In the end, I think this tank turned out quite nicely. From everything I've learned over the last few years, it's not a show piece. But it will look great sitting in my display cabinet. I do plan on building some sort of small diorama with it, just need to figure out what.
Phase 3 is technically 3 and 4 together to complete the kit. The phase 3 portion was all about the wash and slight weathering. As well as getting the decals on.
Once it was all together, minus the tracks, i mixed up an oil wash using burnt umber oil paint. I actually created two washes like this. One was just darker than the other. My reasoning was, some areas would tend be darker than others, and instead of doing a wash, waiting a few days for it to cure, then coming back and doing another, i could do it all at the same time. Let it cure then come back if needed for minor adjustments.
With this being the version of the "remarked" tank, I needed to get the dry transfers down. I liked them, but they are a pain to get over anything that isn't completely flat. With the decals being "older" i tried a new decal solution I picked up at AMPS Atalanta earlier this year. It seemed to work quite well and wasn't harsh on the older decals.
I stopped the weathering & detailing after the wash was complete. I don't want to start doing scratches and chips right now, since I haven't decided on how or what I am going to do for a base. At this point, I also added some netting I picked up, since I wanted to mimic the original photos a bit.
The second part of phase 3 was getting the tracks done. I used a set of Ryefield workable links. I love these for the most part. They're easy to assembly, stay together when mounting on the tank unlike the so called "Magic Tracks."
When i painted the spare tracks with the Tamiya Burnt Iron, the color stood out from the typical all black. When the tracks were completed, I skipped the primer and went straight to the Burnt Iron.
The color is a tad lighter, which was expected, but I think it actually looks well done.
One thing I need to figure out, is a way to get equal amounts of sag between the upper wheels. Since the track links are all movable, i need to find something to put in there to hold the sag, while i drop some glue on the tracks to get them to hold.
Ryefield instructions stated 98 links per side. However, going with that, there was enough to make proper sag, so i ended up with 100 links per side.
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| I really like this detail. |
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| no matter what i did, i couldn't get his hand flush with the hull. |
Over all I am pleased with this. I still have some items left that didn't make it on the tank that just may. There is a pry bar that I might add under the hand of the guy in the hatch. This will look more realistic than his hand just "floating" in the air.
As for the base/diorama, I have some AK Interactive Desert Sand as well as Desert Soil to use. I also have some AK Interactive Dust Effects i picked up a few years back. So, once I can figure something out, I'll get to weathering.
