Ah, zimmerit

So while I've been considering this Tiger as my next build, I took it out of the drawer to take a look at it, because it's been a while since I did what you see here. Before you ask about the heavy flaking, this is the Gruppe Fehrmann F13 which had most of the zimmerit coat fallen off :)

This is my first "serious" attempt at hand-made zimmerit. My previous 2 efforts date back to my early teenage years. 

At the time I was stoked about the results, but now I know I'll have to remove most of the pattern and do it again. Luckily, I didn't finish the coating on the rest of the tank, only what you see on the picture.

The grey panel is a test piece where I tried different methods of application and texturing. The second one from the right is the one I was most happy with, but now I know it still needs some improvements. 

My technique was rolling Tamiya Epoxy Putty into thin sheets (the very same process as rolling tarps) and after positioning them on the tank I just applied the pattern with Trumpeter zimmerit tool. Now the obvious flaw of this method was that in order to roll the putty, you must keep it covered in baby powder to prevent sticking. This makes it almost impossible to hold tight on the model and the whole technique is pretty much useless. 

I decided to use this method because I wasn't able to spread the putty in thin enough layer over the model, hence why I decided to make these "pre-made" sheets. But looking back even they aren't thin enough in most places. 

Where am I going with this? I'd like to give it another try on a scrap piece of styrene, you know, to really get a good hold on the technique before I perform it on the model. I'm thinking about doing a video about it, something along the lines of "My first attempts at zimmerit". 

Also, no I won't build this model just now, first I want to build that Rutscher because I also need some practice with German camouflage (I've been building allied stuff for years lol).

And that leads me to the final point of this long post: I've already decided what the next few videos will be: How to make shell impacts, How to make bullet holes and then the Zimmerit video. I just need to make a few easy to produce short videos because my time is in very short supply these days. And while those videos will be airing on Youtube, I'll be working on the Rutscher and if everything goes well, the construction video will be out just before Christmas. 

If you managed to read all the way down here, how does that sound to you? :) Also, do you have some cool zimmerit techniques of your own?