On the Bench - Odds and Ends (1/21/21)

I'm filling in while I wait for a new shipment of tank riders to make its way from the UK. 

Doing some aircraft painting:

Unfinished many years ago due to paint adhesion issues, this Trimaster TA152H has been cleaned, prepped, and is now back in the booth. Naturally, I can no longer locate the decals, so...

AFV Club T51 tracks for my M36 it is. 

Acrylic matt varnish to seal those decals and dull the finish. Oil pin wash to enhance shadows and panel lines.

Don't forget to dirty up the interior.

Wash complete. Now for some dirt on the hull before I install the tracks.

Dry pigment, thinner, and some finely chopped scale dry grass stippled on with short brush. This is the Dry dirt layer,  to be followed by a darker earth application for the Still Wet areas.

Tracks get the same treatment. Then they can be installed. 

As I was pondering my approach to chipping, the mail arrived. My RLM81...so...

Chipping will wait for another day :-)

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Of course, now I'm waiting fot the decals, as the originals have failed to materialize. Back to the Slugger.

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I  want to try a Bulge winter camo look,  so I'll skip the normal chipping and go right to a Hairspray/white acrylic enamel. First the Tresseme, and let it dry. Then Testors acrylic white, carelessly applied. 

Followed by wetting and abrasion with q tips and a mildly stiff brush. This combo makes it chip easily, so be slow and gentle.

Now we can put the tracks back on and add the final dry/wet mud splatters using the pigments and thinner as before.

I touched them up after drying with a stiff brush to blend in some of the dark splatters and provide a more natural look.

Taking a break, I cleaned all the pigment dust from my table and did some nice relaxing decal-ing:

The Eaglecals sheet provides 4 options, none of which I could exactly match due to years earlier decisions, so it will become "nearly green 6". After researching and painting it in an 81/82 scheme per the published Oberflachenschutzliste 8 Os 152 of 11/44, Eaglecals directions are for 82/83. And if you're wondering what in creation I'm going on about, this is the RLM paint scheme rabbit hole, which will have a Lovecraftian effect on your sanity; don't go in too deep or too long. 

I've learned to love my color choices.  😍

Of course, now that I've begun, I should of course have masked and painted the red and yellow RVD bands on the fuselage already, so it will be back to the booth for paint before more decals go on. Unless of course those tank rider figures show up before I do....

Masked and sprayed the area with whiye enamel, followed later by yellow. I'll give it overnight and mask for red.

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Vallejo matte vsrnish to seal on the dirt. Time for a few glamor shots:

I'll see if it can get it outside tomorrow for some natural light and snowy backdrop.

Sure would look good with some crew figures...

I just noticed I didn't install tow cables or tools. Gotta fix that. Meanwhile, 

decaling the TA152H continues, with a seemingly endless assortment of stencilled warnings and instructions. 

The above is what happens when you don't paint before you install...

Have to admit, the supplied spiral decal looks good once it's sufficiently "decalset".

Back from Vallejo acrylic matte varnish application. 

A few paint touch ups, replace the canopy and cowling, time for a few glamor shots. 

A clean, mean machine.