Hard to tell from one not so good picture,I feel your pain,i'm never happy with my pics.But from what I see it looks good.

For your first build ever, looks pretty good to me.

What do you have planned for the weathering. What are those marks on the gun mantlet and the glacis above the drivers position.

I'm using some pigments on the tracks I saw from Andy's Hobby HQ's youtube channel.

I used the hairspary technique for my chipping so those marks are just that. I kinda sorta like the concept behind it, but I'm not sure if I had too much hairspray or not enough.

Yea, the picture is horrible. Used my phone. I'll post one with my Digital SLR :)

I'm enjoying it so far, but I know it's all about practice, practice and even more practice.

Working on a M3 Stuart and Pz II while I wait for the Stug IV to dry/set.

Thanks

Ok, wasn't sure if that was chipping or not. Personally, i like to keep chipping along edges, especially where people are going to step on a lot. Never used the hairspray method, i tend to add chipping afterwards.

Might want to consider some pin washes as well.

Thanks Bish

Any recommendations? I'm more of a visual leaner.

That looks good! The paint job and fading look great. A little weathering it'll really come together. Nice job

Thanks!

Got a lot of good tips from this forum! 

Yeah that looks amazing for a first build. 

My first tank was... well... pretty friggin' horrible. And I'd been building other stuff for years before that. 

acctingman

Thanks Bish

Any recommendations? I'm more of a visual leaner.

 

I don't have any pics, but i do a mix of Raw Umber and black, 2:1, and just brush small amounts. It takes quite a bit to chip paint and you have to think where the most wear wil be.

Just finish my very first build. I know it needs more weathering/detail but I got to a point where I was just..."hey, it's my first build, I'm lost and quite frankly, I want to be done with it"

I know it's going to take many, many builds until I can take a step back and go WOW, that looks....ok

All through the build I was worried about what step is next, when to coat, when not too, when and where to shade...what to shade. Got a headache thinking about it, but I know all this will come in time.

Love to hear any suggestions or critiques.

Edit : now, looking at the pictures the road wheels are too dark and I just don't like how they turned out. the tracks are dusty while the wheels look muddy/dirty. Also the end of the barrel is too clean like they never fired their gun. Oh well, I can fix that.

And.....the skirts on the inside haven't been painted. LOL....NOOB

Thank you

Nice job, clean build.  I not sure about the skirts, is the painted worn away or is that camo?  If they are worn from scraping objects it would seem to me that they would show damage.

Paint is supposed to be worn away. I have lots to learn. I used the hairspray technique for my first build. I have to try them all to see which I like the most.

Looking at the skirts I don't like how they turned out. They aren't horrible, but it looks off. More practice!

Looks great for your first build!  I look forward to seeing what you build next.

The only way I use the hair spray method is if I want to represent heavy white wash chipping. It works fairly well for that.

Pretty good for the first try, we all have to start somewhere, eh? For worn out paint you may try the sponge method. Take the kitchen sponge, the kind that has a soft, usuall yellow piece on one side and a rough blue or green other side. Cut out a small piece of the rough side, dip it in the paint, wipe it off on a piece of paper and then touch the model with it. Should turn out something like this:

Thats a nice build, deffinetly off to a good start.

I would not worry about wearing paint to much. It takes a long time to do that, and given how long most AFV's survived in WW2, there would not be to much wear.