WIP 11-05-2006
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2022 6:54 pm
The day of destiny arrived today, this is the final installment of this Build Log because, well, its done! 
Picking up from the work done yesterday, a little counter drybrushing was needed in just a couple of spots, that was quickly taken care of and then a final sealing coat of Dullcoat applied and allowed to dry.
While that was setting up, I did some quick research on the state of weathering appropriate for Greece in 1941. Since the Greek campaign was in mid-Spring (April-May) and the units involved were fresh troops at the outset, I decided on a dusty road-march type of weathering and selected MiG Light Dust for the task.
I use ordinary tap water for this step and mix it in an old disposable contact lens container and apply wet with a round brush. The Dullcoat provides an excellent surface for this as it will allow the water/pigment mixture to flow easily although it does take a little maneuvering to get it all in the right places. Working on a horizontal as opposed to vertical surface makes this easier and in preparation of working on the lower hull, the turret is removed and the mix applied.
As users of pigments know, when applied wet and allowed to dry, the dried pigment is lighter than it's "dry" state. This can come as a surprise the first time out using them as the desired color when "wet" is not how the end result will actually turn out.
While the water was drying on the wet applications, I also used a round #6 sable brush to dust the upper hull and turret, more on why later.
The first reaction when seeing the above result is often one of shock/horror...but it's not going to be left like that. Instead, the arsenal of stiff bristled brushes you see along with it are going to be put to work removing much of the excess and blending in the remaining to achieve a better result. It's a case of over applying knowing that the next step will be to "subtract" rather than "add". Here's how it looked midway through working on it.
And completed.
A word of caution here, the MiG pigments are very finely ground to begin with and when working to remove it, the pigments are even finer and very easily go airborne. I wear a dust mask while working on this step as I had a rather nasty sinus headache the last time I did this without a mask and have learned my lesson. After giving the opposite side the same treatment and dusting up the turret, we've almost arrived.
One thing that I find very useful in working with pigments or weathering powders in general is a can of compressed air with the plastic tube extender used to clean keyboards. I keep a can on my workbench and with a careful use of the trigger it removes excess dust far better than just blowing with the mk1 lungs can accomplish and with a lot more precision as well.
Final step is a delicate one. The dust coat is meant to enhance and not hide all the previous work done with the washes, drybrushing, etc. and to accomplish that I take a round 0 brush that is barely damp and use it to create rain streaks, vary the dust accumulation, etc. This is the great thing about MiG pigments IMHO, they are very flexible and can be rearranged virtually indefinitely until you've got it the way you want it.
Speaking of which, here she is:
And just to add a bit to the historical reference point....same shot in grayscale.
Picking up from the work done yesterday, a little counter drybrushing was needed in just a couple of spots, that was quickly taken care of and then a final sealing coat of Dullcoat applied and allowed to dry.
While that was setting up, I did some quick research on the state of weathering appropriate for Greece in 1941. Since the Greek campaign was in mid-Spring (April-May) and the units involved were fresh troops at the outset, I decided on a dusty road-march type of weathering and selected MiG Light Dust for the task.
I use ordinary tap water for this step and mix it in an old disposable contact lens container and apply wet with a round brush. The Dullcoat provides an excellent surface for this as it will allow the water/pigment mixture to flow easily although it does take a little maneuvering to get it all in the right places. Working on a horizontal as opposed to vertical surface makes this easier and in preparation of working on the lower hull, the turret is removed and the mix applied.
As users of pigments know, when applied wet and allowed to dry, the dried pigment is lighter than it's "dry" state. This can come as a surprise the first time out using them as the desired color when "wet" is not how the end result will actually turn out.
While the water was drying on the wet applications, I also used a round #6 sable brush to dust the upper hull and turret, more on why later. The first reaction when seeing the above result is often one of shock/horror...but it's not going to be left like that. Instead, the arsenal of stiff bristled brushes you see along with it are going to be put to work removing much of the excess and blending in the remaining to achieve a better result. It's a case of over applying knowing that the next step will be to "subtract" rather than "add". Here's how it looked midway through working on it.
And completed.
A word of caution here, the MiG pigments are very finely ground to begin with and when working to remove it, the pigments are even finer and very easily go airborne. I wear a dust mask while working on this step as I had a rather nasty sinus headache the last time I did this without a mask and have learned my lesson.
After giving the opposite side the same treatment and dusting up the turret, we've almost arrived. One thing that I find very useful in working with pigments or weathering powders in general is a can of compressed air with the plastic tube extender used to clean keyboards. I keep a can on my workbench and with a careful use of the trigger it removes excess dust far better than just blowing with the mk1 lungs can accomplish and with a lot more precision as well.
Final step is a delicate one. The dust coat is meant to enhance and not hide all the previous work done with the washes, drybrushing, etc. and to accomplish that I take a round 0 brush that is barely damp and use it to create rain streaks, vary the dust accumulation, etc. This is the great thing about MiG pigments IMHO, they are very flexible and can be rearranged virtually indefinitely until you've got it the way you want it.
Speaking of which, here she is:
And just to add a bit to the historical reference point....same shot in grayscale.
