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09.12.2006 » Painting and Weathering Concepts

On this page I will go into detail with the painting and weathering steps for the Tamiya JGSDF Type 74 model kit. I'll be using Tamiya Acrylics as usual. Plus they have some JGSDF-specific colors which will be great to use. I'll use the standadr JGSDF camo pattern as seen in the image to the right. The weathering will be as if the tank has traveled on back-roads and through fields in Japan. Not sure if they will be muddy or dry fields yet.

09.12.2006 » Priming

I decided to prime the barrel, turret, and chassis of the tank today to see how everything looks.Aside from priming to help the paint adhere better and to provide a uniform base color for all the paint to cover, it also helps check for mistakes that don't show up normally until aftyer painting. There's a few minor seams showing on the turret halves and the barrel, but nothing that isn't easily fixed. Everything else is looking great so far!

09.23.2006 » More Priming

I primed the rest of the tank parts except for the tracks which were not ready when I primed. I'll do them tomorrow. I primed most of the parts and the figures with Tamiya Surface Primer. Great stuff that goes on smooth and doesn't obscure the details. I also used Duplicolor Dark Gray on a few parts such as the rifles for the figures and the suspension arms since they won't be seen much being covered in mud and dirt. Why waste the expensive primer?

To prime and paint I attach the parts to skewers, sticky tack and skewers, or popsicle sticks covered in duct-tape (sticky side out).

09.25.2006 » Tank Camo

The first thing to paint on the tank is the main camo pattern. I'll be using the Brown/Green camo scheme. Tamiya makes specific JGSDF colors for this. XF-72 and XF-73. First I painted all the tank parts with the JGSDF Brown color. Well... a close enough color as I don't have XF-72. I mixed Brown with Kahki instead which is close to my reference colors. Before this I used some scrap-wood and used double-stick foam tape to make a handle inside the hull of the chassis and the turret.

After that dried a few hours I used some sticky-tack and masked off where the camo stripes will be for the green. I filled in the brown areas with tape to mask them. The sticky-tack gives the camo a soft edge between colors for a sprayed-on look.

After masking was done I sprayed on the XF-73 green.

When dry I removed the masking carefully and viola! Camo complete. Next-up.. painting tools and equipment.

09.26.2006 » Details

After the camo, it's all about painting the tools and other details. For the turret I painted the cloth cover between the gun and turret with a lightened kahki color. I painted the box with XF-74 JGSDF Olive Drab and the strap with Kahki. The wire for the IR sensor was painted in german gray.

The tow cable end was painted in the JGSDF Green color and the cable later (not shown painted) in a medium gray. The lights were painted with silver Rub-n-Buff. The small lights will later be painted over with Clear Orange.

The tools were painted in XF-74 JGSDF Olive Drab and will be paint-chipped and weahtered later.

Speaking of paint chips... Of all the Type 74s I saw images of, there was very little in the way of chipping and/or rust. These tanks are VERY well maintained so I only added a few chips here and there on high-wear areas and a few random from tools and such.

After all the little details were painted and the chips were done, I gave the kit a coat of Future Floor Acrylic thinned with Tamiya Thinner. This seals in the acrylic and creates a gloss base for the decals which will be next.

I wanted to call out the road wheels. The JGSDF does not camo them, but instead paints some green and some brown. I brushed on flat black around the edges for the rubber. Almost pointless though as these wheels will be pretty muddy when this is all done!

09.28.2006 » Decals, Filters, Chipping, and Wash

After the gloss coat had dried I applied the decals. I followed the instructions and added the decals for "The 2nd Company, The First Cavalry Training Corp". I used these because I wanted something "general" and wasn't thrilled with the other unit marks.

After the decals, I applied a satin coat of Future. When that cured I drybrushed a little light gray acrylic on the edges of the cloth on the turret. Then I applied my first filter which was a mixture of Ultramarine Blue and White oil paint thinned with oderless mineral spirits (KleanStrip from Walmart).

When the first filter was dry I applied a second of the same colors as the first. The goal was to make the tones of both colors slightly bluer and lighter. Below you can see how it acted as a wash on the road wheels and see what my filter looked like in the applesauce tub. I love these tubs and use a lot of them. Great as a disposable container for washes and such and holding small parts before painting.

After the filters were dry I decided to add the paint chips to the tools as well as doing some "mapping" to the exhaust pipes. The chipps to the wooden handles were done by drybrushing Tamiya Buff to simulate chips along the wood grain. After I used some light gray acrylics then later red-brown to paint small colored areas on the shovel and exhaust to give them a more random colored/chipped/stained look before rusting. This is known as "mapping" named after texture mapping from 3D images apparently. I like to think of it as painting islands and continents or slightly different colors, like a "map". This can be used to simulate stains, repainted areas, chips, etc...

