armour modelling. It’s very easy to go overboard with chipping, so it’s best to be able to fix it if you do. Especially if you’re using acrylics. With oils you have more forgiveness but also more drying time.
I use acrylic to do my chipping so I’ll talk about those this time.
When I do chipping I always do it over a glosscoat of Alclad Aqua gloss. This is so I can easily correct mistakes and reverse excessive chipping. To do this I use the gloss as a base then I use the Vallejo 70822 for the chipping. I usually add the chips using one of or a combination of a torn make-up sponge, a piece of torn green plastic scouring pad, and a small paint brush, but for this build it was just the torn green scouring pad.
I chose this because the type of chipping that I wanted to impart is the single layer type, meaning only two colours, the base paint and the chipping paint. It’s also the simplest form of chipping.
The scoring pad is a good material to use as it will make a variety of marks that are irregular. Not only will it make small dots and lines, it will make large and small scratches. The effect can be very interesting and realistic.
And the final look and check before the washes and weathering begins.
Once the base painting, detail painting, decals, and chipping are applied it’s time for the weathering to begin.
These all begin with a solid gloss coat varnish, in this case, Alclad Aqua Gloss.
There are two kinds of weathering when building models, placement weathering and static weathering.
Static Weathering is weathering done to a subject that will be a stand-alone piece with no diorama or vignette as a base. The base is usually a well-chosen piece of wood or frame that is simple and only for displaying the model.
Placement weathering is the type of weathering done to a model if that model is going to be part of a vignette or diorama. Usually it follows static weathering or is a continuation of the static weathering. It is the blending of materials that is done to marry a model to the scene. So that the vehicle is in the diorama, not on the diorama.
The type of weathering that I will do to this model will be placement weathering, as it will be later added as part of a vignette.
The first part of weathering that I do is the washes. I’ll use a combination of oil washes and clay washes to accomplish this. I began this one with a clay based wash from Ultimate Modelling Products called Dark Dirt. I’ll use it to deepen the resolution of the panel lines and add age to the vehicle at the same time.
A very good gloss coat is paramount for the wash process as any leaks or thin spots will cause any wash material to stick and stain your work.
I cover the surfaces of the entire model with a liberal coat of the Dark Dirt, making sure that there are no bubbles or voids in the coverage. Then I let it dry completely, this is usually about an hour or so.
Then I remove the wash from all of the open areas of the model using a cotton bud and pieces of paper towel, all the flat undetailed surfaces. For all of the vertical surfaces I use a downward or rainward motion to best imitate the flow of water during rain. This adds a very subtle streaking effect. The horizontal surfaces cleaned less regularly, as pooling of water tends to occur on those.
The results are a vehicle that looks as though it has a heavy shadowed and soiled appearance.
After the clay based wash a protective layer needs to be added to keep any further work from disturbing the delicate clay particals. A flat coat of Testors Dullcote was added to seal it in and left to cure for a few days.
Filters are another type of wash that is a tiny amount of paint suspended in a large amount of thinner. This is more like a tinted glaze than a wash, in fact that’s what they used to be called back in the day. Filters are a corrective measure or a blending feature used to either adjust a paint colour that is a few shades off, or to and a sense of homogeneity to a multiple coloured camouflage pattern. It can also be used to add aging to paint and fading if it’s added to specific areas like the turret roof or hatch covers.
In this case I wanted to add an aging feature to the olive drab colour of the tank. Often the paint of Shermans wold fade to a blue green to even a turquoise colour if left long enough.
I mixed some titanium white, a forest green, and a topaz blue oil colour together and added it at about 5% paint to 95% thinner, then added three layers of glaze to the entire tank. Letting it dry for several hours between layers. Then I added two more layers to the top most surfaces like the upper deck and the turret roof.
The next order of business is called a dot filter or mapping. This technique is used to add a very subtle tonal variation to all of the large open areas and break up the uniformity of colour. Small dots of oil paint are added in a random pattern to the surface and then removed with thinner dampened soft brush.
The colours that I chose are colours that are ones that are similar to the base coat colour or simulate another type of deposit that would occur on a vehicle. Green for the base coat, white for salt deposits and bird poo, burnt sienna for rust, and blue to add a deep tone to the greens.
