What's on my desk? Part 133.

Don't tell anyone, but I forgot to attach the brake light. I promise that's the very last thing to be done on the vehicle.

Tank time! I decided to do something different for dusting the T-72. Ammo-Mig produces a kind of acrylic paint called 'Washable Dust' (these washable paints also come in Rust, Earth and White colours). They're used in a similar way like chipping fluid. After airbrushing them, they can be reactivated with water and partly washed away. The difference is that chipping creates quite sharp delineations, while these washables make a patina-like translucent effect on the underlying paint.

Let me show you.

Step 1: airbrush a (thinned) layer of Dust:

Step 2: let it dry for a few minutes, then take a brush and some water, wiping away paint where appropriate:

You can see most of it is washed away, except around details, while leaving a discolouration over the open areas. You can use an old brush with stiff bristles (or a cotton bud) to wipe away more of the paint. I worked top-to-bottom as much as possible, to simulate water streaking the dust downwards.

The wheels received the same Washable Dust, applied in a layer of random thickness, as dust of course doesn't follow a uniform pattern.

For more pronounced streaking, there's both Streaking effects and Streaking Brushers. For these, you put some of the product at the top of the part, then streak it downwards using a brush, again simulating rainwater washing dust and dirt down. That's not all, though. You'll need to sharpen the streaks. Use a thinner-moistened brush and wipe along the streaks, from both sides, cleaning away most of the product and creating sharp lines. I first used Streaking Dust, then Starship Grime once the Dust was dry (for a darker and wetter look). This is the final effect:

While all of this was drying, I weathered the tracks. I (mainly) followed the Ammo-Mig guide found here. It shows a T-72 track run, which is great, but then the final photo is of a T-34... Bit of a weird decision there...

Weathering tracks is dirty business, so I cut out a piece of carboard and made the tracks dirty and dusty, using the products shown:

I sprinkled the pigments right over the still-wet washes, instead of using pigment fixer. The pigments then take on a bit of the wash colour, while still getting fixed on the tracks. 

I did like the idea of using splotches of Wet Effect and Engine Oil to simulate the tracks having gone over a puddle and picking up water.

"So", you may ask yourself, "how much of all this work will be visible on the finished tank?"

Well...

It's all right though, because all this was a great test and practice for when I use the Washable Dust on the top of the tank.

I'm pleasantly surprised how fast work on the Corsair is going. It just goes to show how nice it is to work with a high quality kit... I've made all the subassemblies and the beast is now ready for primer.

While weathering the wheel wells, I doodled a Kilroy on the wing inside (and misspelled Kilroy...):

Like the real Kilroy doodles, he'll never be visible again...

I used some leftover packing foam to mask the main gear compartments, and constructed a masking tape 'tent' over the tail wheel and hook:

The cockpit hood was taped off and fixed in place with some masking fluid (the white stuff underneath the transparant plastic):

And now we have everything ready for primer:

I decided to leave off the engine and cowling, as it's going to be infinitely easier to paint like this.

Finally, in my ongoing quest for experience with everything I sell, I'm going to try my hand on an Artesania Latina kit:

It's Jolie Brise, the latest release from Artesania, and as you can see, the box was damaged in transport, so my supplier gave me a discount for personal use. Saves him the bother of going through insurance, and gives me a cheap(er) kit to build. I'm going to wait until next month to start this one...

That's all, I think.

See you next week!