Pfizer hit me like...

... "psst, hey Martin, you should paint the rebar and all the stuff behind it first, weathering can come later, oh and paint the sandbags turquoise!" - at least that's what Bill Gates told me through my brand new 5G chip in my left arm! 

Well, my friends, I've decided to base coat the sandbags, cement bricks, and the rebar cage because this was going to be - and it truly was - the most soul-draining part of this project. Especially painting the rebar. You don't truly know how shaky your hands are unless you're painting rusty rebar that's sunken in a white sandbag lol! 

Anyways, I know the turquoise/aquamarine sandbags are weird AF. We've probably topped off the Tiger F13 in the amount of weirdness right now. But hey, it was in the reference photo! And it's just an airbrushed base coat! 😁 Don't panic! 😆(I'm including my reference photo alibi again, just in case. The vivid color should get toned down once everything is covered in a layer of dust, but what do I know, it's not like I've done something this insane before). They'll also need more detail work - bringing out the sewing detail, deep folds, etc. 

The same thing applies to the rebar cage and cement bricks - the cage for example will receive a light grey "chipping" followed by rusty enamel or oil washes. 

Also, I've done some work with Ammo Shaders. You can see the difference in photos 2 and 3. My initial enthusiasm was a bit too much because my experience with them was... inconsistent. I started with Light Rust which sprayed beautifully. Then I went on with Grime which was a real pain in the ass because it kept either sputtering these solid chunks of dried paint, or it kept running into spider legs on the surface. Same pressure and everything like the rusty shader. So I switched to Starship filth which was very easy to apply, but very opaque. So back to Grime again and I kinda struggled my way through the process.

They're a great tool to have and use, and they're definitely not just diluted paints. More like inks. Which is pretty rad. They just need some getting used to. Again, I'm glad for testing them on a tank that's pretty much a wreck. 

One thing I noticed during this process - you know how I like to paint detail and stowage after chipping, pin washes, oils, etc... one reason is that they'd get in the way, but now I realized another big reason: it's really hard to guess the right color for various stowage pieces unless you have at least some part of the weathering in place. At first, I wanted to paint every detail in the base color and kinda go with it as a theme for the video, but it wouldn't feel right! So that's an interesting new discovery. 

So the plan onward is to add a pin wash and rust tones with oil paints. And then... who knows! Probably paint the remaining stowage and details and then add rubble and dust? Let's go with the flow and see what comes naturally! What we have right here is the base coating stage finished - and honestly, those shaders, no matter how unpredictable they are, can make a base coat pretty interesting. 

Lastly, welcome to all new Patrons! Those of you who have joined at the end of the month - I'll send you refunds for those few days :) 

PS: Pfizer vaccine went pretty smoothly. A couple of hours after the jab I got really tired and spent the rest of the day watching Netflix (sounds familiar?), Sunday morning my arm started hurting, but that's nothing unfamiliar, it felt the same as when I shoulder-check a tree on a bike, and today there were some sore muscles over my entire body. Thank you everyone for your comments on the last post, I'm glad to see so many of you being safe!