HOW TO: Cast Steel Armor Texture For American Tanks

Cast steel texture can look very different depending on the manufacturing process, and each nation used to have their own specific methods or approaches. Allied armor was for example heavily machined in order to remove any surface imperfections such as seam lines created by the sand mold or sprue gates through which the molten steel was poured. Soviet tanks could sport a very rough cast texture with deep pits and gouges, heavy seam lines and hastily cut off sprue gates. German industry didn't have the technology needed to cast large pieces of metal, so they mostly manufactured smaller parts such as bow MG ball mounts known as “Kugelblende“ and other small fittings for their tanks. What this means for us, modellers, is that we can let our creativity go wild while creating these types of surfaces. Studying reference materials and photos of real tanks is important because every cast surface is very unique and we can use this opportunity to not only make our models look more authentic, but also more interestin