ironwork

Although there are no specifical colors for aircrafts into the SDW range, they can be easily obtained by mixing. Yellow, ochre and naples for the nose. Blue, neutral grey and white for the underside. Khaki and raw siena for the upperside. A little color-test was made with thinned down paint before actually painting the whole upperside. Then the painting is completed with SDW shading colors thinned with a bit water and a touch of their gloss additive.

Well, we finally have a great culture on messerschmitt slats It seems I'm working in a reverted manner, since I've painted the interiors in a proper color, washed them with a brown-reddish filter, then more details added... Canopy will be left open, just fitted to be hand painted ( i do not like masking) in the interior color. RLM 02 obtaned by a mix of russian green and a somewhat pale dirty grey.

Thank you Marko, the caption said recon camera, and I toook it for good. No other detail found on my books. Never stop learning...

Thank you all for your comments. Slats : probably not directly connected to flaps, but all pictures I have of ground emils with flaps down also show open slats, and so I've made them. Drop shaped camera door : picture (not drawing ) at page 19 of " bf 109 aces of afrika and the mediterranean" shows an e4n of jg 27 with this feature. ( also visible on the net here ) A drawing from Valiant "bf 109 early series", attached drawing sheets at books end, although a drawing is not probative like the picture above.

But, but, but... Lowered flaps on a Messserschmitt also means open slats.... A bit late but the recessed locations were gently scraped with a scalpel blade, then filed until a proper gap was created. Slats made with bent pieces of aluminium shelf (food tools), and raised with a thin plasticard strip

Hi all Sirs, here my latest tiny beast. Absolute love for these new kits from Airfix. I still had no idea on how to proceed, this way I gave a (wrong) paintcoat to the interiors, and closed the fuselage. Then taking things a bit more calm, a bit of putty was thinned in water and spread in 1 to 3 coats into gaps, avoiding overdoing. This way only some cleaning of the excess with ethanol was enough for a neat surface on wing roots. The bomb support provided into the box,cut and resized, is welcome to build the "drop" for a camera equipped machine Cartridge ejectors pierced into the lower wing.

Then a coat of a well thinned darker earth tone. A sort of wash, although these paints are not suited for washes. The terrain color will later be improved to better match the figure colors.

Thanks Chris ! Now stones. This is just a first approach into the use of SDW colors. You will excuse me if I move in little steps, but also I have to re-train myself a bit into figure painting. A wash with thinned down (water) sdw black. Over the still fresh paint (I'll explain you later some of these paint's features) some sdw tan Then a light, aimed ahead left (figure left), with pure sdw white The light is then blended with a gentle stippling motion. When dried up..

A couple hours later, some READY EARTH again is mixed with water, and literally painted over the remaining part of the base., just to match somewhat the surrounding color an add a texture. As cured, the stuff is concrete-hard. No matter if some grey primer shows thorough, this is just a basecolor.

Hi all Sirs, here a new painting project. The figure is a 75mm from the little italian brand Bestsoldiers. I usually prefer 54mm, but I was captured by the personality of this figure. Comments welcome. The baseplate was cut here and there, to place the figure slightly turned, I hope this move adding further personality to the subject, and the gaps had to be filled. For this task I used some Ready Earth, spread and resized with a metal tongue. As soon as it looses its stickyness, some minutes, the whole is moulded with fingers to fit with the sockle And the upper edge softened and leveled with the ground with a water-wet soft brush

@ Robw And here some pictures of the almost finished tank. Somewhat naked to be an US tank, but all extra charge will be added later, as soon as some infantrymen figures will be modified to fit over the hull.

