I am currently building a 1/350 Bismarck and i am getting to the point where i want to start weathering the decks and superstructure and i was wondering what everyone thought was the best way to do it? I have only done 4-5 wash jobs and they have all been on aircraft, this is my first attempt at ship weathering.
I was thinking of a light grey wash on the decks, then maybe a light to medium brown on the super structure to give it a little bit of a rusty look. Any information or additional methods to age the ship would be appreciated. Or if you could direct me to some good websites on WWII ship weather would rock!
Bismarck’s decks were teak, so I typically use Polly Scale Old Concrete or Testors Acryl Desert Storm yellow as my base coat, followed with a wash of burnt umber, then a light drybrushing with gray pastels.
As for rust, he (Bismarck was always referred to as ‘he’) wasn’t at sea long enough to generate any rust or heavy weathering, so be careful in that regard. A dark gray wash over the superstructure followed by some drybrushing of the base color should do the trick.
Thanks for the welcome Jeff, i have been reading peoples topics for a while now and wanted to get involved, everyone has such great ideas and topics to share that to really create a stellar model i wanted to tap into everyone’s experience.
So, I have never done dry brushing before, any hints? I could probably search the web for techniques. What brand of pastels would you use? After you dry brush would you then put a flat clear coat over it to keep it in place?
Personally I drybrush with high end artists’ oil paints and just mix a color that looks right. I find the better oils to have finer pigments and can be drybrushed so they’re translucent.
Drybrushing is basically using a clean flat brush you get a little paint on it then wipe off as much as you can on something like an index card. You want almost no paint, then you drag it across the high spots and it deposits very minute amounts…too little is better than too much because it’s always easier to add more.
Pardon my naivety, but is dry brushing with an acrylic that is practically a powder, similar to the Taimya Weathering Master B Set - Snow, Soot, Rust. I don’t really like the colors they have, but I would try to find something similar to them at a local artists shop.
The color of the decks and the washes I should be all set with, it’s the dry brushing techniques and materials that is new to me. Like I said, this is something I haven’t done before and about the only thing I know about it is that it looks great when done right.
Drybrushing is actually what Ron described, applying small amounts of paint pigment to a piece by whisking the brush over the surface. This creates artificial highlights on the model and, in conjunction with a wash, creates contrast and depth.
Weathering with pastels or weathering powders (pigments) is just that…applying a thin layer of colored powder to the surface of the model. Armor guys have been using it for rust, dirt, and mud for years.
Drybrushing is generally done with the base color of paint you originally put down. Some guys like to lighten it with white if the weathering is minimal, but since I usually darken the base coat with a wash, using the base color works for me. The major rule of drybrushing is that you never drybrush with white, or pure silver. There are exceptions to that rule if your model is a very light gray…then you can use white.
If you click on Feature Stories on the left nav bar (in the green), there’s a story on dryburshing by Chris Appoldt. It’s in PDF format, so you can download it (it’s free) and read all about it!
Alright, the light bulb went on. thank you to all lthat posted, i think i got it.
One last question, i use a variety of paints depending on the situation (acrylic and enamels) should i thin them for dry brushing? if so what ratio of paint to thinner?
No, do not thin them. Use them right out of the bottle/tube. Use either enamels, acrylics, or oils.
Dip just the tip of the brush in the paint, them wipe almost all the paint off on a paper towel. When you think you’ve gotten the paint off - wipe for a few more strokes.
Work slowly when applying dry brush paint. You can always go back and apply some more. It becomes more difficult when you need to apply less.
It is best to practice first to learn the technique than to jump in and try to learn on your latest masterpiece
got another one. When i do the wash on the decks, should i use a medium sized brush and cover then entire deck, then use q-tips over the entire sureface? Its a little different then doing panel lines on a jet where the wash will chase into the creases of the skins.
I was in charge of the IPMS-NCT 2002 award winning group build project on US Navy destroyers. One of the best armor modelers I know woke me up early one Saturday morning and exclaimed that weathering a ship is just like weathering a tank - except you leave the mud off!.
Many of the techniques which you have learned in other modeling genre’s will be applicable in ship modeling.
I think my approach here would be:
Paint the deck with the base color
Seal the paint with a clear gloss - this allows you to wipe up mistakes easier
Flow the wash into the seams that you wish to heighten with a fine point brush. Allow capilary action to draw the wash along the length of the seam. You do not need to swab with a broad brush. By allowing capilary action to draw the wash along it minimizes potential damage to the underlying paint due to scrubbing by a large brush.
