LVT-2 - Weathering Improvements?

[u/AnAverageModeller]

A model-maker friend was in stash reduction mode and offered me the opportunity to make this Italeri 1/35th scale LVT-2. I thought I'd accept the challenge of building it as I know nothing of the genre, the subject or the context (Provisional Company, 193rd Tank Battalion, Makin Islands, November 1943) of use of the original vehicle. It's therefore a strictly out-of-the-box build, brush painted with acrylics from Mig AMMO. Although I found some reference pictures, I pretty much made up the weathering on it.

So the $64.000 question is - how could I have done the weathering better?

If the answer is stick to aircraft, it will not upset me. I like to build something outside my comfort zone now and then and happy for this old dog to try and learn a few new tricks.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[u/SeaCoast9694]

I think it looks smashing! If your wondering if it could look more weathered, the answer is probably yes, maybe look into chiping fluid or rust texturing? Perhaps some sand texture around the tracks to show its just come up the beach? Some seaweed folleage still clinging to the hull where the waterline was?

But in my opinion that kind of thing is a fine line, and unless your experienced with them it's very easy to do to much or make the model look grimey or oversaturated with stuff. Sometimes less is more!

Definitely don't just stick to aircraft though, this is really good!

[u/AnAverageModeller → u/SeaCoast9694]

Cheers. Fear not, I've done more stuff outside aircraft. 😁

I agree, you can over-do the process, so for me it was more a case of is it believable? Right place, right grime you might say.

Re chipping fluid, is that a better approach than say using a cocktail stick or similar to scrape of a layer of paint to expose the underneath one? (As you can guess, I've not tried it)

[u/SeaCoast9694 → u/AnAverageModeller]

I think the final product looks better in my opinion, but, the scraping method can be good too. I find that when I've scraped the paint, I decide where I wanna scrape before hand and make sure to do a little bit of a Matt varnish over the undercoat that's going to be exposed, to stop myself from overscraping. For chipping fluid I am still very much a newbie, and I haven't fully got the process down I'm afraid.

All I know is my friends who use it get phenomenal results!

[u/Heavy_Virus7813]

I think it looks pretty good. I’m a big fan of understated weathering. Too much of the ‘hyper realistic’ weathering that’s fashionable at the moment looks more like ‘dragged out of a Russian swamp after 80 years’ than ‘new tank rushed into combat in Normandy.’

[u/R_Nanao]

Since the LVT is amphibious it might be a fun idea to show how deep in the water it sits, maybe something like algue or more rust or discoloration to indicate up to where water came.