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Building a Panzer IVJ - Part 1

My wash is 80% thinner and 20% burnt Umber Model Master paint. Do not spray your tank with this wash through the airbrush, do not slop the wash over the entire thing with a 2” brush all that would do is make a mess. Take that old brush with 7 or 8 hairs in it and use it to put the wash where you want it. Along recessed lines, weld seams, the base of raised details and the like. Do the entire kit....the turret, gun, upper and lower hull, suspension, and don’t forget those wheels on the sprue. Just dip your brush in the wash and touch it to the model. The paint will run off the brush and wick around the parts your trying to pick out or along recessed panel lines and inside corners. I did use a wider brush on the treadplated areas of the fenders. Don’t worry if it gets a little messy now but don’t be careless either. Set it aside to dry completely. Once it’s dry you can clean up if necessary with a q-tip dipped, then patted dry, with thinner. If you rub an area too much the Future will come off so be careful. At this time you can paint the rubber areas of the roadwheels charcoal black.

Drybrushing is one aspect of weathering that I’ve constantly seen overdone. I s’pose it’s a matter of personal taste, I choose to drybrush subtly. I begin with a medium drybrush with the base color-Dunkelgelb-over the entire vehicle. This is the realism stage of drybrushing, not the artsy stage. The paint will wear off certain parts of the vehicle that are subjected to wear exposing first the lower colors and in the extreme the metal. Take care when drybrushing around those tiny p.e. parts-you don’t want to knock ‘em off. Drybrushing is simply dipping your brush in the paint then wiping it across a rag or paper towel until very little paint remains. When you then run your brush over the surface of the model the high spots pick up the remaining pigment. Areas likely to stand out now are edges, the raised areas of treadplate and boltheads.......