2 x Pz.Kpfw.IV ausf. D #10

Building the base vol.III

The last stage of the base is painting it. I’m not as masochistic as to attempt to paint every brick and detail individually, so this was an exercise in doing as much as possible as simply as possible, with the airbrush, dry-brushing and washes.

I sprayed everything first with Tamiya black as the base colour. I wanted simple earthy tones, so using a light grey and a sand colour, I sprayed the walls and ground work … using grey for the ground work and the sand colour for the walls. I made a mix of both and sprayed in patches over both to unify the setting.

Individual bricks in the wall were painted with diverse Humbrol colours, to add interest and give a more natural stone work affect. When this was dry I sprayed filters (heavily thinned paint) over the brick work to tie the contrasting colours together again.

The bricked road was painted in much the same way. Individual bricks were picked out with various Humbrol colours. Then to tie this together again, I first sprayed some filters and then gave it a heavy dry-brushing. When this had dried, I gave it a thick wash with blacks, browns and greens so it would run into the crevices to bring back the individual brick work affect, hoping that some of the original colours were showing through slightly. Some small holes can be seen between the bricks in the image above where the spackle has shrunk when completly dry. I now repeat the grouting step in more recent work, to avoid this problem.

The fountain was painted at the same time as the bricked roads, and in the exact same way. The wood areas on the roof behind the fountain and the door were painted in a green colour. When this green had dried I sanded it back with smooth sandpaper to show the colours underneath, and to give a weathered affect. A few light washes over this gives a very natural effect.