ICM Ural 4320 army truck - decals, weathering, and a numberplate.

Before final assembly I decided to lightly weather the model whilst I could still get into the nooks and crannies of the underside. First of all I painted the exhaust with a thin coat of Humbrol Leather, to simulate a layer of rust. Next I used Humbrol 53 Gunmetal to lightly drybrush the springs and other chassis details to make them stand out a bit more as well as the cab footsteps where size 11 Russian boots would wear the paint away. Then the wheels were fitted to the axles and spare wheel carrier and the chassis and the undersides of the cab and load bed were given a light mist of dirt and dust using my airbrush. I first used Vallejo 983 Flat Earth followed by 990 Light Grey, all thinned with Vallejo thinners. I was aiming for a used but well kept look which hopefully I've achieved.

The cab and load bed;

Tin foil was used to keep any overspray away from the windows. I may have underdone the weathering on these parts.

Decals had been added beforehand over a coat of gloss varnish then sealed with same. The numbers on the tailgate were too long and had to be cut into individual digits and carefully applied separately;

Note the numberplate. This was made from two pieces of scrap etch. A decal for it was supplied and the instruction sheet shows how to position it, but there wasn't anything to attach it to apart from the mudguard, so working from photos on the 'net and a fair degree of guesswork I made something that looks right. I may have got this wrong, most photos that I could find are front 3/4 views.

The chassis;

Again I used a piece of brass rod as a handle for painting.

I've concentrated on the underside of the chassis, so, for example, the bottom of the fuel tank is dustier than the top.

The next job will be to give everything a final coat of Testors Dullcoat, then the model can at last be assembled.

Paul.