After that detailing I applied a wash of UM Blue + Burnt Sienna whick made a dark gray-brown when mixed. This was thinned with oderless mineral spirits and applied all over focusing on panel lines and details. This will be my first wash and is intended to highlight some details.

After this dries I'll apply the fading (dots of oils blended in with thinner) and then the next wash of the dirt/dust color. Below you can see the mapping on the exhausts. Later pigments will be added to strengthen the effect.

09.29.2006 » Fading

Today I applied the fading to the model with oils and mineral spirits. This is an effect that I think truely brings out the realism in a surface. The way it adds subtle color changes and tones really looks great.

The following 2 images are photoshopped (and exaggerated)to show the process as I didn't have time to photograph them. It's not a technique that lends itself to photography time-wise. First you apply clean mineral spirits to a section of the tank. Then you apply dots of various oil colors onto the clean thinner. I used Colbalt Blue, Yellow, and White. Then you take a soft brush dampened in clean spirits and blend it into the surface. For sides and inclines go up and down to simulate rain-marks/stains. For flat surfaces just swirl them and blend them in.

Here you can see how it looks on the model. The staining is subtle and works really well. Using the blues and whites also help to alter the color to more of a blue which I wanted. I used burnt sienna on my Russian KV-2 as well as the white, yellow, and blue to simulate rustiness blended in.

09.30.2006 » Two More Washes

Today I added 2 more washes to layer the weathering effects on the tank. First I applied a brown wash which was similar to my dirt color on the base. After that dried I applied the same wash, but with more white oil paint mixed in. This gave me a dusty look similar to many of the images I've seen of the Type 74 on maneuvers. Next up will either be predusting with an airbrush or rain marks with water-thinned tamiya acrylics. Not sure which yet.

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10.02.2006 » Rain Marks and Pre-Dusting

The past couple days have been busy, so not too much progress. First I applied some rain marks to the vertical surfaces of the tank. I mixed some Tamiya Buff and Brown with LOTS of water and brushed streaks down the vertical and sloped sides that would have them. As they dry, the lightness of the marks show up. You won't see them when they're wet if you're doing it right.

Next I mixed up a shade of Tamiya Acrylics similar to my groundwork dirt. I mixed this 50/50 with Flattened Future and sprayed it where dust would collect. That was a bit dark, so I mixed in some white and resprayed. The multi-layed effect looks great. THis was applied to the underside of the chassis, the road wheels, the rear panel and front of the tank and in other places.

When that dried I added more rain marks and applied the tinted window glass which I cut from clear blister-pack plastic and backed with black acrylic.

And last for the progress, I started on some of the mud and grime effects. Below you can see the first of it which is some mud spatters on the rear of the tank as seen in some of my reference. I'll be adding more of this later i lighter shades. It was applied by fliching water-wet pigments with a stiff nylon brush. The cheap Testors kind.

10.03.2006 » Dust and Mud

Next up in my layers and layers of weathering is the mud and dust. First I applied more dust and dried earth with Mig Pigments. I used both dark and light to simulate not only different types of dust, but to simulate that some of the much is still moist.

After that it was time to make some mud. I mixed equal parts of ground talus (A), dry plaster of paris (B), MIG pigment powder (C), and a little static grass thrown in as well.

I combined these in an applesause container then removed half for later. I made too much dry mix, so by removing some I can use it later for another kit. I took my mixture and mixed in a slightly larger volume of Liquitex Acrylic Matt Gel Medium. This is the same as the gloss gel medium I use for water, but dries flat instead of glossy. I wanted it flat to simulate drying mud. I stirred this up well with an old brush until I got a nice muddy consistency. This will dry about the same color as the mix. Pigments usually dry lighter, but this in my tests did not.

Using some old brushes I applied the mud on the lower portions of the chassis where the tank would have pushed through some wet mud which later dried and crumbled off in spots. I'll add lighter dry pigments later to simulate the dryer mud.

This mixture was also applied to the wheels and drive sprockets.

When the mud had dried I took some MIG Gunmetal and rubbed it between my thumb and forefinger. I then rubbed it on the sprockets (see above) as well as the machine gun for the turret. The gun was first painted black. Rubbing the metallic powder on it achieves a great look!

10.04.2006 » Drying Mud

And finally for the weathering and painting page we have progress shots of the drying mud. This was basically achieved by dusting the darker mud with lighter pigments. Looks great! I also attached the tracks. Love the sag and it looks great on the base. The tank itself is done so final photos will be up soon... after the figs are done!

Type 74 In-Progress Sections »

Tank Construction »    Modelkasten Tracks »    Painting and Weathering »    Base Construction »    Figure Construction and Painting »