Release the Kraken! Or More Fun with 510. King Tigers

Managed to get some more painting done today after spending the morning practicing archery and then going out plinking with some friends.  First things first, I wanted to get a decent picture of the primer red with yellow over-spray.  The natural lighting shows off the panel shading a lot better!

I was holding off on any more painting until I got my new masking material in.  I've tried both silly putty and white putty adhesive in the past.  While these both work, they have some serious shortcomings.  I'd seen listings for Panzer Putty on the web, and I finally managed to track down a couple of tins at Colorado Miniatures (THANKS!!!).  They ran me about $25 a pop (I picked up two), but the tubs are very large and it looks like they'll be more reusable than either of the other media.  Imagine my delight when I checked the mail after a great day at the range and my new Panzer Putty had arrived!

With the new putty in hand, I immediately went to work masking out the camouflage on the "octopus" scheme King Tigers.  I tried to match an existing example for one, then decided I was crazy and free-handed the other one.  The Panzer Putty is much easier to work with.  It has variable flexibility.  As you work it, it becomes more flexible, but if you let it sit it becomes much harder and adheres nicely.  You'll still want to wrap edges to keep it in place.

I'd already put down some initial base coats of the 1943-1945 panzer dark yellow base and just had a neatening coat to do on the overall yellow base vehicles left to do.  Therefore I went ahead and started base coating the yellow on the "octopus" vehicles as well.

I went ahead and panel shaded the panzer yellow with a highlight and shine coat.  The new paints are a little thicker than the old AK interactive ones, so I'm going to have to watch my pressure and paint thickness.  I've still got some work to do on the training tanks, but my priority was to go ahead and get the "octopus" tanks ready to go.  As you can see below, the maked tanks and unmasked tanks have received similar paint schemes so far.  The unmasked King tigers will have "ambush" scheme, so I'm trying to keep the layers reasonably thin at this point!

So how'd the Panzer Putty do?  In a word - AMAZING!  I was able to use thin paint layers and there seemed to be no edge buildup As you can see below - I've already got the green circles added to one of the two, while the other has just had the putty removed.

I'm using a mix of the "shadow" and "base" olive greens to do the "octopus" circles.  So far the King Tigers of 510. Schwere Panzer-Abteilung are coming out just as I'd hoped.  I still have a way to go, but I'm making progress.  I've also started scraping the infantry and the Flak guns as well, so look for them in a future entry.