I just embarked on building the Tamiya M-41 Walker Bulldog as practice for the Dragon King Tiger that I bought… Just a few questions for you all…
The paint call lists out the lugs on the wheels as being painted flat yellow, I remember during the 1970’s the lugs were OD like the wheel, were they yellow when the M-41 was in service?
Second - do you gloss the body before weathering? I know with my aircraft I do, but somewhere I remember someone saying they didn’t do it on their tanks. To me it seems like any wash would soak right into that matt paint if you didn’t.
Thanks in advance… this is just a cheesy model to reaquaint myself with armor, the last one I built was in 1988 or so, but still want to make it look nice!
I would go with the OD for the lugnuts. Some units did paint a narrow yellow or white line across the lugnut, this would show if the nut had loosened by the line on the nut and bolt not lining up.
I don’t do an overall gloss cote before weathering. I use the pinwash method of just applying a wash to selected areas, and I like the effect of the wash soaking into the details and not flowing over the whole surface. Looks more realistic to me. To each their own. I would say try both ways and see which you like.
good god tom! what are you doing over here?!!! Good luck with the project. What i do is actually paint with tamiya acrylics mixed with some of their gloss- and weather with oils and enamels right ont op of that. It’s completely different from how I do my aircraft.
I should have took that left at Albequerque I guess! [;)]
Actually I’ve been itching to build a tank for awhile… The last one I built was a M-60A3 way back in the 80’s in ODS desert camo. Since I came back into modeling I’ve been doing some aircraft and decided on something different. I have that KT I am probably doing for the Battle for Germany build and had picked up this M-41 sometime before. What I am REALLY waiting on is the M-42 Duster from AFV. Had one of the Tamiya motorized ones as a kid and it holds a special place with me.
Thanks for the tips!
Terry - thanks to you as well! I can’t wait to get into the weathering of this!
As far as the yellow lugs go, I think the info about the yellow stripe is accurate. The Brits used to paint their lugs red and green: red for the ones to not loosen (as they held the halves of the wheel together) and green for the ones holding the wheel to the hub. I don’t think the US ever adopted the system, at least on a wide basis.
As for weathering: My method has been to paint the base color, then do pick-out detail painting (tools, roadwheels, etc). I allow the base color to dry for at least 24 hours, to let the carrier evaporate out, then give the whole thing a coat of clear gloss to apply decals, then a coat of clear flat. The flat coat seals the base color, plus gives the washes a better surface. If you try to use washes on gloss it will only bead up. A flat surface allows capillary action to carry the wash through most of the length of a seam or around a raised detail. After the washes are thoroughly dry (wait at least 24 hours if you’re using mineral spirit or turpentine-base washes), I start the dry brushing.
Here’s my website, it might give you a better idea of how my weathering looks:
I never gloss coat anything. If anything, maybe I’ll apply some to the area where the decals are to go. As HeavyArty said, I tend to use very localized washes. I use water-colour filters, and for that, it is not neccessary to have a gloss coat, it actually works better with a flat finish. Varying the surface texture and colour of panels is done with pastel chalks, washes, and drybrushing.
wow! a lot of info. Thanks to all for your help. I went ahead and did a light wash in specific areas (the pin wash like Heavy Arty and a few others mentioned). Tonight I will play with some pastels. I am doing this as a tank on manuevers at Ft. Polk LA between the Korean and Viet Nam war. So plenty of reddish pastel will be used in the making of this model. (nothing but red clay there and in the summer vehicles are coated heavily with the dust from it) I used to go there to the commisary when I was a kid and the sight of all those tanks rolling out of the practice range onto the roadways with red dust all over them was an impressive sight to a 10 yr old.
ok yall… I am sold on armor. I’m looking at my little M-41 over there with the decals micro-sol’d and settling down and I actually like it! Yeah there were some mishaps like me getting silly last night and beginning to weather without the decals on. Then I tore a decal today so I am doing the JGSDF version of the M-41 instead. I also broke off a small piece and have yet to get on the carpet and get it but I think I can find it or scratchbuild it if need be.
I’m really looking forward to my KT now (except the indie tracks, that will definitely be a new one for me!)
Thanks a lot for all your help and when I am finished I will post a pic or two of it so you can see my measly skills but smiley face!
Good to have you on the dark side. By the way, the indie links on the King Tiger are not that bad of an affair. Out of all the DML kits I’ve built, that one is the least problematic when it comes to tracks.
cool… thanks for the tip Zokissima… I am sure I will be back here when the time comes… I have looked at them and formulated a basic plan of attack but will get some more advice when I get into it for real…
As far as the M-41… I think I already said I am doing it as a JGSDF tank now due to a torn decal… I am trying to get the japanese flag insignias to lay down on the hull nice then I should be able to do some preliminary pics for yall… in the right light it looks ok by me. And I am sure SOMEWHERE in Japan they have red clay dust like I was going to do it in originally… so I am sticking to my plan for that… even if I find out they dont it is a practice model so the contrasting paint/weathering will do me good to see what I need to work on…
HeavyArty is right. Avoid a gloss coat if you can. I am painting a T-55 right now, and I made that mistake— and the coat of Future I applied witha brush has obscured alot of the turret texture detail on my kit–so apply it only where/if you apply decals. On the plus side, it’s making the washes easy to fix. If the M41 has zero texture from a cast turret, then maybe you can make a gloss coat work.
By The Way: I also built my ERTL T-55 kit in order to practice for the Tamiya T-55A. And I haven’t built a tank in about 15 years…
Welsome back to armor modeling, from one who has recently returned as well.
Doc - thanks for the welcome! The M-41 has a welded upper turret and the pin wash was easy on it. I know I am going overboard with the pastels right now but I am interested to see how much they tone down over flat paint after I a flat coat over them to kill the decal shine. I have some Polly Scale flat finally since I have heard so much about the ultra flat qualities of it.