RC Tanks To The Rescue!

I've been in a painting funk for abut 2 months. it sucks, because I had plans to do a lot of painting, and then suddenly i could not bring myself to paint anything.  it probably has something to do with my reenacting(of complete lack thereof) but that is a story for another time.

anyway, a couple of friends  got me interested n 1/16th RC tanks recently.  in case your unsure what is involved, these RC tanks have full range of movement(including turret) recoiling barrels full sound, and even smoke coming out of the exhaust.  but the test part is that they have Infrared laser emitters and recievers  that register hits, in a laser-tagish sort of fashion.

We attended the CanAm Tank Club's Battle day on July 21st, in Niagara Falls, Canada, and soon after decided to get into RC tanking.

I'll be refitting much of the electronics(being an electrical engineering student) but I'm also the resident painter, so I've been investigating how to paint these monster tanks(18-24" long). I ended up buying a gravity feed dual action airbrush and wanted to try out some of the new techniques I picked up.  So I pulled out my WW2 28mm vehicles box and produced Army Group North Miniatures Opel Blitz's and Sdkfz 10s, 2 of each.

AGNM Opel Blitz's

I started by airbrushing on a base coat of  Vallejo Model Air 71.052 German grey. then I applied 2 coats of  German grey mixed with 71.050 Light grey, getting progressively lighter with each layer. finally i applied  coat of  the light grey by itlsef to highlight  high areas and centres of large panels.
after this i applied a watered down  Vallejo black wash, and then used the straight black was and applied it to panel lines, creases, and gaps.  

 

AGNM Sd Kfz 10 1 ton haulers

After that i applied  some "paint scratches" using a dark red-brown that i mixed.  it was dabbed on using a scrap of  abrasive scrub pad(the stuff I used for hedges).  I then finished off all the details with a brush.

the effect is subtle, but all in all, I thought that this technique worked well, especially for the first try.

my friends bought  early tigers and panzer IVs to start their RC tanking.  i bought a single  Panzer III and plan to convert it into  Panzer III/IV, with the same paint scheme as it's World of Tanks Counterpart.  the Pz III/IV is one thank that has been in my garage since i got it, and no one has one at the tank club(yet), so it will be a unique addition.

I'm sure you'll see more of teh RC tanks as i start to paint them, so stay tuned.