Tamiya Matilda II WW2 Tank

[oldmodeler]

Hello again, here are a few pictures of the Matilda, completed recently. I haven't made this as an exact unit representation, rather a practise for working in 1/35 and trying to make it look used and battered about . These days I  have trouble making anything smaller that that scale!

  Model was spray painted  enamel desert sand and worked on with pastels and other medial, e.g., pencil lead 6B etc.   I make the  top look as though oil has ben spilt and   walked all over.  TAMIYA model goes together quite well. I see in the pictures I need to practise doing washes much better, to get it to flow into folds and gaps. 

Model mounted on matt felt ,2 stops Unser exposed , top and side  lit with LED torch. 

 

 

[Badder]

I like it muchly. You certainlyused that 6B pencil to good effect. I like using them too, but I've found no way of adequately 'sealing' the graphite in. Sprays with matt varnish dull down the shine or just wash it off. And of course, if you don't seal it in it gets rubbed off and smudged with handling and feather duster-ing.

 

IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO PROTECT THE GRAPHITE PERHAPS THEY COULD LET US KNOW?

 

With some wet-brushing/washes (which are easy to do after adding a gloss coat and  PRIOR to adding graphite) that matilda would look even better.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

Edited January 27, 2017 by Badder

[FrancisGL]

A very well looked, looks very cool, well batted..., cheers mate

[oldmodeler]

Hello Badder, I have'nt had any luck with wet washes, I paint mainly. in enamel, and have tried an oil-wash after the paint dries, but it soaks off the undecoat enamel.

Ae there ways of doing this properly?  There  was very little graphite, I put it on heavily and  polish  with my fingers , so it is pretty well stuck on. I agree it dulls with age, but then the metal would rust too...  

[Badder]

2 hours ago, oldmodeler said:

Hello Badder, I have'nt had any luck with wet washes, I paint mainly. in enamel, and have tried an oil-wash after the paint dries, but it soaks off the undecoat enamel.

Ae there ways of doing this properly?  There  was very little graphite, I put it on heavily and  polish  with my fingers , so it is pretty well stuck on. I agree it dulls with age, but then the metal would rust too...  

Hi Oldy,

I returned to this hobby about 18 months ago after a 35yr gap. Back then I used solely enamels. Acrylics were a brand new thing and I couldn't get on with them at all. (I think they were aimed at those who had airbrushes, and I didn't have one) Since returning to the hobby, and having an airbrush, I now use it to do the bulk of my painting with both acrylics and enamels, but I still think enamels are best if you are going to use brushes alone.

Back in the day I regularly wet-brushed directly over enamels with thinned enamels and had no problems at all. In fact the effects were perfect. Nowadays, when using acrylics, you have to spray an acrylic gloss varnish over the acrylic base colour first then apply enamel/oil washes over that, then spray an acrylic matt coat over that. It's all sandwiches if you ask me.

I assume you are using paint brushes rather than an airbrush, but either way you have to let the enamel coat dry thoroughly before wet brushing. I made up various washes with enamels and thinners and wet-brushed directly onto the enamel undercoat with no problems whatsoever. Enamel washes flow easily over enamel undercoats so there is no need for a gloss varnish.

Some shop-bought washes WILL strip your undercoat off as they are specifically made to wash over acrylics, not enamels. So watch out! I think it's far safer to make your own with enamels and enamel thinner.

For your Matilda I'd have made up several washes including: sand, dark brown, red-brown and black. Simplifying things a bit, the sand wash would have been applied to the entire vehicle including the tracks, the dark brown to the underside and maybe the sides. The red-brown wash would have been applied to the exhaust system and the black would have been for pin washes.

IF you do try applying washes or pin washes to your Matilda, I know from experience that your graphite WILL come off, or spread around, but that may not be a bad thing. It may give a nice effect.

 

I assume you understand 'washes' and 'pin washes'. There's plenty of great videos on the web which cover washes in great detail, but if you can't be bothered with all that, don't be afraid to ask.

Hope that helps,

Rearguards,

Badder.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2017 by Badder

[oldmodeler]

Hello Badder, yes I spray enamels. and have tried spraying or brushing washes over the enamel undercoat, this disturbs the undercoat, so I think I will have to spray a thin acrylic varnish over the  undercoat to protect it from the wash.  I find an acrylic wash will not wick into the small places to get the right effect, whereas oil-based paints seem to wick nicely. I am not sure how to do a pin wash,though  would guess tis is perhaps like having a thin oil-based colour that it just dropped in the right places from a small brush. I only by the basic colours,  gloss and matt:  Black, White, Red, Blue, Yellow, and lots of greens and mix up everything  from that,  I mix paint and thinners about 50-50 for airbrushing, and try it on paper before moving to spray the model.  Will have to try different techniques to get washes to look realistic.

[Bullbasket]

First off, you've got some really good results there with the graphite, giving a real metallic look.

As Badder says, there are some seriously good videos on YouTube and Facebook on how to apply washes and filters. Without wishing to teach Granny the art of egg sucking, if you are painting with enamels, they really need to be sealed in with a gloss acrylic varnish to prevent whatever you are using from stripping the paint off. You don't want it to be matt at this stage as any enamel based wash that you apply just gets absorbed by the matt coat. The gloss also allows the wash to spread more evenly and to be wiped off when almost dry. When you have a gloss finish, I personally wouldn't use an acrylic wash as they are water based and tend to form into small globules rather than spread evenly. If you are doing a pin wash, ie; you want the wash to get into every nook and cranny, then it helps if you place a small amount to thinner where the wash is to go, before applying a small amount of the colour/wash. This helps enormously to get the pin wash where you want it as capillary action drags it there.

If you are doing washes and then fading, it's advisable to seal each step with the gloss acrylic to prevent the next stage damaging the previous one.

Whatever you do, have fun with it.

 

John.  

[Badder]

Good advice there from Bullbasket, however 35yrs ago I used homemade enamel washes over enamel base/under coats and had no problems at all. Mind you, I recall now that I was brush painting back then so maybe the thicker coat of enamel stood up better than airbrushed ones do.  I did allow more than 24hrs for the undercoats to dry fully though and maybe my thinner was a 'mild one', but the enamel washes flowed very nicely without a gloss coat.

Nowadays, I use acrylics for base coats etc and quite definitely use an acrylic gloss varnish before any washes are applied. I have used oil washes, but find their drying times a bit of a pain (I know that's one of their plus points, but it can be a negative if you're a bit impatient like me!)

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

Oh and yes have fun. And don't be afraid to completely mess a model up while experimenting. It's all part of the learning process and you can always buy another.

 

 

[S3PT1C]

Lovely job.