MENG Model Sd.Kfz.182 King Tiger [WIP - Micro Paint Chips on selected areas of the Hull and Turret]

Ever been at a point when you're just sick of the sight of the model you're working on? Well, I get the feeling it's happening to me with the King Tiger. That's to be expected when a work-in-progress drags on too long as the German Heavy Tank project has for me. The detailing process of a tank this size is time consuming to say the least. Throw in a perfectionist streak to the work flow and you've all the ingredients for a snail-paced project. And nothing highlights the minutiae of detail work at this scale then the application of micro paint chips on the turret and hull of a large 1/35 scale tank.    

Most obvious area to receive micro paint chips is the commander's turret hatch and its surrounding area

Depending on location, majority of raised surfaces - curved or straight - had micro paint chips applied on them

Another area that would've seen major wear and tear: underside of the secondary hatch

Choice of color for the micro paint chips was dependent on how deep the chips had penetrated into the turret and hull. My final decision was based on pure conjecture combined with an educated guess based on the limited information in hand. Assuming Tank No.124 of the Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 505 had been rushed into operation in late-1944 and knocked out soon after, it would stand to reason that any paint chips on its turret and hull would be minimal. Location of said paint chips should be on areas which saw regular wear and tear or on prominently raised areas. As such, I chose a mixture of Vallejo Red Oxide and German Camouflage Black Brown for the micro paint chip color.

Micro paint chip color was a mixture of Vallejo German Red Oxide and German Camo. Black Brown

On the turret, micro paint chips were concentrated in and around both the command and secondary hatches, the hand rail near the rear hatch as well as any notably sharp edged and raised areas. As for the hull, micro paint chips could be found on the front two hatches and on raised areas towards the rear of the tank. Just for good measure I added some tiny paint chips on the headlight. My reasoning was that the machine gun port would've been shot at and as a consequence some bullets might have grazed the protruding headlight. Where possible, every micro paint chip must justify its existence. 

Red oxide hue implies micro paint chips are shallow, having only penetrated no further than the primer coat

Closeup view of the micro paint chips on the tank commander hatch and its surrounding area

Handle near rear turret hatch would've seen extensive use hence the paint chips

Technically there should also be micro paint chips on the King Tiger's road wheels within the tank tracks and the surrounding areas. But because the road wheels, tracks and the lower bottom hull will be weathered extensively with dirt and dust, I felt it unnecessary to place micro paint chips in placed where they would be covered up by dust and dirt anyway. Truth be told, by the time I had finished the micro paint chips on the King Tiger's turret and hull I was already too jaded to continue on the same for the road wheels and lower bottom hull. If I'm right, I don't need to. Time will tell.    

Micro paint chips were kept to a minimum throughout because at this late stage of the war, the King Tiger would've been knocked out long before getting a chance to undergo an extensive period of operations

Edge of the grille covering the engine cooling vents also had micro paint chips applied on them

Micro paint chips is technically possible as the grille cover is slightly raised thus exposing the edges

Meanwhile, I didn't consider placing micro paint chips on areas of the King Tiger with zimmerit coating. Chips of any kind on the layer of zimmerit would be large by nature as is the case for the few that already exist on the tank (not shown here). That was a huge relief because it meant large swathes of the tank didn't require the tedious process of painting micro paint chips. 

On the front end of the hull, micro paint chips were concentrated on the crew hatches and raised areas

Areas with zimmerit coating were not considered for micro paint chip placement

By my reckoning, any paint chips on the headlight would've been the result of bullets grazing it

Thankfully I haven't reached the stage where I would want to completely shelve the King Tiger project. With mainly the dust/dirt (plus maybe some minor fuel/grease) weathering and tank crew painting left to be done, I believe I can just about get this kit over the finishing line.

