In painting buildings and other large items, like most garners, I always used a large flat paintbrush. Recently, I found some very helpful information on the "Britannia Miniatures" website that is very useful in painting. In this article, they describe how to paint tanks and other vehicles using your wife's makeup sponges. Basically the idea is to go to your local Wal-Mart store and go to the Cosmetic department. Purchase a pack of cosmetic wedges. These are made of white sponge in a square shape. They are cut into a wedge shape. Separate the piece into two (2) sections. Carefully drab the sponge into the proper color that you are using. Drab this sponge onto a dry paper towel. After doing this, apply the sponge to the building that you are painting. Try going with the contour of the building. Apply the color in light sections. If needed, the surface can be touched up again after drying. After, the base color is dry; apply a lighter shade of color to the base color. After several coats, you have a very nice weathered building. This painting process is very easy to do. It will take a little practice to get some very good results down. Just remember to go light on the paint. Another good item for tanks and vehicles where camouflaged in appearances is to purchase some "Sea Sponges" from Wal-Mart. These are a brown color and they have an irregular shape to them. After painting the German World War II tank a base color of Armor Yellow and let this dry completely. I then use the Sea sponges and I drab them into a Red-Brown color and I drab this onto a paper towel. Apply this color to the tank lightly. While this is drying, I then use another Sea sponge that has been dabbed into a grass green color. I apply the green while the red-brown is drying. Since the sea sponges have irregular shapes and sizes of holes, you will get some very interesting variations of shapes and colors on your tanks and vehicles. This is a very fast and easy way to paint buildings and armor. Practice on some old pieces or some wood first before getting carried away. Back to MWAN # 124 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com