Hi everyone
The photo below is a Dragon Panzer IV Ausf E built by Sergiusz Peczek that was posted on another website. I really like the finish he’s achieved with the all-over chipping effect. I tried to contact him to ask how he did it but have been unsuccessful.
Does anyone know how to get such a finish? I’m keen to try it myself.
Thanks
I cant see the picture. Maybe the firewall here at work.
One method I have seen done well for paint chipping is salt method. Paint your base coat. Use a little water to hold some salt were you want paint chips. Paint your top coat. Brush away salt to expose base color.
I’ve only tried this once so far on a tiger I keep for practicing such. One word of advise I can give so far is to use the bare minimal water to hold the salt and to give it time to dry some. To much water with the sodium ends up leaving a washed out effect to your topcoat.
That’s an easy one, meanstien; he base-coated it in afrika yellow, then brush painted the chipping effect.
Man, I’m bummin…here I was, under the impression that you knew-it-all![:-^][sigh]
Doog, I believe you’re thinking of Manstein’s Revenge. [}:)]
OOOOOOOPS! You’re absolutely right, Tigerman! Tanks for pointing that out! I guess that “Meanstien’s Revenge” has gotten under my skin with some of those unnecessarily harsh posts he’s given tonight! I tried to delete my post, but it won’t let me after it’s been replied to[BH]
MY SINCERE APOLOGIES, MANSTEIN ! ! ! [B)][oops]
I do believe tha the finish looks like it has been hand-painted AFTER the base coat. You’re right; it does look tremendous!
Yes it does look good - it looks really good, though I’m not so sure a Pz IV would’ve gotten that beaten up in North Africa - even at Alamein. I would probably suggest a more toned down effect of this, since it’s more than likely this Ausf of the IV was factory painted before getting there, & therefore the paint a bit more durable than the field applied ‘gunk’.
Here’s another shot. I’m not convinced he’s brush painted to get this effect. Firstly it would be hugely painstaking to go over the entire model this way, and secondly some the edges of the “chips” are squared off which would be very difficult to achieve consistently with a brush.
I was thinking he’s somehow put some sort of coating over a base of bare metal, sprayed the dark yellow and then scrubbed off the coating to take some of the yellow with it. I’ve done this before to get a worn effect but can’t get my head around how to use the method to get this chipped effect.
Cheers
Possibly used one of the masking solutions on the market - also a very tedious job
Wow now I’m home I can see the pics. I admit thats killer work on that effect. I did find a link to the salt method. Maybe with some work and tweaking it could achieve the same.
HI
I’ve had some fun with a method similar to the salt method using Humbrol Maskol & a 3M (green) pot-scourer, or similar… on a GW Challenger 1/3
anonymous credit to the guy(s) who posted the method here previously, but I can’t remember the names…
Method: Paint base coat (steel, base colour, british tank green, etc) on model, then Future (Kleer in UK). I didn’t do this part, & had problems later…
Using a tiny bit of the pot-scrubber, lightly dip in Maskol, CLEAN OFF scrubber, leaving just a LITTLE Maskol on it & dab on where the ‘worn’ paint would be.
I went OTT on mine, to show a heavily worn paint jobby, but was following reference pics.
Apply top coat/s & allow to dry. Using clean scrubber, toothpicks, old toothbrush, fingers, etc, remove all the Maskol! This is tedious, as it sticks well, especially under acrylic!
Be cautious, as I did wear through not just top coat & Maskol, but base coat through to the plastic in places!
Cleanup, paint details, & finish with the dust-coat of your choice!
Having read of the salt method, but not tried it yet, I think the cleanup would be easier…
First I must say, that is a fine peace of work, it reminds me of a article i read in military modelling magazine many years ago, early 90’s i think, can’t recall the name of the modeler, but is was a ZSU-23-4 quad 23mm spaag (Iraq army). first time i saw the effect done so well. he explained that he hand-painted every chip, and there was ‘alot’ of wear and tear!!! patience and skill with a paint brush is essential, but the effect was outstanding of what i can remember!.
I think the colour is spot on, vehicles supplied to Libya in Feb-march 41 and later reinforcements that came were still in colours applied for Europe, tanks panzer grey, and some were in field grey. plus field grey for other vehicles. dunkelgelb was supplied to the DAK sometimes referred to as ochre. and wasn’t painted before they arrived and because of the pace of events in north Africa they had less time to apply it properly, often only upper surfaces were painted leaving chassis etc, still grey. the strong sun bleach most of the colour to a pale yellow or light stone, a dark earth paste which could be thinned with water was supplied as a camo colour. and the sand it’s self.
ian.
