Gunmetal grey!

The instructions for the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4 kit suggest a gunmetal grey colour for the chassis. Normally the types and era of truck that I model call for a traditional solid colour to complement the cab so I was not too sure about this gunmetal but I thought I would give it a try and see how it came out.

Being a metallic colour, the gunmetal paint is best applied over a black undercoat so that it reflects. The chassis was given that black undercoat and then the Vallejo paint was applied. At first I thought that it was a disaster as it looked washed out but it just needed three applications to build up some depth to the colour.

Now I have got used to the colour I think it looks good. The chassis needs a number of parts painted in different colours, such as black for the rubber airbags in the rear suspension, so that will take some time but at least it looks more like a truck chassis!