My plan is to airbrush on Tamiya German Grey on my Emil Sturer followed by decal app then airbrushing on 'The Filter' P240 blue for panzer grey.I think this will lighten the Tamiya Panzer grey and give it a blue tint? Looking at the products the filter looks lighter than the Tamiya paint.I am somewhat confused about using a lighter filter on a darker color.

Hi, Gang! I NEVER use filters to alter the color of whatever I'm working on at the moment. In my own opinion, filters are messy and they screw up the original color that the vehicle was supposed to have been painted in the first place. Also, your P240 BLUE filter is supposed to be transparent so that it's going to add a blue tinge to your Panzer Gray, not necessarily making your base color lighter. Then there's the little problem of your decals- If you spray a BLUE filter on your model after you've applied and sealed your decals, the WHITE in your crosses will turn LIGHT BLUE; the YELLOW and WHITE of the 1939 crosses during the invasion of Poland will turn GREEN on the YELLOW, and LIGHT BLUE on the WHITE. If you spray the BLUE filter on your tank before you apply your decals, well, then your decals will look too new to match your BLUE filter.

OK, so you'll probably be spraying or dusting on a transparent coating of dust, road dirt, etc, in which case the GERMAN Insignia will match your tank. But that coating of dust negates the BLUE filter, so why bother with it in the first place? It's YOUR model, do what you want with it. I just can't see spending the extra time and money on filters. My advice: If you want to use a filter to portray dust, etc, just skip the BLUE, and go right on to your DUST and MUD/DIRT applications.

There have been discussions over Panzer Gray having a BLUE-ish cast in the original color. The actual PANZER GRAY paint color is just one of the many shades of GRAY that take on a BLUE-ish hue when you look at it OUTSIDE on a sunny day around noon-time. When you look at PANZER GRAY in the later afternoon, the color takes on a much "warmer" tinge, very close to a MAUVE color. In fact, most modern Air Forces are using various shades of GRAY precisely because of their excellent absorption and reflective qualities, which help to camouflage the aircraft at altitude. Today's modern navies, after much experimentation, have also recognized that the MEDIUM GRAYS are the best colors for tactical camouflage.

Ask yourselves this question: "Did real tankers ever over-spray their vehicle with filters to "tint" their camo-jobs..? I can see over-spraying a model to simulate "dust" and/or applying weathering powders to simulate rust, oil or fuel spills, etc. I like pin-washes and very light dry-brushing to "pop" my details. I don't muck-up my vehicles with "mud" or heavy washes to simulate streaking, nor do I go crazy on the rust to make the vehicle in question look like it's been parked in the ocean for 50 years...

Some years ago, I read a "How To" article in one of the very many modelling magazines where a "pro", who shall remain nameless, was working on a vehicle which was supposed to have been painted in just your basic WWII US ARMY OLIVE DRAB- ( Here we go again... )

After several applications of "post-shading", the vehicle was ready for it's first filter, which just happened to be BLUE. This vehicle had now taken on a distinctly "EVERGREEN" or "HUNTER GREEN" hue. An ORANGE filter was then sprayed on overall to "warm up" this color, which blended very nicely with the obligatory heavy wash of RUST.

The model was now subjected to several washes of different colors to simulate grime, mud, blood and beer, streaking, and a very liberal dusting overall with weathering powders. The weathering powders very successfully carried across the impression that the vehicle had just been crashed through a Flour Factory. The filters and subsequent weathering process had now changed the overall OD color into something completely unrecognizable- That model turned out to be anything BUT OLIVE DRAB!!!

I can hear the rising howls of derision and disbelief over my contrariness and blasphemous HERESY!!!

That's OK, what I just posted are just my personal opinions, and I'm hoping that some of my fellow modellers might have gotten a few chuckles out of this trash!

posted the above thread to explain why my brain is overloaded with opinions about the subject...I need to filter out some of the info M4, seems you are right on in regards to my particular color I am using, why not just alter the German grey to begin with? to simulate mild fading? so I guess in this case the filter is not necessary on a monotone tank.Thank you.The blue tinge would be visible if I choose to use no weathering but the decals would be mucked up, had not taken that into account

Hi! Please understand that what I wrote is not criticism of your work, nor am I trying to change the way you build and paint your models. "Whatever works for you" has always been my attitude towards other modellers and their efforts.

The ORIGINAL GERMAN PANZER GRAY NEVER had a BLUE tinge to it. I've got numerous color photos in my books which portray the German AFVs in that BLUE-ish PANZER GRAY- But if you look at the surrounding territory in the photo, you would see everything else in the photo looks normal. The PANZER GRAY tank, even with a light coat of dust, looks BLUE-ish because the photo captures a moment in time; it was a nice day- in other words, sunshine.

It's just the GRAY paint doing what it naturally does- absorbing the natural light and ambiance of it's natural surroundings. Now let's fast-forward to late afternoon or early evening; that same AFV which just a few hours ago appeared to be BLUE-ish has suddenly turned into a dull BROWN-ish GRAY or MAUVE color, just because the sun has shifted its relative position in the sky. Dull FLAT GRAYs absorb ambient light very well- almost like a chameleon.

Try it out sometime; spray some of your PANZER GRAY (with no BLUE in it)on an old model or a flat piece of cardboard. Wait for it to dry, and look at it inside your home, then take your "test-shot" outside. If it's a nice sunny day, your PANZER GRAY WILL look slightly BLUE-ish. Take it back outside and look at it again. You'll see that this color will look much warmer than it did at noontime, or indoors.

Remember that the original PANZER GRAY was a pretty dark color, almost BLACK, to begin with. I like to mix my own colors for my own personal work. I like to use TESTORS MODEL MASTER #2094 SCHWARZGRAU OR TESTORS MODELMASTER #1788 FS 36081 EURO 1 GRAY as my BASECOAT COLOR. You can then proceed to "post-shade" with successively lighter GRAYS.

Not too long ago, I read an article where an experienced modeller tried using TAMIYA TS-82 RUBBER BLACK spray, which is pretty dark. I don't have the number handy for the same color in jars for airbrushing, but I'm sure that TAMIYA makes it. I like to stick to the "warmer" shades, but the choice is really yours in what you might want to use in your own painting process. Hope this helps you...

PS- You can use filters to your own best advantage by applying them BEFORE you start your "decaling-process". Once you've applied and sealed your "clean" decals, you can THEN go on to your weathering. I like to "post-shade" before applying and sealing my decals. Once my sealer has dried, I go on to my weathering, which I keep to a minimum, because I like to depict what the vehicle basically looked like before it was subjected to Hell in all of its forms... I want to be able TO SEE all the details on my models before it got too filthy-

I was not offended at all your advice is appreciated. This is somewhat humorous that I am confused about different shades of gray.I spent quite some time chipping and painting haze grey on the ship I served on.