My preferred way of staving off hobby malaise is to add yet more scale model kits to the project pipeline. Some might say this is foolhardy as it could all blow up in my face, saddling me with numerous half-finished kits on the worktable and shelves. Yet this is the path I find myself on, consciously or not. So be prepared for more projects to be announced while I inch my existing ones slowly towards that light at the end of the tunnel. That tiny pinprick of light, oh so far away!

HQ12-02 Race Queen [WIP - Applying Tamiya Weathering Pastels as Skin Tone Shadows]

In what is my first sustained art session in three and a half months, I finally resumed work on the atelier iT Race Queen. And after doing nothing for so long, I was happy just to do something, anything, even if it's the bare minimum of applying pastel shadow colors to spaces between the fingers of a 1/12 scale figurine. It isn't much physically. But mentally it's a lot. It's a start.     

Work-in-progress of atelier iT HQ12-02 Race Queen: Pastel shadows applied to spaces between the fingers

Now you might be wondering why don't I just airbrush the shadow colors or paint them by hand on the spaces between the fingers. Well, the spaces are too small for accurate airbrushing while applying lacquer paints by hand brush generally isn't a good idea if you're want smooth transitions. Caught between using acrylics and pastels as an alternative, I decided to give the latter a go and learn a new technique in the process. So first and foremost on the comeback agenda was to find out which of the Tamiya Weathering Master flesh hues most closely resembled the airbrushed skin tone shadows.

Tamiya Weathering Master's peach hue was the closest match to the skin tone shadows airbrushed on the leg

Roughly eyeballing the colors (see above), I found Tamiya's peach to most closely resemble the existing shadow colors that had been airbrushed onto the leg. In keeping with my cautious nature, I decided to test out this assumption first. To do this, I painted up some spoons with Gaia Color flesh mid-tones and highlights (see below). These served as the base for the weathering pastels to adhere to. The point of this little exercise was to see how the pastels would fare as the sole shadow color, when compared to a section of the figurine airbrushed with shadows, mid-tones and highlights. 

For the test, first a mix of mid-tones and highlight skin tones were airbrushed on a spoon

Then, the peach pastel was applied to the spoon using an eyeshadow applicator, thin cotton bud and brush

Spoon with mid-tone/highlight skin tone before weathering pastels (left) and after (right)

Comparison between the shadows using pastels (on spoon) and using airbrush of lacquer paint (on leg)

Results (see above) show there is sufficient likeness between the shadow colors created by airbrush (leg) and by pastel (spoon) to warrant its use for shadow areas in this figurine that cannot be reached by the former. I believe this technique would be effective only at larger sizes of 1/12 scale and above e.g. 1/6 scale. More so when one is painting figurines when shadowed areas can be small.

Before weathering pastels: Note the spaces between fingers which lack depth as airbrush can't reach the crevices

After weathering pastels: Spaces between fingers now have shadow hues (courtesy of the peach pastel)

A final matte clear coat varnish was applied to the hands to seal in the pastels

In the final step, I sprayed on a matte clear coat in order to seal in the pastel application. You could also use a semi-gloss clear coating on the flesh areas depending on the look you want the figurine to have. Much more work remains to be done on the Race Queen's body and skin tone such as her facial features, fingernails, hair, etc. That's what I'll likely concentrate on before moving on to her clothes. It's good to be back though I foresee intermittent delays to any progress I may make hobby-wise seeing that it's the year-end holidays and I've only just got back into the groove. But I'm back.

HQ12-02 Race Queen [WIP - Skin Tone Test using Flesh Colored Tamiya Weathering Pastels]

Airbrushed skin tones are great, and I love the results I've gotten so far. But by itself, airbrushed skin tones are incomplete especially around facial features and hands. Such detailed areas require more finesse which is the purview of hand painting. In addition to applying acrylic, enamel or even lacquer colors by hand using the good old paint brush, I am also trying to learn new techniques involving the use of hard and/or soft pastels. This initial test seeks to discover how the pastel colors would look against a general light flesh hue as well as how Tamiya pastels would react to a lacquer varnish.

