Been looking at a lot of pictures of Pz 38 (t)s. Actually been looking at a lot of pictures of tanks. The texture of the rolled steel doesn’t look as if the vehicle has skin disease, but it’s very definitely rough. My Dragon (model’s going to be a little guy - didn’t quite realize how little) Pz 38 has a smooth surface. Guess I’d coat the surface with something like Tenax or maybe Testors liquid and then stipple it. What techniques to wiser heads use to simulate the texture of rolled steel?
Eric
Use flat paint, that should give you the necessary texture in scale effect.
Rolled steel is a process not a look. Armour is usually made with cast or forged metals. Rolled steel would be used for parts that are machined.
The rough texture is from the molding process, the sand used in the molds is course and that texture is transferred to the metal itself.
There was a thread on more or less the same subject on Armorama a few months back and not everyone thought flat paint was the right way to show the texture of rolled steel. Don’t doubt your description is correct, the question is does it look coarse or smooth? Past armor master Tony Greenland praises German steel in particular and warns against doing anything to the plastic - although even he advises employing either a dremel or some kind of glue on the larger German tanks. Below is a picture from the Armorama thread of a German AFV being built on comission: the builder used Plastruc Weld Glue in combination with a lot of sanding and Model Master metallic enamels to create a surface texture very different than found in the kit:
Eric
hot rolled or cold rolled?
1/35 ?
try dabbing (stippling) CA glue on the surfaces. After cure, then sand with fine (600 - 1000) sandpaper. the Pz 38 has a lot of rivet detail, so be careful
otherwise, in 1/35 it will not be noticed esp. after paint and weather
hope to helps
I’m not a metallurgist. I’d actually like to know more about armor plate. A retired American general once told me that during WWII one of the problems that American AFVs had was that the Navy had first call on the best armor plate. I could never find anything to support the claim - but I’ve never looked hard either. I do believe most WWII armor was homogeneous armored plate - think “face hardened” steel was found not effective against AP ammo. I was in a big steel mill many years ago - everything looked dam hot to me.
For the 38T I’m thinking to leave it alone. Again, this is a kind of experiment: can I make Tony Greenland style “pretty” kit? It sure won’t come out like Greenland’s, but it’s a challenge and I’m hoping to learn something. But in general I don’t agree with Greenland’s idea of modeling the tank and not the mud it fought in. (In other words, keep weathering to a bare minimum - concentrate on a good finish and effects that emulate shadows.) I think it perfectly proper to model what a fighting vehicle looked like 30 minutes before or after combat.
So even if I treat my little 38T with a kinder touch than deserved for a fighting tank (it’s actually a cute little thing - very nice lines) I’m very interested in learning how to mess around with texture. If nothing else, I have a KV-2 up next - we shall be throwing everything in the weathering universe at that lovely. Sure couldn’t hurt its looks. (I’ve been trying to think of an uglier tank than the KV-2 and I can’t. So I’ve upped the ante. I can’t think of an uglier weapon than the KV-2. We throw mud at that guy, no error.)
Eric