Ha Ha Tanky!!
As mfor the paint going a long way, i'm trying that with My BMP. One question on that: the instructions call for these grill things to be painted the smae color as the tank, but I want them to be a little draker so they stand out. If I paint them black first, then spray the whole thing with green, do you think any of the black will show through and give the grills a sense of depth?
As for the T-55, let me regale you with it's sad story. It was built a while ago as a normal kit. This was back when I knwe even less about model building than I know now. So, i stuck it together in about 8 hours, without flattening the tracks out first or anything. After that, I dicoverd that weathering makes tanks look more realistic. So, deciding it didn't matter that the kit was already finised and that I wasn't planning on coating it with anything, I took to the kit with great zeal and a little kid's pastel chalk coloring set. I set out with the brown pastels, rubbing them heavily on. unfortunately, on the tank they look rather orange. Next, I decided that weathering with a silver pencil was a good idea. so I started scribbling on the surface of the T-55 with a pencil. Now, in an effort tocontinue weathering, whenever I have any spare silver or steel paint on my brush, i simply wipe it off on my T-55.