PlasticPanzers.com Forum

I have never heard of sanding the decals back, but no reason that after some coats of varnish on top of the decals that it shouldn't work? Definitely might smooth out the ridge made by the thick decals.

Sanding sounds a little risky. How about a few more coats of clear paint to smooth it out?

Philipp

Have gone with two more coats of clear. Still a bit "bulky" but then again, 40yr old kit, I'll just have to accept it

So, managed to make some progress this week. Pin wash done. Covers over the mufflers in the initial stages of "rusting" (supposedly this happened quickly as they were thin sheet metal). Kept the chipping to a minimum as modern paints are more durable than the WWII equivalents. Have done some OPR, not to clear in the photos but am pretty happy with it. Going for a "dusty" finish, going to use pastel chalks as pigments weren't available in 1973. Should start on that this weekend. Note that the decals are still pretty obvious, they are more like stickers than water slide decals!

Adam, that is looking great. I really like your weathering style, it actually looks very realistic.

Hmmmmm on the decals. The silvering on the clear film is very prominent. I think you could cover this up and nearly make it dissappear really easy

Seeing as the decals are all fairly large and simple shapes with well defined edges, here is what i would do before you go any further with the weathering... Take your base colour olive drab, or whatever you used and just paint over all the clear decal film. Thin your paint and use a nice sharp brush. Cut the paint in as close as you can to the white decal colour. Then weather it as you have been doing the rest of the tank and blend the fresh paint in. Take the fresh paint out past the clear decal edges and then maybe even 'nick' the white decal edges with the green randomly (don't overdo it, just a few chips) to simulate the odd paint chipping of the white, might help tie it all together?

I reckon your problem will nearly %100 go away, and you will be a little happier

That's my 2c worth, hope it all makes sense and you get my drift?

Got it!

Wish I had just binned them in the first place and gone with dry transfers (they were avaliable in 1973) and a masked up set of stars.

I'll give it a crack with the star on the nose and see how it goes

Hahahaha....if we all had the benefit of hindsight, we would all be millionaires

So, Queen's B'day weekend here in NZ and a chance to catch up on some modelling. The M41 has turned into a bit of a frustration. All the elements are here for a great kit, but would need some major reworking/scratch building to get it to todays standards. I've thrown a bunch of weathering at it, my rationale being that its a cheap kit so if I ruin it its no great loss.

Just have some minor "splatter" effects to add, a bit more rust to the mufflers (pastels only) and the tracks and MG need fitted. Hopefully finished by tomorrow.

All done. No base, no figure (my figure painting skills are pretty crap but working on it). Photos will be sent soon to Gary for Gallery.

Went for a "dusty" finish in the end, used pastels suspended in thinner, then attempted to blend, thank god for modern weathering products, would not want to do that again!

Lovely finish Adam

The pain is worth it, to achieve the finish line

You can breath a sigh of relief and dive back into the PE Box

Very nice one Adam

Steve H