BadCop

AFV Club are also doing a new Tool Valentine kit as well, it seems. PMMS

You've actually managed to finish a build, and if you enjoyed yourself - it's far from a travesty! My tip would be for you not to get too ambitious with your subsequent builds, just try to work on improving one bit at a time, and make it a little bit improved from the previous. What I find most satisfying, especially early in my return to the hobby, is seeing my skills improve from build to build.

Thanks Mike, Mark and Antoine. I've started to throw some paint on some of the stowage starting with the sandbags on the lower hull and some tarpaulins. I started with Tamiya Khaki for the sandbags and then olive drab for the tarpaulins, followed by several washes to bring out the detail in the folds and creases and finishing with a flat coat. I may finish off with a drybrushing of some lighter colours to bring out the highlights.

A little more work to report now. I've firstly given the whole thing an overspray of highly thinned Tamiya Buff to blend the marking colours together and tone down the paint scratches. I've also come up with an arrangement of the stowage items that I'm going to use on this build.

Anyway, a little more work to progress. Using a torn off bit of brillo pad and some Vallejo German Black-Brown, I've added some paint chipping all over, trying to concentrate on the higher wear areas of the hull. I've gone a little too far, but hopefully a filter will tone it down to a more acceptable level.

Thanks Mike, The textured paint is very sturdy much more robust than any finish I've tried to achieve with pigments. I'm still undecided about the usefulness of the stuff right now, but the only way to find out is to have a go. Trent

Thanks Paul and Mike. This is the stuff I'll be using to recreate a build up of sand around the lower hull sort of like you can can see in this picture from Primeportal. It's a gritty thick water soluble paint, that I'd dare not eeven try to put through an airbrush. I thinned it with a little tapwater and slopped it around the lower hull with an old paintbrush. The end effect is this It's a little restrained, but as it is I think it might be okay for the anti slip surface textures that you see on modern armour. After sealing the racks with a flat coat (thanks for the tip Mike!), I've dusted them up with some pigments, then wiped them clean using the good old damp finger. After that, I've added the tracks to the suspension and glopped a little more Weathering mix, unthinned around the lower hull to give it a bit more texture. I couldn't resist the urge to attach the upper hull and turret, just to get a better preview of the finished product. Next up will be to add some paint chiping around the lower hull and figure out what stowage I'm going to add from the overwhelming choice in the Legend Productions stowage set.

That is some very impressive weathering you've done there Mark, extremely realistic and very well executed. Good luck with the false canopy decals! Regards, Trent

Thanks Daz. Nt quite as much progress to report as I'd like, but I've done a little more work painting the canvas covers on the Main gun and commanders MG mantles. I used a mix of Buff and brown then used a wash of brown and black paint to bring out the details. I've also painted the MG barrel using some Humbrol Metal Cote and a few other small details like the vision block on MG turret, and the headlights. I've also added the decals to build and had to use a lot of decal solvent to get them to conform to all the bolts on the Reactive armour panels. I've also finished painting the inside rubber pads on the tracks.

Dave, This reply is probably a little late, but I''ve just used a little Tamiya extra thin and gotten a reasonably good bond between the rubber rims and road wheels in the AFV Club kits. It's strange, as the Rubber doesn't seem to react with any styrene cement, but maybe it soften the styrene rims and 'melts' them into a snug fit. Trent

That's some very impressive work there Pete! The weathering on the Pak40 is subtle, but very effectively done. Equally, your weathered winter camouflage is also impressive. Paint chipping is something I'm trying to develop some skills with, and it seems you're way ahead of me there. Trent.

Thanks Walrus, Daz and Mike. The weathering process for the tracks has begun! First I misted on some Tamiya Hull Red, then gave the tracks a going over with the Tamiya 'Make up kit' weathering set, starting with the gunmetal colour using a stiff brush, rather than the little brush included with the kit kit, to give it an overall metallic sheen. Next, to give it the Rusty look that all Desert Storm M60 pictures I have seen have on the tracks, a second going over with the same pigment kit, this time using the Orange rust colour. Next I painted the rubber pads on the outside of the tracks using Vallejo Black Grey. Once this has properly dried, I can paint the inner rubber pads and figure out how to add some sand coloured pigments to show the sand picked up in the tracks. I will also have a go at using the new Tamiya Diorama Texture paint to show the sand that has built up on the lower hull, running gear and road wheels.

Thanks for comment Mark. For sand colours I find that a brown primer colour works best. Finally, I've got some progress to report! I've finished cleaning up all of the individual link tracks - a tedious process indeed turning 10 sprues of this: After cleaning up 320 end connectors (each with one sprue attachment point), and 158 links (each with two pin marks and two sprue attachment point)it builds up into this: They fit the suspension perfectly! The only bad thing about these tracks is the fixed centre guide horn that looks just a little out on the sections of the track that bend. The new Bronco tracks have solved this problem, but look to be even more work to clean up an build. Painting started with an overall coat of Vallejo Panzer Aces Track primer, a nice dull metallic greyish colour. Next to come will be a light misting over with hull red, then some metallic pigments before painting the rubber pads on the tracks.

Thanks Pharty - the instructions do include a full size template that I simply photocopied and placed underneath the sheet of mesh, then cut out using a sharp blade. Painting has progressed with an initial coat of Gunze 313 FS33531 Yellow. I thought the colour to be too white and not yellow enough comparing it to reference pics, so I prepared a mix of equal parts Tamiya Buff, Desert Yellow and White and got this much nicer shade. The next step after that was the dreaded wheel painting. Using some Vallejo Panzer Aces Dark Rubber, thinned with tap water, and allowing it to just flow around the edges of the wheel, I got this result: The next step will be to start painting the detail parts like the canvas Manlet cover, and after that, to get ready the AFV Club Track links and Stowage sets on this beasty.

Richard, that is a great walkaround! Some good detail pics including stowage that I intend to use for this build. I've started the building process with a bas coat of Tamiya XF-10 Brown. It's a little dark, but careful spraying of the Sand Yellow colour will build up nicely over it to give a nice sense of depth of colour. I should have taken these pics before the primer coat, but better late than never.... Walrus, reference pictures show a large gap beneath the mantlet of the MG turret, but not quite the gaping opening the kit shows. To cover some of the gaps I used a few small pieces of plastic sheet. and last but not least, here is the mesh glued to the turret basket. I used a photocopy of the template in the instructions and a sharp knife to cut out the mesh sections, being careful to align the grid pattern to show a diamond shape rather than squares, again from reference pictures in the handy link Richard provided.