August 28, 2026

Video build pt.II: Tamiya RSO/01 - Painting, weathering & finishing the kit

The second part of Clayton Ockebry's build of Tamiya's new 1/35th scale RSO/01 kit today. See in photos & video how he transforms this from primer to finish in Part II.


Built n' Reviewed: Tamiya's new 1/35th-scale RSO/01 German Tractor

RSO/01 German Tractor Post-Spring 1943
From Tamiya
Product No. #394
1/35th Scale
Plastic injection-moulded kit.
Three marking choices inside the kit
1 driver figure included.
Length 126 mm, overall width 64 mm.
Today - Part II: Painting, weathering & finishing the kit:
This weathering and finishing guide covers the second part of the RSO build process, picking up immediately after the primary construction phases are finalised. The process is specifically detailed to assist the modeller with taking their either clean or primed vehicle into a finished state that replicates the best around.

The RSO when we left it last, with a primed underside and tracks ready for paint, weathering and finishing.
Interior Cabin Muck and Pre-Shading 
The painting begins with the initial preparation and volume-building of the cabin components. To capture the look of a working military vehicle, a mixture of fine seagrass clippings and scale-appropriate dirt is placed into the hidden, lower nooks of the vehicle's cabin floor. This debris is permanently locked into position using a sand and ballast freeze liquid. Once dried, these micro-textures replicate natural accumulations of mud and debris trapped in obscured crevices. 

Dirt and dust everywhere; it needs to go to make it look like a working vehicle.
With the texture set, the primary airbrushing starts with a rigorous pre-shading phase. A deep, dark shading tone is applied heavily along the lower chassis edges, recessed panel lines, and intricate surface details. Immediately after establishing the shadows, Insignia White is airbrushed onto the flat horizontal panels to create intense geometric highlights. This step establishes false volumes and depth across the flat plastic surfaces.

The cab pre-shaded
The dark sea grey is showing the correct shade that I was after.
Base Coating and Hairspray Chipping
The canvas tarpaulin cover is base-coated using a thinned 50/50 mixture of khaki drab and dark grey. This paint is heavily thinned and misted over the pre-shaded framework in multiple translucent passes, allowing the underlying white highlights and dark panel line shadows to gently influence the top coat's final tonality. The steel cabin exterior receives an identical misting treatment utilising dark sea grey.

The tarpaulin covered with white...
...then painted
For the rear wooden cargo tray, a wood-grain base coat is mixed from RLM 79 and buff. Once this simulated bare timber layer dries completely, it is sprayed with two misted coats of AK Worn Effects chipping fluid. A top coat of dark sea grey is sprayed over the chipping fluid almost immediately. To create authentic wear on the wooden panels, the surface is wet with tap water to reactivate the underlying AK fluid. An old, stiff-bristled brush is used to physically scrub and distress the wet paint, lifting the grey coat and exposing the yellow wood grain underneath. 
The door skins are treated with an identical multi-layer chipping workflow, substituting the wood tone with a metallic aluminium base paint.
Track Preparation and Freehand Camouflage 
The separate track assemblies are removed and coated with a dark mahogany primer directly from an aerosol rattle can. Once dry, the tracks are dry-brushed with Citadel Leadbelcher metallic paint to pick up the raised details and structural edges. 
On the main hull, small details like tools and the exhaust manifold are carefully hand-painted with a brush before markings and decals are applied across the vehicle.
Freehand camouflage:
To execute the distinctive freehand camouflage pattern, the paint is thinned to an ultra-fluid 70% thinner consistency using Tamiya Orange Cap Lacquer Retarder Thinner. This high thinning ratio keeps the paint highly translucent, giving maximum line control. 

The colour scheme was taken from the one detail in the MiniArt kit I made last year.
The airbrush pressure is locked onto a low 17 to 18 PSI utilising a fine 0.2 mm airbrush. By carefully pulling back on the trigger, thin yellow camouflage lines are steadily drawn freehand across the hull. Because the paint is so fluid, multiple passes are tracked directly over the same lines to build up the paint's opacity and density gradually without creating dry spray or speckling artefacts.

