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Having a bit of a drama. Have painted the first camo colour and have just attempted to mask on top of the AK paint used. Nothing sticks, masking tape, Tamiya tape, painters tape. Any ideas? Need to mask a straight line over some very complex details.

I had wondered if the slight rough texture of the AK paint is preventing the tape getting a good area to stick to. One thought was to coat with a gloss varnish (future) mask over that and do a matt coat when decals are finally on.

Thoughts?

It's the first time I read Tamiya masking tape doesn't stick to a painted surface. It's a bit of mystery to me. Usually if it doesn't stick it is because of some oily/greasy residus. I don't think a rough texture would prevent the tape adhesion.
Your best option is to cover the paint with some varnish but not necessarily a gloss one.

It sticks but peels up under its own "memory" when placed over a surface detail. I've just been to the local hobby shop and found some tape designed for masking around curves so I'll give this a crack tonight. If not I'll try the varnish option.

Ended up going with the varnish option and voila the tape sticks. Fiddly job masking out the Caunter Scheme but second colour is now on.

The colours suggested and the paint scheme on the Bovington Tank Museum Matilda are a bit fanciful, according to my research, for the Caunter Scheme. The Sky Blue was never used, the actually colours were shades of brown, grey and green. The AK set I bought covers this.

I might still paint the Matilda III/IV I bought with the sky blue, it might not be "right" but it is quite appealing

Still not sure why no brand of masking tape would stick to the AK Interactive paints. It wasn't just the desert sand colour, the slate grey and portland stone also didn't offer a purchase for the tape. This added a few steps to the whole painting phase, after each new colour I had to do a varnish, then mask, then repeat.

This is the final result, the best view is from the top;



Supposedly the colours are accurate for the Caunter Scheme used by the Commonwealth Forces in Sth Africa. There were two versions, but none included "sky blue".

Will try and get all the details painted this week and get the tracks on. The sand skirts and search light also need to be attached.

Made some progress this weekend on the base as well. Have boxed in the foam with balsa and smoothed out the wee culvert with clay. The bark "rocks" (courtesy of my garden) are just an idea at present.





Once everything has had a chance to dry a bit I'm going to have a crack at masking the unit markings as the decals look a bit thick.

Adam

Looks fantastic!

As far as I know the whole sky blue business was a myth based on degraded colour photos, the truck I posted a few pages back certainly has no blue on it

Philipp

Adam

The paint looks great.

Really like the base and I really like the "bark rocks" What are these exactly and where can I get some????

Shawn

Shawn Ramsey wrote:Adam

The paint looks great.

Really like the base and I really like the "bark rocks" What are these exactly and where can I get some????

Shawn

Just chipped tree bark used in gardens. You have to be careful as there is a bit of a trend to use chipped pine from palets which is a bit smooth. You might find some community gardens to filch some from. Very easy to cut to size and stacking small pieces and gluing with PVA yields a more "natural" look than one big piece.

Adam

Nice paint job

Chris

Slow progress on the little tank at the moment as each stage requires a drying time. Made a start applying the AK Interactive Diorama products to the base. Used "Desert Sand" and "Sandy Desert" (there is a difference) mainly with some "Light dry crackle" for the wee washout. Unashamedly I'm following the AK YouTube video on how to apply as there are no instructions on the containers and no "how too" on the AK site yet.

Raw product applied,



After 2hrs drying time and the addition of some stones and model railway ballast.



Happy with the result so far but now have to leave to dry for at least 24hrs before I can blend it all together with a wash, some paint on the rock face and some pigments.

Adam