Moving on to the front hull, I painted up the various spare track runs that were assembled and test fit a little while back. These were also base coated with the Non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal and dry brushed with Steel. A wash of Rust was applied and then Burnt Umber dry brushed to complete their look. All of the runs were carefully glued into position with regular Testors glue, starting at the hull front and working my way up until the last run was in place propped up between the grab handle and the spaced armor plate. The three extra links behind the Bosch light were glued in place directly to the fender. The hull and coax MGs were also detail painted at this point with a base coat of, you guessed it, Non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal and then very lightly dry brushed with Steel to complete the details on the front.
Now that I had the tracks installed I also made an adjustment to the damaged right side fender. Initially I had damaged it enough to look the part but needed to be sure it would have sufficient clearance for the tracks to get mounted. The photo of #421 shows that the fender was bent down away from the hull at a pretty sharp angle, so I carefully added that in using a pair of smooth tip tweezers and gentle pressure to fine-tune this to the desired look.
That was the last major hurdle to clear before moving on to the vehicle markings. A sealing coat of Future was applied by airbrush and allowed to sit for 1 hour before the decals were added. While the kit includes the right turret numbers and balkenkreuze, the unit insignia are not correct for the 11th Pz Div and the photos show that #421 didn't have any unit insignia on the spaced armor plate anyhow as called for, so the only markings applied were the three turret numbers and single balkenkreuz on the rear hull plate. I used Solvaset to insure all the decals snugged down tight and after they had thoroughly dried, a 2nd coat of Future was applied and the model left to sit overnight so it could thoroughly cure.
Now the weathering process began in earnest. The first step was the application of an overall wash to the whole vehicle of enamel Raw Umber.
Next up came the dot filters. I used 4 colors, Panzer Olivgrun, Dunkelgelb, Flat White, and Deep Yellow. The dots were placed with small spotter brushes with the Olivgrun only on the green patches and the Deep Yellow only on the base coat patches while the Flat White and Dunkelgelb were applied over both.
The dots were then blended together using a flat tipped shader brush moistened with thinner. The key here is moistened...this is achieved by dipping the brush in clean thinner and then blotting it on a paper towel before applying the brush strokes. It's slow going so I worked only one panel at a time to avoid the dots drying too much which would've lessened the effect and made it a much harder task to accomplish. Each panel took about 20 minutes to complete using this method.
Sounds like a lot of time...but in reality I would take a short break when one panel was done to avoid rushing and to maintain a perspective from one panel to the next until I had all four panels done and looking consistent but not uniform.
The process was then repeated for the other side, the front and rear hull, and the turret schurzen. The areas without camo patterns also received dot filters but only the Dunkelgelb and Flat White were used on those areas.
There are a few areas that still need some adjustments here and there before this is completed. I also still need to apply a pin wash and then it will be on to the pigments!
