I know this gets a lot of inquiries as a general sense. But I'm about to embark on the weathering of my Panther Ausf A (my techniques demonstrator given the poor accuracy of the Tamiya kit). I've done all the general painting and now I'm wanting to weather the vehicle. Though I'm unsure of where to begin, what order I should take, etc. What are your techniques for weathering? I saw the article in this months Finescale Modeler regaring washes. Do I do a darkish wash first and then dry brush? What do I do first and then in what succeeding order?

Woodstock- Not sure if your declas are on yet, but if not...Gloss coat, apply decals, gloss coat again to seal them. Apply your washes. I use Raw Umber and Black artist oils. Once dry, Apply a flat coat. Now its time to drybrush.
Some other issue that come to mind...
Do you want to show it with mud/ dirt?
Is there any battle damage? This has its own weathering
Paint chipping yes/no?

As you can see there are lots of variables to take into consideration.

For just the basics ie..washes and drybrushing the above should get you through. HTH "Q" Have fun.

Besides the washes, etc apply some Graphite to the areas of crew activity (grab handles, turrett sides, etc) to show paint wear. Graphite also works well for carbon build up on muzzles.

Art

Use some pastels too!

Gloss
Decal
Gloss
Oil wash (raw umber) Some like black
Acrylic was (engine black) i.e. engine grills deep contrast areas anything like that
Acrylic washes (weathering colors such as dirt, earth, mud, rust, etc.) I use Polly Scale thinned 10:1 with their airbrush thinner
First dry brushing - flack white oil paint mixed with Model Master base color. Let dry for a week!!!
Second dry brushing - flack white oil mixed with enamel accent color. Let dry 1 week!!
Dullcote
Third dry brushing - Chrome Silver strait out of the bottle, GO Light with this a little goes a long way except the faces of steal tracks as in your tank.
Pastels - black for muzzle, exhaust stains, and deep recesses; Old rust for exhaust pipes and anywhere you want to show where go light here too; mix in some more orange rust color for high wear spots. I will also use some of the base color pastels to dull out wear areas

That's pretty much it in a nut shell, I'm not a big fan of chipping the paint but if you want that look you have to start from the beginning of the paint process. There's a pretty good article on this in the reference section ( Chipped Paint Technique by: Martin Wilson ). I have looked at pictures of thousands of tanks and I just don't see the chipping thing very often. It's usually in museum pieces that have been ignored for years. Real tanks were not in the field long enough to see have wear and they were repainted fairly regularly. Tankers took pride in their machines is what it boils down to. But this is a personal preference and you should do what you want. After all modeling is as much an art form as anything and art is in the eye of the beholder. Good luck to you with your kitty.

Link fixed, Sorry about that!

Kenneth

Here is the correct link to the Article. You had one Http: to much in it
Chipped Paint Technique
by: Martin Wilson

Sorry.

I dont know about tanks being repainted regularly in the field, but mine never saw a drop of paint in the 12 months it spent in Iraq. We still took pride in them, they just didnt get re-painted is all. "Q"

How chiped up did the paint get though? That is the point I am tring to make.

Thanks for all the advice. Now how do I tackly weathering the treads? What base color do you use (gun metal?)?

For steal tracks I use a rusty brown color (for rubber band tracks Tamiya XF-10 Flat Brown) you have to put down an acrylic paint first then I give a light over spray when dry of MM Steal very spotty. Almost a fine mist. Let dry then acrylic washes first Grimy Black, then a rust (I use Polly Scale 10:1 with airbrush thinner) Then last a wash of mud, earth, dirt, or general earth tone. Use all these on the lower hull also let dry sitting right side up so it all runs down the lower sides. Last take MM Chrome Silver and dry brush the guide horns and the cleats of the tracks. Walla instant kitty paws.

When painting tracks you have to give some thought to the ground over which the vehicle is operating and how recent is the period of operation.

If the tank is depicted as operating _that day_ and in dry/dusty soil, then you can be sure pretty much every visible area will be burnished steel. Rusted only on the outermost portions that do not contact the running gear or earth.

If the same tank is operating in damp earth, then you will have generally burnished surfaces but a lot of soil & sod mashed into the track and squished between the wheels. You still only get really visible rust on the outer areas, but you really can't see the burnished steel for the dirt and mud.

If that tank is on a strictly road march then you will get burnishing of the tops of the cleats and the interior of the wear surfaces, but the rest of the track will show signs of relatively fresh rust from the 1 - 2 days it has been idle.

And, if that tank has been sittng in a laager for a while the tracks start to rust up very quickly. A day or two and the rust is generally brighter orange. If it has been much longer than that the rust gets progressively darker brown.

A good way to get a feel for track colour is to go to a local construction site and take a look at the bulldozer and power shovel tracks. The colours they show will vary depending upon the soil conditions and how much they are worked.

Rubber pads are varying shades of medium grey.

HTH

Paul Roberts
President
Armor Modeling and Preservation Society

I had a question about painting the Tamiya rubber one-piece treads. Do I need to prime and is there any (or much) worry of flaking the paint off if the rubber flexes?

You have to use acrylic paint! Enamel and lacquer will stay gummy on them basically never completely dry. But once the acrylic coat is down you can use enamel on them. I use Tamiya XF-10 Flat Brown or XF-1 Flat Black as my base coat. The Tamiya is about the best I have found for this purpose. It does not flack of easily but you can't go to ruff on them.

So the acrylic paint is essentially just a primer? I can then go about my business from there using whatever safely--enamel, etc.?

Yes. It's also the base color.

Thanks, you've saved me from some heartache! The first poster mentioned it though I completely missed the point. Glad I asked for the clarification.

The two most important things to keep in mind when you start the weathering process are:
(1) where is this tank operating? and
(2) don't over do it!
A tank operating in a desert isn't going to show much rust, while one in a temperate or jungle environment will. What color is the local soil: black, brown, red? What time of year is it, and how heavy is the local vegetation? Are you in a jungle during the monsoon season, or in an open field just after the harvest?
Was the tank operating in an open field, or did it get scratched up going through a heavy forest or a narrow rocky pass?
Think first about what you want to show, and then go for it. There is no one best way to weather. There are as many techniques as there are modelers, tanks, and environments in which they work.
The web is full of articles about weathering techniques, and many of the model reviews contain hints about how the final look was achieved.
It's like working an airbrush, the only way to get it right is to keep on trying.