At Long Last....some paint. I painted the whole tank in Ferrari Red with 2% to 3% of yellow added to give it the Ferric Oxide undercoat.
Then I dabbed on the Marmite.
Then I over coated it with Gunze 123 with 5% black added. Then lightened the green with Gunze 123 with 10% Sail colour.
To get back the red, I scratched the bubbles with the craft knife and toothbrushed it with some hot water to dissolve the Marmite.
Then went on the Microset for the decals, which were pressed in with cotton bud and then dabbed on with some MicroSol to conform them to the details. As I roughened the surface with Tamiya Putty diluted with Tamiya thin cement earlier to simulate the sand casting, the decal conformed very nicely onto the tank surface with this age old process. When it has dried for 24 hours, I took the knife and with its point, gently scrape away the carrier film and break up the numbers. This not only eliminated the sheen, it also gave the decal a little battle damage.
I then chipped in the Vallejo German C. Black for the chips, this will be out lined later with Red Vallejo paint to give it a good miltiple depth chipping on the paint.
The surface was also Panzer Grey filtered and Sand Filtered and it recieved a layer of brown wash. Here you see the Calibre 35 engine set. I would have preferred to use the Verlinden set, which has a splendid wealth of details over this simple set. I detailed the set with some parts from scratchbuilding evergreen cards. All the fuel lines did not come as a photo etched part as in the Verlinden kit. The hatch top isn't very detailed, just a 100% knock off of the Tamiya part.To make things interesting, I used the Aber clip for one of the magazines, there are two boxes with the Tamiya part and the final one, I used a part from Blast with associated fabric sock. I also added in an 18 litre tin, a wooden top box from Academy accessories set, added two fabrics made from Tamiya Epoxy Putty.
I also added a tow cable made from brass wires that had been twisted to form the cable. I put in a brass chain as well.
See the brass chain and the cable in their pre-weathered stage.
My favourite part of the T55 had always been the exhaust area. Here I painted it basic with German C black, dust some PVA added with MIG Rust, dab in some Andreas Orange, then when all things are dried, draw in the lines with black Vallejo that has been heavily dilute.This portion still needed some drybrushing of soot using charcoal chalk.
Next up the red chips and green surface fading and bit mapping varitones.