SPA Modeler

I gobbled that up.

Yeah buddy!!!

Whatever you did, it looks good! I can't really tell from the photos but is looks like the RLM02 tint has given the model a bit more "warmth" in the color spectrum.

Thank you, John! And yes, yes that’s orecisely it! The German gray is a very cool color as it is. Which is fine. But a little warmth is a good thing, in art, and in tanks too. I quite like the effect I got here for that reason. It softened the color just a bit and warmed it up, and it should work well with the oil dot filters and streaking I’m planning on doing. At least, I hope it will LOL

Another beautiful paint job looks like a old war veteran now.

Thanks Clint!

After giving the paint all evening and last night to dry and cure and do it’s thing, I sprayed it with a thin coat of Mr. Hobby Super Clear first thing this morning. As I’ve said over on my Zero thread, I love that stuff. It’s tough, it sprays well, and it finishes smooth. Plus, it’s pretty easy to get your head around how to mix it with the Mr. Leveling Thinner to get the kind of coat you want. 1:3 Super Clear to Leveling Thinner, sprayed at 15 PSI got the job done. Just a thin, protective coating.

Also, for benefit of those following along with the paintwork, I want to share with you some things I’ve noticed...

Take another look at the photos above and then refer back to the photos I took post-painting. It immediately becomes apparent that some of the “warmness” my paint mixture had has vanished. That is perfectly OKAY. The same thing happens, to a lesser degree, when spraying the Super Clear (and even Tamiya Clear) over a black-based finish with lots of tonal variation in it. Think: a mottled combination of light blues and whites and light browns on the underside of an Emil. Some of that tonal variation will seem to vanish under the Clear Coat.

Conversely, I’ve noticed that Clear coats, especially Mr. Hobby Super Clear, can make a plain, flat color like my custom “BOOYAH! GREEN” more vibrant and lively at higher doses. My custom “US Cockpit Green” which I’ve used exclusively on my many failed Aircraft Which will Not Be Named projects, it makes that green much richer and deeper.

So there’s a certain amount of voodoo with this stuff is what I’m saying. Either that, or I’ve had too much coffee to drink and at the same time my eyes are going wonky on me. I haven’t ruled that out. These are just observations.

Now, for a modeler like me, I like this quality. I love a green cockpit and I like the groovy effect I get when I use it on green cockpits.

On the other hand, I have a tendency to make things overdone sometimes. Which, that isn’t necessarily a problem because I have come to almost depend on the Clear’s tendency to dampen tonal variation as a means to balance that out and wrangle things in a bit, or as Walter Sobczak might say: “Really tie the model together.”

So there we go!

Thank you for your interest in my tanks as well as my evolving and developing methodologies.

What a nice finish. Coverage looks great.

Thanks so much, Lyle! Old Snappy is really coming along and I’m happy with it.

Although I must add that the nickname of “ole snappy” just does not sound German enough...