Techmod T-70M Light Tank (1 Dec 2019) Completed

[sty57]

I just want to say, thank you for taking the time for detailing all of your steps in this build!
It is turning out amazing.

[RLFoster]

Thank you! The comment is appreciated.

[Ernie]

Excellent result. I like the effect you have achieved with the exhaust and the approach of leaving some of the metal less affected by the rust and corrosion. Sometimes the hardest part of the process is to exercise the restraint required to not turn it into one mass of rusted metal.

[Dukemaddog]

Robert I have been following this but haven't had the time before now to post my appreciation for the incredible work you're doing. That may not be "realistic" but it does look realistic and very artistic as well. You've got an incredible ability to capture this look exceptionally well.

[RLFoster]

Thanks Ernie and Mark!

[JED]

Nov 6, 2019 9:36:23 GMT -6 RLFoster said:

Nov 5, 2019 14:26:48 GMT -6 JED said:

Great reading/watching Robert,how would you adapt this technique to cover patches of black camouflage ?

Great question, Jed!  That is something I've wondered myself, but haven't yet tried to tackle.  Given that my next build will be an old Firefly kit, there's a chance I could use it to actually try some variation on this technique.

I think it really comes down to several factors.  How large or small are the patches?  What are the other colors involved in the pattern? And of course, how heavily do you plan to weather the build?  All of these things will play a part in helping to determine the way you want to address paint fading, streaking, and shadowing.  In some cases, you may decide that the oil streaking is either not appropriate or unnecessary and address fading in another way.

On many of my previous models with camouflage patterns I've used the much simpler airbrush technique to apply a light dusting of a light color (usually cream or ghost gray) over the entire model.  The nice thing about this technique is that it shifts the darker colors enough that shadowing is still effective and is also quite accurate.  Having been in NATO for 12 years of my career, I saw first hand that the black areas of ground equipment, vehicles, and aircraft was never really "jet black" except on the actual day it was painted.  Within a short time, the paint (which was always applied either flat matte or very slightly satin) would sun-fade to a charcoal grey color.  The dusting of these models does a good job of replicating this fading and addressing "Scale Lightening".

In any case, I would likely still apply the shadowing and pin washing in much the same way as I had because even though the effect will be far subtler, it will still lay the foundation for the dirt, dust, and grime weathering that is still to come.

Sorry that's not exactly helpful, but like I said, maybe the next model will actually address the issue more visually.

Again, thanks for the great question!

Thanks for the reply which certainly was helpful, 16 years in uniform myself and even hand painted vehicles both in Berlin and in the build up to Gulf War 1, you reminded me of how the the army paint worked and totally agree wth how the black reacts/fades in different ways. For
the Berlin parades we actually baby oiled the vehicles to get a uniform shine!!

[JED]

WOW I have thoroughly enjoyed this Robert,I haven't had any spare time lately to build,paint or catch up but this has been a great catch up. I will try these techniques when I get round to doing my Jeep. Thanks again

[Dukemaddog]

Very informative technique. In my small scale, a simple overcoat of a light tan tends to help a lot. Not much area for trying that fading technique on any of my small stuff; especially all the Russian tanks with all those nooks and crannies...

[RLFoster]

Thanks for looking in Jed and Mark.

I'm still plugging along on the build and making progress, but it's been lots of "baby steps" lately, with not much to show. I'm hoping to get a new update posted later this week.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Looking forward to seeing that. The steps you're using on this build are very interesting and give the tank an extra touch of realism.

[RLFoster]

It's been over 2 weeks since the last update, but as I said, I've been making progress in small, baby-steps fairly regularly. Even though the build's not quite done, I did want to get in one last update before Thanksgiving. I'll likely not be returning to the workbench until at least the first week in December.

When I last left you, I was just getting ready to start the actual "weathering" process on the tank. While this is an involved process, I am skipping several steps that I would otherwise take on a bigger, more important build.

First, I applied a liberal amount of a light, dried mud color to the bottom half of the lower hull:



Then, after the oils dried just a bit, I blended the edges with some thinner:



Once that was done, I added a darker, muddy gray color over the lighter mud in the lowest portions of the hull and then blended it as with the lighter color:



I then shifted focus to the upper surfaces using the same two colors of light and dark "dirt". This first shot is before I started:



As you can see, I applied the lighter color to the front, outer edges of the fenders and the darker color to the rear, inboard sections:



Then using thinner, I blended the colors so the color modulation effect is subtle and natural looking:



I repeated this process on the top plate of the crew compartment, focusing the darker color around the turret race and the lighter color in the corners. I intentionally made sure to leave any dirt off the central panel in order to improve contrast. This was further enhanced with the application of fuel spills and the then some actual light dust pigments to simulate sticking dirt:



Returning to the lower hull, I began adding and blending three additional earth tones in order to give the build-up of dirt a more natural appearance:



I also began adding some addition rain and dirt streaks to both the upper part of the lower hull (hard to see here) and the vertical panels of the upper hull. Here you can see this effect on both the hull panels and the turret:



Finally, this morning, I returned to the speckling technique in order to apply mud spatter to the lower hull, running gear, and the front and rear lower hull areas:



I wanted to include one last photo showing as well as possible how all of the various techniques used until now blend and build together to give even a model this small and fairly realistic appearance:



So, where does this leave things? Next up will be a weathering and finishing of the tracks and spare track links. That will be followed by application of blackening around the exhaust pipes and the air intake screens. Once all that is done, I'll give the model one last going over for anything missing. Odds are that the next update will be the finished model...finally!

Until next time...

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Glad you did Robert. Lookin good!

[RLFoster]

Thank you, Bruce!

[Dukemaddog]

Excellent update Robert! That is a masterful mudding on that tank. I'm certain you'll be done very soon.

[RLFoster]

Thank you, Mark. If not for the holiday, I'd probably try to finish tomorrow or Black Friday.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

www.history.com/news/whats-the-real-history-of-black-friday

[JCON]

Nice work!!!

[RLFoster]

I'm calling this build complete...photos in the Completed Builds Forum.

Thanks to everyone for sticking around for the ride and the kind comments.

[JCON]

Excellent build Robert!!!

[JED]

Great work Robert