Using a wide thinner dampened brush, and in downward motions, I remove the dots until all that is left is a stain.
This is done over the entire vehicle surface, including the tops, only on the tops you use a stippling motion instead of a streaking motion of the brush.
Once that has dried for several days I’ll add the fuel and oil stains. This is a mix of oil paints and thinner. Lamp Black, Burnt Umber and some Liquin. Liquin is an additive that I use in oils that will speed up drying time as well as add a glossy texture to it. It is for the glossiness that I’ve added it to this mix.
After that has had a couple of days more curing time (if you can still smell the paint, it’s still drying), I’ll move on to the next stage of the weathering, pigments.
I use a wide assortment of pigments to affect my vehicles. Pastel chalks, ground paint particles, wet, dry. The material that I use the most of is ground pastel chalks as they’re the cheapest and easiest to control for colours. I’m not a big user of “over the counter” pigment products, though I do use a few for very specific purposes.
For this project I started off with pigments made by Doc O’Brien, a railroad weathering set. It’s fairly cheap and the colours are very dynamic and easily identified by their name. I do have pet peeve with some companies naming their products with non-colour related names like eastern European Dust, or Egyptian Sand for example. These are useless for modellers that are looking to combine colours together. You spend time opening pots to see what colour is what. I would much prefer a simple dark tan, light brown, burnt umber, type of naming.
To start off I chose the green to fade some of the paint of the Sherman. Taking a small amount of colour out of the pot and set it on a piece of paper towel to mix out all of the large particles. Then I used a small medium soft bristled brush to pick up some of the pigment and applied it to the surfaces of the tank. Concentrating mostly on the upper surfaces and the centres of panels, leaving the edges in the original colour. This is a very much LESS IS MORE effect. You only need a tiny amount to apply this effect.
I did the same thing with the two dirt colours, the grungy grey and dirty brown. These I added to the lower areas of the hull and the leading edges of the sponsons, around the crew passage area like the hatches and climbing surfaces, etc. The pigments are gently scrubbed into the surface of the flat coat so that they stick, there’s no need to overload the surface with the dirt. Heavier effects will come later.
Mud effects are the next level of weathering that I apply after the pigments. They’re made from almost the same thing as the pigments so they blend very well together. I will mix a couple of colours of mud, usually one dark and one light and apply both to the vehicle to impress the effect of old and fresh mud. Pastel pigments, clay based washes, and static grass for texture are the usual ingredients for my muds.
I will grind up the colours that I need to make the mud body, then add some of the clay based wash to either darken or lighten it a bit. These Ultimate Modelling Products washes are cheap and extremely finely pigmented, much more so than anything that I could make myself, so it’s more than worth it for me to use these as an over the counter product. The colours are also very basic so they are very easy to mix and match. Once those are mixed I’ll add some of the static grass for texture.
Then I’ll add it to the underside of the hull, sponsons and around the running gear with a brush.
Once dry it has a nice base for a dried mud effect.
A variance of tones and wetness is also something that’s needed to make mud more like mud. Simply adding a gloss varnish (not future floor polish) to the mix after it’s dry will give it a wet look as well as darken it.
Mud spatter is also a feature that could be added to the vehicle. A Sherman wasn’t speedy, but was quick enough to kick up some mud at speed. It would also be a nice visual trick to make the spatter a slightly different colour than the rest of the mud. Making it glossy would do that nicely.
Mixing up some Ultimate Dark Dirt with Mud and adding a bit of Vallejo gloss varnish makes really nice mud spatter. Using a stiff bristled brush I use my thumb to flick the mixture onto the tank from below, so that the spatter travels upward in the same direction that it would if it were being thrown from the tracks.
This is usually the last effect that I will add to the model before I put it on the shelf.
Once all of that is completed I would call the vehicle finished and I could either place it on a simple display base, stand alone, or on a diorama/vignette. If the model was going on a dio or vignette (in this case that’s exactly what happened) even more weathering would have to be done in order to blend the vehicle into the diorama.
Coen
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Required reading for ALL modeller's (not just 'new-to-armour' ones) and a most excellent contribution, if I might be permitted to say so, Mike. 
