Joe,
if you are using an airbrush and are careful, the zim texture will show nicely.
it might get lost if you brush paint.
a few words of advice on airbrushing the PE Zim
(from hard experience on my Panther)
1) make sure your Zim is nice & clean. by this i mean from any glue residue, etc.
because the glue will disrupt the pattern of the zim, and will be horribly obvious
once the paint is down. i 'learned' this when i shot my primer. i had to go back and
scape out some glue w/ a needle to restore the pattern.
2) i would recommend priming the zim, both for the reason above, and better
adhesion of your base color.
it will also put your variety of surfaces (styrene, brass, resin, whatever)
on an even color 'field.
3) the texture of the zim will prevent your paint from flowing out like it would on
smooth plastic. be extra careful to keep it light & even.
i also 'learned' this while priming.
once again, the needle came in handy for clearing out 'clogged' pattern.
build up the paint slowly, and keep it pretty 'dry'.
because it will not flow out much at all.
4) remember if you are going to prime (and you should) and shoot a base color
and a multi color camo scheme, you could be shooting 3 or 4 layers of paint in
some areas.
so remember - try to keep it light, and build it up slowly.
all that aside, it is not as difficult as i have made it sound.
i am a armor novice, and certainly no airbrush expert, and i was pleased overall
w/ my results.
just want to give you a 'heads up' on the trickiest parts.
ed.