Yesterday I laid down the primer (white) and did base coats in olive drab. I used rattle can at this point (Vallejo - Hobby Paint Spray AFV | US Olive Drab).
I am not finishing up all the weathering until I paint the tracks (black)
Solid colors are not easy to do weathering on, at least to me, so I'll airbrush it using faded greens and yellows just to try to create some kind of more-realistic looking contrast in the finish.
Today I did some airbrush shading of the APC, using Vallejo Yellow Olive. My main thought was to go lightly with the shading and not try to do too much in one go. My idea for painting is to make the lower portion of the vehicle slightly darker (from mud, dirt, machine grease, wear and tear) that will gradually lighten into faded olive drab/yellow olive the further up the APC you go. I really like the set of green paints, from Vallejo they call "US Army Olive Drab Modulation Set, 8ml." It cost me $22 for the set of 6 paints.
It comes pre-mixed for airbrushing straight out of the bottle. (I'm aware of the missing bits, I'm adding them back part by part
My only complaint about this paint set is, 8 ml of paint is not nearly enough for serious painting! So almost inevitably I had to buy additional bottles. But for varying shades of green on olive drab vehicles, this set has just about every shade you'd want.
If you already have plenty of olive drab, the only color I'd actually buy separately, is "Yellow Olive". It's great for highlighting high traffic areas where there will inevitably be lots of wear from the vehicle's crew. And it makes a great contrast with any shade of O.D. Of course if you don't want the entire set, the other shades of olive drab can be mixed easily enough by adding white, or black.
I sent off for some 1/16 crewman since the tank does not come with any. At the minimum I want the driver figure installed, maybe the commander figure if it comes out looking right - painting human faces on figures is something I've never been able to do to my own satisfaction. So I have to buy them pre-painted.
