DocRob

Some are really chained to a subject .

Nice grimy result Gus. The multi colored background pays off greatly. With the contrast of markings, wheels, etc. this will look great. Cheers Rob

A little pause with Xtreme metal in the moment, Gus. There is a French heavyweight occupying my bench time. Today I painted the tracks, another bare metal theme, but It turned out, that I forgot to buy Gun Metal from AK, instead I had to use Tamiya stuff, but that's another story, written in another chapter. Cheers Rob

Thanks Peter, made some progress the last two days, but no pics yet. After a coat of Future I applied the decals, which where extremely fragile. I broke the French insignia and had no spare in my stash. I decided to leave it like this and see how it will look with some weathering. After another protective coat of Future, hull and turret are left to dry. I sprayed the primed tracks with Tamiya gunmetal as a base and also primed the figures for some in between painting. The antenna was sprayed in a brownish orange tone and I hope this is correct. The only Colour pic of an antenna I saw is showing a kind of that tone. I wonder what kind of material it is, maybe Bakelit. The Tamiya manual calls for bright orange, which I doubt. Having that Colour in the airbrush, I used it for pre painting the rust areas on the muffler. Cheers Rob

And I always took your name for Martin, anyway it starts with the same letters . Cheers Rob

@Martinnfb Thanks for the great pics, your archive seems endless. Interesting trailer, I will store it in my brain HD for later. It seems, that you can't go wrong with oil stains and whatever causes stains on these tanks. That clearly stretches the definition of weathering to my eye , great picture though. Cheers Rob

Hehe, you fake Frenchie , bien huilé fonctionne mieux. Cheers Rob

Thanks Gus, grain (or better no visible grain) is always a key to a new looking NMF. I believe that is almost possible with these Xtreme metal Colours, but I have to find a way to get a better result. While working with those Colours sometimes the grain seem to be less prominent than in the end, that leads me to the conclusion, that it is all about the way you apply. I will perform some test if the tendency is more about 'flooding' the surface or better work in very thin layers. I believe here is the key to a ungrainy NMF. Thanks Joeg, but please enlighten me, what is an 'ac' Cheers Rob

Actually I have to admit, that I didn't spent a single thought on the tracks , beside that they are clickable and quite nice in plastic. I will consult some pictures, but would like to put some grease on the monster with some oily shininess as a contrast to the matte mud. Cheers Rob

I think it is a mean looking machine, like a dinosaur on the prowl. The bonus of this one is that you only have to paint the idler and the road wheel, all the tiny ones are hidden. After the camo, the beast looks very clean, but this will alter. I guess with that track layout, there must have been a lot of grease and oil involved and mud splatters everywhere. Cheers Rob

Bring it on Carl. I have a weak spot for naval planes specially with floats and the Kingfisher is one of my favorites. Can't wait to see your magic working. Salt and sun are not only for surfers, but also great for weathering effects. Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl, these Xtreme metal Colours make life a little easier with NMF. The durability is a clear plus against Alclads. As I'm not prepared to foil a kit at the moment, it has to be airbrush and Colour. To make a well worn NMF is not a big deal, but a high shine reflective one is hard to achieve. I will do further testing in the future and may try it on a P-38. Cheers Rob

Looking great, I like the newish, but used look, not easy to achieve. New is relatively easy, abused too, but the way you did it is the hard way. Me like. Cheers Rob

Without your hand it would almost look real or is that hand of yours out of scale? Cheers Rob

Hehe, haven't thought about Indy. What I had in front of my imaginary eye was the Char sans tracks as a kind of gondola for a steam powered Zeppelin. The whole thing would have been made of copper and brass with lots of patina. And then there were these tempting French camo styles... Cheers Rob