I’m continuing to add some more detail to my 1/20 scale Tamiya pit set.  Each time I finish a painting session I use the left-over paint on the palette to apply washes and and glazes – and slowly build up the effects and finishes.   I’ve found this approach works best for me with projects like this.    This kind of painting is a nice break from the more deliberate stuff – less stressful as it kind of “paints itself” over a couple of sessions!  I usually have a number of projects on the go at the same time and “hop” from one to the other and theres’ always a couple of items like this requiring attention as I really like trying to achieve different surface finishes which reflect wear and tear.   This time I concentrated on trying to get the right level of contrast on the car jack.  The effect I’m after is the “well worn” look – something that has been well used – ie the original paint just visible with an overall Oily /Rust finish .  Starting with a base mix of Prussian Blue and Red Leather (Vallejo) 50/50 I then dabbed on spots of pure Red Leather leaving large patches of the original Red/Blue showing.  Once I established the areas where paint was still visible versus the Blue/Red mix, I gave the whole lot a very light glaze of Kakhi. I then I worked on the the two distinct areas of colour to create lighter and darker patches paying particular attention to edges in order not to destroy the contrast effect.  The areas of most wear (the handle and long straight edges) were then drybrushed with Games Workshop Boltgun Metal.  Anyway, so far so good with the jack – I better stop before I over-do it!  I also added a few appropriate decals to various items – I’ll be using these items in a couple of mini diorama settings so depending on the era I may need to change some of the logos!   I’ve started painting the large tool cabinet with a couple of coats of that Blue/Red Leather mix – so in the next “palette cleaning” session, I’ll apply some more  Red / Orange to build up the main color and work from there.  More on this soon, Cheers for now,