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Coming in out of the Cold

Part Three: Painting the Panzer

At some point during the painting of the stable I began the process of painting the Pz.IV. As always, I first laid down a primer coat. This will always show any small items I missed and that need correction, and gives a nice clean pallet prior to the paint. I chose a close rendition of one of the paint schemes suggested from the kit instructions. This would be a variation of a Dunkelgelb base with a Green camo design applied. I also knew at this point I was going to chip back some of the green field applied camo as seen from normal wear and tear.

I have to say that the separate center rims from the wheels made for a real treat in painting these tiny wheels. A light grey mix was painted on the rubber of the wheels with no worries of staying in the lines and the center rims were painted with the airbrush.

I often start with some pre-shading; this was followed with a four tone shading of the paint to give the tank some depth. Even at this scale the deep tones and highlights show up nicely. The brighter tone definition will ease back after a filter and some washes.

Once the filter dried completely it was time to apply the decals. I applied a quick squirt of Future to seal the placement area and make the water slides…well…slide! After placement of the decals, another light application of Future to seal them in. Once the Future more or less dried to the touch, I gave the entire model a quick clear coat in preparation for the washes to follow.

Just prior to the washes I used German Camo Black Brown to apply some various chipping to the areas that would see some wear from use. This was followed by some dark washes to bring out the raised and recessed features.

This pretty much finished the initial painting and weathering of the little Panzer. Now it was time to try to put the whole scene together.