23/08/2015
At great expense, a small pot of "light dirt" arrived in the post yesterday, much to the puzzlement of the postman when I told him what it was. The idea was to replicate the sort of appearance a vehicle gets from driving down a dusty road in Italy ⦠this being intended as a replica of a Mk IV operated by the 1st SS Panzer Division, Italy 1943.
I think I might have overdone the green, and the dust film has had the perverse effect of darkening up the sand yellow, but the something one gets from contemporary photographs is that no one tank looks the same (example above). This is unsurprising as the tanks only got a base coat in the factory. The camouflage was often applied in the field, commonly by the tank crews themselves.
Anyhow, I'm not sure I've got it quite right yet ⦠although the model photographs better in bright sunlight than it does on a cloudy day. I'm going to try a matt varnish to see if that brings up the colour a little more, and the tracks need a little more wear to look convincing. But we're getting there.
