Hi Guys
Another quick update before I dash off to work.
The wheels were assembled and the rubber 'tyres' were flattened as they all had an annoying dip in the middle all of the way around. I was quite aggressive with a very rough sanding stick, which also gave a nice worn feel to the rubber faces. A few nicks were cut into the odd rubber tyre. They were all airbrushed with primer and then dark yellow before a grime wash was applied. This encouraged the bolts to stand out. A light sand dry brushing sorted out some subtle highlights.
The tyres were hand painted with
Tamiya Rubber Black and when dry, given a good dose of sandy pigment to show some perceived use. A final application of some paint wear and chipping was painted on by hand with a fine brush and Dark Iron paint. SOme of the dark Iron was buffed to give some variation.
The track pieces were assembled a few evening ago whilst watching Stargate Atlantis on t' telly. They were airbrushed with Dark Iron and the high and touching faces buffed to leave shiny faces where they rubbed the wheels, sprockets and ground. Rust pigment was brushed with a stiff brush into the joints and then over brushed with a mixture of sand and green earth pigments. The whole lot was airbrushed with Alcohol to help keep the dust in place.
The track skirts were painted and weathered with the same techniques used on the turret. I shaded from light to dark to give some weight. The streaking was done with
Tamiya weathering master. The original
decals were very worn and faded, so I redesigned the characters on CAD software and cut out some masks with a laser cutter. I lifted the mask slightly from the surface when airbrushing the white characters, as I wanted a 'roughly sprayed at the front with a stencil' look.