Just a couple of pictures of my early Leopard. Its a Matchbox reboxing of the Italeria kit that is old. But i have to say the whole thing went together very well with a minimum of fussiness.

My question is this, i havnt done modern armor, i was wondering what weathering i should go with on this model? I've very used to WW2 armor and such, but this new stuff is leaving me scratching my head a bit. If it wasnt heavyly used then the weathering should be muted.

Any help here would be great.

Pictures.

Well, the kinds of weathering for modern vehicles are actually the same as for world war two i think. The biggest difference are the colours. I never got into the discussions about the ideals colours for tank A in region B in 194C and bla bla bla. Some people seem to take this as a damn serious kind of science. Nevermind, what about yours skills in weathering? Have you tried pigments yet for example? Here in middle europe military vehicles get muddy very quick you know. But maybe you just want a dusty vehicle?

Very easy short version: First i would should apply a dark grey (never pure black!) pin-wash, helping the on the photos hard to see details to become more visible. The second step are filters for the three tone camouflage. After that you can go on with pigments for dust and/or dry/wet mud. Finally the model gets completed by some drybrushing and a little bit chipping.

With this modern stuff "weathering" really means fresh mud and road-dust. Remember, the poor crew would be expected to clean their mount at the end of whatever exercise they were on. And generally BW stuff is well-maintained, so no chipping paint on the panel edges. Of course, you do want to add some grime to vents and air intakes, and a subtle wash of umber or similar can "enhance" the shadows that in real life make panel lines and other details stand out.

By the way, you can also pick out details like the ice-cleats (those X-shaped things on the front hull) which would have been grimy or even lightly rusty. (Unless, of course, the tank has just been resprayed by the maintenance guys, in which case anything not removed by the crew would get sprayed...)

Tom

Brian,

You mean this walkaround? I agree that I'd paint it a lot like a WWII US tank, but then my friends moan that I don't do enough weathering to meet their expectations! The point I was making is that the trend for WWII stuff is to chip, batter, and rust every edge, every bolt, and every railing. Such fierce weathering can be seen in modern kit in places where the environment is harsh and resources for maintenance are stretched (just look at tanks in the Middle East), but is less common in a well-funded peace-time European army.

Aside from rust on the unpainted steel of the tracks and ice cleats (!) the main "weathering" in the walk-around is a combo of sun-bleaching (a matt varnish, with just a hint of buff paint, does this nicely) and dust accumulated around bolts and other features. Around the front the hardware has a little chipping - this is where the crew climbs in, where the tow cables are attached, and also where they wrestle those heavy ice cleats in & out of the stowage brackets. The areas around handrails etc are a little burnished too, from hands, straps, etc rubbing. What I don't see is major chipping or rust defining all the panel edges of the turret and hull as is the fashion for WWII stuff.

Sure, the tank in the pics could use a respray (and a wash!), and the decals (does anybody actually paint their markings anymore?) are faded and "silvering", but the point is it isn't a scruffy rust-bucket.

Crossracer, cruise the web and choose some pics of a real tank that you like, then just match what you see! Don't let the "experts" (myself included) tell you what is "right".

Tom