15mm Gruntz Sand Tiger

 I thought I would try to finish some outstanding projects and this Mecha for 15mm gruntz has been ignored for too long.

 I've never used this masking fluid before and I bought it a few years ago just for this purpose. It went on very thick and I tried to keep it this way as I knew It would be easier to get off the thicker it was.

 late night spraying. I was like a kid in a toy shop, I just wanted to start taking the fluid off straight away but made myself wait till morning.

 First thing I was up with the lark and straight into the painting room to unwrap the Easter egg.

 All in all not bad considering it's a spray can job and not an Air brush. For some reason I am quite scared of air brushes...I'm sure one day I will get there.

 I used Humbrol spray cans for this job, the base being Sand and the grey being Sea grey.

 The paint work was washed with Kleer floor varnish.

 Decals were added over a wash of Kleen floor varnish. These I had bought off ebay and were from Gundam plastic kits.

 I really like it as a clean, crisp colour scheme. If anything I may not go so hard on the weathering next time. For a big organisation I think these mechs and the like would look good as clean and well maintained units so less damage and wear, like the image above.

 I used a sponge with brown and then silver to create the chipped paint work. The lasers were also painted with gun metal. This vehicle will be part of my 'Rim Defective' army and would have seen plenty of action in the field, hence I went for a very used look. The legs and feet were weathered and scratched quite heavily, as it would be these areas that saw the most of the damage inflicted by weapons, houses, trees and crushed enemy vehicles.

I used a pencil to score along the edges of the armour were the damage would have built up. I also added scratches with the pencil, these are very small but are the right size for 15mm.

So far so good, a nice little side line project and great fun to try new techniques. not finished yet but not far off. I have decided to called it a Sand Tiger as I think this fits its look and size.