M2A2 Bradley WIP #9

Nearly there.


Yesterday, I set about weathering up the Bradley. This project throughout has been a test bed for me to try out some new techniques. The first being the salt weathering on the paint, of which I learnt a lot from it and know what to change the next time I use that method. The next method was weathering with oil paints.


After reading up on a few articles in magazines and on-line, I cracked ahead with it yesterday. My aim was to darken up around the armour plates and add some rust streaks to bolt heads, etc. I started with two colours at first, Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber. The Umber was used in the gaps between the plates and around the hatches. Then I mixed the Sienna with Umber to make a dark rust colour for use on the bolt heads and other areas prone the be affected by rust. The method I chose to try out was to place a spot of paint in the required place, then use a brush dipped in turpentine and dried to drag the paint in the direction I wanted it to go. After the first few done, I was pleased with what the result was and carried on with the rest of the model. 


Next I got some Black oil paint out and mixed it with the Burnt Umber for a greasy look and brushed some streaks from the nuts and centre hubs on the Bradley's wheels. This was the last of the weathering I planned to do with the oils on this project, so now onto the rest of it. Recently I picked up a set of enamels and pigments from AK Interactive. These include track wash, fuel stains, engine grime and engine oil in the enamels with track rust and dark steel in the pigments. I started with the track wash on the tracks plus the spare ones on the hull. Next I ran some of the fuel stain around the fuel cap hatch and ran it down the side of the hull where it had been spilt. When these were dry, I used the rust pigment on the spare tracks and around some of the hinges. The next thing was to get some Promodeller Black pigment out to use around the exhaust exit and on the TOW-2 Missile for soot.


I finished off this stage with a dusting over of Iraqi Sand paint from Vallejo through the airbrush. I concentrated mainly to the lower half of the hull then light dusted over the top. When this was dry, I got an emery board and rubbed over the rubber sections on the tracks to bring them out, just as if it had been driven on a road. Just got a few little things left to do on the Bradley now. The aerials need painting, a little more rusting in a couple of places and a new barrel made for the machine gun. I broke it off at some point and can't find it. Next its the figure to be made and painted, then the base for them to stand on.