HELP ME!!! Newbie needs tank painting advice!

My mud mix is an earth-colored acrylic paint, the cheap testors putty (yaknow the stuff that's almost useless for filling seams), and nail polish remover. Put a big blob of putty on a sheet of tin foil. Then dribble a bunch of paint on top. If you want grass clods, throw in some static grass too. Then pour the nail polish remover on. Not too much. You can always add more. Stir with a toothpick. This will form little clods of putty that looks exactly like mud. Take an old brush (not the expensive one you have because this is a brush-killer technique) and slop it on in the running gear, fenders, wheels, tracks, and the bottom of the hull. Look at some reference photos to find where the mud would be built up. If you want a more subtle approach, add more nail polish remover so it will be thinner and less clumpy. If you have an airbrush, do a gentle mist of the earth color on the lower hull to simulate road dust. It all depends on where the tank is being potrayed. A dirt road? A little overspray. Slogging through mud in France? Slop it on. And it all depends what you like.

Size to build. It's up to you! I prefer 1/72 and 1/35. I've never caught the 1/48^th bug because personally, it's too small to weather effectively and too dimunitive for my display. 1/72 is very small, but the detail lends itself to all sorts of washes and drybrushing. 1/35^th  lets you tin the paint, and make all those little details, and is really satisfying to look at. But if you're happy a 1/48^th, continue! It's all how YOU feel. If you just hate 1/35^th armor, stay small. But if you like the big stuff, move to that! There's no right and wrong in modeling when choosing your scale. Some just like different things. Hope this helps!

Hi Ben,

There is a great article over on Armorama.com (http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=1221) that you might be interested in reading.

Probably the most common method modellers use to create a dust effect is with an airbrush (as aready alluded to). The other method is to use specialist pigments (or if you are cash-strapped a ground up artists pastel crayon). See here http://www.themodelcatalogue.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=62&cat=Weathering for a selection of weathering products available on the market.

For adding mud etc, it invariably involves using putty or filler of some sort and there are a variety of techniques including that already provided and other such as in the Armorama article.

I would agree with the comments on scale. It is totally your preference, however the one element that does tend to be a differentiating factor between the scales is price. 1:35 scale kits tend to be more expensive than 1.48 and 1:72, although they can of course take longer to build so there is an element of value for money there.

Good luck!

Tom Jolly

Also, MIG productions make some GREAT mud. I've seen it, and I SO wanna buy some!

Also, scales, best bang for the buck, buy some of Dragon's 1/72 Armor Pro series. It does have a lot of parts, and can be fidddely, but the fit is almost perfect, and I WAY ahead of the Hasagawa kits, which cost MORE! Good luck!

Cheers fellas,

Great stuff-keep it coming!

Ben

Boba Fett wrote:

the cheap testors putty (yaknow the stuff that's almost useless for filling seams)

 I actually find the Testor's Contour Putty perfect for filling in seams and ejector pin marks. It may be cheap, but it's good. Yeah it does take some time getting used to, but the end results pay off.