Yag-6 continues (after long hiatus)

I hate Zebrano. That's what I've learnt from making this short run resin kit of the WW2 era Soviet heavy truck in 1/72. In fact this project was a gnat's hair from being a 'tactical withdrawal'!

This is where I left off my Zebrano nemesis! It took a long time and a great amount
of modelling to get this kit to this state (where things actually looked like they fitted)!

However, having had a bit of time away - a 'cool down period' if you will - I now felt ready to dive back in and see if I could finish off this model without - hopefully - any more problems.

I decided - fool that I am - to experiment with some rudimentary 'pre-shading', nothing complex - but just a simple and elementary bit of preliminary highlighting before I apply the base coat of Russian Green. So I did some very rough and ready masking (as my beginner's airbrush is not fine enough to do pre-shading freehand at this scale)...

I protected the areas that I wanted to retain the flat black undercoat and left exposed those areas I wanted to treat with some light touches of matt white. The idea is that once the green is sprayed on over the top there should be some variation in the tone of the green that is intended to indicate a gradient of tones between the centre and edges of the vehicle's panels...

A bit sharper edged than I had intended, but I am hoping it should become more subtle after the top coat of green is applied. We shall see...

Well, things didn't go exactly to plan. Once again I have found that my attempts to pre-shade in 1/72 have been disappointing. The effect is so subtle as to be almost not worth the bother - I could have created variations in tone on the panels just as well and easier by 'post-shading' using powders and washes (or if I bought a better quality precision air-brush that would do as well).

I am beginning to come to the conclusion that pre-shading suites larger scale models with expansive flat panels. At least, it suits me to post-shade rather than pre-shade. Still if you don't try these things you don't know.

The one positive is that the Vallejo Russian Green is a lovely colour. It's very deep and rich. Unfortunately now the base colours are one you can see some of the flaws in Zebrano's design of this model - there are a lot of rough lines and edges.

Next: Satin varnish coat followed by some streaking and pin-washing.