@Badder Now we are coming towards the end of the whole finishing job. This is what I consider to be the most important step in shape enhance of a model : selective washes. We need clean water, a n.1 brush and a tone of Transparent Filter suited for tank's colors and contrasts. Here I opted for DARK AGEING. The black-circled area was already treated and dry, just to show the difference in depht and detail-stand-out such an effect can add. The area to be treated is dampened with just a bit of water. With the same wet brush, pick up a bit of pure-unthinned filter and distemper it into recesses and around raised objects. The wet brush helps the filter flow down the bristles, and gets a sort of thinning. The water-wet surface avails the filter to flow into recesses and further dilutes the wash. One more word : We all had the habit of wash = capillarity, Capillarity helps a wash to flow into recesses, but this same feature "pushes" the color outside. This is why many washes have to be cleaned with a solvent around edges, due to staining and shroud. Transparent Filters instead, when used as washes, have a minimal capillarity. We avail it with water, and "driving" a bit the filter with the brush around the objects. The counterpart ? Cleanliness. Once placed them in the right spot, and checked for overdoing, just forget them.

Hi Sher, only online shop. ps. for everyone : questions regarding sales, please refer to the company e mail info@true-earth.com Here, for a correctness towards the forum and forum users, I willingly explain you product's use, but is no place for sales info and so on.

Badder, I am True Earth

Happy mices There's a couple figures into the box, with a nice and relaxed attitude. I decided to add them for the sake of some more "life" to the model. Not a great effort in painting, since they will be half-sunk into the hatches. I was going fast and had to use my smartphone. I apologize for blurry pictures. EEEEEEEEEasy paintjob for uniforms. A basecoat, SDW Shading Colors mix, is painted and stretched over the primed figure (MULTIMEDIA PRIMER). Directly over this fresh layer, deep shadows added mixing base color with black. (very deep and contrasted shadows, due to figures laying into hatches) Same way for lights. No concern about blending colors, just put them where needed. Then some minutes beside a moderate warmth (a box with a 25 watt bulb) Most of the blending is made thanks to the peculiar features of these paints, and further helped by heat (mind SDW colors can be used like oil colors). At this stage we can adjust and refine the whole where needed, since paints into a palette will stay fresh for hours.

Thanks Guys ! ..trying to keep up the pace, but so much to do on other fronts... Third way to use True-Earth's Liquid Dust Filters. The hull side is first dampened with a thin veil of water. (here you already see some dirt, since I've done it in two thin overlapped layers, for a better control). Then, thin streaks of filter are added, in a downward motion. Do very sparingly, since a so thin glaze of this filter is almost trasparent/invisible while fresh. The minimal amount of water is enough to let the filter spread a bit, without leaking ...And when dry Obviously, a more conspicuous effect can be applied with the same product, but I wanted only a very subtle dusting.

Here a further way to use the Liquid Dust Filters. A bit of water is placed around a raised object like the turret fan, on a larger surface then actually needed for the dirty effect A minimal amount of DUSTT ROAD, or any other DUSTY color, is placed on the same spot Let it dry without further touching it, and you will get thin dust particles around the object. The reason of this technique is to get the idea of dust, but without covering the whole in dirt (...and missing all the color and filter jobs done previously)

@Firefly : there is no reason to surrender to resignation... Did you really believe to be Monet at the first approach ??? As we here say "nobody borns learned". The decorative side of modelling is art. As long as i know, and i'm learning day by day too, the way to go is : - observe reality (ex. a railway car or an earthmover are reallly close to a tank) - develope colors sensibility and knowledge - study b/w pictures and try to "translate" them, ask yourself how and where the machine was painted, employed, and how it affects the finish. - never say "I will never be able to...", but TRY and PRACTICE. Resigned people never get playmates.... - forums are a good place to learn, when people explains you HOW it is done, but a hard confrontation territory, when people just shows you before and after, implying "look how I'm good", but explaining you anything.... - finally, the right tools....

