WW3:TY Soviets

So as with the Hinds I wanted to use the GSW Colorshift Storm Surge Green for the canopy, which wnet on the black a treat.  It will be ‘softened’ by the final Matt varnish, but looking at reference pics I wanted to gice the canopy some framing so out with a Callejo Desert sand (in hindsight was the perfect color to have done the original camo) and painted on the frames.

Using a brush, even a fine one, witout any meaningful contours to work with left the lines a bit uneven, but I was going to do more anyway, so using a fine black marker pen (Sharpie) i went around the glass sections thinning the uneven lines and creating an almost 3d shading effect.

The planes were then ready for a light Vallejo Mecha Gloss varnish ready for pin-wash, decals and streaking.

Pin wash & streaking

I finally got my hands on some Humbrol enamel wash to work with, rather than my usual acrylic.  Works differently and on top of the gloss varnish you have plenty of control and can tidy-up anything you don’t like with a bit of suitable thinner/solvent.  I had white spirit to hand which I only needed to use sparingly as wasn’t sure if it might take the varnish with it if used too liberally.

Decals

Geting the hand of this now after my first try in decades on the Hinds.  Micro Set and Sol really making it easier to blend them in, but what’s left should disappear under the final varnish layer.

Varnish

Vallejo Mecha Matt through the airbrush worked very smoothly; gee does it dry fast!  Leaving it a full 24 hours to fully cure/dry but I’m very happy with the final results – will look great bearing down on those pesky M1-Abrahms on th tabletop…