Cromwell White Wash Part 1

Needing a change from German tanks, I decided to have a crack at a British tank. I originally was going to have build the Cromwell I had in my stash along with the Blackdog hessian kit but chickened out and decided to do a white washed version that I had seen in British Steel.

So here is the kit. 

Here is the target look. 

Assembly went together fairly easy and I only lost one bit to the carpet monster - one of the holders for the aerial. Main changes from spec were chopping the front fenders off, replacing the mud guards with mud flaps made from wine bottle foil. Also made a jerry can holder from wine foil as well. Barrel was an Aber item as were the 2m aerials. Decided to make one aerial shorter than the other as they apparently came in 4 foot screw together sections and it adds visual interest. Stowage is from Value Plus. 

Next step was priming. Used Vallejo Black Primer as usual and then started researching how to mix British SCC15 green using Tamiya paints. Settled on a recipe of 5 parts XF-61 Dark Green, 2 parts XF-62 Olive Drab and XF-3 Flat Yellow. 

Then lightened it with 2-3 parts XF-2 White for the top of the turret and the top of the hill. Was pretty happy with result. Then sprayed with X-22 Gloss in preparation for decals. 

Instead of putting the decals, I decided to try out a blue green oil filter using my set of oil paints as suggested in the British Steel book as I was figuring the green looked a bit light. Tried brushing it on which left brush marks so next day, had a go at spraying it in. Didn't work out well at all - especially on the back hull desk. I think it was due to the oil pigments not being fine enough and some mild orange peel. Starting to think Tamiya doesn't spray as well as I'd like. Have heard some people add some Satin Gloss to get rid of the powdery feel.  

Then decided to use MIG Dark Wash all over. This worked out much better and it allowed me to clean off all the blue green filter as well as make the details 'pop' out. Lots of detail wiping and polishing with cotton buds and my OO brush delivered a result I was pretty happy with.

Next step is another coat of gloss and having a go at the hairspray technique for the white wash.