Part 1

Well, the painting of the beast has arrived.

I’ve chosen a tricky pattern which I already attempted with my Cromwell (not to much success). This is one of my favourite World of Tanks camo schemes from the British branch.

It took a while to figure out the best way to replicate the pattern. After priming (Vallejo German Grey) I painted everything in the pale greenish color which will be forming the large patches (a mixture of Tamiya JA Grey and dark green). Once it dried I added patches of silly putty, and painted everything in Tamiya JA grey – this will form the thin line between the green and the black.

After it dried, I carefully squeezed the sides of the putty patches to spread them out a bit- this covered the thin areas of the grey color. Then I sprayed the model with the priming color lightened with Tamiya JA Grey. (Using the same color to lighten all the camo colors tie them together well.)

I have to say the results turned out to be better than I expected; although I did have to touch up on some of the patches.

As usual, a couple of layers of green and ochre filters helped to blend the colors together, and I sprayed Future on the model to provide base for the decals. (There were only three decals provided; apparently there should have been a “Spud” marking, too, according to the instructions, but it was missing.)

Once the decals dried, I sealed them with Future, and applied a dark pin wash to the model. After about a day of drying I used a wet brush to remove the excess, forming some good-looking streaks in the process. Wherever I felt there was too much wash left on the surface of the model I used a flat dry brush to remove it. I repeated the same process with dot-filters; the browns, yellows and blues formed nice, faint streaks on the sides of the vehicle.

Using a 00 brush I painted discreet chips on the tank. The color German Black Brown by Vallejo is great for deeper chips where the metal is showing through. I tried not to go overboard; in this scale no chips would be visible in reality, but they do give some visual interest to the model. I also used sponge chipping on the barrel and larger surfaces – again, trying my best not to overdo the effect.

This is when I painted the tracks and the rubber rims of the roadwheels with a fine brush- again I used very dark greys instead of black.

I rusted up the exhaust: on a black base I deposited a bright, rust colored pigment (Humbrol Rust), which was treated with various dark colored wash unevenly to create patches. The end of the exhaust and the mud guard below it got a tiny bit of black to represent soot; I tried not to go overboard. The thin metal sheet that forms the exhaust guard got a really heavy chipping treatment. Because of the constant heat coming from the exhaust pipes this thin piece of metal would be constantly heated, which promotes heavy oxidation.

I made a very light slurry of a reddish rust colored wash, and applied it over the larger chips on the barrel and the exhaust covers; once dry I could adjust the effect using a wet brush. (When I use the term “wet brush” it means a brush dipped into the appropriate solvent dabbed onto a piece of rag.) I added extra heavy layers on the exhaust guards. Later I adjusted the effect with different rust colored paints to make this piece look even more oxidated.

I always liked the dusty look of some of the tanks in World of Tanks: a very light colored dust layer covering the lower parts, which gets fainter and fainter as we go up the hull/turret. I dabbed “Dust Effects” by AK Interactive onto the upper part of the superstructure and the turret with a brush; this product has a very light color – too light for an European setting I think, but very close to the color from the game. I left it dry overnight (it looked horrendous, causing me no small worries), and in the morning (during my morning coffee) I adjusted it with a wet brush (using white spirit). It formed a layer similar to the effect seen in the game, but I could not make the transition completely smooth; for this I would have to airbrush the product. (I know it’s possible, but I’m reluctant to airbrush non-water based paints.)

The lower chassis got slurry of light brown pigments suspended in Mig’s neutral wash. (I have no idea what I should be using this product for, so I use it for making mud). It creates a dark grey/brown effect used in conjunction with the brown pigments, which is very similar to actual mud in many parts of the world. The excess was wiped off once the mixture dried, and I repeated the process with a darker mixture on a smaller area to form layers of dry and fresh mud. I covered the upper parts with a sheet of paper, and created some mud splashes flicking a brush loaded with the mud-mixture. The tracks got some extra treatment of mud.

To lighten the colors a bit -and make the model look more realistic- I sprayed flat varnish onto the FV.

As a final step I rubbed a silver pen on the tracks and the edges of the model to simulate the shine of worn metal, and called the model finished.

To honest I’m quite happy with the results; despite of the issues coming up while building the model, it turned out to be a good project at the end. Let’s hope the in-game tank will also prove to be a pleasant surprise once I get there. Which should be about 200 more games…