Nothing beats the smell of Mr. Leveling Thinner!

My friends, here's some slow progress. Slow because everything takes way too long on such a large and complex model... except priming! You see, I decided to live dangerously again and used black Mr. Surfacer in a rattle can. Well, two of them! The model consumed one entire can and then some more. 

What you see in these pictures is a base coat and a partial layer of the first highlight. The darkest layer is a mixture of German Grey and a bit of Buff with a good amount of clear varnish added for paint saturation. Didn't know how much I'd need, so I used half a bottle of German Grey :D 

The second layer contains significantly more Buff, and, of course, another pour of clear varnish. As a result, the model will become glossy AF, but it's a very important aspect of post-shading. The clear varnish actually makes the paints darker - if you'd use the same mixing ratios, but kept one batch without clear varnish, the paint would be much lighter. However, it would darken as soon as you sprayed clear varnish over the model! Also, the contrasts would change drastically. So adding clear varnish to your paint mixes prevents this issue, and makes the paint spray much smoother as well. Layering is also easier because the mixture is slightly translucent. 

Well, unlike my usual recipe where I use German Grey and just keep adding white, this time I'm highlighting it with Buff, but somewhere halfway I'll switch to white for those extreme highlights. The reason? My friend used Buff on the Pz 38 which I finished for him last year and I liked the effect. I'm guessing it'll also give the Karl a subtle dusty look, and I'm sure the real one would be definitely covered in a ton of dust from the consecutive firing. Lastly, it'll create a warmer tone that will work perfectly with the hastily applied camouflage of African Brown on the mortar, as seen in the historical photo. 

Long story short, I need to apply this layer to the entire hull, and even then there's a ton of additional post-shading in front of me!