Ok I am finally building one. I got back into building about 4 months ago and been doing aircraft, but the armour just looks to good to pass up so I picked up a couple yesterday. A panther G late type and a King Tiger. What I wanted to know is when and how to paint it. On aircraft its easy to figure out when to paint, but on the tank its a little tuffer. Mmm “tuffer” is that a real word?[:I] Anyhow is there a faq or a thread somewhere that deals with that[?] Thanks
Stindle
hmmm Well lets see. Most armor is the same color all over including camo of course. My suggestion would be build the whole thing and paint it last, less the road wheels and tracks (paint them seperately) Some folks prefer to paint all the parts before building them but this seems a waste to me because with the sanding and glueing you will have to repaint it anyway. Now there are exceptions to this. Like under dashboards and interior pieces and such where you can’t get to after construction. The KT and Panther are fairly straitforward though. I don’t know if you have an airbrush I suppose you do as a wingy thingy builder. Thats my choice. German Camo schemes are some what of a toad because they require a little more work than your average OD critter. You can freehand an ambush pattern (I think this is shown on the KT box.) or mask a hard edge camo with tape or my preference…Silly putty. I’ll tell you the last few pages in the Panther group build have been devoted to painting so check those out as well…
Weathering … this is more personal choice… I personally use filters (really WEAK washes) and stronger localized washes to weather with. Also I use pastel washes made from well… pastels mixed with alcohol/water mix. A fine pointed brush and some thinned down testors “rubber” paint can be used for scratches.
Hmmm I think that about covers it… Oh and check out this link as well…
http://www.missing-lynx.com/rareworld.htm
Hope this helps…
[#ditto]
I’m with Kenneth!
i’ve been modelling both aircrafts and armor (this site got me addicted)
and i think it’s easier to paint tanks than planes (am i sounding a little bit biased? hehe)
on planes, you have to paint the interior then inner part of the intakes, the afterburners(or engines and propellers …etc… before gluing them up)…then the canopies (which i really hate painting and gluing)
on tanks, you can assemble the big parts like the upper and lower hull, turret etc…then paint them all together then add the painted accessories like the shovels, tow cables etc…
in short, you get to see your progress faster. you get to see the model how it would look like and the fun part is weathering it. i’m using a gunze sangyo weathering color set which is composed of 6 bottles of pre-mixed colors like rust, mud, soot, rough sand and rough gray.
i hope you’ll have fun building your first tank stindle!
welcome to the darkside!
check this out too!
Hi Stindle,
Actually Tamiya has some good information/techniques about painting amor and planes and such… it’s just very hard to find on their site… there is no direct link… but here’s the link for you… I especially like the article about Painting Winter White finishes on armor… the same technique can be applied to the any color not just white… good reading… [:)]
http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/plastic/tips/index.html
-Greg
Which models did you get? Dragon and Tamiya both have out nice models of each of those tanks.
I like to do a lot of “pre-painting”. It usually bites me in the wazoo as far as having to clean paint off parts before assembling them. (Old habbits die hard!) Still, I think pre-painting some areas has its merits. Trying to get in behind road wheels or up under fenders is a tough job after assembly. A lot of modelers even like to add the tracks before painting. I do mine off the model. I find I can do a much better job and control things better that way.
Good luck with your models, and welcome to the dark side. Heavy Metal has a lot of gravitational influence and draws in a lot of modelers. I’ll bet you like it here.
You’ll find most people do it many different ways. You kind of learn as you go and decide what works best for you. For me, I like to build all the base color parts first. If the wheels have rubber tires, I leave them off and paint and weather them seperately. I also paint and weather the tracks seperately. Some prefer to put EVERY piece on and paint them accordingly later. I’m kind of amazed that it can be done like that, but people do great jobs with it. Experiment a little and decide what works best for you. Good luck, you have some great kits there.
I usually paint the base coat first and then apply the camouflage after it has been mostly completed
I’m a build it all then paint it kind of guy. Except for track, which I usually paint seperately and then install it. I paint my road wheels at the same time as the rest, but normally off the vehicle and then roll them on an axle to color the rubber before installing them permanently. Like many have said, everyone seems to do it their own way, the way they’re comfortable with. Experiment and let it flow! It’ll work out.
Hey
The links are great btw thank you all.
The models are Tamiya panther type G late version, and Tamiya German King tiger ardennes front. I am aslo working on a Tamiya Do335A and a Hobbycraft Spitfire Vb pinup 1/24 scale, sorry I get bored easy [:I]
The Panther and Tiger are going to be displayed with each other with a russki tank blown up between them. I am going to make it like they are arguing over who got the kill. Don’t know if that has been done. But thanks again for the help.
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