Once again I turn to you guys for some help.
Can someone tell me the best way to simulate the “soot” or blast effect you see around the muzzle of the main gun on a tank after firing?
I tried a lighter to burn the paint around it, it worked well, or you could use your air
gun and just spray some blackish brown on there?
O-yeah I forgot pastels too! just get some art pastels use a razor to scrape some off in powder form mix some with water or rubbing alcohol either or ( experiment)
then just use it as a wash. layer after layer till you get the effect you’re looking for.
I use black pastels to simulate the soot from balst effects. I imaged my Panzer III L which is still in progress, but shows the soot on the barrel. It is a little exaggerated on this model, for the effect was not as evident in reference photos. The powder composition in WW2 generally didn’t stain greatly, and the staining was usually do to the heat from the blast.
Rob
Graphite works too … grind some lead (the softer the better) from a pencil on some sand paper. Stick your index finger in it and rub the tip of the gun barrel, repeat if the effect is too light.
I’d go with graphite, but don’t over do it. I was in armor for nearly twenty one years and never saw a gun with paint burned off the end of it from shooting
Good rule of thumb for all weathering techniques. You can always weather it a little more later.
A T-34 that I built is a good example of that, it’s a testbed and I keep adding a bit to it now and again to try something new.
Oh, and for the blackened muzzles, I’m a pastel kinda guy, myself.
Fade to Black…
Yeah, I wouldn’t bother with the airbrush if you can get it done with pastels. They are pretty easy to clean up witht water if you over do it, assuming you gloss coated the model beforehand
Thanks for all the advice. I guess I’d better get a “mule” to experiment with before I do anything to the final model. I like the graphite idea, and also the patels, so I’ll try them first.
Really appreciate your input Spamicus. It’s hard to argue with someone who has been there and done that.
grind up black pastels, not the oil ones. put ur brsuh in the powder shake of the excess an just “paint” it onas you would with paint. if u dont want to spend money on pastes u can also use charcoal
One Caveat, I only worked with high velocity tank guns without muzzle breaks. Redleg would have more experience with multi-baffle muzzle breaks and they may carbon up a lot more.
I’ve got some pics on ronUSMC’s website of my beloved paladins, you might get a glimce of the tubes in a few?
they really don’t carbon up to bad, don’t get me wrong the bore evac. gets slammed with carbon and the GAA we
use to lube it doesn’t help much either.
All in all the baffles really help to disperce the blast and with it the carbon truely doesn’t build up as well, when it does it’ll do it very lightly.
The inside of the tube will get all nasty though, you’ll see residue ( shards of cloth from the propellant charges ) carbon and all kinds of spooge
in the tube from swabbing it after firing ( only on howitzers {swabbing }).
hope this helps a bit?
Yeah, I used to soot up my barrel ends, but then I noticed in ref pix that you don’t really see that. That is, a foot or two of blackened barrel.
Now I just do the insides, and leave the outsides alone, aside from the regular washing and weathering the rest of the vehicle gets.
on the outsides, you might wabt to try to put some cleanerlube runs on it from when the crew might have punched the tube?
after firing so many rounds it is wise to run a ramrod with a brush down the tube to get the big stuff. we use like a WD-40 type stuff called CLP (cleaner lubricant protectant ) and a big rod that has a bell looking thing with lil’ bristles on it ( also we put a rag on it )to rod it off.
this whole process is kinda messy if you think about it, dumping some lube in the tube ( tube is usually lowered to max so lube runs out) then running the rod
in and out a few times till most or all the junk is out. it leaves fluid runs on the lower part of the muzzle and if not wiped off well it’ll collect dust. this dust when it collects dust will look like an oil spot on the ground if you try to cover it up with dirt and it soaks through.
hey Redleg1-7fa, ever had a “blow-by” on your gun? and yes scrubbing the bore was one, big, nasty job!!!
In my opinion the soot should be visible. WW2 ammo was often fueled by some nasty propellents. Modern smokeless powder is not as corrosive either. I reload ammo for my guns because of this reason. When I use an old mauser, enfield, (or similar relic) with old ammo and wipe it with a rag there is a lot of soot and smell. I cant imagine what a Tiger would look like after a day of shooting 
Ground pencil lead works great!!! Shermanfreak really fixed up my Tiger by telling me to repaint my Tiger (muzzle) without the black paint and to use the pencil lead. It worked and will be my technique for muzzles going forward… here’s the post to it http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5450
13b20
I just got to the gunline in June from service battery, so my field firing time is a bit limited with these paladins.
I’m an M-109-A5 kinda guy myself. The most I’ve seen is a 548 catch on fire and someones hand not being faster than the breach.
As for the tube, we , it seems , punch the tube twice a week.
Top has a technique he has us use, bore brush + two green pads with a cup of breakfree down the tube, then
the usual in in out and so on. The bad thing is you have to dry punch like five times?
I guess , it does work well though?
Sure seems a bit much to this “old” cannoneer… but thats why I got out in '87, I guess!! C- 5/29FA , C-6/29, and B-5/29. Ft. Carson----Germany-----Ft. Carson. 4th and 8th inf. Div. ( 5/29 started as 1/19. back in the day) Shot, over… SPLASH, out!