SCRATCHMOD - THE ART OF DESTRUCTION

Rusty Matilda experiment

The techniques used are just some of the ways one can rust up a tank, or any other model. As with all the techniques I use, it may work for some and not for others. The important thing is to practice on a scrap model first.

I've had this old Tamiya Matilda for years and had started working on it about 7 years ago. I had planned on building it as a wreck with a full interior including the double motors. I also have the newer Tamiya Matilda and decided to use the old one some how, so why not as a rusty hulk sitting some where in a scrap yard.

I am also using this model to try new hair spray techniques which will also be posted on the techniques page. My plan is two show the tank with two different colors. By this I mean one color over another and heavy chipping. I try to simulate this with the T34 monument but it didn't quite work as planned, but I've come up with a new method and it worked. Well at least it's new to me.

The model was built per the instructions, but without the turret and small parts. I want to show the tank stripped of parts. I may include the turret in the dio some how but that will come later.

The model was first primed and then given a couple of coats of Tamiya Dark Brown and Hull Red. I varied the color by darkening and adding more Hull Red.

Next came the hair spray followed by randomly sprayed Interior green, another coat of hair spray and the tan color. I let the hair spray dry before each coat of paint, a hair dryer helps speed things up.

I then used a small piece of sponge to apply Panzer gray and a dark chocolate brown, mainly along the edges of the plates. This will add to the two tone chipped paint.

after letting everything dry for a couple of hours, the paint was then chipped using various stiff brushes.

That's about it for now, I'll let the model sit for a day or two to let the paint cure. Once the paint has cured it'll be time for the rusting and weathering.

Work continued on the old Gal, mainly filters and oil washes. The process can be seen on the techniques page. It basically is a process of applying dark oil washes and also adding some MIG Productions rust color Pigments to the washes. I sealed each wash with clear flat coat and the Pigment washes were sealed with MIG Pigment Fixer.

Right about here would have been the perfect place to stop and just continue with weathering using earth toned Pigments. BUT since I enjoy pushing things further to see what will happen by adding and changing things up a bit. So I continued with the Oil washes, adding more Pigments here and there in different tones. I mainly was trying to get a darker old corroded metal look.

I went ahead and added a torn modern plastic type of tarp, these come in a Blue color and also a Green, I chose to paint mine Blue.

I also added some Earth toned dust to the lower areas using MIG Productions pigments. The final weathering will be done when the tank is mounted on it's base to blend the ground work and tank together. I had planned on doing a larger diorama with the Matilda and a Russian built T55, but I decided it would be best to display the old Gal alone.

The next part will be the base and ground work. I will try to incorporate the following item into the Vignette.

There may also be the turret to the Matilda if there is enough room on the base.

Stay tuned for Part III