Sunday 16 January 2011

ITALERI CARRO ARMATO M13/40 1/72 PT.2

Hello all,

I finally managed to finish this tank.I started this tank over Christmas, and for a fast build kit it took for ever to finish painting.
I suppose being ill and dicking about trying new techniques has not helped  the speed of this beast.
 I thought after reading on Paul's Plastic warrior blog about using marmite for masking areas of for weathering I thought I will give it a bash.
Being in the camp that loathes the stuff, I decided to part with some of my hard earned dosh and buy  some Vallejo paint mask.Its just a rubber paint really but give it a bloody good shake if you do use it.
It needed a metallic undercoat, so out came my trustee pot of Revell metal paint (which goes on a dream).
 A few drops of the rubber on various bits of the tank, the body behind the tracks got a few blobs as well.Edges and corners got the most of it and hatches due to rougher handling.

After 24 hours of drying time, a quick coat of Vallejo Russian green covered the tank.
Then came the peeling of the rubber.It was a bit tricky because I used a blade to start with a scratched a bit too far and the orange started to come through.
 I then switched to a pair of pointed tweezers and had better luck.The desired effect was achieved but the undercoat was a bit to shinny.
I tried to dull it down with Vallejo black wash but I managed to cock that up by not thinning it down enough.
 A thin was of black was followed by a good dry brushing with Vallejo medium sea grey.Of course any West models production wouldn't be complete without some MiG weathering pigment!I used dry mud and dark mud this time mixed together left to dry and give a good brush with a tooth brush to remove any excess powder.
The base we have all seen before so I will not bore you with this again.Space and money are a big factor in which base's I make and use.Basically I have little of both so sorry for re-using base's.I am happy with how this has turned out and if nothing else I have learned a few valuable lessons on this project.I thought I was going to end up a bit of a white elephant but in the end not to bad.PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW & ANY COMMENTS OR TIPS ALWAYS WELCOME.

Cheers for looking  Rich.

10 comments:

Nick Grant said...

What a cute wee tank!

I've often wondered Rich, what do you do with these models afterwards? Display or play?!

Cheers,

Nick

Tim Gow said...

Rich
Very nice finish. I have been wondering about Nick's question too. I have a couple of the old ('proper') Esci M13s in use and a couple still 'in stock'.

Anonymous said...

Looks good, no overkill on the weathering, just subtle, I like it.

Bartender said...

Love the lost shot of the tank trundling off.

west1871 said...

Cheers for the feed back lads.I normally just put them on the shelf and upset the wife when it comes to the dusting.

Thanos said...

It took you some time, but the outcome is great!!!
Well done Rich!!! :-)
I like it very much!
T.

Paul said...

Great build, I have done the ESCI version and loved the crappy look of it. Nice weathering, too bad about the Marmite.

peter said...

And again a nice piece of art Rich.

ModernKiwi said...

A nice thick blob of PVA glue will do much the same thing as the Vallejo product in my experience.

mork6969 said...

Another great work! Thanks for the details concerning the technique. Very useful for my own purposes.