Something that you haven't seen on my channel yet! (Patreon)

Now this is a pretty cool technique that I've been using extensively a few years ago and for some reason stopped... I don't know why as the results look pretty authentic if you ask me. 

So... what are we looking at?

Well, this is what happens when you decide to use actual real earth to weather your model. The point is to imitate loose soil, grass, twigs and various other debris caught on the tank's surface. This actually happened (and happens) quite a lot! Obviously the tank must have some tight places where this stuff can collect and stay there.

These 3 photos are in reverse order, so what you see is: finished effect, halfway there, and raw materials.

Raw stuff is real earth and some static grass glued to the model with Gravel and Sand Fixer from AK (awesome product, get it if you don't have it).

Halfway there we have the loose stuff painted with Wilder's Aqualine paint.

Finished effect has some Ammo's enamel Heavy Mud effect blended over all of it (same stuff used on the tracks).

The Sand Fixer is this weird lacquer-based clear glue which partially melts the paint underneath for a while, fixing the debris firmly in place. But it can be activated with enamel thinner for some reason as well, so when you're adding enamel paints like in the first photo, you have to be careful not to remove the debris as it will come loose for a while. 

What do you think? I'm super stoked about the result so far and I'm glad I decided to give this technique a try after all those years :) Actually, I really hope you like it because I feel like I'll be doing this a LOT on my future models :D