Soak up excess wash with the corner of a paper towel.
When the wash is dry - go back with your base color, perhaps lightened a bit, and drybrush.
This technique is excellent for highlighting equipment details also. Great for the recoil springs on 40mm Bofors, winches, etc.
Guys, tried the dry brushing this weekend, very nice effect, i will use it on every model i build from here on out!
EdGrune, thanks for the tips with the washes. 2 more add on questions.
If you were doing heavy weathering, then would you go with a broad brush and let the wash sit to give the heavy soot, weathered, dirty look?
Since my decks and superstructur will have a nice weathering to them now, how should i weather the hull to match? If i don’t do anything he is going to look weird. Should i run the same wash thats on the top deck (light grey) on the sides of the hull? Would that be a case for a wide brush and to let it run down a little bit and mop up the exces with the papertowels?
What kind of paints is everyone doing thie washes with? I find that artist acrylic tube paints are a pain to get a good mix. I was thinking of just trying the typical acrylic modelmasters paint. Any thoughts?
Remember what you are trying to portray. The Bismarck was a ship with an operational life of less than a month. During that time he was partially repainted. The paint was new and unweathered for most of the operational life.
My approach would be to paint the base colors and seal. Then go with a very dilute wash of a gray which was just a shade darker than the main color of the hull. You do not want puddling of colors on the whole hull - just enough to sit in the crevices and seams to add depth. Next, when the wash is dry go back with the base color - lightened just a shade with some white or light gray. Here is where you use your broad brush. Drybrush, stroking vertically top to bottom. Only go top to bottom, do not scrub. This will give you highlights on the top edges (i.e. sunlight) and some vertical run-off of water streaks down the sides.
Then go back and do the very light rust application, hawse holes and or some seams where appropriate. Notice where Mike C. has placed his rust - the haswse and the foc’sle greak - where water runs off the side. The whole thing isn’t rusty. The Bismarck did not have a chance to get rusty. He was a capital ship - the symol of German power - he would not have been allowed to look bad.
When weather a model I ususlly mix medias.
If I have painted with enamels I will seal with an enamel clear coat then make my wash using a waterbased paint. I may use alcohol/water and acrylic model paint or artist watercolors. I have used a nice diluted wash of artists acrylic tube paint in water. It works well too.
If I have painted with acrylics I will seal with an acrylic gloss coat and make my wash using an oil-based thinner. I will use mineral spirits with MM enamels or artists oil paints. I prefer the oils over the MM enamels. I have an artists mixing palette - one of the plastic dishes with the depressions. I’ll put a small dab of oils in one of the depressions, then a few brush splashes of clean thinner in another depression. Take just a small touch of paint and mix it with the thinner. If it is too dark put another couple of brush splashes of clean thinner in another depression and transfer some of the too dark wash into the clean thinner. Continue until you have as dilute a was as desired. I find that oils give me better control of the process of diluting the wash. Personal preference.
US Naval camouflage paints during WWII were based on a purple system. I have had good success using a violet oil paint thinned well with mineral spirits. I use that to touch the detail spots which I want depth - then drybrush with the base color. Other good oil colors raw and burnt umber. These give a good rust appearance. Stay away from pure black. It is too harsh a shadow. Go outside and look at your house in the sunlight. What color is the shadow? It is not black - it is gray - and allows the underlying color to show through. A dilute wash of Paynes Gray is excellent for a dark shadow wash.
Payne’s Grey is 5PB on the Musell scale so it is an almost perfect base for WWII USN washes…I add a bit of titanium white and either mars or ivory black (NOT lampblack, it tends to clump when thinned to far) to grey it out a little more. I use oils thinned with Turpentine. Since I build mainly “dockyard” style on pedestals or keelblocks I rarely “weather” a ship, I do use a detail popping wash and find it sufficient. I find drybrushing to be overdone for the typical ship scales.
So if i am understanding you correctly on the hull, after i apply a wash on the details of the hull with a fine brush, go back with a lighter wash mixture and a broad brush, but drybrush that wash mixture on, correct?
Could you use the same technique on the superstructure (dry brusrhing with a broad brush, giving slight run off) that is used on the hull to give the slightly worn look? Probably better for ships that had been a sea longer than a month?
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