Hello all,
I’m finishing up a Dragon Marder II and have it painted in Afrika Braun MM Enamel. I am looking to weather it a bit, but have never done a desert vehicle and was wondering if anyone had any tips on this. I’ve done some scratches and some rust around some spots, but nothing very heavy as far as weathering goes. Any ideas out there?
Thanks,
Max
Oh lordy where do we begin?
First go to www.afrikakorps.org and peruse the photos. The first thing you’ll notice is just how incredibly dusty all the vehicles are.
The first vehicles sent over went in PzGray. Tough durable factory applied paint. The crews used mud at first to camo them. Paint was shipped to the theatre and applied by the crews. Now that was a sight I guess, painting a dusty dirty dark gray tank, essentially tan. Guess how long that paint lasted?
Later the vehicles were shipped from the factory in their appropriate colors. Tough factory applied paint again. Now visualize this:
A thousand rocks an hour hitting the bottom of your car/truck/motorcycle and you get the idea.
The lower parts of the vehicles were subjected to sand and rock while on the move. Tracks would get rusty overnight but scrubbed bright again within minutes of travel.
Dust dust dust, and more dust. An occasional fierce sandstorm that wears the paint from the surface.
Check out Schnobs Sahariana build, and his current LRDG truck build.
Then look at Indy’s diorama “Clash in Tunisia”.
These are both excellant resources.
Think DUST!
G
Definately avoid rust.Very little moisture in a desert.
Cant go wrong with washes of a sandy color and an over spray with Tamiya Buff
“G” thanks for the fantastic link,just what I need to do waste more time on the net.[:D]
It’s a common misperception that moisture is required to induce rust and that therefore items in a desert environment don’t rust. For exposed metal to oxidize (rust), they only have to be exposed to oxygen which is quite plentiful in the desert as elsewhere. [;)] Granted being in a wet environment will speed up the corrosion process whereby rusting metal will wear away or rust through and if you add in salt (either from the ocean or from things like salting roads in winter) the process will accelerate even faster…but something doesn’t have to be wet in order to rust.
Having said all that, I agree that things like rust streaking wouldn’t be present due to the fact that that kind of thing is typically induced from rain or other sources of moving water collecting and carrying rust particles in the direction of the water flow and then depositing them as they evaporate. You shouldn’t see that kind of thing on any kind of serviceable vehicle to begin with since rust weakens armor and certainly not in a desert environment for sure. [:D]
TD4438 touched on something that has been bugging me for a bit. I’ve been looking at all of these WIP threads with Africa vehicles and some of the experienced guys are weathering them with rust and chips everywhere. How much rust can form on a bare metal surface out in the hot desert? I would say very minimal if anything.
I dont even think rust on a tank anywhere is all that authentic. I mean, a few tiny chips here and there are good, and for places in snow terrain where water will be sitting in one spot for a while maybe, but i dunno…
The question of rusting on tanks is one that comes up from time to time and, like anything in the hobby, will ultimately boil down to a question of artistic aesthetic vs. realism in terms of the builder’s interpretation. Where you fall on that spectrum will drive whether or not you will employ rust effects and, if you do, to what degree/level.
Certain areas on a tank or vehicle will rust due to the fact that they are bare exposed metal. These areas primarily are the exhaust pipes and the tracks. Due to the way they function for example exhausts are constantly being heated and cooled which causes paint to crack/peel and expose the metal or tracks which are exposed to constant contact in operation with the ground/dirt/wheels/return rollers etc., they don’t have a protective coating of paint.
In terms of rusting as it relates to chipping, the chip would have to go all the way down to the bare metal and expose it in order for there to be any rust present and visible on the surface. On German AFVs this means that it would have to chip through at least 2 and possibly 3 layers of paint (red oxide primer, base coat, camo coat if applied) to get to the metal. That means that whatever event caused the chipping would have to be sustained and/or severe enough to produce that from a realism standpoint.
Personally I choose not to chip unless I have a very good reason to do so and even then I tend to localize it to only those areas such as the lower hull and running gear where it would be justified given the fact that I present my models as stand-alones and not on bases or in dios.
[dto:] Love the buff!
Oh…AAhhaa! I caught ya sonny !! Over here doubt’in me [:O][:)]
First off, the thing that people always forget about a desert is that while it’s blistering HOT all day, it’s absolutely FREEEEZING at night…and while it’s very DRY of course, weather happens…
From Exit Rommel by Bruce Allen Watson
"“The aridity was crushing. Normally, an ordinary man with no water supplement on a hot day loses so much bodily fluid that he would probably be dead by nightfall. Of course it rains, but much of it evaporates before hittting the ground. Once in a while, a torrential rain passes over, turning the sand to goo and making the wadis treacherous places as walls of water suddenly and unexpectedly wash everything before them. Or suddenly or just as unexpectedly the sand begins to riffle as the wind increases. The sky turns yellow-tan and great billowing sand clouds race across the desert in a violet storm. slashing exposed skin, erasing paint from metal objects, and clogging any piece of machinery not adapted to desert operations.”
Now, the amount of chipping and rust needs to be in derect relation to how long that vehicle is been fielded. The vehicles in my W.I.P. ~!Clash in Tunisia!~ have been bopp’in around the desert for months, and my Dio takes place at the end of the N. Afrika Campaign, so my rides are BEAT, but rusted very selectively
Never boring
There are color pictures so you can see what color to use for wash. For the lighter colors I usual mix raw umber with the base color for pin washes to accent shadows, etc. Because of the very “dusty” environment I always finish with pastels - they just look more real for dust and surface grime. Also, most, if not all Africa Corps vehicles were repainted so, while were to bare metal is slight, the edges worn down to the grey quickly. Almost all of the tank photos I’ve seen had very dark edges on any wear surfaces.
Indy,
That is an exquisite vehicle you’ve got there!
Just my [2cnts], [dto:] to the above comments about the desert, when the sun goes down the temperature doesn’t just drop, it plummets. What ever moisture is in the air and, the desert is not devoid of moisture, will condense on cold surfaces (i.e. plants, metal). I was amazed by this as a young child with my first few times in the Mojave Desert.
Cheers
Dave
You’ll see bright, shiny tracks at sundown and see bright orange rust on 'em by mid-morning…
But mostly, it’s dust on and in everything…
~~Well said Sarge ! '------------Where are ya? & What’s on the bench ?