I've been struggling to figure out if I should split this into a couple of posts or do just one. I don't feel like milking it for two posts, so here is the completion of the Stug IV.
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All detailed, chipped, glossed, decaled and glossed again, ready to get dirty with weathering. |
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I started with UMP's Dark Dirt clay based wash. While pouring, it has a tendency to pour down the neck and the bottle, right onto the table. I stopped myself from cleaning it up and just used it from here. It did weather the table dents a little bit. |
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The thing with the clay wash is that your gloss coat better be pretty solid, otherwise getting it off is torture, if you can at all. See the PR.IG build. |
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Smeared and streaked up. Let it sit for 20 minutes or so. |
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Clean it off with water, paper towel or Q-tips. It mostly wasn't a problem. |
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Recessed areas and weld marks are a bit more emphasized with dirt. |
After a dull coat, I added a brown filter. See this video for a fairly good tutorial on filters and how to apply them. I did it completely wrong and then found this video.
https://youtu.be/XrTxiUt0Ze8
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I'll spare you most of the filter pictures, because you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway. |
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The schürzen plates. |
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I realized I completely missed priming and painting the rod that holds the spare roads wheels in the tray on the side. As I was carefully sanding the nubs, it just broke. Great, now what? |
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I stretched some sprue and easily replaced it. On to smearing some primer and paint! |
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The tracks came out far too red with the track rust pigment, so I just sprayed Mig's Dark Tracks on top. |
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Added some pigments and rubbed Mig's Gun Metal pigment on the raised surfaces that would have had some friction with the Earth. |
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Some Gun Metal on the sprockets. |
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And the outside of the idler wheels. |
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The tracks were super glued together. I found them easier to put on when I took the drive sprockets off. |
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The return wheels are held in place by the tracks. Notice something missing? I broke the jack off while I was fitting the track. Had to glue it back on. |
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See anything here? I broke one of the braces while fitting the track on this side. Had to fix that! |
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Milliput tarp just lays on top. |
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Now it's time for getting it more dirty. This next step should be more obvious. |
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This is my first go around for this method and I borrowed it from this video: https://youtu.be/8MBfYwk42A8 I definitely didn't do it as well, but hey, it's my first time! |
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I made a mix of all the parts, loaded up a brush and used the airbrush to splatter the mixture on. |
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I used the odorless thinner to streak it down the sides and cleanup areas I didn't like.
I also gave it a second coat. Next time I think I will try a thinner mixture. |
Here are the final pictures for this project! The antennas were made from stretched sprue and covered in black primer. I put the model down for 5 seconds and the other cat roaming the residence bit them off. I had to re-stretch and re-prime another set.
That's it. Time to wrap this up with a lessons learned.
- I think I officially like armor model building.
- I don't look forward to the weathering stage though.
- I will try color modulation on armor again, as I think I quite like the effect. However, I will be using a gray primer base instead. I think the modulation effect is there to build shadows and light with the color palette. Using a black base makes it too dark to start. If you are using 1 or 2 colors then the black base will assist with the shadows.
- I'll probably glue the tools to the hull before painting again. It worked out just fine.
- Filters are meant to be put on in VERY thin layers.
- I'm still not completely sold on clay based washes.
- It takes several coats of Alclad Aqua Gloss to get a nice smooth coat.
- Rubber band tracks aren't too bad. Just spray with Dark Tracks paint, apply pigments, pigment fixer and call it a day. Don't fuss about too much.
- It's easier to put tracks on when they are glued together and you take the drive sprockets off.
- Stretched sprue makes great antennas.
- If you scale up the tarp I made, it would probably be a thick blanket. Next time I'll be trying a thinned PVA glue and facial tissue.
- Melted sprue takes a REALLY long time to cure, at least a week. I don't think I'll be using this method for hole filling in the future. I'll be using Milliput more. It's a bit of a pain to prepare, but it doesn't shrink and can be cleaned up with water before it sets.
- I really need to get some good lights and a build that light booth for completion pictures.
On to the next project!
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