Steve,
Painting - you are being way too hard and critical on yourself.
Now imagine that being the full size vehicle, three crew members are set to paint the vehicle - sorry but the magic spray gun does not come along and if it did then a crew from another tank broke it messing about - so all you are left with are cans of paint, a 5 gallon can of petrol and three paint brushes plus some cotton waste. You get hold of the bucket throw in what you think is the right amount of paint, add the petrol as thinners, get a stick that was uses to grease the suspension, wipe it off with a bit of cotton waste and use it to stir the mix to a useable state. This then is poured back into the tins and each member is off to paint their little area... Slap it on, cover up dirt in corners, patches of rust and work away untill the paint in the can is used, then off for a refill from the bucket, looks a bit thick so throw in some more petrol, not knowing that your mate has just added some - and you keep going untill the job is done....
Does it all look nice and neat, not a chance, from about 50 feet ok, from 5 feet it looks like you painted it with a sweeping brush, and in the squaddies eye it is get it done either as fast as you can and get longer in the NAAFI, or longer to miss the next parade.... And if it is parade time, then the whole vehicle is gone over with cotton waste rags dipped in diesel to give the vehicle that polished look....
And I talk from experience....
So what is actually wrong with your model - nothing, it looks like it has been painted by a crew of tankies and not art students... The rescue of a poor paint job in modelling comes with the weathering and aging of the model...
Just look at this for example, there are more greens there than on a grass field, a tot ally bu.......d up paint job, but after the weathering process....
There is the difference....
So stop the criticism, be objective, yes, criticism leads to doom and gloom and a disinterest in the hobby.
Airbrush, Yes the tool that turns you from a three fingered bricklayer to Picaso in one easy lesson, and all it is, is a tool, you learn to drive a car, so you learn to use an airbrush. In my collection of airbrushes I have examples of the top brands H&S etc etc, did they make me into a better painter - NO! They all sit in the drawer in their cases or boxes glowering in envy at the cheap Chinese knock-off I have been using for months, that and an Iwata Neo, but it seems that the Chinese one is my go to airbrush.
If we were to be painting with an airbrush every day then we would fly through the paint mixes, air pressures and do the calculation on fingers and toes before any phone computer, because like a pen it is their tool....
Our practice comes from the moment we decide to paint the model, there is no limbering up, no muscle stretching, it is just mix up the paint, power up the compressor, pour the paint into the cup and a swift prayer to the god of air pressure and needle tip blocking and away we go...
Do I practice, I should and I could, but I am far too lazy, I like the building, priming and weathering - notice I missed out the painting part.
So your next job is to add a coat of satin or gloss, add your decals, seal with another coat of gloss and perform your weathering. I can only reccoment Martin Kovacs and his NIght Shift armour modelling tutorials on YT. There are other just as talented modellers, but he seems to tackle those problems we seem to come up against, so have a look and see what he does.
Painting - you are being way too hard and critical on yourself.
Now imagine that being the full size vehicle, three crew members are set to paint the vehicle - sorry but the magic spray gun does not come along and if it did then a crew from another tank broke it messing about - so all you are left with are cans of paint, a 5 gallon can of petrol and three paint brushes plus some cotton waste. You get hold of the bucket throw in what you think is the right amount of paint, add the petrol as thinners, get a stick that was uses to grease the suspension, wipe it off with a bit of cotton waste and use it to stir the mix to a useable state. This then is poured back into the tins and each member is off to paint their little area... Slap it on, cover up dirt in corners, patches of rust and work away untill the paint in the can is used, then off for a refill from the bucket, looks a bit thick so throw in some more petrol, not knowing that your mate has just added some - and you keep going untill the job is done....
Does it all look nice and neat, not a chance, from about 50 feet ok, from 5 feet it looks like you painted it with a sweeping brush, and in the squaddies eye it is get it done either as fast as you can and get longer in the NAAFI, or longer to miss the next parade.... And if it is parade time, then the whole vehicle is gone over with cotton waste rags dipped in diesel to give the vehicle that polished look....
And I talk from experience....
So what is actually wrong with your model - nothing, it looks like it has been painted by a crew of tankies and not art students... The rescue of a poor paint job in modelling comes with the weathering and aging of the model...
Just look at this for example, there are more greens there than on a grass field, a tot ally bu.......d up paint job, but after the weathering process....
There is the difference....
So stop the criticism, be objective, yes, criticism leads to doom and gloom and a disinterest in the hobby.
Airbrush, Yes the tool that turns you from a three fingered bricklayer to Picaso in one easy lesson, and all it is, is a tool, you learn to drive a car, so you learn to use an airbrush. In my collection of airbrushes I have examples of the top brands H&S etc etc, did they make me into a better painter - NO! They all sit in the drawer in their cases or boxes glowering in envy at the cheap Chinese knock-off I have been using for months, that and an Iwata Neo, but it seems that the Chinese one is my go to airbrush.
If we were to be painting with an airbrush every day then we would fly through the paint mixes, air pressures and do the calculation on fingers and toes before any phone computer, because like a pen it is their tool....
Our practice comes from the moment we decide to paint the model, there is no limbering up, no muscle stretching, it is just mix up the paint, power up the compressor, pour the paint into the cup and a swift prayer to the god of air pressure and needle tip blocking and away we go...
Do I practice, I should and I could, but I am far too lazy, I like the building, priming and weathering - notice I missed out the painting part.
So your next job is to add a coat of satin or gloss, add your decals, seal with another coat of gloss and perform your weathering. I can only reccoment Martin Kovacs and his NIght Shift armour modelling tutorials on YT. There are other just as talented modellers, but he seems to tackle those problems we seem to come up against, so have a look and see what he does.
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