The Black&White Technique. Tiger I 1/48 by JOSE LUIS LOPEZ. (III)

More steps! .... I see the end!!!!!

Washes ... they always help to increase the perception of the details of the kit. 1/48 kits are not as accurate as 1/35 counterparts. And if there were the same quantity of aftermarkets available for the quarter scale, they´d be more difficult to place that in the bigger scale. 1/35 PE sets are a nightmare by them self so, in 1/48, for not very skilled modellers like me, are just a Chimera. So, in my case, I have to hide this with the paint, showing as much as possible the details available in the kit and bring them to life.

Before the washes, I applied a pair of solid coats of Tamiya´s clear, the perfect base for washes as it facilitates the washes to run easily around the kits details.

For this task, as in the previous steps, I used Tamiya Panel Line Accent colour mixed with KX 52 Flat Earth, using Tamiya´s thinner (blue cap) to keep the mix fluid and easy to handle:

Oils: Modeller´s best friend without a doubt! Easy to handle, slow dry, excellent blur just perfect! Using different oil colours, Naples Yellow, Van Dyke Brown, natural umber, blue, white, red . And using the well-know technique of dots I faded the grey colour trying to reduce the contrast of the different shades of the grey and hiding a little bit the chipping aggressive effect of previous steps:

A couple of detail shots of the weathering so far. After this step, I´m ready for the real heavy weathering with dust and dirt:

I used AK Interactive´s enamel Africa dust (AK22) instead Tamiya´s enamel because I felt that the yellowish dust of this product will suit perfectly to the Kitty. If you have not this product, you can also use Tamiya´s enamel paint to do it mixing buff, white and a little bit of desert yellow.

This technique is used by many modellers and the results are really awesome for me. But you must be strong and have faith on your hands, as the intermediate steps of this technique are, how to say this, difficult to assimilate if you have not clear the final look of the tank finished.

I directly airbrushed the product from the bottle without problems:

Now, using AK´s thinner, I started to remove the applied dust to my taste. I just waited 15 minutes and then, using a brush, I cleaned the kit in the desired areas. Even the next day I was able to do this because of the enamel´s nature of the AK´s product. I must say that I´m happy this product, easy to apply and easy to remove with a tasty colour for me. What else?:

Once the base dust colour shapes are OK for me, I applied a nice coat of matt varnish (Marabu) to seal the dust and to avoid any damage from further steps.

Once dry, a pair of days, be patience, I add some dirt details here and there using acrylic paints. I always use the same colours for this: black, dark mud and buff. Mixing them I got a nice dirt colour series. I added a lot of water to the mix to ensure that the desired effects are subtle and if I want a more intense effect, I have just to insist with the brush more times, that ´s all!

So, using these colours, I made different contrast in the dust for a more attractive look. Important thing in this step: The dust on a kit makes it looks, how to say, diffuse, smashed potatoes. Undefined. Excuse me for my lack of English! The dust makes all the details to disappear. So, we have to help the kit with some washes here and there. For me, a kit without depth in the details is a fool! I made the washes using the darkest mixes of the acrylic paint.

So, finally, I think that I managed to return to a highly contrasted Kitty even with dust:

The only remaining effect is the mud, but that will be in the following chapter. I PROMISE that the next part... will be the last!!!!!

CONTINUE TO PART IV (FINAL)