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Foggy Morning at Krinkelt-Rocherath

I sprayed the tank with MM Acryl Gloss coat. After the gloss coat had dried, I applied the kit decals. I used decal-setting solution to try and get the decals to go down smoothly. I am not sure what happened, but one of the numbers dried with a very noticeable fold in it. My efforts to remove the fold by applying additional decal setting solution failed miserably and resulted in a large tear in the decal. So, I scratched it off completely. Luckily, the number that I chose was the one that had three included in the kit, so I applied the new decal along with liberal amounts of decal setting solution in effort to get it to dry smoothly. The next evening, I applied the gloss coat over the decals in preparation for the washes.

The first wash was an all over wash using Raw Umber and Lamp Black highly thinned in odorless mineral spirits. I then wiped this down using both a damp rag and also Q-tips dampened with clean thinner. After allowing that to dry for a while, I applied a second wash, this one a pin wash, using the residue of the black wash with a mix of Indian Red, Van Dyke Brown and Lamp Black. Once again, I went over this with dampened Q-tips. The Panzer IV was then set aside to dry completely.

After the washes had completely dried, I sprayed the Panzer IV with MM Acryl Flat. The Panzer IV was then I dry-brushed with unbleached titanium oil paint. The tow cable was painted with FolkArt (FA) Metallic Gunmetal and Graphite mixed together in about equal proportions. The turret hatch interior area was then painted flat black. The exhausts were painted with Instant Rust rusting solution and I then applied several coats of the rust inducing liquid. The pioneer tools were painted with MM Wood and Humbrol Gunmetal. I then polished the Humbrol. I test fit the mesh schurtzen and decided that I needed to wait until after I had applied the mud to the inside of the lower hull before they were attached to the tank.

I applied mud to the Panzer IV using MMP pigments and Liquitex brand Matte Medium. After adding mud to the areas I felt were appropriate, I brushed on dry powders throughout. After allowing that to dry, I added the mesh schurtzen using superglue. This was a tricky proposition as the angle was bad and you could not see through the schurtzen well enough to see where they should be attached. The assembly of the shurtzen supports was also part of the problem as the Dragon instructions left a great deal to be desired in terms of the exact placement of the respective pieces. Eventually I had to remove several of the supports on each side and re-position them so that the shurtzen fit somewhat properly. After allowing the schurtzen to dry overnight, I added additional mud to the schurtzen to hide the glue spots.