I built this tank from the Tamiya kit and built it completely OOB. I Just thought it would be fun to see how nice I could make it look without having to use all of the PE goodies that are no doubt available for it.
That paint job was quite a bear to do. I started with a preshade over the entire tank with flat black. Then I airbrushed the whole take light tan. Then I masked off the areas to be sprayed dark green, preshaded just those areas and then shot them with the dark green. Did the same for the red/brown. Then I masked off the yellow striping, sprayed it with chrome yellow, then overshot if slightly with light earth to tone it down.
I dry brushed each colored area separately with a lightened shade of the base color for that area. Next will be the details like the exhaust areas, paint chips and weathering, mud and dirt, etc...
I hadn't decided what to do with the tank when it was done. I thought about putting it on a nice polished wood base presentation style... but that isn't much fun. So I thought of this.
A US tanker, just climbing out of the turret hatch. Beside the tank another US tanker (not shown), perhaps holding a clip board? A little vignette entitled "The Test Drive". I will have to modify the figure slightly and find a second figure that will fit in the story line but otherwise, I think it would make a nice little display.
