Challenger Desert Storm

This is Tamiya’s British Challenger. I do so many models with lots of extra accessories and when I finished this one I started with the tarps, antennas, sleeping bags, roll mats, a flag, and even some scratch built stowage bins from polystyrene. But after looking at the tank with all the extras I realized the Challenger is one of those tanks that still look tremendous without all the extras. Its form and look is very becoming of it striped down to the bare essentials. So I scoured the Internet for a Desert Storm challenger that had the bare essentials and found only one on a Saudi dock just unloaded from what looked like an LST. This particular Challenger is a little battle worn so this is how it would have looked getting back on the LST after numerous tank battles against the T-72’s of Iraq. This tank was painted with Acrylics and washed with burnt umber oils using the wipe away method then dry brushed with a slightly lighter shade than the completed base. For Desert Storm vehicles the wipe away method I feel is essential because of the exceptionally light tan base coat generally not factory painted but applied sometimes days before departure. In addition, sense this was usually a hasty paint job they were prone to paint chipping a lot more than the original base was. By wiping away the wash, this allows you to control the color a bit more. The more wash you wipe away the more you can achieve the original Tamiya buff color initially applied. After the initial wash was wiped away the model looked good but too uniform. I allowed it to dry overnight and then a dabbed an old t-shirt in turpentine, rung most all of it out so it was just damp. Then I started wiping away some of the darker spots in the center of panels giving the impression of each individual panel was lighter in the center and faded to a darker tan near the edges and darkest in the panel lines themselves.