Skarach's world

• Chipping achieved using Vallejo Model Color “German Camouflage Black Brown” (70822), applied with a sponge, fine brush or flicked from the end of a brush.
• The entire vehicle was washed with a dilute mixture of Winsor & Newton “Raw Umber” and “Lamp Black” oil paints (ratio about 5:1) in enamel thinner – the excess being cleaned up with a dry brush or cotton bud.
• AMMO Oilbrusher “Starship Bay Sludge” (A.MIG-3532) and “Starship Filth” (A.MIG-3513) were worked into various recesses, the excess being cleaned away.
• Wilder “Olive Drab” (LS34) oil paint was used on certain sections of the vehicle.
• Certain hull panel lines were treated with AMMO “Panel Line Wash – Dark Green Grey” (A.MIG-1608).
• Winsor & Newton “Raw Umber” was painted onto the wooden handles of the tools and then wiped in one direction with a cotton bud to simulate wood grain.
• To add a touch of surface variation and to begin streaking effects, dots of Winsor & Newton “Permanent Magenta” and “Payne’s Grey” oil paint and AMMO Oilbrusher “Ochre”, “Yellow”, “White”, “Medium Grey” and “Olive Green” were placed on the vertical sides of the turret and hull. They were then drawn downwards with a flat brush, dampened with enamel thinners.
• The vertical and sloping sides of the upper hull and turret were dampened with enamel thinner and then dots of AMMO Oilbrusher “Starship Filth”, “Starship Bay Sludge” and “Rust” were added. Then, using a flat brush, the oil paint was drawn down the side to simulate streaks. After drying, this process was repeated multiple times.
• To simulate dirt streaks, the vertical and sloping sides of the hull and turret were dampened with enamel thinner and then dots of AMMO Oilbrusher “Dusty Earth”, “Dust” and “Ochre” were added. Then, using a flat brush, the oil paint was drawn down the side to simulate streaks. After drying, this process was repeated multiple times.
• To simulate dirt and dust, the horizontal sides of the hull and turret were dampened with enamel thinner and then dots of AMMO Oilbrusher “Dusty Earth”, “Dust” and “Ochre” were added. Then, using a round brush, the oil paints were blended.
• Wilder “Brown Russian Earth” (GP06) was brushed onto the wheels, running gear, lower hull, upper hull and turret top and fixed with a 1:1 mixture of AMMO “Pigment Fixer” (A.MIG-3000) and enamel thinners, added by brush.
• To break up the overall green and dirt colours, AMMO “Autumn Birch leaves” (A.MIG-8406) were glued onto various parts of the tank.
• Dilute mixtures of Abteilung 502 “Engine Grease” (ABT160) and “Bitumen” (ABT004) oil paint in enamel thinners were either painted in small patches or flicked from a brush onto the surfaces of the hull and running gear, to represent the subtlest stains or patches.
• Engine Grease” oil paint – dissolved in enamel thinners to a much higher concentration – was added to parts of the running gear and certain wheels. The same oil paint, in similar concentration but with added Humbrol “Gloss Cote”, was added to certain parts to represent newer oil stains.
• A dilute mixture of “Bitumen” oil paint in enamel thinners was added around the fuel filler hatches to represent fuel stains. Once dry, the same mixture, to which I included some Humbrol “Gloss Cote” was added in the same places.
• The machine guns and gun barrel end were lightly brushed with AK Interactive “Dark Steel” (AK086) pigment.

Primer: Tamiya “Fine Surface Primer” (light grey) spray can.

Base coats: Using most of the Mr.Hobby Olive Drab modulation set. In all cases the paint was sprayed as a 1:2 mixture in Mr.Color leveling thinner.

• The darkest colour (“OD shadow” CMC03) was sprayed over the entire model, to act as a dark base.
• The next darkest (“Olive Drab(2)” C38) was sprayed over the bulk of the vehicle, save the deepest recesses.
• “OD highlight 1” CMC01 was sprayed on the upper hull, the sides and top of the turret and the outside part of the wheels only.
• In retrospect, the color looks a bit too green to me for the US olive drab colour. Perhaps I should have used the highlight colour much less, or not at all.

Details:

• Machine guns: Vallejo Model Color “Black” (70950)
• Headlight: Citadel “Runefang Steel”
• Rear lights: Vallejo Model Color “Black” (70950) and “Red” (70947)
• Tools: Vallejo Model Color “Black Grey” (70862), Vallejo Panzer Aces “Old Wood” (310), Vallejo Panzer Aces “New Wood” (311), Vallejo Model Color “USA Olive Drab” (70889)
• Tyres: Vallejo Model Color “Black” (70950)
• Mud flaps: Vallejo Model Color “Black” (70950)
• Tracks: Tamiya “Rubber Black” (XF-85), Tamiya “Dark Iron” (XF-84). Drybrushed with Vallejo Panzer Aces “Dark Rubber” (306) and “Track Primer” (304).

Gloss coat: A 1:2 mixture of Mr.Color “Clear Gloss” (46) and Mr.Color Leveling Thinner was sprayed over the entire model. The decals were applied to the turret and this area resprayed.

10th Guards Ural Tanks Corps, Ukraine, Summer 1944.

T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 1:Introduction
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 2:Assembly
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 3:Painting
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 4:Weathering (chipping and rust)
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 5:Weathering (wash)
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 6:Weathering (streaks)
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 7:Weathering (dust and rain marks)
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 8:Tracks
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 9:Weathering (dirt and mud)
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 10:Weathering (oil and fuel stains, final effects)
T-34/76 (model 1943) build – Part 11:Figures

I wanted to use the tank rider figures, all the time accepting that I am no great figure painter! Their poses are decent and fit around the turret very nicely. It’s perhaps a little odd that they are wearing gloves and furry hats on a tank dated to Summer 1944 (for the markings I used), but that is how they are moulded.

I painted them the various paints shown in the images, followed by an oil wash in selected places and some light dusting with pigments.

• Tamiya “Soot” weathering powder was added to the end of the exhausts and the surrounding area.
• The machine guns and gun barrel end were lightly brushed with AK Interactive “Dark Steel” (AK086) pigment.
• Dilute mixtures of Abteilung 502 “Engine Grease” (ABT160) and “Bitumen” (ABT004) oil paint in enamel thinners were either painted in small patches or flicked from a brush onto the surfaces of the hull and running gear, to represent the subtlest stains or patches.
• Engine Grease” oil paint – dissolved in enamel thinners to a much higher concentration – was added to parts of the running gear, certain wheels (to represent leakage from a seal) and parts of the engine deck to represent older oil stains.
• The same oil paint, in similar concentration but with added Humbrol “Gloss Cote”, was added to certain parts to represent newer oil stains.
• A dilute mixture of “Bitumen” oil paint and Humbrol “Gloss Cote” in enamel thinners was added to various parts of the engine deck and hull to represent diesel stains. In some places, such as around the fuel filling hatches, this was repeated later.