Dominique Lin Qun Xiong's Stuart, my son took my brother's ten year old Stuart and re-painted the whole model using the airbrush method and my new pastel method which he worked into the model to correct all the wrong paint fade tones brought on by the airbrush, which can sometimes be somewhat artificial looking.
The M1A2 is a good effort in toning, but he did not gloss the thing before he applied the decals. Thereby, the decals all had air trapped below the carrier film which showed up as silvery flint. Tip is to use Vallejo gloss, diluted 50%, coat it by glazing it on with first unloading on a tissue, it should only be moist and not wet, patiently, coat it 5 layers before applying the decals with Microscale SOl and Set. Once dry, rub and clean with ethanol. Blow dry and spray coat the whole model with Vallejo flat diluted 50% with water and 2 drops of glazing medium or soap water. The process is to coat little bit at a time, blow dry and then do it again, about 5 layers will be great, then, the M1A2 will stand a chance. Good effort, work on the tips and you are on your way.
The work on the Zimmerit is encouraging. Should use epoxy resin/putty, press it on with wet fingers, then use a 2nd largest screw driver from the spectacle set you normally can buy from any $1.99 type of lelong shop, push it in and up 0.5mm at a time, move 1.5mm away, then repeat it, then you get a very fine zimmerit pattern, 4 times finer than this, not so thick, as it is a type of past, to apply to scale this thick, the thing will slide off the surface of the tank while wet! Once done, dried and primed, painted, glossed, decaled, matted, it should be washed and slightly and lightly drybrushed with the same base tone added with cream 50% to give it a good contrast. Then, once again, you are on your way.
T34 Needs to work on painting the model. It is not painted at all, only the mud being brushed on. Lets work on making a nice paint job without weathering it first. Frankly, most weathering bby mud are done because we want to cover up some mistakes. So, do buy yourself a copy of Mig Jimenez FAQ, you will be in leaps and bounds in no time. Do ask mama for some budget and some spare 10 models to wreck first through experimentation though. It really worth it.
GENERAL COMMENTS
Well, the juniors are a new category at this second Tamiya Con. However, from the turn up, some 6 models, we know that Playstation and numb brains are the order of the day, not many youths are learning the art, nor interested in Engineering, therefore, Singapore Economy is at a dangerous situation where it will run out of true production capability soon from local cohorts.My son took time to learn and observe the Bernard's shop models, read the Mig Jimenez book more than 10 times per lesson, I gave the fellow some old models to practice, some cheap, cheap, CHIEP CHIEP type.
Next up PSLE for him and GUNDAM....last year lost to a girl, the guy broke down.