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Here's my most recent effort, what do you guys think?

smithy

Wow thats awsome I love hor the Shell is at the back well done great Job!

Nice, I like the silver drybrushing on the edges, dunno if the front thing has really worked though...
otherwise great work

In all honesty, to my eye, this looks like a bad prime job of a silver model, with the basecoats of a few details blocked in. I fully realize that A) black over silver is the opposite of how it was actually painted and B) with a predominantly black scheme, a predominantly black model is to be expected.

The problem is that the model doesn't look like it's a metal tank with chipped black paint on top. It looks like a streaky black tank with splodges of silver drybrushing on top. The corner chipping you've done on hard edges is spot on, but the drybrushing on the flats is killing the look, because paint doesn't work like that. Look around at weathering tutorials for chipped paint to get an idea of how people go about it and you'll see that drybrushing never comes up. You'll be much better served by a more solid black coat with distinct chips exposing the underlying metal.

As for the other details, I'd try and tone them down a bit. Perhaps some more washing followed by selective highlights? As it stands, having a few pieces with bright metallics on such a flat black model makes them stand out a little too much. The washes would also help lend a bit of definition to the pieces. I have a feeling it may just be a case of camera flash washing things out in the glare, but right now, it looks like they're suffering from "metallic blob" syndrome.

Thanks oadie for your criticisms, I'm still very much new at this, with this being my first tank.

Although the flash has certainly emphasised the silver, which is much more subtle in RL, I think it is still a little much.

I'll give remove some of the weathering, and enhance the rest. Then give it all a couple of washes.

I thought so. Nothing like photographing your perfectly decent models and suddenly realizing they look like pants. See if you can't use some natural light, next time around. Natural and multi-directional light (without the flash) give a much truer sense of how the mini actually looks. It's an art, really, and I haven't quite gotten the hang of it, either.

Good luck and be sure to show us how things progress!

The battle damage is simple yet effective. The pics are a little dark though

Good effort - I'm terrible at painting vehicles, weathering is my nemesis and I don't have an airbrush to top it all off so good effort

But aye, some practice on weathering would do you the world of good!

Right, I've taken these photos in slightly brighter conditions, with natural light and flash (seems my camera deemed it neccessary).
I've also added some dirt weathering to the base of the tank, and my iconography and a touch of writing.

Again, comments and criticism welcome.

I like it!
The Hull has the look of being "A few weeks off the asembly line", like this is its first tour in battle!
Though I'd dirty up the shell on the rear a bit more

Great Job! Thumbsup:

Is that the same tank? This last one looks worlds better.

I think you've improved it greatly.

The one thing I notice is that in trying to simulate wear on a black model by showing the bare metal below, you've put that wear in regular patterns over too much of the model. Stick to the edges with silver paint.

Take a look a real world wear and tear. Most of the noticeable regular wear and tear takes play in specific places and in tighter groups. Like edges of the hatches, hard edges of the armor, etc... There will be large areas unaffected by regular wear and the black paint will stay true except where the black is affected by weather effects.

Imagine you're the mechanic or driver of the vehicle. What parts would be worn more than others? This simple technique helps give a realistic look to models.

BTW, black is one of the hardest colors (lack of color, lol) to get right, especially on small models. I don't use black very often, instead using really dark greys to simulate aged black paint or dark greys with a black wash for depth or a very dark brown wash for that worn oily look.