Guys I need some advice on how to weather a winter camo'd Marder III, I used Burnt Umber oils...with okay results, but doesn't look right on the white paint. Don't know if you can see in the pics...but I need to know if this works or need a suggestion for a different method or paint color for the weathering. Thanks in advance

Good start so far ....now all depends what you want to do next ...you can dry brush some Panzer gray on the high traffic areas ...you can use oil paints and place little spots all over the vertical panels and create a worn washed out look by using lighter fluid on a wide brush and dragging the oil paint down streaking your paint .Use colors like paynes gray, raw umber ,burnt sienna...even black and white too...Don't forget to wipe your brush off often ..

Richard

You have to bear in mind the reality of the weather that necessitated a white wash. Once that russian snow had set in there was little that would substantially weather a white camo job other than wear.

Your brown wash looks right. My tip would be to a) work some very dark powdered pastel into recessed areas (under that hull mantle for instance) and b) go to work on all worn metal edges with a grade-B lead pencil. In both cases I suggest slow and gentle. Build it up VERY gradually so you don't lose control. It's easier to add more than trying to reduce too much.

As for your white camo...you have it looking like some 1/35th geezer has actually come along and done it for real. Absolutely spot on mate.

Check out this photo of my Marder that I used for my first winter camo. I went for a very subtly worn appearance with mine.....much less harsh than many people like to do, and the photos don't really show all the variations you see in person. BUT, I started like you with white over grey, drybrushed with panzer grey oils getting Darker as I went to show a progression from the white to the areas of highest wear......think highlight in reverse. I also streaked the oils vertically, and finished up with some pastels for more splotches and streaks. I did not use a wash on this model at all. Your wash looks fine though, as a dirty vehicle would pick up that mud color especially in a wet environment.

Ah, but Grifter, as exquisite as your Marder is (and it's clearly a master example) I would argue that it is not representitive of a white-camoed vehicle. It's a masterfully done light grey.

I have never done a white camo anything, and the reason for that is it is, in my opinion, one of the hardest paint-jobs to pull off in the field of modelling. The problem is that if it is done realistically as it was applied in the field (from a bucket with a house-brush) it ends up on a model looking like the work of a ten-year old Airfix novice. Unless one is lucky or expert. I would end up doing as you have done Grifter...losing track of the original intention and pulling-off a superlative non-white paint-job instead.

I don't know how jejack has done his...maybe with a swab? But he's pulled it off and it's one of only a handful of winter-camo jobs I've seen that looks fundamentally authentic.

Siggi, thanks for your compliment, and to answer your question on how I did it.....I lopped the bristles off a paintbrush til it was about the scale size of a paintbrush (maybe bigger). Then I just thinned the paint a little...and kinda smeared it on...made it look like obvious brush strokes. Thats pretty much how I did it.

CONGRATS - GREAT WORK
ROBERTO

Sergeant JeJack2:
It was sometimes left to the men in the field to paint there own camo. and they used what ever they had like rags, brooms whatever they had to get the job done. So don't sweat it.