Tamiya Weathering Master G and H sets for figures

Before delving into the details of this quick test, I would first like to draw your attention to the final results as can be seen in the immediate photo below. From top to bottom, the pastel hues are salmon, caramel, chestnut, pale orange, ivory and lastly peach. All the pastel hues had been sealed onto the light flesh basecoat with a semi-gloss clear coat. These 'quickfire tests' are partly responsible for my lengthy project completion times. Sadly they are also a testament to my idiosyncrasy of trying to perfect techniques before the first drop of paint even hits a miniature figurine. While there is merit in learning as you do, I unfortunately tend to err on the side of caution. Not always but mostly.

Pastels applied on a basecoat of light flesh hue and sealed with semi-gloss clear coat

For the flesh colored weathering pastels test, a piece of Tamiya Pla Plate (essentially a white styrene sheet) was used in lieu of an actual resin figurine. The sheet was first primed with the Mr Hobby Mr Base White 1000 before being basecoated with a fairly light flesh color from Gaianotes. Just a quick note for those of you whom may wish to run similar tests. A recent visit to Gaianotes' website show that this particular flesh color is no longer in production anymore. But its a fairly standard light flesh color whose close equivalent can be easily sourced. In fact the basecoat color used will change depending on the subject matter at hand i.e. the specific skin tone look you are after.  

From left to right: the primer, paint thinner, flesh-colored paint and clear coat used in the skin tone test

Gaia color Ex-Flesh lacquer paint formed the basecoat onto which the pastels were applied

Tamiya Weathering Master sets are more widely known among the AFV scale model community, especially the earlier sets A to E. The flesh colored sets aren't new either but I have yet to see them in use by miniature painters. Instead, I've seen artist grade hard pastels like Primacolor NuPastel being used to create natural skin tone shadow on resin figurines. In running this test, I'm assuming that the Tamiya's weathering pastels work in a similar (or almost similar) fashion.      

Pastels from Tamiya's figure sets comprise salmon, caramel, chestnut, pale orange, ivory and peach colors

Tamiya Weathering Master sets look a lot like wet soft pastels

Latex eyeshadow applicators were used to transfer the pastels onto the paint

Texture is the one clear difference that sets the Tamiya pastels apart from its regular art counterparts. While the former has a consistency closely resembling eyeshadow makeup, the latter is hard and chalky. Both require different application techniques. In Tamiya's case, its just a matter of using any commercially available eyeshadow applicator (see above), preferably latex-based, to transfer the pastel hue from the set onto the intended surface area. Hard pastels require a different application technique akin to dry brushing in parts. Explaining it would require another blog tutorial entirely.

Comparisons of how each pastel flesh color looked against a light flesh basecoat

Due to the hot and humid conditions that I work in, I have a strong preference for lacquer-based varnishes because they tend to provide a better finish overall. This is not always possible as the underlying paint type might be too 'weak' to withstand a lacquer-based clear coat finish. To be sure, an additional test was required. After the pastel hues have had a few days to dry, they were then sealed in using a lacquer-based semi-gloss clear coat. I don't want to jinx it but early results seem to indicate the lacquer-based clear coat did not have any adverse effect on the Tamiya pastel colors.

Pastel colors were sealed in using Mr Hobby's Mr Super Clear lacquer-based varnish

So there you have it, a test to see how Tamiya flesh colored weathering pastels look on a light flesh basecoat after being sealed in with a semi-gloss lacquer clear coat. Now that's quite a mouthful. And before you think it, this is not my comeback to the hobby ... not yet. It's just more chronicling of past work I had done. And it's with little fanfare my hobby malaise enters its ninth week seeing that I didn't post anything at all last week. Alas it's the longest stretch of artistic inactivity I've ever had since I started this hobby. If only the solution as simple as the one provided by a character named Roy in the British comedy The IT Crowd ... "Hello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?"