Posh shading at it again!

My friends, it feels like I've got my mojo back. 

Yesterday was pretty weird, because I didn't feel too good and I had to overcome one huge issue. I knew I ran out of black Mr. Surfacer, but what I didn't know that I'm also running out of the Mahogany one! So how the hell would I dark coat the entire scene? My first idea was to give everything at least a mist of the regular grey Surfacer and then paint everything black with Tamiya. I didn't want to waste such a good paint so I started spraying the base with an unused bottle of Mr Paint, but then I realized I still have a black primer from Mission Models somewhere! So I went with that, day saved! 

But I gotta do something about my primer situation. Sometimes an airbrush is just too slow and tedious, so I'll probably buy a few of those Titan's spray cans from Ammo. 

Today was about airbrushing the Mark IV. I started kinda slow, but then I went for a ride in the mountains, and it was my first time up there in the forest since my accident. I came back so refreshed, with a clear mind and everything, so I sat down at the workbench and just went to town. You would think that a tank like this is a playground for airbrushed pinwashes and outlining, but I actually decided against it. First off, it would take many hours to get that step done, and second, it has so much surface detail that the technique isn't really necessary, regular pinwashes will do the job just fine! 

So I only started with a mottled base coat using Khaki and a bit of Dark Yellow and kept lightening it up with Deck Tan - oh yeah, another paint I'm running low on! So I had to use it sparingly and mix the lighter coats directly in my airbrush. I also added a generous amount of clear varnish as usual, to keep the paint smooth and most importantly, so it doesn't turn dark once I varnish the entire model. But as I kept adding Deck Tan, I forgot to add more varnish and the final layer (only 3 highlights on this one) was rather flat. There's some subtle orange peel on the model here and there, so I wanted to level that out by blasting the model with lacquer thinner, but it did the same thing as varnish would do, it darkened the flat final highlight. It kinda messed up one panel on the left side, I think you'll notice it immediately, so I stopped right there. I'm not gonna fix it because I already got rid of the paint mixture, instead it might add some contrast once it's all weathered up. 

So tomorrow I'll mask and spray the white and red markings on the front, add some random tactical numbers and seal it with flat varnish. Then I can start spraying and post-shading the diorama!