And we're ready for...

... tracks! Because the earth tones are (mostly) done. I'll be tweaking them further after the tracks are in place along with all the other finishing steps like wet stains, grease effects, smoke, etc. So what we have here are just 3 enamel paints - Ammo Earth (the standard enamel paint), Dry Earth and Loose Ground (from the Splashes range). Earth and Dry Earth were mixed together to match the pre-dusted greyish color and to create contrast with the dark yellow on the vehicle. I pretty much just blended them over the previously applied earth tones, in some cases mixing them "wet" over each other, similarly like I would do on a terrain base. There was of course speckling on the lower hull and rear, and some subtle rain marks on the sides. Luckily this vehicle is pretty tall, so I didn't have to blend too many dust streaks on the sides, which are "blocked" by the tow cables 😁 So the process wasn't as uncomfortable as I was expecting. 

Do you also experience this situation, when you're painting a large model like this, large not as in size, but the amount of work you've already put into it, and you're just, sort of... afraid? Overly cautious? Just thinking too much about what you're doing? I just realized it while I was blending the earth effects... if this was a quick 1/72 scale project, I'd just smear them over the entire thing, do some quick blending and the result would be probably the same lol.. I feel like it's that inner voice saying "don't mess this up, don't mess this up", while when working on something smaller, more "just for fun" you're more relaxed and don't think too much about what can go wrong. I don't know, but it's interesting...

And yeah, I also have the tracks prepared, again just blackened with VMS Black Track Pro, so tomorrow I'll add some textured mud and the same earth tones, polish the contact points and put them on. The wheels are already polished, again Tamiya Chrome Silver and metallic pigment rubbed on top.

And while we're thinking about these feelings, I came up with an idea... a weekend build! It would be a model that's gonna be started on Friday evening and finished on Sunday evening and the challenging yet fun part would be dumbing everything down so it can be done over one weekend while trying to keep the result as good as possible. A kit from S-Model is a perfect candidate for this, and I just have a tab with their T-35 open 😁 

Anyway, tracks tomorrow!