Painting soviet armour - winter camouflage

As usually it's good to start with good base. Here model covered with Mr. Surfacer.

To get nice soviet green for first step I use KHAKI DRAB XF-51 from Tamiya.

To saturate model I apply thin layer of RLM 82 from Gunze H. It's a good moment to mark first, substantial shadows (e.g. below fenders).

With mixed RLM04 and RLM82 from Gunze H (about 50/50) I put first large highlights at outer surfaces.

For next highlights I use mix of used earlier RLM04, RLM82 and FLAT WHITE XF-2 from Tamiya (about 33/33/33). I put that color only at convex parts like wheels hubs, hatches, gun ports etc.

 Also commander's cupola is painted in similar away. After that I cover model with glossy lacquer and put decals. Because of later actions is recommended to use top quality lacquer like CLEAR X-22 from Tamiya.

In this example, winter camouflage is made with use of popular hairspray technique.
What I use for it is:
-the cheapest hairspray I could find
-matt white Humbrol 34 diluted with Gunze Thinner
-old toothbrush and two different sizes of hard paintbrushes

First step is to cover model with hairpsray. To get equal layer is good to use airbrush. It dries fast so we start with white paint soon. I recomend to use enamel because it dries longer and it's easier to control results while scuffing paint. It is important to put it as thin layer.

 

There is no only one right way to scuff paint. Can put whole model to water and keep it there for different time or use wet brush, can use different tools, brushes, toothpicks etc. Most important is to get some practice.

At this moment we can add some little chips of basic paint with piece of sponge.

To diversify result of winter camouflage we can add some melting areas and leaks of winter paint. For them I use strongly diluted acrylic paints - Tropical Tan 2 and White from Life Color.

At finish we secure result with glossy lacquer, it will be good base for weathering. But this is a topic for next time.

Preshading

Simple example of military vehicle preshading. First, built model was overall covered with Mr. Surfacer. Next I applied preshading with rusty color of Humbrol 113 - stright lines at concave and convex edges and whole chassis.

Next step is to put base color. As first I used desert yellow Humbrol 94.
With it I filled bright fields between preshading. Then with thin layers of the same color I painted over preshading. Thinness allows to regulate visibility of preshiding.
Finally with matt lien Humbrol 74 I put some highlights at large areas.

 
 Achieved result is a nice base for fun with weathering;)

M47 Patton "Retired General" /1:35 Italeri/

Finally done. After a longer break I decided to finish vegetation at this little dio. I'm not fully satisfied but I think it's not bad as for the first time.