coming to the dark side

Welcome to the darkside ..... we knew you couldn't resist forever !!!!! (insert evil laugh)

For a first armour build, I would suggest a kit from Tamiya. They may be a little more expensive, but the engineering of these kits makes them a joy to work on. Any of their newer kits are simply superb such as the Tigers, King Tigers, Panthers, or Shermans. Their Russian T-34's are a little older but still build up nicely. As far as figure kits go, i would suggest you look at Dragon's line of figures. They are crisper in their detail and have a far wider selection.

As far as general rules of thumb for building armour, you will get many different answers to this.
Here is how I do mine, and I only refer to tanks here. Artillery and softskins would be entirely different.
I assemble as much of the kit as possible before doing any painting except for the tracks. This includes all tools, etc. I then paint each assembly, the turret, the hull, the tracks with their base colours. Camo (if needed) is than painted. I then paint any details that are a different from the base colour such as wooden tool handles, shovel blades, etc. I then apply a gloss coat to apply the decals followed by a dullcoat to bring the vehicle back to a matt finish. Any added stowage would now be placed on the vehicle. Now I would weather the vehicle using washes & drybrushing. Add the weathered tracks to the vehicle and finish it up with pastel chalks to give a dusty appearance.
These are the basic steps that I use and i hope this helps a bit.

WELCOME!!!!

I'll add one thing to Shermanfreaks list.....

MUD! This ain't no mama's boy wingy thingy that gets washed everytime the wind blows.... If your gonna build armor then do it all the way... weathering it all up is what makes it. Don't take the "Its my first kit so i'll built it factory fresh" routine... Thats for sissies... .... I mean it!!!

Have fun and post us some pictures.... there is a wealth of information and help here so feel free to give a shout out any time... I am sure one of us will think we know enough to help

You have been warned, don't turn up with no mr. clean tank!!!

www.modelexpoinc.com is having a sale of Tamiya kits for 50% off. It runs till Wednesday. I think they will run it again until their Tamiya kits are gone. Look under internet sales. Many quantities are limited.

I would start out with a one color kit, unless you feel confident painting 3-color German tanks. Any Sherman, T-34 kits would be a breeze. I just got their Abrams and it looks very simple to assemble.

Gee Kenneth, how do you really feel about weathering?? lol

I will totally agree with Robert's (shermanfreak) list of kits, with one little caveat. Tamiya makes a Panther A that sells for less than $20. It is an old kit and is not very accurate. If you want an easy build, it's okay. But if you want to do an accurate one, it's not the way to go. Their Panther G series are really nice, as are their Tiger I and II tanks. If you like detailing the interiors of your wingy thingies and want to do a piece of armor that has some inner stuff, consider one of the self propelled guns from WWII. Tamiya makes a fantastic Marder III and IIIM. Really nice kits, lots of detail, lots of AM parts to drive you nuts! Academy also makes some nice stuff with full interiors. The interiors don't seem to be terribly accurate, but they do look nice and give a fair representation of the interior. And, of course, are a great starting point if you want to super detail it.

My build sequence is to assemble the major parts, either completely or into major sub-assemblies, and paint them, paint the tools, etc. seperately, then attach them to the hull. Weathering, etc. then follows Robert's sequence.

Good luck and welcome to the dark side.

Kenneth,

I agree about MUD!! However, I don't think there's a lot of it up there in the sky, which is why most airplanes are kinda clean... lol... I'd imagine they get pretty well weathered when they hit the ground too hard![:0]

Yes, A Tamiya kit is a great start and make it nice 'n' dirty! Notice I didn't say 'rusty'?? Most crews try to keep rust to a minimum and a rusty tank usually means either a poor supply system or a lazy crew... usually the latter.

WELCOME to that womb-like comfort only a few inches of armor can provide!

Ron

Ron, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!!! Wise!!!

WIPW, ... (in the voice of Prof. Klump's Mama) "I just don't want my baby tank to be clean....."

Yes I say go with the tried and trued ol' M4A3 Sherman. Its cheap and builds up nicely with out too much work. Plus you have the pleasure of whippin up a batch of OD green which is about the easiest color to weather I believe. Oop there I go again...

Good luck in whatever you choose...

i dont think i can say anything. i am playing with the darkside now also. however a/c has my heart.

joe

Well what can I say? They have said it all. He-he-he. Welcome to the muddy and rusty darkside.

Also armor is more "forgiving" to lets say imperfections (such as dust in the paint the occasional messy paint jobs pertaining to german armor since some were applied with brooms and tree limbs in the field) since these babies were rarely cleaned in battle and almost always banged up such as fenders side skirts and even a few dings or holes from gun fire so basicly no shiney pretty factory fresh stuff here and as the saying goes ...the darkside will consume you ...hehehe!! oh ya welcome

Hehe, it's nice to have your feet planted firmly in the ground, as opposed to flying too high.
I too have built many aircraft, but since my first armour build, I've never gone back

I think Shermanfreak and Wipw pretty much covered it. One thing to remember is the number of road wheels on (most) German armor (32 on Panther - 36 on King Tiger) that all need painting very early in assembly due to the overlap from interleaved suspension.
As Wipw said, watch out for the Tamiya Panther A, it's a monster. The turret is wrong and it's missing 16 road wheels!