The tamiya tanks seem to be pre-colored green. Should i prime them befor I paint the desired color. Just curious if it makes a difference.
Thanks
I’ve never primed before. I shoot as normal.
I use to never prime either.But then i read something about just useing a clear flat dull coat spray on the bare plastic as prime. Any body else ever heard of this?Are do it?Well it did help my paint,so I do it all the time now. But im going to try out some real primeing on my next build.Like some gray primer maybe even that black paint method.any thoughts on this?
i hand paint my late war german tanks dark yellow base for the late war factory coat they had . and then beleive it or not hand paint red brown and dark green my various paint/ camo designs and come out with some very well made models. i like to make german ww2 tanks . i have been to museums in germany and seen these tanks ( tigers 1 and 2, panthers, mk iv, flak 36, half tracks ect ect . and to tell the truth most if not all had crew applied camo. that was hand painted on them according to what type of terrian and foilage they where figthing in. and paint in cans was easy to be had and quick to apply . look on some websites for historical pictures of painting done by crews. and i suggest this to alot of modelers out their look at tanks if you can. and you will realize just how sloppy and how many layers of paint and different tones of samecolor paint can that where used on armour vehicles. the bottom line is that if it looks good to you on your model and looks like it might blend in certain terrian you see the vehicle fighting in thats all the better . cause to tell you the truth that is how todays tankers feel and that is how the panzertruppen crews also felt .if the design works why fix it . i just feel alot of people out there are too fixated on the perfect air brushed camo job which is so unrealistic for ww2 german armour. when most crews painted on their own camo in the feild on a as needed basis on what they could get from their own supply channels or beg borrow or steal for paint . try hand painting the camo and look at photos of real tanks and not the popular modern interpitation of what everyone thinks a tank looked like back then
Ever been to an ipms contest?
It ain’t right.
Pretty tank wins. Reality loses.
A lot of times the judges aren’t as educated on the subject as the builder.
Reality is translated as a bad paint job or lack of skill.
I hate it when that happens.
Too many chiefs, not enough indians.
Too many experts.
I don’t care. I build it as I see it.
I agree with you totally.
Forgive me Rory, but I think you’ve missed the point. The key to using the airbrush on German armor is exactly the opposite. Restored vehicles in museums are not a really good reference for the most part. The majority are incorrectly painted and marked.
You use the airbrush to replicate effects (in scale!) that you can make out from reference photo’s, etc. Then, if you desire, you can augment the realism with post paint techniques and applications, washes, pastels, pigments, etc.
Now to the question, I never prime armor, to me it is a waste of money and time.
This is an example of a Tamiya Tiger whic was hand zimmed and unprimed:
LOL Buff fan, spray away, just make sure you wash your plastic first.
Steve
Well you are all right. Early in the war ( 1943 ) when the germans started to pint their tanks in camo and not just grey. They were delivered from the factory in dark yellow. The units then added the camo, but they did have sprya guns available for this, however we see some of the grey Tigers have darkyellow applied by whatever means available, like the Tiger nicknamed “Tiki” the yeallow is clearly applied by either a big brush, sponge or broom.
But in most cases they used a spray gun, like on this King Tiger from s.Pz.Abt 503.
Note that the tow cables are still in place during painting.
Late in war, October + November 1944, the tanks came with a factory applied hard edged camo, using the red oxide primer as a base and the dark yellow and olive green as camo colors.
Well i’ve seen alot of pic’s of germans in the field painting there tanks with a spray gun also. But I’ve also seen lot doing it by hand also.Espacely the winter white wash.I dont think you would be wrong doing it either way.But there nothing like the old airbrush…hihi.