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So did you mask and spray for the black (it sure looks that way) or did you brush it on? :hmmm:

Yes, the black was masked the same way as the sand. Both colours should really have a more feathered demarcation, but I don't trust my airbrush to give me a clean spray when freehanding at the moment. I suspect it's got a slightly flared nozzle which is giving me a bit of splatter.

Andy

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Cool, so you remasked just for the black. :coolio:

The subject of masking & airbrushing three colour camo came up recently. In the past I (and others) have tried to add a second layer of putty masking to spray the third colour, in the process deforming the existing masking with unfortunate results. For my Braille stuff I've taken to brushing the third colour if its a hard edged scheme or just freehanding the lot if it's soft (my DeVilbiss Super 93 really is very good for this, but it's a bit of a pain to clean & generally maintain). :nerd:

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I'm still getting the headlights and other little bits together and painted, before I can add them to the build. While I've been doing that, I've started weathering the wheels. Since I needed to check that they were all still touching the ground and didn't need further adjustment, it gave me the chance to have a quick test fit of everything to get an idea of how the finished thing will look

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The wheels had been painted along with the body and, after masking off the hubs, I sprayed the tyres with Tamiya Rubber Black, which I personally think is a bit too dark for anything other than fresh or wet rubber, so I added a couple of drops of Deck Tan to lighten it. I then gave the tread a dry brush with a pale grey

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Since I was adopting my usual methodology of having no clue what I'm going to do next, I gave the tyres a quick overspray with some earth tones, on the basis of I might as well do it as not. As you can probably see from the one on the left, there's still some issues with the tyre fitting the rim on all the near side wheels. Some pigments should hide that

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I mixed up some Wilder European earth pigment with water and a few drops of acrylic resin, and plastered it over the tyres. Then, while it was still wet, I stippled dry pigments over the mix to give it some texture, then wiped any excess of the treads. I diluted the pigment, water, resin mix to a thin wash and brushed it over the hubs. Predictably, all this completely covered the earth paint I'd sprayed before making that step utterly pointless, but this isn't something that'll stop me from doing exactly the same thing again on the next build :mental:

I quite like how they've come out, but I'll add a bit more contrast with a dark wash to show wetter areas. The ones at the back are still wet, hence the darker colour

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You can see below that the pigments haven't completely hidden the gap around the rim on the right hand wheel, so I'll have to add a thicker pigment mix over those gaps

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I've also added some mud to the lower hull. This was done with a jar of Mig mud paste, which I bought a couple of years ago, used once, then put away in a draw as I thought it was too coarse and gritty. On a whim, and again having no real clue what I was going to do, I decided to try it again, only to find that it had almost dried in the pot. I got out what I could and added some water to thin it to a usable consistency, then covered the hull with it.

It didn't look too bad, but one of the issues I had with it originally was that, as it dried, the paste would shrink back leaving the granules in it showing too strongly. To try and counter this, I dipped a stiff brush in the earth pigment I'd used on the tyres, and flicked it over the wet paste. I seems to have given it a more evenly textured, dry mud look, but I'll have to wait for it to fully dry before I can see whether it'll need any more work. Either way, I'll add some darker, wet areas with a wash, the same as on the tyres

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Andy

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its a shame you can only hit/stab repeatedly the like button and only get one like - those wheels look awesome. Mind you, so does the rest of it.

The mud effects are nice, but maybe a bit too much for my own personal perspective. I'm going to assume it's running operationally which is why it's so muddy. I couldn't really imagine the army would be too pleased to keep this machine in such a condition when stored/parked :D

Regardless of the above, it's still a good lesson for me in weathering and something I may do one day if required.

Will the rest of the body be as dirty or just the chassis/running gear?

Looking again at the wheels, I really wish I'd done that trick with the screws to flatten out the bottom - it's very effective.

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Thanks guys

The mud effects are nice, but maybe a bit too much for my own personal perspective. I'm going to assume it's running operationally which is why it's so muddy. I couldn't really imagine the army would be too pleased to keep this machine in such a condition when stored/parked :D

Regardless of the above, it's still a good lesson for me in weathering and something I may do one day if required.

