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Building a Panzer IVJ - Part 1

Weathering

Weathering can make or break your efforts to build a realistic replica. Even if you cheese to build a factory fresh tank it needs some small amount of wash and drybrushing to give it some level of visual interest. On the other hand overdone weathering can give your tank a surreal, cartoonie look, with overdark shadows and overlight highlights. As you can tell I don’t use the “underpainting” method. This is a technique where a darker color is painted on the hull first and the top colors lightly sprayed over to induce shadows and dark areas around the edges of panels and structures. I just don’t think it looks real. Maybe on cement or stone earthworks but not steel. I begin the weathering process by giving the subassemblies a coat or two of Future to gloss it up. This does two things. It allows me to use a wash made from thinned enamel paint without “pulling up” the paint underneath and the gloss prevents the wash from “bleeding” where I don’t want it. This coat of Future should be left to dry for 24 hours.