Re: How to Get a rough surface finish

971wright · Post by **971wright** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:31 pm

Hi Guys Been trying for ages to get a rough finish and found it .It may been a little to rough but can always flaten a little the hard thing is getting a rough finish and its very easy again took only 5 mins to do the hull ,this how I did it spray light coat of primer down one side and sprinkle baking powder along it and allow it to slide over the wet paint then blow off excess and give it a light coat of primer its done.
If you need to flaten it gentley rub it with wet&dry paper or give it another coat of primer .

regards pete

Post by **Matdragon** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:40 pm

great tip mate, it give a lot of texture to the tank, will be good for the new hl sherman on the cast hull very well, but will also be great for pretty much every other tank!

cheers ,

Matt

tiger205 · Post by **tiger205** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:30 pm

hi pete
its another great tip, i know another way that nigel uses, is acetone, dab it on and stipple with a old tooth brush or the like, mind you its not as quick as youre way, but if youre not carefull using acetone you could get off youre trolly ::)

Tony

daviddunlop · Post by **daviddunlop** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:03 pm

Terrific idea, Pete! It's a readily available product (I can nick some out of the wife's cooking supplies) and quite inexpensive. The process would do wonders for the cast hull Sherman as Matt suggests. Just be careful what parts of your tank you choose to add this texture to as the look is generally most typical of the cast armor parts - a result of the sand molds used in the production process.

Most plate armor would be very smooth in comparison to cast parts, because it is shaped to the appropriate thickness by means of a series of rollers that gradually squeeze the hot steel to the required size. One would probably only find a rough surfaced section of plate armor only if it had been exposed to the elements for an extended period of time (50 -60 years). It would also show up more modestly on the armor plate of a vehicle that has undergone an extensive series of repaints over it's service life. What you would be seeing in this instance would be the chipping and pitting of a multitude of paint layers, rather than the metal itself.

Thanks again for the great tip, Pete. I cannot wait to try it!

Best regards,

David

PS: I am not sure how close you might be to surviving WW2 armor to check out what the cast and plate parts look like, but even the more modern M113 and FV432 series of carriers have a good mix of sheet plate and cast bits that would be worth investigating.