KENNY X HAS A TANK

[jkim]

Another beautiful looking Panzer! You've really got the mojo flowing with these tanks dude!

[KennyX]

John and Carlos,

Thank you!!

And here it is, all primed and murdered-out and ready for paint:



I don’t know what it is about these tanks but I love building them and painting them and weathering them. I could do it all day. I could do it all the time. I love it.

[jkim]

Then keep on doing it! Can't argue with the results and the stoke!

[Stikpusher]

Starting to look like that angry turtle.

[speedgraflex]

What a beast! I mean it. Wow. The profile is aggressive and menacing in repose. Beautiful work, Ken! Beautiful construction and now primered ready for color coats!

[KennyX]

Carlos,

Right!? Man, imagine the Russians, when they saw these coming back up out of the water!

Bruce,

Thank you! I like that word you used- “Menacing” when describing this tank, the Panzer was indeed a menacing-looking tank at least insofar as I always thought they looked menacing. And while I quickly became a fan of open hatches when I built my StuG, I like the Panzer buttoned up, especially the Tauchpanzer-

1. Armored

2. Impregnable

3. Amphibious

Know what I mean? It’s armored, heavy, it can go wherever it wants, it’s menacing-looking and the fact that it’s all closed-up just adds to that, in my mind.

[Stikpusher]

Yes, the Tauchpanzer is a unique AFV. And it sure must have made an impression upon the Soviets backseat all of their tanks from the T-54 onwards were designed with a similar capability for deep wading. I think of Western postwar tanks, only the Leopards have a similar capability designed into them.

[KennyX]

Alright lads! Old Snapper is painted!

I’m going to walk you through the process which brought me here:


Woo hoo!

Okay, after Black Basing, I mixed-up a combination of Khaki and German Gray, 1:1, which is my custom RLM02. I had made up my mind already that I didn’t want to use a dark nor red brown for this job. Something in my head told me that Inwouldnt get what I was shooting for. Next, I thinned that paint mixture way down. 4:12 paint to thinner, and sprayed it over and around edges, in my “carefully diffused” pattern:



It *immediately* became apparent that there was a problem. This color, which I love, is far less opaque than german gray.

“What the Hell?” I said to myself, and began spraying the German Gray anyway. Thinned 4:12. And when I painted, I used the same diffused pattern. And as I was mottling the German Gray together with my custom RLM02, I noticed something: I wasn’t getting any tonal variation between the two at all, but that was okay because the RLM02 underneath was gently softening the German Gray and giving it a subtle quality that I immediately latched onto, and decided in that moment that I would not be using Flat White and German Grey 1:1 for my highlights, and that instead I’d opt for more of my custom RLM02.

Here’s Old Snapper once the base coat was complete:



Next, I mixed up more of my custom RLM02, thinned the absolute crap out of it, and highlighted places I thought might could use it:



After that, I thinned German Gray way down, 2:14 thinner tonpaint, and sprayed a blend coat over Old Snapper in a broad, soft spray pattern. And here’s the result:














And again, under harsh light:



I’m quite happy with how this latest experiment turned out!

[speedgraflex]

Bravo! Thank you for these steps because of two major reasons—one: the RLM02 I am using for Black 13 is remarkably similar in mixture to your armor version. I am just basing mine more on the confusing Luftwaffe series of tonal variations (at least 14 were noted but I believe every aircraft may have received a “close enough” proportion of green grey)—two: your willingness to adapt to visual changes is something I need to embrace completely. Finally who gives a shit about what I think but dammit that is some silky smooth airbrush goodness. Cheers.

[KennyX]

Bruce,

Danke, bro! Especially because that post was for you! I wanted to see if I could repeat this roceduee for ya, and document it well. I’m glad you liked it and found it useful! And as for my custom RLM02, yeah my man, that one will do ya just fine as a rock solid approximation of the color, insofar as I know. I like making it with a slightly darker gray. It looks more correct to me that way. I’m glad that was able to help you too!

Cheers my man!