PAINTING BEGINS T55 ENIGMA

[mcevoyi]

Evening All

well what fab weather we have here in deepest darlest somerset ... so much so i actualy ast at a table on the balcony .and did i bit more paint today ... actualy a lot of paint ....

following on form above ..and with an over night drying ... i again attacket the t-55 with anouner layer of salt/Hs .. and at this point i was a little worried that i wa applying too much salt .. but ...i gritted my teath and just carried on .. after i let that salt/Hs dry for about an hour ... i then applyed the first layer os sand yellow paint humbrol 94 and the paint was very thin as i wanted build up the colours in layers .... with the idea of showing the green redbrown form the lover layers ...
and heres a pic of the thin base coat of humbrol 94

[mcevoyi]

as you may see from the pics above the salt/Hs .. looks like a bit of a mess .... it takes some nerve to carry on with this but i did .... heres a few more pics of the base cote over the salt/Hs



now that the firts base coat of humbrol 94 was done ... i then started cover in loose random sweeps with the airbrush from top to bottom not horizontal with humbrol 93 yet more sand colour ... why .. in the hope that at some point this tank may have been in the rain... yes i know .. but actualy Iraq has quite a wet season ....

i have some pics of the colour difference .. but on the laptop id dont look any diffrent !

[mcevoyi]

after letting the two top coats dry for about 4 hours .... during which time i had my fingers well and truly crossed

it was not time to to remove the salt Hs ..... gulp .... i did this with a new 8mm wide flat paint brush ...and the use od washing up bowl with boiling hot water and fairy liquid ... and a sit lot of patiants ..... and took my time ... DONT scrub just was the salt away ... slowly as the wather will remove the hairsspray ... and you knacker that paint job ...and this is that i first saw





Remember ... be gentle .....

[mcevoyi]

this is a good pic to show whats going on when you remove that salt



not quite as good ...to se whats happening

[mcevoyi]

after letting the t-55 dry out after the water treatment .. i then began the ' weathering ' ...

i did this by low lighting with matt black aeras like the exhaust ... and ppicing out some toints round the tank like the cupola to the turre .. some hatches and pannels like the joints between the upgraded armour .... and any where else that looked like it could use some shadows .... that too quite a while ... the secret here is less is more .... remember actualy adding darl colours make the areas rount it jump out .. so be careful .... and dont over do it ..... take you time...





after useing the matt black i then needed to add tiny amounts of ' rust ' its my own colour ... made with
humbrol matt red 60 . and a tiny tiny drop of matt black .. i then picked out some small aeras round the tank that have rust and streaks .. again less is more ....

[mcevoyi]

now i ment to say .... with the black low lights .... only ... only .. streak top to bottom ... nevr horizontal ..again its repersents worn stains and discoloration in the tanks paint work ....

the end of the gun barrel will eventualy be painted red ! .. on the fume extractor .. it s divisional makeing for this tank .. but i used the same 'rust' colour as an undercoat ....

now the wheels and tracks ....

the tracks were painted again in a looses way to add dust to the tracks .. the same as an over spray on the wheels and sprockets .... ..this is done with humbrol 93 with about 50% matt white added to it to change the colour ..... this ame colour as used to creat a colour difference on all the lower hull and again .. streaked .. north to south i like to make a noticeable colour difference between the hupper and lower hull ... its kind of makes a big differenct ...( thanks tony greenland ! ) ...

[mcevoyi]

gosh ... my fingers hurt tonight .....

well as you all can see by now its rely beginning to look the part.. but i still have a huge amout of work to go on this .... a bit more weather ... and then ' highlights ' ... why do we do it

[forgebear]

words fail me brilliant

[Von kraftwerk]

looking good not as ravaged as I thought you were aiming for,but plenty of texture and the chipping is wonderfully understated,in a less is more kind of way,a little drybrushing of green on some edges and raised ribs,eg mudguards etc maybe? maybe you should protect what you've done so far,then you can mess about, Johnsons? love the welds and torch cut edges,super duper!

[mcevoyi]

hi there ..
johnsons clear .. is well know to 'fog' humbrol paints leaing a white clouds all over matts

.... i will use just a matt varnish befor starting the weather process and i am not suer i will go that much further with the greens as the pics dont show the way the chipps have worked ..at the moment i am fairly ? happy ... but tomorow is another day ....