Exterior painting
Finally, now with the hull and turret construction complete, it was time to paint the exterior. During my research of the Bradley it occurred to me the difficulty in deciphering what color they were painted. From the photos I was able to find on the Internet, the colors varied from a greyish beige to a bright sand yellow. Fortunately, I was able to visit my local armory where I was able to see first-hand freshly painted Humvees. I decided on Life Colors Desert Storm Sand (UA 533). Although many would argue against this color I felt it was a good match. I chose to airbrush the exterior with all hatches unmasked but I do not recommend it.
Now with the turret and hull airbrushed I went forward with the next stage.
Weathering
The weathering effects I demonstrate were implemented on the entire model but for the sake of brevity I am going to concentrate on the ERA side skirts. I alternated the painting of the ERA blocks with Nato Green, and a different shade of Desert Storm Sand (UA 534). The advantages of using Life Color paints are many. One of those advantages is that it can easily be brush painted, which is how the ERA blocks were painted. Following three coats of Citadel’s Purity Seal
… it was time for a general wash of the entire piece.
The wash chosen was the D.A.K Wash by A.K Interactive. These washes are a little too heavy for my tastes so I thin them with white spirit. While spreading the wash throughout the piece I paid special attention to pick out the small details…
Excess wash was easily removed with a brush dampened with white spirit. When I was happy with the results of the wash I went ahead and began the application of filters to enhance the random tones that I was able to see on my reference photos. The products chosen for this task were SIN Industries Brown filter and a grey oil paint from the Abteilung brand.
