Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.G

Vytautas Автор
Thanks for your kind words guys
About gray shades:
Nothing fancy, I just use a variety of shades and a hairspray technique. For the base coat, I use about four or five different shades of grey. All shades I mixed by myself directly in medical syringes, very convenient, can be stored for a very long time, more convenient than in a bottle.
After the last coat of paint (I use a very matte Tamiya XF paint), I do not varnish the model, but rub some areas with an old toothbrush until a slight shine appears. To achieve this effect with varnish will impossible.
I use several colors of oil paint and thinner for washing.
Since I use MicroSet and MicroSol for decals, there is no need to varnish the model. To avoid steps on the decals, I sand the pasted decals with fine sandpaper. In some places, I sand the decals through to the paint layer. This gets a very natural look.
In the final stage, I use watercolor pencils. They are good not only for making the irregularity of the painted surfaces but also for the different effects of dirt, greasy stains, scratches, and rust. I use a lot of shades. I made marks of the pencil as small as possible to maintain scale (the finer the drawing, the better).
I draw with dry watercolor pencils, smooth the drawing by rubbing with a short cheap brush.
Then pigments to simulate dust. Often I don't use any pigment fixer, for me, it looks more natural.
I try not to use varnish whenever possible because varnish (especially glossy) totally kills all subtle effects.
I use watercolor pencils from different manufacturers, but I can recommend a very good set of Koh-i-Nor pencils: 3722 12 Grey Line. This set contains 12 warm and cool shades of gray, very suitable for early German tanks.

28 June 2021, 11:37

Olivier
Great achievement ! And thanks for the detailed explanations. I really like the way your pick and shovel sticks look like. Mine are always too red brown or too light tan.

28 June 2021, 12:44

Vytautas Автор
Thanks, Olivier
I use very thinly diluted Revell acrylics to paint the wooden parts (Revell acrylics are cheap and very suitable for brush painting). I am using several almost semi-transparent layers. So, I can correct the final shade by applying a thin layer of a different color. It's a good idea to start with more saturated colors and end with grayer, less bright layers.

28 June 2021, 15:26

Olivier
Thanks Vytautas.
I shall try that.
I also want to test some colour pencils I bought recently.

28 June 2021, 18:47

James C
The general weathering and dusting looks superb 👍

2 July 2021, 18:28

Vytautas Автор
Many thanks, James.

2 July 2021, 20:36

Mona
looks very realistic ,based on my research of the 38t ..Great job,in my opinion

2 July 2021, 21:15

Vytautas Автор
Thanks, Mona

3 July 2021, 05:47

Bruce Huxtable
Sir, You are an artist! Phenomenal overall result, but the tiny well-observed details are a joy. Leather straps that do look like leather, missing bolts, etc etc ..... Brilliant.

3 July 2021, 07:13

Vytautas Автор
Thank you, mate, for your kind comment!

3 July 2021, 18:41

Simon Nagorsnik
That's really good weathering!
The ripped metal looks great!
I would say you're a master modeler😁

12 February 2022, 18:24

Vytautas Автор
Thanks, Simon for the kind words, but about a master modeler, of course, you are kidding - real master modelers have a lot of finished models, and I have completely done only two 🙂

12 February 2022, 18:49

Simon Nagorsnik
Not the quantity, but the quality counts 😉

12 February 2022, 18:57