Welcome to the 3rd instalment of my Dust Tactics Ludwig Painting Blog. You can see the previous posts Here .

With the camouflage coats and chipping fully applied and locked in, I can now start on the enamel weathering effects. I'm primarily using the AK Afrika Korps Weathering Set but will also be using some artist's oil paints as well.

Step 5: Time for a Filter

Applying a filter helps to soften the transitions between the camouflage colours and adds come more chromatic chromatic richness to the large areas. The Filter for Afrika Korps is quite a vibrant yellow ochre, so I thinned it down with odourless turpentine to a 50/50 mix, as I was after a more subtle finish.

This was applied with a large brush across the whole model, taking care to avoid it pooling too much in the recesses.

Step 6: Applying a pin-wash
Next I thinned down some Afrika Korps Wash and applied a pin wash. This took quite a while as the model has a lot of riveted detail but its very satisfying as the paint job really starts coming into its own once this is done.

Step 7: Shading with oil effects
Using oil paints to apply shading and highlighting effects is one of my favourite new techniques which I've picked up from the AK Weathering FAQ, as you can get some very interesting and realistic results.

For this model I concentrated on shadow effects using some black oil paint. Using a small brush I applied small dots of the black oil paint into the deepest shadowed areas, such as behind the knee plates and inside the knee joints.

Then I took some brush dampened with white spirit and thinned out the dots to make thin dark grey/black glaze. This allows the base colours to still show through but darkens naturally just like an actual shadow.

Step 8: Streaking Grime & Rust
Streaks of Streaking Grime for Afrika Korps were applied first on the vertical surfaces. I focused on the areas which would remain stable, as opposed to the parts of the leg assemblies which would move, to keep things more realistic.

Its also important to make sure not to go overboard with the streaking effects and to ensure that they aren't symmetrical. Think about where dirt and grime would naturally accumulate, such as below chipped areas or underneath rivets and in corners.

Once the grime had fully dried I then applied the Streaking Rust, targeting the areas below the paint chips and wielded details such as the grab handles next to the hatches.

That pretty much wrapped up the majority of the painting for my Ludwig, as the primary camouflage areas have been completed and weathered.

In the next part of this series I'll take you through painting the details such as the hydraulic pistons and headlamps, as well as applying the final dust effects.