M8E2 Cargo Tractor

[wibblywobbly]

And just to show that I don't take Sundays off, lol.

Roof vent done, will have to await the arrival of the styrene tube before I can do the exhaust stacks.

Also did a plank, with 'Explosives' painted on it, just because I can...

[wibblywobbly]

A bit more done, brush painted the upper hull to get a good basecoat on, though I have been airbrushing it today.

The motor mounting plate has been hot glued in, it isn't the tidiest way of doing it but it is the easiest way to get a rock solid mount.

[SovereignZuul]

Looking great with some color!

[wibblywobbly]

This is the bit I enjoy the most, getting to work with the airbrush. Will post more pics as it progresses. I use an airbrush rather than weathering powders as it seems to work for me.

[PainlessWolf]

W.W.,
I'll be moving to an airbrush one of these days as well so am very interested in the weathering effects that an airbrush can give. I've seen the Taigen Pershing and that seemed like a lot of work with an airbrush.
regards,
Painless

[wibblywobbly]

To be honest the Taigens are excellent for those who have never used an airbrush. At the end of the day, it is hardly worth buying a compressor and airbrush, plus several different paint colours, if there are only one or two tanks to paint.

The nice thing about DIY is that a tank becomes personalised as no one else will have the same finish. Some like to produce an immaculate 'factory fresh' tank, others (and I am one of them) go for the used and dirty look. This is mainly because I tend to run mine at meets, or outdoors on a battlefield, and to me a gleaming immaculate tank just doesn't look right in battlefield conditions.

There is also a fine line between dirty and overdoing it. In reality German armour was kept clean, there is a documented case of a tank commander being court martialled for having a less than satisfactory tank.

One error that some make is having rusty tracks, they look good but tracks don't rust. I go for a metallic dusty, mud stained look, which seems to look ok.

I will try and remember to take pics of bits and pieces that I do, to show my approach to getting scuffs, scratches, shadows, and general wear and tear. It would be easier for me to show this on a tank rather than this model, but I will see what I can do.

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning, W.W.,
I do admit to starting out with factory fresh tanks in the beginning but as I have done new ones and began to redo older ones, I make sure to at least add a haze of dust and sand\dirt where it would have been during normal operations. If it is a historical build or one that could have served during a particular scenario, I try to replicate effects seen in photos. One thing I do not do is have them running around half destroyed. That's just down to me liking tanks my own way. Following along and Thank you, again!
regards,
Painless

[wibblywobbly]

Its a long story but I decided that the mahogany effect on the rear slats was out of keeping with what I wanted it to look like. After numerous mixes of paints and different shades I eventually settled on a pale green, with a hint of grey.

I have also been doing some shading and whatnot on the upper hull, and adding a few scuffs.

There are two ways to shade, one is to apply a dark colour in recesses and edges and then apply the lighter coat over it. The other, the way I did it, was to spray the hull green, and then add a few drops of black, then spray over the top of it, that way I end up with two tone green.

I do scratches by putting two very small pools of black and silver on a piece of kitchen foil. then mixing them a bit at a time. Touch the edge of the brush against edges on the hull, and immediately dry brush spots. It will turn to a slightly burnished bare metal colour.

I made the stencil for the star by simply cutting the one out of the HL decal sheet. I use off white rather than pure white as it gives that ready dusty look.

I will add the final dusting coats after I have done the lower hull.

Cheers

RobG

[HERMAN BIX]

Got to hand it to you mate - the wood work(thats not actual wood) is bloody amazing !!
I guess now you will be busting to build a 'Long Tom' to tow behind it !

[wibblywobbly]

The woodwork was a chore to do, but more time consuming that anything else, but its quite strong doing it this way. If I was doing it again, I would go straight to using normal acrylic paint rather than use the woodgrain as it would be easier to get the required colour. The actual grain is etched into the styrene, so it will look like wood no matter what I paint it with.

I forgot to mention above that I always use Vallejo Model Colour paint. I hand brush it undiluted, and airbrush it with at least 50-60% water. A bottle goes a long way. Airbrushing is done at 20psi on the compressor, but I have an airbrush that allows me to adjust that down even further with an adjuster, plus its a dual action airbrush so I can adjust it again with fingertip pressure. They can be bought at Everything Airbrush, its in the AB range, they are made in China and I have used mine for years without problems. Needs a regular clean though as Model Colour paint is designed to be fast drying, so if the reservoir on the airbrush goes empty while I am pumping air through it, the paint dries in the airbrush, and starts clogging things up.

https://www.everythingairbrush.com/airb ... brush.html

Pretty good at that price, the small reservoir is ideal, and it has all the adjustment I need. They sell spares too.

As for a Long Tom, I have looked at this numerous times, but the killer is the barrel. It would need access to a lathe, and some hollow alloy tube. It has a long taper on it that would be difficult to do any other way. I have a brother who owns a damned great engineering factory with every piece of machinery under the sun in it, and who has the memory span of a baboon, every time I ask him about making anything I never hear from him again...