As I mentioned before, this tank is set in op.Cobra, July-August 44. After consulting a lot of period pictures, I then applied only a slight dust effect. A "liquid dust filter" was used. I first tried DUSTY DESERT, but then reverted mainly to the darker DUSTY ROAD. And here I'll show you three methods of application. The first one is made with the mentioned filter, thinned in some water, and simply used like a broad wash. For tracks, a priming with MATT LOCK is suggested, since the tracks bare plastic has a lot of surface-tense. The tank is set on a side, and washed the same way. Then left to set in that position before treating the other side. No need to touch it any more : the filter will tend to "move" and build up a little towards the crevices and recesses, leaving a thin and shaded effect of dusty particles. One last note: here, as for the previous filters, a medium matt or satin-matt paint base (like the sdw colos used) is ok. So we avoid thick layers of clear gloss like a chinese lacquered furniture of the Quing dynasty...

I wanted to build an op. cobra sherman, and a Cullin hedgerow device was a must. It was easily built with a forex sheet, from Tank Zone n.1 scale plans. Cause it is a protruding part, subject to shocks and frictions, I primed it with a lot of BLACK PRIMER, followed by a glazing of RUSTBROWN PRIMER, just for toying around a bit. An overpray of SDW RUST tones, at the lowest possible pressure, will give it a soft and stained rust effect. An uneven bare-netal effect, due to the cutting torch, is made with a brushed fast pass of METAL PATTERN And the device finally fitted to the supports of the towing cables. The small rust streaks you see on the front plate, plus some other here and there, were also made with SDW RUST n.3

Too much Guys,,, Thanks Now it's time to go on !!! The engine cover plate is subject to continuous heating and cooling, and the paint is prone to wear. This way I wanted to reproduce some oxide-exudation. I used REBRO RUST, in the range of Structured Filters. Here one of the possible ways : At first I place the tank to set that plate perfectly horizontal. Then the selected area is mostened with water. A bit of filter is placed onto the surface Some more water is token with the brush, and used to help the filter spreading. Not too much, it must not leak down. A little of filter + more water = a thin pattern. It will show itself without need of further intervention, just let it dry.

In the end i coul not resist do add a bit more "life" : some SDW Tan color was applied with a thin brush to add some scratches. I avoided a metallic color, to keep the whole subtle. These touches were not randomly applied, but kept into the overall scheme of enhancing shape.

On a monochromatic item like this one, I like to alter, add lights and shadows with both warm and cold colors. This process gets a more interesting and deep finish. And again I like to increase this depht effect with appropriate filters. Here with a very warm MILD RUST Transparent Filter, and a cold DEEP BLUE one Here how it's done. Spread first a layer of pure(unthinned) filter on a portion of the model, in a vertical motion Then remove excess, absorbing it with the brush, again with a vertical motion. (The excess absorbed into the brush is then spread on another portion) When we compare glazed areas with unglazed ones, the effect may seem to be excessive, but it's just a trick of our eyes. The whole will look better when the whole model is filtered. Now some cold shadows are added with DEEP BLUE filter, on lower sides of turret and plates. The resulting finish avails all shapes to stand out, and is the sum of paints and filters in warm and cold tones.

Hi Andy, no marks, you'll see in next pictures Going on into the paint alteration process, here another way to use SDW colors : Just let them get thicker for a couple hours, then paint on a line or a dot, and shade it stippling and brushing with a soft brush. Exactly what you could do with an oil paint, but with the same "somewhat special..." waterbased paint used for actually painting the kit. The whole could be obviously done with an airbrush. But fun apart, the brushed streaks and dots are more defined and somewhat rougher. Which is much better for a crawling cluster of steel...

@ Rob : Yours surely better than mine Next step in the process is to add some staining and streaking, both for softly wearing and "enriching" the color. I feel easier, (or simply much more enjoying), when neat streaking is the target, to do it by brush. For this task too i relied again on SDW Shading Colors. Tan and Khaki for the lighter side, plus subtle touches of SeaBlue into the deeper spots. These waterbased paints can be shaded and blended toghether like oil paints, and this is one of the possible ways to work with. At fist, the surface is lightly dampened with water, this will help a more subtle blending. Then a bit of paint (khaki here) is stained here and there, and gently blended over the sides in a vertical manner with soft and only slightly damp brushes Further difference for SDW paints is a slower drying time compared with acrylics.