Since I can't just post pictures without the story behind the build, here it goes. I bought this beast last summer when our Hobby Towne was on its way out. I was about to deploy and I thought if I had a chance at building anything (figuring that aircraft require paint at about every step of the process and I'm a aircraft guy) armor was the way to go. As I didn't have time to build overseas I started building on my lunch hour. I purchased a few extra tools etc... and just keep them in a drawer at work. My co-workers did draw the line with the paint booth.
The build went pretty well. I had a few issues with figuring out what was a true seam and what needed to be filled. Either way, my results were better than expected. One trip home, and I had her in primer and paint. Since my only builds have been in aircraft, I though why the heck not, and did some pre-shading on the rivets and edge lines. that seemed to work pretty well. I brought a jar of oddorless Turpenoid back to work with some artists pigments. Having read as many posts as possible on the subject, I started with a general filter wash. After that a pin wash and finally whatever you call it where you place the color spots on the hull and streak them. That last step didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, no matter how I tried, it seemed like the pigments wouldn't streak as well as I see from you armor masters.
My first setback was purchasing a set of Hobby Boss Track links. After a couple of weeks of lunch hours, I had them snipped, sanded and well under way to being assembled. All fell apart as I started to work them around the front and rear wheels. Seeing nothing but further frustration, I finally gave up and resorted to the Tamiya tracks. With a little work they did turn out ok. A coat of Tamiya brown with some steel dry brushing looked good to me.
This is where the wheels fell off. With my sampler pack of Warpigs pigments in hand, I mixed some pigment up with plaster of paris and started dabbing it on the road wheels instead of on the bottom out of site. 30 minutes later I was done and the next morning all my plaster dried almost white and my momentum came to a screeching halt.
It took several weeks and many applications of pigments to cover up the plaster mess. In the end I'm pretty happy with the results, but the days of heavy dirt and mud may be on hold.I lastly wanted to thank all of you for you posts, pictures and in general for taking the time to pass your knowledge on to us novice armor modeler. I for one very much appreciate your help and dedication. My stash is still mostly 1/48 aircraft, but there are now a couple of Dragon tank models in there as well. The Dragon M3A1 halftrack is now on my building desk at work! Anyhow, here for you enjoyment is my the Tamiya Cromwell Mk IV!
