The 5-6 hour marathon demo session also included plenty of experimentation. It can get pretty interesting doing things for the very first time under such circumstances! :-)
One of my goals for that day was to see if I could do some quick camo pattern masking on a T-34, using only the materials at hand.
The tank had been getting coats of the primer painting along with everything else, working up to white primer. I got that shading as light as I could go, setting up some darker green stripes later.
Some final highlights were also applied to the CAV mechs at the same time.
Panzer and T-34 together... oh my!
I had seen this very wonderful pattern on a Flames of War version, and it seemed more unique. I really liked the deep greens running through the pattern, and I knew that the warmer rust and mud weathering would be a fantastic contrast to the cooler blueish greens.
The only masking stuff I had available at the moment was the blu-tac that I use to hold vehicles in place inside my travel cases. This would have to do for the time being!
It was pretty new, so I figured that it would not be too sticky. There certainly was not any embedded paint in it.
It is hard to show in these images, but I intentionally concentrated the spray closer to certain edges of the masked sections in order to create harder or softer edges.
I didn't want it to be completely uniform. Also, I attempted to get a bit of shading by hitting those parts with more green (the advantage of having the white underneath!).
It wasn't only myself who eagerly awaited the removal of the blu-tac... an anxious audience wanted to see what would happen as well!
Lo an behold, it was exactly what I had hoped for! You can see the distinctly different types of edges... some soft, others sharper.
The 'crossbar' stripes were added afterwards. Some of the thinnest will probably be done with a brush.
So, a few simple cross strips really did the trick!
A good deal of weathering will be added to this, as well as snow. I'm really looking forward to that process. I will try to show you that as it happens.
This is where things get interesting, as I will be testing out some new materials from AMMO. I have a host of different products to test and experiment with.
To add to the experimentation, a number of decals will be used. Most of you probably know that the AMMO products are oil based, and that is a major departure from what I have done for so long.
Many of these materials will be similar to existing techniques that I have been doing with powders and acrylic paints, but it's going to take a while to get used to them.
It is very likely that I will discover all kinds of crazy and unintended uses for them. :-)
Here's another peek at what I was trying to match. While the picture does not show it, the two greens are actually the same.
I was working on a number of things at the same time, as you can see from this image. When I am at my own home studio, 3-5 times this amount will be under way at once. I have found that it is the best way to utilize these new tools and materials.
In the hours after the demo, I did additional painting and detail work on the Laffly trucks and the Hanomag too. Decals will be placed, and then all the weathering experiments will take place!
Stay tuned, as I want to share this big new journey with all of you.