A view as the layers go on one by one on the truck and canvas rear cover...
Enamel Pin Washes and Cleanup
An enamel pin wash is applied over the base paintwork to define the vehicle’s hardware. A blue-brown enamel wash colour is prepared. Because heavy enamel pigments settle quickly at the bottom of the container, a motorised paint mixer is utilised to fully homogenise the fluid to secure optimal depth and liquid capillary flow.
To apply the wash, a fine brush is dipped directly into a white mineral spirit pool to wet the bristles, loaded with the mixed enamel wash, and touched lightly against the model's structural recesses. The capillary action causes the paint to instantly flow around bolt heads, weld seams, and panel lines. If the fluid slows down, extra white spirits are mixed directly on the model to assist the transition. The wash is applied universally over all components due to their matching tone. The enamel is left to flash off until it is touch-dry. 
 
A soft, dry makeup sponge is wiped firmly across the flat outer surfaces; the sponge lifts away all the messy excess surface paint while leaving the deep enamel accents inside the recesses perfectly intact. For tougher areas or stubborn dried liner formulas, a cotton Q-tip lightly moistened with white spirits is used to cleanly erase any remaining tide marks. 

The sponge at work, transforming the heavy streaks into something much more subtle.
Sponge and Brush Chipping Effects Micro-chipping adds a layer of operational wear – a custom chipping paste is mixed, combining standard chipping brown and rubber-black acrylic paints. Initial heavy chipping foundations are applied using a small piece of torn sponge dipped in the paint, dabbed off until nearly dry, and stippled along high-wear target zones, including lower panel borders, entry handles, structural grab points, and outer wheel rims.

Chipping with a small sponge remnant adds so much simulated wear in larger patches.
A drop of acrylic paint retarder is mixed into the remaining paint pool to prepare for fine brushwork. The retarder prevents the micro-amounts of paint carried by a fine detail brush from drying out instantly on the bristles. Using the tip of the brush, fine horizontal surface scratches, hair-thin lines, and micro-chips are manually painted to expand upon the sponge-chipped regions. Straps and buckles holding down the canvas cargo gear are detailed using a US Tanker Highlight acrylic colour to elevate global contrast. Raw metal exposures around sculpted bullet holes and engine grill boundaries are touched up using metallic silver paint mixed with retarder. Following these steps, clear window glazing parts are mounted into place cleanly using VMS Transfer Fix adhesive.

The brush laying down fine strokes to simulate wear on the cabin of the RSO
Sculpting Mud and Earth Tones: 
Speckling accumulated field mud is built up using a water-based acrylic terrain paste. To add a realistic organic texture to the synthetic paste, loose fibres chopped from a natural seagrass ball are mixed directly into the compound. 

Yum!
The thick mixture is stippled heavily into logical accumulation zones under the chassis, structural corners, inner wheel wells, and low recess traps using a firm brush. Portions of the texturing paste are thinned down with pure water, turning the material into a gritty brown paint used to feather out the edges of the heavy mud deposits using a wet brush and sponge. A matte varnish coat is misted over the entire cabin to kill off any unwanted gloss shine before moving into the final earth effects.

The effects take some time and patience, but the result is clear to see in the finished product...
After letting the structural mud paste dry solid for 24 hours, North Africa Dust and Earth Effects enamel colours are prepared. The Earth Effects mid-tone colour is thinned with white spirit and washed straight over the dark mud textures and track paths to expand the colour palette without masking the underlying shadow depth.
The final phase uses an air-flicking speckling technique. The lightest dust enamel colour is flicked across the lower hull first, representing the oldest, driest layers of dirt. This is immediately followed by speckling a darker enamel tone over the top, acting as a visual bridge connecting the dry dust to the heavy wet mud. Any oversized or unnatural speckle drops are blended out using a makeup sponge or dissolved using white spirits. 
A brush dampened with clean mineral spirits is dragged downward over the speckles to pull the wet enamel into subtle vertical rain streaks. To finish the model, windscreen wipers are installed, and the window glazing is stained using Rainmarks Effects fluid, back-blended with a Q-tip and white spirits to complete the operational weathering process.


Check out the video where I’ll show you the complete process...
The Tamiya kit is a total joy to build. Its sharp, cleanly moulded details and excellent parts fit, providing a perfect canvas for complex weathering techniques. By systematically layering structural mud, fluid enamel washes, and fine speckling, you can push the finish to look authentically battle-hardened without drowning out the clean construction underneath.

Clayton Ockerby

You can see more of Tamiya's kits on the Tamiya USA website
See more of Clayton's amazing works on his YouTube channel, his modelling portal "Workbench Hobbies" or his Facebook page