Ok guys,

here's my first victim - please tell me what you think I could do to tidy it up, or improve next time around.

Next step that I'll try is a filter - what colour do you all suggest to tone it down a little and blend the coloours, make it a little washed out looking.

Thanks for all your help so far - the pre-shading seemed to go well, and all the building and detailing tips are appreciated!

Cheers,

Cokes.

Looking good so far, Coke, keep us Pz IV nuts posted. So is this for the Workhorse groupie?

lookin good which kit is it ??

Heya Sarge - it's the Tamiya PZ IV Ausf J. Seems like everyone's got one of these lying around!

Ican't fault the kit - it's very well detailed, even the belly of the tank is well represented. Although there are lots of PE parts out there for it, I wanted to try out on a stock kit to try and get some of the skills talked about on the site down pat.

I guess the only drawback of the kit is the cost Apart from that, rewarding build so far.

Cheers,

Cokes.

Looking Good Cokes!!!!

What I usually do is a light overspray of the Base Coat (lightened with white)... Low PSI..
and just quickly go over.. blending and lighthening the whole kit.. but not too much that your covering the camo and such...

Looks great Cokes! Are you going to put skirt armor on the side?

~Chip :-)

TUNA makes a great point - to blend it in and tone it down that's what I would try. Then to darken the whole thing (if you want) I'd go with a base coat/dark brown mix. Something to achieve the last photo darkness.

Paint your exhaust system a burned, rusty metal. The heat would burn off any paint and speed up corrosion.

I think you have made a smashing job of the camo. It really looks the part. My suggestion would be to add the decals and do whatever brush painting is needed, and then give it a good overall wash with burnt umber. When dry pick out the highlights with a subtle drybrush of the base coat lightened. Weather and add your tracks, and then mist on a little tamiya earth on the lower hull and running gear and tamiya buff on the higher areas.
I think you´ll find that the brown camo will have blended in better and faded considerably by this.
Which brown have you used? I like this shade. Good luck with the finishing!

Nice Tank! I'm waiting finished work photos

TUNA: Thanks for the tip, did that tonight and is starting to blend the paint job nicely... will do a little more tomorrow to tone down a few of the heavier areas.

CHIP: No armour skirts, just sticking with what I got in the kit - plus I think it's covers all the detail anyways.

Al: Will get to the exhaust system as soon as I take care of all the tools etc...

Plasticbattle - can;t wait to start getting into the weathering!

Thanks for the kind words and all the help lads.

Finally,

could smoeone recommend an AO for this tank - I was thinking Normandy, but am open to any suggestions. Is their a dominant region in which this two tone paint job was used? Also, any suggestions as to markings would be greatly appreciated - I'm going to give the quick masks by Eduard a go.

Once again, thanks for all your help and I look forward to seeing some of the other IV's.