Painting a T-34/85

[Guest]

:bow:Nice one Patrick,

I've a long way to go before I am capable of producing a build and finish to this high caliber.

BB.

[Centurion3RTR]

Looking good Patrick, looking good.

John

[Guest]

Thanks chaps-wish I could get more done but the process of finding & moving house is never an easy one! Patrick

[Guest]

Patrick that is quality mate , cant wait to see it finnished.

Richy

[Guest]

Decals

Once the decals & paint have dried, I used very fine grit (10000 & 12000) sanding pads to bed the decals down. It gives them a real painted-on look. Then another coat of Klear is added to seal them. This helps to prevent the dreaded 'silvering'.

Patrick, build looks great. Sorry to go back two weeks, but just picked up this thread. Can you go into more detail about the bedding down of the decals with the fine paper? I suffered from silvering and lifting on my last build, and was prepared to coat the next one with Klear or Klear substitute. Is it just the edges of the decal that you sand to feather in the transfer film? Also, any bright ideas on getting decals to mould over rivets/bumps etc? I should know this 'cos I apply vehicle graphics for a living but the decals are so delicate!

Tonyb

[Guest]

Hi Tony,

The first coat(s) of Klear are vital because decals only adher well to glossy surfaces-matt paint is like the surface of the moon to a decal! In this case I left the decals for about 48 hours to really dry out thoroughly, as I've has similar problems before. I found that extra time was well spent coz they had stuck down very well. The light sanding was done just to take off the barest minimum of the top layer of the decal & I did it all over it, not just at the edges.

If you need to lay a decal over bumps & protrusions, I would recommend Microsol products-one you apply to the models surface prior to putting the decal on & the other you apply over the decal to help it snuggle down. Revell also make a 'decal-softener' which I've used & this does just what it says, it softens the decal to make it easier to fit it over rivets, hatches etc. On the T-34 turret there are a couple of vision-slits & this stuff allowed me to mould the decals over them with no problems. Sometimes you'll need to keep adding a little more until the decal is soft enough.

Of course, it's handy to have spares because there's no guarantee that it works first time or even all the time!

Patrick

[Guest]

Awesome. Top advice, cheers. Will try that on my new Huey (ordered yesterday, don't tell SWMBO). Thought I ought to order some Model Air too, was feeling left out! Will leave you alone now, let you get on with the next update.

[Guest]

No probs, it's what makes this hobby even more satisfying! Let us know how you get on with the Model Air- I've used it only once & liked it much more than Tamiya but it's taking a while to run down my stocks of Tamiya before I move over to Vallejo full-time!

Patrick

[Guest]

Just a little more done, doing a bit more of the chipping by adding other colours that both compliment & add a contrast to what came before. The idea is to create a 3-D effect of chipped & flaking paint which isn't always easy and the results can be unpredictable!

I'm fairly happy with how it looks, it may need a little more work. The next step is adding a little pastels to represent dust so I'll see how that goes!

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And just to give you an idea of how the whole thing looks at this stage:

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[Guest]

Your skills are second to none!

This finish just keeps getting better and better.

BB.

[Guest]

Your skills are second to none!This finish just keeps getting better and better.

BB.

Lol my skills are second to many! You should see the King Tiger I'm working on-it's rubbish! But thanks for the kind words mate.

[Guest]

Seriously Patrick mate, i'd expect to see this T-34 ina pro modellers magazine or something. And if my mind serves me correctly, you haven't been modelling for long. Really impressive mate!

Paul

[Guest]

It really is amazing, just love the realistic rusting and chipping. I certainly cannot remember seeing better.

[yak face]

patrick, please stop youre making us all feel inadequate!!!!! really , this is so good you must be really chuffed , i love it to bits , hurry up and put it on the gallery so i can give it a 10! cheers tony

[Guest]

Tony, Graham & Paul, you lot are making me blush! I am very pleased with this one, it seems a lucky build coz everything I've tried has turned out well & many of the techniques were new to me. Hopefully I'll be able to say those much-loved words "it's done!" by the end of the weekend. Just the dio to finish after that! Thanks again, Patrick