Hmmm, you’re right Manstein, I see the squared-off chips…I dont know about a masking agent though, don’t they tend to leave a rounded edge as well? I still would guess that he hand-painted it, anh maybe NOT with a brush; he night’ve used a broken-off square toothpick, touching it to a smear of paint on a pallette and then dabbing it down a billion times? That might leave the square edges…
He could have very well used a variety of effects. In all honesty, there are a plethora of methods you can try. They all fall into only two categories:
Salt Method
After your basecoate is fully dry, you can wet specific areas of the model slightly, focusing on high traffic areas, then spread salt over them. The salt will bind with the water, and stay pretty static. Allow it to dry like that. Paint over it all with the top colour. When finished, take the salt off, and bingo, you have your chipped paint. A member here posted a Marder III build about 2-3 years ago. I can’t remember who it was exactly, but it was the BEST example of the salt method I’ve seen.
Masking medium
This is pretty much what it sounds like. Similar to the above method, but less tedious. Use a masking medium instead of salt to apply areas that will be your ‘chipped’ paint. Overpaint with the top coat, and then remove.
Thinning/destroying top coat
This is kind of a difficult technique to get to work correctly. You want to use acrylics for your base coat. Allow it to cure fully, so a few days. Then use enamel paints for the top coat. When the paint has dried, but not cured, spread white spirit (thinner) over it, sparingly and carefully. Work only one panel at a time. The thinner will begin to eat at the paint. You’ll see it start to wrinkle. Take clear packaging tape (selotape) and apply it to the panel. You’ll want to apply the tape first to some cloth to take the tackiness away. Section by section, pull the top coat off, and you’ll effectively be performing the same task as nature.
The second group of methods works best when used in combination with one another. They all esentially dictate that you paint your paint-chips on top of the yellow (or whatever other colour) camo.
Brush
Exactly what it says. Use a brush, albeit a very very fine tipped one, and work slow. Less is more (trust me, there are many models that I wish I could retract my steps a bit). You can use the panzer gray, or an very very dark gray. You can also use very dark greens, or very dark browns to portray scratches.
Applicator/Sponge method
Don’t recall where I read this, but I use it as my starting point always now. Take a dish washing sponge, and cut it up into small cubes or irregular shapes. What you’re interested in using is the scrubbing pad (the dark green, abrasive part of the sponge). Pour some of your ‘chipping colour’ into a container. Dip the green part into the paint, dab most of it off on a piece of cloth or paper towel, then start laying it on the model, again focusing on areas of high traffic wear.
There is one more key technique to be used with chipping paint. Its called a filter. Basically, when you apply paint chips, it won’t look natural, there’ll usually be a lot of contrast between the two colours. You want to bind and unify them together. You’ll want to chose a mutually complementary colour (I most often use dark browns) and thin it drastically. You’re looking at 5% paint, and 95% thinner. Then apply it over the entire model, but don’t let it pool. After fully dry, you can repeat as desired. You’ll notice that the paint and chips will look more subdued now. This is also a great technique for unifying camo colours.
Anyways, give it a shot. It won’t be perfect the first time, but you’ll get the hang of it.
zokissima Great post thank you.
Thanks for all the responses. I think I’ll try a combination of the salt method (to get an initial quick coverage in selected spots), followed by a touch up with a brush where it needs it.
If it works well I’ll let you know. If it doesn’t I’ll go and sulk for a while 
Cheers
Hmmm, I’ve just read some of “Mansteins Revenge” posts and can understand your responses to me. I may have to change my Username so I don’t get confused with him again.
I agree the finishing looks great, though probably overdone and inaccurate. Beating a tank to pieces seems a bit vogue right now. Still fine weathering.
Well, technically, zokissima spelled them all out, but I’ll add a thing; you can combo the technique above.
Ben
Try this link. https://www.monroeperdu.com/ChippedPaintPart1.jsp Hairspray, hairgel, and a toothbrush [8D] You will be surprised how well this works. This is a new technique.
Best Regards,
Mark
/\ Yeah I read about the above method in a couple of places. I’ve seen other water soluble materials being suited to the same principles. It does work fine, but is a bit of a non-method for those that airbrush with acrylics exclusively.