Now that the priming and preshading is complete and protected with a coat of satin varnish, its time to start painting the camouflage scheme, incorporating some colour modulation and chipping effects.

Since I'm using the Afrika Korps Paint set from AK Interactive I don't have to do any research in order to choose the correct colour scheme and paints to reproduce an authentic German desert camo. All I have to do is choose one of the schemes from the back of the paint set and I'm good to go!

Step 1: Apply the Chipping Effect Layer

Since I'm going to be using some chipping effects on my Ludwig, before I start to paint the main base coat of RAL8020 Braun I first need to apply the Worn Effects Fluid. This is simply airbrushed over the entire model in a couple of thin coats.

Step 2: Painting the Colour Modulated Base Coat

Colour Modulation is a technique where you either lighten or darken panels or areas on a model where light would naturally hit them by applying a lighter or darker shade of your base colour. You can produce these different shades by mixing in some white or black with your original paint colour or there are also quite handy Modulation sets which include all the graduated paint shade you need.

I started by airbrushing the Braun onto the model in two thin coats, which allowed the pre-shading which I applied during the priming stage to subtly show through. Next I applied the modulation, beginning with the shaded areas by adding a little Model Air Grey Primer into the paint mixture.

Finally I applied a mixture of Braun and Off White, focusing on the areas on the front of and top of the torso turret, gun-shields and leg guards. This gave a subtle, natural shading and highlighting to the main camouflage coat.

Step 3: Chipping Time

After allowing top paint layer to dry for around 15 minutes its time to start with the chipping effects.

Simply apply some water to the surface of the model and rub the areas which are to be chipped with a stiff brush. This will dissolve the Worn Effects Fluid and wear through the top paint layer.

Using a pointed sculpting tool you can also make finer, sharper chips and scratches in the paint as well.

Once the chipping is complete you need to apply another layer of varnish to lock it in place.

Step 4: Applying Soft-edge Camouflage

Airbrushing is the easiest way to apply a soft-edged camouflage pattern, but you can also apply them with a brush. Simply feather the edges with some thinned paint of the camo colour so that it fades out.

When airbrushing soft-edged camouflage patterns you want to ensure that your compressor is running at quite a low PSI, I used around 15–20psi, and not to release too much air or paint while you're applying it.

Otherwise its quite easy for the paint to spray with too much pressure or volume, creating spider web patterns. By keeping things soft and gentle you can build up a good subtle pattern and then darken the centre with additional coats.

Once I'd applied the soft-edged RAL7027 Grau on around 1/3 of the surface area it was time to chip that back as well. I made sure to expose the areas where the underlying Braun basecoat was chipped and also applied some worn and chipped areas just on the top layer.

Lastly once again I applied another thin coat of satin varnish in preparation for starting the enamel weathering techniques which I'll cover in Part 3.