Leman Russes WIP

I'm about at the half-point on these tanks so I figured it would be a nice time for some pictures! To continue my Death Korps of Krieg army I have started painting a Leman Russ Executioner and a Leman Russ Demolisher. These will be the only two heavy tanks for my army mainly because they are the only two I own. For my third heavy allocation as per the FOC I will be adding a Medusa artillery tank.
I am pretty excited about these tanks because Leman Russes are known to be really tough tanks that pack a serious punch in 40k. They also look really awesome. After the success of weathering my Hellhound I decided to jump to these next. I know I said I was going to paint more Cryx... I will, just not right now. I've had these sitting in a bag on a shelf for far too long and just couldn't hold back anymore. As far as finishing them, it will have to be one at a time, the oil paint phase takes so long that I can only bear to do one at a time. So hopefully my next post will be of one of these babies finished. Now, on to the decals....

Imperial Guard Hellhound Finished

Here it is, finally done. I wound up airbrushing some "soot" over the exhaust vents on the sides. Then I finished painting the barrels of the flamers. I chipped them up a bit then finished with some Forge World Black Soot weathering powder.
For the dirt I used Forge World Light Earth weathering powder which I made into a wash with some rubbing alcohol. I tried to get it into the tracks as much as possible and then along the tops of some areas to look like dried dirt or dust. I also flicked some mud around the track areas and front of the tank. When the dirt dried I shaved a pencil down and coated my finger in graphite. I rubbed my finger along the tracks and some other raised areas to bring the metal color out from under the dirt. I chose to do this instead of drybrushing because it lets you sort of rub the dirt off in areas where you want the metal underneath to show through.
Overall the model looks nice but a bit sloppy, and a little too dark. From arms distance it looks pretty sweet though ;)

Imperial Guard Hellhound Part 2

I got some more work done on the Hellhound. In the above photos you can see I've added decals all around, sponged on some more chipped paint and rust, and washed some rust into the tracks. For the rust I mixed up some Citadel Scorched Brown and Forge World Orange Rust weathering powder with some water to thin it down a bit. I started by dipping a piece of foam into the mixture and dabbing it on here and there. I then took my brush and flicked some rust spots over the top and into the tracks. Finally I thinned my mixture a bit more and washed it into the cracks of the track.
The decals are from the Death Korps of Krieg decal sheet. They work like any other decal sheet except that the whole sheet is a decal and you must cut them to the size you want. I ran into a bit of trouble getting them to stick flush to the model's surface. Long story short I wound up painting on some Citadel Gloss Varnish over the decals and stabbed them a few times with my exacto knife so the varnish could settle under them. This took most of the bubble look away from them and should hold them in really well. After I was satisfied I sponged on some  greys to make the decals look worn. Next I sprayed some varnish on to prepare for the oil paint phase.

And here we are with a current photo. For this stage I mixed up some Ivory Black and Burnt Umber oil paints with white spirits to thin them down to the consistency of a wash. I then applied this wash to all of the rivets and cracks on the model being careful not to be too sloppy. By the time I finished the whole model, the part I started with was dry enough to start manipulating. I cleaned my brush off and dampened it with white spirits only. Then I softened up the paint on the rivets and started dragging it downward to look like rain streaks over time. Some of it turned out pretty damn good while other parts are lacking. The best part about using oil paints is that I can go back and fix any of it at any time (until it completely dries). So I will go back and clean up some of the streaks to make them look better. I might try to airbrush white spirits over certain parts of it to see what effect it has. At any rate when I finish the oil paint I'll spray another coat of varnish over it so I don't rub the paint off.