After working on the turret my attention returned to the hull and one of my favorite steps in the building process, adding texture.
This kit has quite pronounced interlocking joints on the front armour plates but no weld detail, so I used a micro chisel to scribe out channels for the welds. The front of the hull is missing the joints between the front and side plates too, I used some thin plastic card to fill in the corners and then scribed new weld lines.
Before (I have several of these kits in the stash
) and after:
The kit is also missing the joints on the rear of the hull connecting the side and rear plate together. To help me scribe these welds I designed and 3D printed some templates that I could use to quickly chisel out a weld seam the same size and position on both sides of the hull.
After that I added some subtle surface texture by stippling Mr.Surfacer 500 on to the armoured plates. I then added some more texture to the model by making cut marks along the edges of the plates with the tip of a sharp hobby blade. Lastly I added the welds using green stuff two part putty, which was rolled up into strands, laid into the channels and then sculpted into a weld pattern.
This can be quite a laborious step in the build process but I love how the added texture can make smooth plastic look like chonky armour. Now that prep work on both the hull and turret is complete I can start adding parts to them.
