A report on my Kurk T-34. As a model, the kit is complete. However I do intend to build a base (those seem to be great fun – this one with static grass) so some of the delicate parts of the kit like grab handles aren't going on until the end. It's too plain to me now that the more work you do on a kit, the more you have worry about exterior parts that could be damaged or – in my clutzy hands – demolished.
I've never done a good tank. Some have been ok. But it was interesting to try to follow the bouncing ball created by Adam Wilder – one of the best AFV modeler on earth. On YouTube there is a 26 part series (figure 300 minutes) of Wilder doing a KVI. I 'm doing a T34 so that's the same. Wilder's series begins with the end of construction and what he calls “modulation” painting. (The series was done in 2016 and I think you'll find techniques like “black/white” more current. I took it to be very similar to my favored “black basing” technique.) Anyway, the idea is to have the base model already carrying an irregular finish that will fit the beginning of weathering from the start. (I should note, that one very formidable guru Mike Rinaldi appears to now favor a uniform base in acrylics and all weathering done by oils – it might work.) Here is my rendition using my “go to” Golden High Flow acrylics:
meld! by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
To a extent this exercise was a greatly altered “infomercial.” Wilder's skills are undoubted, but he also employed his own companies weathering materials. This includes filters, washes, earth effects – all are enamel based. Wilder oils are odd, but neat. They are matte and dry very quickly, but like the other companies he offers far too many colors. If a modeler can't figure basic color mixing, perhaps they shouldn't be using oils at all (much less pigments).
I can't use enamel products – they horrible to smell and handle. I've used them in the past and know they work. But if I'm going to work on a tank for a long time I'm going to use acrylic. There are all kinds of variations on this – acrylic mediums that slow drying: Vallejo Acrylic washes: Wilder's new “Acro-line” which can all be used for streaking and below hull weathering. I add to the mix my well used Iwata Medea Com.Art acrylics. Now add to this my very large collection of Vallejo Model Color paints, there are about a million ways to weather a tank. But not the way Wilder does it.
Wilder (and Mike Rinaldi) talk a lot about “layering” a model. I understand the idea as a poor water color fan years back. But what do you want to do with a model tank? Here's my take. Let's say you're got a T-34 reading for battle at Kursk in 1943. The tank itself has probably met its crew sometime in Febuary. After allocation to one of the Central Front Armies the unit would have been in almost constant movement or training until July 1943. Indeed, Hitler's delay of Citadel allowed both armies to equip and train for a month longer than any other summer campaign in the East.
So what does that mean on tank? I'd argue that heavy duty chipping would not be to the level you'd see in city/village/forrest fighting found in most other months of the campaign. You would, however, seen extreme levels of streaking: there was lots of rain, Russian and German tanks were not good with lubricants, but above all, there would have been buckets of dust and dirt – the kind of thing that made tank crews choke. This was the steppe and in July. So when it dawned on me that most of Wilder's subtle steps involved dust and streaking, I thought it worth the time.
Here's a close-up of what I've done:
reardet by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
right by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
rt-notdone by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr