Troy Ritter, who has an excellent website -- -- graced the Forum with a series on how he obtains his excellent paint jobs on micro armor.  I just knew these had to be saved for prosperity... so I grabbed the pictures and descriptions -- along with commentary from others -- and have added them to my website.

Be sure to check out Troy's website -- you can click on the title above -- it is top-notch!!

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Hello All.

A small essay on a current painting project of mine.

The subject:  A company of the early war Russian T-26 Tank.

I will be posting progress pictures on this thread for you all to peruse.  By doing this, I hope to provide some tips and help to the novices and intermediates alike.

I started by removing all the flash and mold lines from the models with a new X-acto.  The models were then mounted on 3" roofing nails and sprayed with a THIN coat of matte white primer 

This was allowed to dry overnight -- or for the impatient, 20 minutes in the oven will do the trick.  I then chose a new color that closely matches my research into the T-26's color, Testors Model Master Med. Field Green 1786. 

More on this later... 

I thinned to a slightly watery consistency with turpentine and covered the models completely. 



Everything going good so far. I baked this on and moved onto the wash stage. This is were the problems began. The Testors paint just don't have the bite of Humbrols and washes off with the application of the wash. I tried to protect the base coat by a coat of Dullcote but it still washed off. I then removed all the Testors with a toothbrush and a little thinner. It all came off and left behind the slightly green tinged primer.

What to do...There is no Humbrol color that matches the T-26 color references. I began by custom mixing a few different types of Humbrols and came up with 117 and 102 in a 50/50 ratio. They were a pretty close match for the color. 

I re-painted the models and set aside to dry.






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Hi Troy

It appears there is still a problem with the Testors paints.  I discovered this same problem several years ago with the turpentine wash taking away the paint.  Nice color range for the Testors but I don't like the properties of their enamels.  For me they had a worse smell than the Humbrol paints.  I have been using Humbrols for years with good results and no problem of the wash eating the paint away - I let mine dry for 24 hours at least before doing this.  My only problem with Humbrol is that they seem to be shrinking their line:  at least the paints I use a lot of such as #114 Russian Green which I thought was a great color, the Track Color, now Brown Bess and #111 Field Gray also gone from the line.  They also did a French Artillery Green that was really good as well, I believe it was #179.  I tried the X-tra Color Russian Green which was a really excellent color but the color wore off with the blackwash so I abandoned that one as well.  I am interested to see your final results of the #117 and #102 together.  Recently I've been using #86 with a touch of white and it looks okay.  Humbrols do seem to wear quite well over time which is another plus.

Pete - Binpicker, Out!

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Hello Pete:

I couldn't agree with you more - 111 is gone, 179 gone too...these should be some of their best sellers.  What's next, 117?

Humbrol's line is indeed shrinking and with that, the best enamel paint line in history may be not here much longer.  Its too bad as there are no paints with the durability, cover or finely ground pigment anywhere.

X-tra color I tried too - same result... tossed 'em.

Humbrol 86 has been my stable Russian mid- to- late color as well and I only changed it up for the T-26s as pictures I have seen of interiors and covered areas (away from sunlight) show a richer green.  For comparison, the picture below shows a vehicle with Humbrol 86 before and after the wash, and a T-26 with the 50/50 mix of 102 and 117. 




THE WASH:

I use a wash made up of a 50/50 mixture of black Matt Humbrol 33 and Testors 1149 Flat Black.  This gives it a nice dark black with the ability of wearing off during the wash process.  Testors alone would come off too easily and Humbrol won't come off at all!  Here is the finished model with the wash added: 




The wash is not added everywhere but is instead touched off in the recesses and corners; around hatches and tools, etc.  Allow this to dry for 2-3 minutes.

WASH STEP 2

The models are then brushed in a side-to-side fashion with a square-cut brush (see photo) that has been dipped into thinner and wiped on a rag. 



Done right, this will clean up the wash a bit, moving it off the broader surfaces and into the cracks.  Not too much thinner as this will remove all the wash.  Too little will begin to remove the underlying base paint. 




HIGHLIGHTING / DRYBRUSHING:

The next step on our tiptoe thru the turpentine is the highlighting.  This is almost always overdone and tends to be a 'last resort' to save a crummy wash job.  If your wash worked out ok, then all you really need to do is LIGHTLY drybrush a lightened base color over the raised detail.  Without the drybrushing, models will always look a tad dark and uninteresting on the game table.  These pics almost make the minis look too light but trust me - they will look awesome when you are done.  For the T-26s, I used Humbrol 150 mixed with a little white.  This color mimicked the mixed base of Humbrol 105 and 117. 







RUST:

These next steps take your model to ...'A ho... nutha... levow!'  (Laughing)

Adding rust stains will give your model a look of realism.  Start with a very thinned rust mixture and simply touch off a few areas where rust would accumulate.  Don't overload your brush - just enough to flow easily. 



Also, if you have a steady hand, you can add streaks to your sides and fenders. I use a 2/0 brush for this work.


At this time look your model over and be critical.  Re-darken any areas you think need a bit more contrast.  Barrel sections and muzzle brakes are good areas to work on, using a darkened base color to not over-do the contrast.  Outline any areas that should be in shadow or look like they should be dirty/greasy.  Don't overdo this or it may look out of scale.


The tracks are painted next:  x 20... ugh...

I use Testors 1185 Rust mixed with Humbrol 33 Black (to give it the bite it needs!) and thin to a watery consistency.  Paint the tracks and add a rust stain to the leaf springs. 




At the same time the muffler is painted, taking care to not paint the straps for contrast.  I use a less black rust mixture over the first coat to make it pop out. 




Tools are painted next - wood - flesh, metal - black or dark grey. 





PATRIOTIC SLOGANS

If you have a steady hand, you can add some slogans or kill rings to your models.  For these T-26s, I wrote (or tried to write) 'Stalin' in Russian... Play with this, it doesn't have to be perfect - only look the part. 






RADIO ANTENNA

The circle radio antenna fond on early war Russian tanks is a fairly advanced conversion.  I used the turret from the BT-7 kit as this more closely resembles the turret on the model 1933 T-26 with the frame antenna.  The most robust are made of soldered brass wire shown here, but plastic rod can be used as well. 





Primed





Paul Bernardino did some fantastic, more to scale examples in the "Show Us yer Stuff" thread

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Pete, Mk1 and jb:

Thanks guys.  I started these on Friday night (scratchbuilding and primer), basecoat and oil washed on Saturday night, and drybrushed Sunday night.  Maybe a total of 10 hours.

I hand drilled out the hatches with a #80 bit at the corners, and a 1/32 bit in the center.  Then used a brand new X-acto blade to connect the holes and square up the edges and corners. Hatches were made from .010 styrene sheet.

Frame antenna were made with Plastruct .010 white styrene rod.  Held in horseshoe shape with scotch tape until I could tack glue it to the support arms with CA glue, and accelerator.

Crew are from DAK artillery crew with headgear removed and replaced with soft Russian tankers helmet made from white putty (Vallejo).

I still need to put vehicle markings, and need to weather.  I just couldn't resist posting.
_________________
Go for Broke!!
Paul Bernardino

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On hindsight, I should've used thinner wire...


Ok, lets finish these up.

DIRT / DUST:

I go easy here. (I go easy everywhere ). Simply find a suitable mud color and add to the front, rear fenders and a bit on the undercarriage. Don't over-do it as this will cover all your earlier work. Just a taste of grime, the wash and rust will make the mini look used as well. 

DECALS:

Here is my method, easy and wargame tested.

1. Finish model except for mud and dirt if desired, before adding any Dullcote.

2. Mix up a glue solution from either white glue and water or Modge-podge.  This should be the consistency of watery milk.

3. Cut decal from sheet as close as possible to colored portions.  A new Xx-acto and mag-glasses helps.  Moisten decal in warm water on a plate.

4. Put a drop of water/glue on model where you want decal.

5. Position decal with small paintbrush.  Let dry.

6. Add a drop of decal-set solution such as decal-set or Micro-sol.  Don't move decal!  Let dry thoroughly.

7. Add a final drop of water/glue to top of decal.  Let dry - COMPLETELY!!

8. Add mud and/or dirt.

9. Dullcote. 






This method will produce a decal that is super resistant to rubbing or flaking off.  Also the edges will blend in so that there is no raised edge or noticeable seam-line.  I used the excellent GHQ White Russian decals, cutting single numbers from 1 to 10 for this early war T-26 Infantry Tank Company.

FINISH: 

After Dullcoting the mini, add silver highlight to the tracks and any hatch covers and tools.  If you Dullcote over silver, it loses its shine.

And that's it, take to the game table and get crushed by some Panzer I's and II's...oh, the shame of it!





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