It's taken some time but I've finally finished the test vehicle for my Flames of War German army, an Sd.Kfz 251/1 Half-track. In the first part of the article I discussed painting the base colours, including the airbrushed camouflage. This time around it is all about weathering!
I'm rather happy with the results considering it's the first piece of WWII armour I've ever painted! The techniques I used were rather simple to do, though in some cases they took a lot of trial and error to get the hang of.
Method:
- Coat with gloss varnish.
- Apply decals using Vallejo 73.213 Decal Fix and 73.212 Decal Medium.
- Pin wash with MIG P220 Dark Wash.
- Wash black/grey areas with GW Badab Black.
- Chipping using AK Interactive 711 Chipping Color.
- Wash tracks with MIG P414 Track Brown pigment.
- Weather lower half of vehicle with MIG P028 Europe Dust pigment.
- Fix pigments using MIG P249 Pigment Fixer.
- Coat with matte varnish.
I had some issues using the pigments for the weathering. The pigment wash I used on the tracks looked fantastic so I tried to make a mud wash to apply to the hull. Applying it to the flat areas of the vehicle ended up being a nightmare (after all, it is a wash!) so I had to clean a lot of it up and start again. I'm going to practice with wet applications of pigments again as it can look fantastic, but I think a bit of research is in order first. Any ideas?
Lessons:
- Be careful applying pigment fixer as it's easy to end up with tide marks
- Practice using the Vallejo decal products as my results weren't perfect, there is still a little silvering along the edges.
Today in the UK it is Bank Holiday Monday, the perfect time to get some painting done. Now I've had a go at some armour, it's time for my platoon of Battlefront Miniatures Panthers to have their day in the sun!
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