So "you can't model the smoke, you can't model the spray, you can't model the smell" -or can you?.. at least the spray :)

This time the water is 95% done and there will be no more in progress shots of this diorama before I fire it up. There are still some parts behind the flower which look  a bit unconvincing. Otherwise I managed to make the flying foam with some special wool which is not cotton, but that's something I will explain later as it's my own version on a trick first given by modeleur extraordinaire Jim Baumann.

And thanks to MAK star Lincoln Wright for translating me the title of this diorama in Japanese!

IJN Yamato 1/35 sea

IJN Yamato 1/35 sea

IJN Yamato 1/35 sea

Okay now let's explain my own take on "color modulation". I am always taken by the fact that however beautiful and aah artistic the tanks painted with those brand new ways and products always look like, they are painted in a completely neutral light that baths every part of tanks just like some spotlights were placed everywhere like in a dream museum if you will.

Well, that's not the case in real life see? If it's 4PM even in winter, there are some great chances that the bottom of a tank will appear to be almost black because there is nothing to light the ground below the tank or the bottom of the tank. Then there is the colours themselves. You know the story of the white horse? Well, in the summer when you look at a white horse under a tree, the horse will be green. No matter by which end you take it, the light will be filtered through green leaves and a green light on a white horse gives you a green horse. There's only your brain that sees it as a white horse because you know a green horse doesn't exists.

Same thing with tanks man. Now when I see people trying to get the exact Russian green for their BT-26..

Well anyway, it's 6PM on the Loire's borders in august '41, the sun is at maybe 40° high and comes from the rear center of the tank: which means that the rear of the tank,  the side of the turret will be of a nice frog yellow-green, while all places behind will be of a normal green.

if you ask me why there is so much brown stains on the rear of the t-26 that's because that's the place where the soldiers rest, they cast a shadow too.

Of course under the fenders, under the turret it's a brown dark green..

When it comes to the quality of the weathering itself, that's still work in progress, i have at least another 4 or 5 hours to spend on it.

T-26 clear side

Now that's the same tank, taken from the other side, where the sun doesn't shine

T-26 color modulation dark side

Okay now, I have a lot of extra time to spend with a 0 brush to arrange everything, add a few rust stains, stuff like that. And then i think the inside of the turret hatch is whitey too.

Now the Blacken -It is really an amazing product. I thought it blackened the metal Friul tracks but it doesn't really. they get some sort of rusty sandy tint which is spot on. With even some natural weathering here and there. When you rub the tracks with your fingers they start to get a darker color etc. Really good.

Now I just fixed them in place without overpainting them and started my usual painting process on the wheels. This is not bad looking, but nbot very precise and some work will be needed still.

Friul tracks with Blacken it on T-26

Here is a view of the other side of the tank, with more weathering attempts on the lower part of the hull. Work in progress I say.

T-26 wheels unweathered