Project mumblings: Panzer IV weathering strikes back

Oiliness, part 2

I wasn't quite done with the oil paints earlier, but I hadn't wanted to start making more of a mess on the tank before getting the tracks on. Now I got out of my self-setup holding area toward glory.

Exhaust pipe and track armour

This tank's exhaust pipe needed some life on it. Trying it the last time I wasn't too happy with the splotchy effect, so this time I decided to skip it. I made a mess of irregular splotches with my dark rust (ABT070) wash.

While I had some excess wash left, I used it here and there on the inside of the track armour. Unplanned, irregular patches of colour.

Already the next day I did the same but with fresher rust (ABT060 Light Rust) first as little obscure dots, which I then blended with a poking motion. In this photo the paint was still fresh, but it did show the variety already somehow, despite the reflections.

Now I had to let it sit still for a few days. Also, before cleaning up my wash, I used it very lightly on the track armour.

Earthy paint

I had already spread some earthlike thin oil paint on the lower parts of the Panzerwanne. Now I made some more of it and poked that into the holes and gaps in the tracks and on some select spots on the tank itself. Of the latter parts I blended the stuff pretty heavily, as I didn't intend to leave clearly noticeable brown stains on the deck of my tank but to add tonal variety to the practically one-colour paintjob.

This rear shot now showed that I finally remembered to paint the rear reflector red (VMA 72710 Bloody Red). In the end that single bit would be the only glossy part of the build.

My final shot also showed the freshly painted light rust on the track armour. My actual goal with this photo was to get a nicer look at the freshyl earthified tracks.

The jack, highlights and flakes

Soooo yeah, I had forgotten the jack repeatedly, so now I build and painted it in short order (black primer, then dark grey) but the wooden handle didn't make it to this photo. As I wasn't smart earlier - or I thought I was and was gravely mistaken - it wasn't really installable with its neat clamps without multiple repaintings all around. The jack was going to just lie there on its own, on a fender.

For the wooden handle I used just one paint, AK1108 Hull Red, that I had used for wood before. I didn't intend to try the woodgrain on a lonely piece anymore and I recognized making this same choice before.

Gentle chipping and bolthead highlighing

I thought I'd do a few chips only, and one of the best places for it was the track armour's steel bit. To get the first layer of these chips I mixed something like 40% of sand (VMA 71075 Sand(Ivory)) into some sandy yellow.

In addition to the steel bit in the front I made some scratches into the rear plate's Balkenkreuz box but not too many places called my attention for scratches. Somehow I remembered one of Uncle Nightshift's details and I used the same paint to highlight a bunch (read: all) of the topside bolts and whatnot, like those handles above the turret's side hatches and so on.

While the lighter bits were drying I mixed my well-liked dark grey + red for the deeper gouges and went for it. There weren't that many of these, I really didn't want to make a worn tank this time around.

In the front end I changed my mind a bit and made a few more markings after all, thinking that they were driving into things with the limited visibility they had. Still, not many of those, mostly to the easily stone-bumped things like the drive sprocket's protectors and the lower front edges. Maybe I was a bit overcautious compared to what may have been the everyday life in Northern Africa.

This felt like the paintjob was pretty much done now.

Dullcoat and satin touch-ups

After a couple of days for the paint to dry I applied varnish (AK183 Ultra Matt Varnish) to seal it for the final touches. These photos were taken before all of it was dry yet. The end was, again, near.

Both the red reflector and the driver's periscope's visible glass part (where I didn't paint a lighter reflection along the bottom edge) got a gloss varnish (Vallejo 70510) treatment, and the unpainted metal pieces got some satin varnish (Vallejo 60522) with the thought that they'd reflect light a bit differently than the painted tank itself.

Olio macchinato

For some additional messiness I made some nasty-looking oil (ABT160 Engine Grease) and used it to make it look like someone spilled some oil over the jack, then on one of the roadwheel hubs, and as some crap flowing out of the small hatches in the side of the Panzerwanne. Just to add a bit of variety again.

Pigments to top it all

Now I used some light sand from my well-aged Tamiya Weathering Master A set with the applicator's brush in various places. I mostly used it in the lower hull and especially on the roadwheels. Did it stand out nicely or did I apply it wrong? We'd see later.

Very predictably I made use of my Carbon Black pigments with the thinner and used the very thin wash on the muzzle brake, on the MG tips and obviously also on the exhaust pipe.