It's time for the final installment of the Dust Tactics Ludwig Painting series and its time to finish off the small details and the desert basing.

Step 9: Painting the hydraulics
The legs of the Axis walkers have some great hydraulic piston detail and I wanted them to be eye-catching and contrast with the predominantly camouflaged paint scheme. So I've gone for a bare-metal finish and added some oil and grease effects to them.

Firstly I painted the couplings in Vallejo Gunmetal and the piston rods themselves with Steel, to give a polished metal finish. Then to add some definition I gave them a wash of Citadel Nuln Oil, removing any excess when it pooled in the recesses.

I then added some AK Interactive Fresh Engine Oil by itself and alson in a mixture with black weathering pigment to give an opily, greased look.

Step 10: Painting the Headlights
I wanted to have a coloured lense on the headlights, to add more contrast, so I've used the Ammo Crystal Green. Firstly I painted the headlights with Vallejo Silver and then applied several thin coats of the crystal paint.

Step 11: Basing & Dust Effects
Recently I've been working on a desert basing technique which can be done at the same time as applying dust effects to create both a realistic ground finish and great weathering on the model itself.

First I give the base a coat of Desert Sand, which is a textured paint. You want to use an older paint-brush when applying this as the grit particles will ruin your good brushes quite quickly!

I also add some medium sized basing grit using a little PVA glue. Once thats dried the whole base gets a wash of a 50/50 mix of Citadel Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade. This tones down the bright colour of the desert sand to give a more rocky desert colour.

Then its time to grab the airbrush and apply some Africa Dust Effects to the base as well as the feet and lower leg sections of the model. Once that has had time to dry I then apply some Earth Effects, concentrating on just the lowest areas of the feet and legs, plus a little on the base itself.

Finally I add some dark sand weathering powder to the base using some pigment fixer.

I've held off adding any decals at this stage, as Dust Studios will be releasing some awesome new NDAK decal sheets as part of the Operation Babylon expansion due out later this year.

And there you have it, the finished Axis Ludwig Medium Panzer Walker in NDAK colours.

Now that I've painted the first of my walkers I'm confident with the scheme and method which I'm using so I'm going to be working on my next two, a Wotan and Henrich in an assembly line style to speed things up.

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