this is my second tank kit in about 15 years. and i am trying out a few new weathering methods. to my eye the whole thing looks way overdone, but when i look at the pictures it doesnt look too bad.
I have started with a base of "sinai grey" then counter shaded with black, oversprayed the whole thing with a lightened shade of the base colour. then used an even lighter shade of base to highlight the lighter areas more

I am quite happy with the way the skirt armour has turned out so far




so let me know what you guys think, good or bad

i wouldnt say its overdone. it is a very good start. obviously, you have a long way to go before its done. after filters, washes, etc. the outcome will look alot different. washes themselves will tone everything down and blend everything and probably get rid of the "overdone" look that your seeing.

It's not overdone. It's going to seem that way until you are done with the whole painting/weathering process. My only thought is that the base paint color seems a bit toned down, but it could just be the lighting.

At this point, there are still noticeable dark bands at the edges of panels, and in real life, paint does not fade preferentially in the middle of panels as compared to the edges. If you go over the model with a thin coat of your dust color, you may be able to fade this out a bit. The ideal result of techniques like preshading or dot filters, or any of the other myriad ways we model builders have devised to make out models visually interesting, is that it should be unnoticeable (which seems so unfair--it's natural to want people to know how hard you worked). But if somebody looks at a model and says, "Hey, Bob, great preshading," Bob should kick himself. What he wants to hear is "Hey, Bob, great finish--how did you do it?"

I think you are of to a great start. If this is your second paint job in 15 years, you really should be modeling more friend!
I would agree that the pre-shade shows a bit to much but your weathering process may tone this down and blend it a bit. Or, you could simply mix up a thin batch of your base color and mist over the entire model until the pre-shade blends in and tones down a bit.

thanks for the feedback guys. this kit is more of a painting testbed. i wanted to get the look right before ruining my expensive Magach7 conversion.
this is the look i am trying to recreate
http://www.missing-lynx.com/gallery/modern/merkava3lm_1.html

now hopefully i can figure out a good wash to use, I have tried Mig's brown wash and it doesn't look right on the greyish green. then i tried the promodeller dark dirt wash, i think i will just use that stuff for aircraft.

I may just go back to the old school and mix up some oils

once again suggestions are welcome

yours compared to that one, i would say its going to be a lighter colored was like a light tan or another dust color for the overall wash. then probably a burnt umber or another dark brown concoction for cravaces/rain marks. but, thats assuming your going for the same look. also, looks liek that person did a dry brush of a dust/tan color for the edges. with further review, im not even sure hes using a dark brown for alot of the contour lines. he might be using a blackish brown?

you were right the lighting sucked, I used better lighting and now the colour is at least a little more like the real thing


I am going to try an oil wash later tonite. hopefully that will work out. I have had some bad luck in the past with washes

Looking go so far dylan especially as this is your 2nd kit in 15 years! can you tell me what kit this is? guessing Academy? and what upgrades PE etc (brands) you've used to.

yep academy kit
as for A.M. bits: none nada zip zilch
completely out of the box and I am really enjoying it. I have over 1000 kits in my stash.They are never going to get done if i keep fretting about making them 100 percent acurate.

well i got the wash on, and I am pretty happy with the result.
I used Windsor and newton Olive green thinned with Mig thinners for the wash
the wash toned down the heavy preshading nicely. hopefully i can get it finished in the next few days. I will post some shots of it then.
thanks to everyone for the advice and positive comments

Yep I'm with you on that one! don't get hung up! just enjoy them ...
I was just impressed with the level of detail going on, going to get this Kit as my next 'What if' project thanks for the info.

A 1000 kits Hoolie Doolie !!!

I have been following this. It is getting better and better. Nice job.

Do you really have a 1,000 kits? It is no way that i would ever havethe time to complete them.

Ralph B

So far,so good,I'm no expert but i certainly like what I see

hi Dylan, the wash process seems to always help unify and tone down all the jarring contrast done during preshading and colour modulation. i like Gerald's comments on using preshading to create a subtle effect rather than something that is quite noticeable (i follow so many of his helpful posts i'd like to just thank him for all his contributions) but i've been reading lately how many pro-modelers are suggesting to push the contrast during base colouring.

i don't know where i stand on this as i like how the current trend is to avoid "cartoony" highlighting and shading but i read how these great models are being finished in a high contrast treatment and looking beautiful.

so, in relation to your Merk, it looks to be a great start but one that may have to be seen completed to appreciate the steps you've taken. i don't know if you plan on dusting the Merk up which will require a good contrast in the preshading to still show through?

cheers, bd.

I agree Bruce. too much "weathering" can make a model look really cartoony, but not enough will leave it flat looking and visually bland.it seems like a fine line between the two. thats why i am doing this on an oob $20 kit instead of a $140 magach conversion. another big factor is what my eye sees and my camera sees. the skirt armor has a really nice fading of the dust up from the bottom to the green at the top, in the pictures it just blends the two colours.
I probably have to spend some more time figuring out how to use the camera to its full potential.
the dust on the road wheels and skirt armour are a lot less subtle on the real thing.


the rear of the hull is the same as well


once the drybrushing is done, the whole thing is going to get a LIGHT overspray with the dust colour. hopefully that will tone the whole thing down

pics of the finished model here
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/171693&page=1