Will the rest of the body be as dirty or just the chassis/running gear?

Thanks MH. Yes, it's quite heavy for a modern vehicle, but the Russian army does seem to love showing off the capabilities of there equipment so I'm going on the basis that it's just come strait off an exercise.

I'll have to add some muddy splatters around the front and rear to tie it in with the lower hull, but I'll keep the upper hull relatively clean. A bit of dust and some splashes so it doesn't look too clean against the lower half. I might mask the wiper arc on the windscreens and add a bit of dust to then as well.

Andy

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Thanks Dan

So, this morning the mud on the hull had dried and I'm reasonably happy with it. I still think the Mig mud paste is too coarse (despite being the finer of the two grades they sell), but the pigments dusted over it have lessened the effect somewhat. It's a shade too dark, but I can adjust that with more pigments or an overspray with a paler colour

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With the wheels on you can't see that much of the lower hull anyway

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I'm now starting to add some washes and shading to the rest of the hull. It had a gloss coat after the painting was done, and I want to get the washes done and a matt coat on before I add the lights to avoid having to mask the lenses for the matt coat

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Andy

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I'm slowly creeping towards getting it finished. It had a matt coat after the washes were done, and the whole thing had a light dusting with Tamiya deck tan to knock back the contrast in the camo a little. The wiper arc was masked off at the same time to add a bit of splashed mud to the windscreen. It's also had an AK earth wash splattered around the front and rear to blend them in with the mud on the hull sides.

It was originally going to have both windscreen shields up, but I rather like the look of it with one down, as if it's rakishly winking. In fact, give it a moustache and it'd be Terry-Thomas

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Andy

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So, the headlights...

The B*****, F******, headlights. Well, they're on at least.

The first problem was painting. To avoid having to mask the lenses, I decided to hand paint them which surprisingly went OK. The problem was the paint itself. I used matt black Humbrol enamel as I thought it would coat better on the bare plastic than acrylic, which it did. But despite being well stirred the paint has remained tacky and glossy, which led to a whole load of dust sticking to it. I should be able to rectify that but then we come to fitting the damn things.

They attach to tiny PE brackets which, in theory, shouldn't be a problem. But, of course, it was a problem. The brackets were slightly too close to each other (there's two per side), meaning the headlights hit each other and wouldn't sit squarely on the brackets. The superglue I was using to attach them wouldn't hold them in place, so I had to resort to epoxy, which is by far my most hated adhesive. It's not the most delicate of glues and, despite applying it with a tooth pick as sparingly as I could, It still when on too messily for my liking.

So, the result is they're on but not strait and too close together, and the joint is way too crude. I was going to add cables to the lights, but I think that's just tempting fate. You wouldn't see the cables that well anyway, so I'm just going to play it safe

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The wing mirrors are also on, and they went on considerably better, which I wasn't expecting. The faces were covered with a self adhesive foil. It's not exactly mirror like, but it's better than silver paint

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I've also added some damp areas to the mud on the hull and tyres. I'll still have to blend this a bit with more pigments and washes, but it's just about there

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Andy

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I've added the last bits of weathering so I'm going to call this one done. I've also added the spotlight, which I wasn't going to do after the issues with the headlights but, in the end, it went on ok. It's had a wash with an earth coloured enamel around some of the details and some fuel stains around the filler cap. It's also had a bit more pigment work on the lower hull and wheels

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So, that's it. First build of 2016. I'm glad to get it done, but it was a fun build until the headlights. Apart from them, the fit was fine but, in common with most Trumpeter kits I've built, there's too much reliance on tiny PE parts that make the whole thing rather delicate. I'd be happier to have some parts in plastic, even if it meant they were slightly over scale.

Anyway, thanks to everyone whose been following. I'll get the final photos up in RFI later. Time to get started on BB-8

Andy

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Well, telling you it's lovely seems a bit superfluous TBH.....So cheers for all the useful tips and advice contained in the thread. :thumbsup:

Don't suppose you fancy turning your hand to Braille AFVs at all? :hmmm:

You could easily match the best out there IMHO and I could (try to) copy your techniques more directly that way! ;)

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