Painting Painting ZSU-57-2

So I've started our new painting challenge and as with every new painting project I try to learn a few new techniques and tricks, and this project will be no different.

So I choose these guys as a nice little unit which can form part of my first months painting, they are similar enough to the T55 (obviously) to be a great test bed for the painting.

I started by cleaning up the models, and as a base colour I tried one of the Vallejo air brush base colours 'desert tan base' - the first issue is that this colour is a lot lighter than desert tan (my colour of choice) but by using a light colour there is less need for multiple layers to cover the black, also unlike the grey base I've used before, it's easier on the eyes to distinguish between the paint and the grey of the resin.

After basing it, I then did a layer of desert Tan, after this I covered the tank in a variety of tape and blue tab to highlight in a type of 'bad modulation' as I call it ( I used Vallejo air Sand) I tried to get some nice areas of contrast between panels, (, with varying degrees of success) in some places it's more subtle than others...

With that base colour done, it was time to pick out a few details, which really amounted to the edges of the wheels and the tracks, with black on the wheels and green grey on the tracks (drybrushed with sea grey).

After than I grabbed the ever useful Devlan mud wash and applied it over the grills and the gun barrels - I then added a little black wash to the distal end of the gun barrels.

After this I got to use one of my new bits of fun, some 'brown panel liner' my Mig, it's an enamel which flowed so easily into the edges of the model adding so pretty nice definition I thought.

After this I tried something I've always avoided, painting chips. I went for two colours, medium sea grey and German camo black brown, I would say that the more I practiced this the more I realised less is more, it needs more practice but I'll live with it so far!

After this I decided to add the streaking grime and streaking rust - I think I should have been more careful, using where i had chips and scratches as a jumping off point. I liked the two colours of streaking, and again compared to some books I've been using I found a 'less is more' approach better, and when it came to thin the streaks I removed some streaks entirely due to it looking two busy on the model. As well as the streaks I also put some rust around the hatches etc.

After this I gave them a coat of matt varnish, before applying my Mig Desert filter - now I think i've screwed this up, applying it a little too thick and getting orange deposits in the corners - I used some thinner to remove excess, and have learnt for next time that a smaller brush would work better I think! I like the effect it's had on the colour - much closer I think to the Battle front colour, whilst keeping the streaks etc visible underneath - one problem is where i applied the devlan mud now looks crap - so will need to reapply when dry!

So the above is filter + more devlan mud, now it's time to weather these chaps.

For this I started by painting on some liquid Dust by mid, I'll be honest, I tried to then remove the excess with a make up pad, and just ended up leaving fibers all over the model which was a real pain.

So instead I applied MiG pigment mud over the lower hull and tracks, before painting over with some Vallejo pigment fixer. I then added some MiG light dust pigment in a light over brush over the whole model to add some more dust in crevices etc.

With that all which was left was adding the crew heads and applying some matt varnish!

Hope you like them and I'll have the rest of month 1's models up soon I hope too.

Till next time