how to do gun residue

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

HI GUYS!
well i just finished a 1-48 Revelll P-51D Mustang.It looks great but its missing somthing.so i looked at the box and saw gun residue.how would i do gun residue?because i know i want to put some under and over the wings and were the shell caseings come out. so if u know how to do this PLEASE give me STEP-BY-STEP on how to do this and what materails i need and also how to weather the pannels. thx -brad[:D]
P.S. if you were wondering on what one i built i did Big Beatuiful Doll.[;)]

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There are a couple of approaches to this:

1.) Use Tamiya X-19 Smoke in your airbrush, thin about 25% with Windex and add a drop of flow aid. Drop air pressure to about 8psi and move in close. Make several light passes with the airbrush, each pass should leave so little as to be almost un-noticable. Build it up slowly until you have the desired effect.

2.) Mix some water soluble Higgins ink with a few drops of water and a drop of liquid dish soap. Take a 0 or 1 paint brush and apply a drop at the begining of the point you want the stain to start. Let dry. Moisten fingertip and press fingertip to dried spot, wipe in direction of blast stain and the ink spot will smear in that direction. Make a couple passes with the fingertip and try different levels of moisture to get the desired effect.

3.) Buy a few sticks of Pastel chalk, some burnt sienna, some gray and some black. Shave some off the stick using a razor knife into a container like a pop bottle top. Mix colors to achieve desired tone. Take a cotton swab (dry) and press into the shavings. Now rub this across the model surface in the direction of the stain pressing hard to light. Make a couple passes to increase color density. Use fingertip to blend or reduce color density.

I use a combination of options #1 and #3 with good results. Small amounts for gun blast stains and larger amounts for exhaust staining.

Hope this helps.

Here are a few pics of the end results.


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Hey Swanny, what do you use for flow aid?

Fred

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I use a product called “Flow-aid” made by Liquitex. You can find it at any good art supply store and a small bottle will last for the rest of your life.

5

I use the Swanny #1 approach, but add some Tamiya Flat Base (X-21) to the mix since X-19 can be a little glossy. Of course, another flat coat finish on the entire plane will do the trick as well, but I like to seal everything prior to adding exhaust stains. Too much flat coat on a plane and you run the risk of getting a cloudy look to your plane’s finish.

Also… come to think of it, I need to remember to lower the pressure… I’d probably keep myself from blasting my PE details off.[:p]

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Thanks for the tips, Swanny. I will have try those suggestions.

Darwin, O.F. [alien]

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Some of Doc O’Brien’s Weathering Powders do the job for me-- they are like pastels but I believe they have a bit of something else (oil?) that gives them more sticking power…

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3.) Buy a few sticks of Pastel chalk, some burnt sienna, some gray and some black. Shave some off the stick using a razor knife into a container like a pop bottle top. Mix colors to achieve desired tone. Take a cotton swab (dry) and press into the shavings. Now rub this across the model surface in the direction of the stain pressing hard to light. Make a couple passes to increase color density. Use fingertip to blend or reduce color density.

Swanny,

when would you do this in the grand scheme of paint and coat? Would you do it the same time as generalized weathering like paint chip on props or weathering panel lines?

THanks

Matthew

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Also notice on the posted examples that the streaks from the gun barrels don’t go too far back. On models like the P-51 where the muzzles don’t project too far ahead of the wing, you don’t want the streak to extend back more than a few scale inches. (In cases where the gun barrel is well ahead of the wing, you might not see any residue at all.) Streaks running halfway across the wing will look unnatural. The same applies to the ejection ports under the wing.

As with most weathering, I’m finding that you should err on the side of having too little weathering than too much.

10

Thanks for the tips guys.

Swanny - this may sound silly to you, but what is “flow aid”? We got different brands over here, so I don´t know what to ask for in the art store. And even more silly - windex is a window cleaner, right?

Thanks /Johan

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Matthew, I put pastel chalks on last, after final dull coat and everything else. Very last thing I do.

Johan, Flow aid, simply put is a very mild detergent in water. It acts to reduce surface tension and slow drying time. In the chemical industry we call it a wetting agent. Windex is an ammonia based window cleaner. Any flow aid for acrylic paints would work, brand is not that important. In the UK it is Windolene. In many places it is very similar to the blue tinted window cleaner you use in your car.

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I understand that you don´t wanna do this on a glossy surface, right after decaling, but I´m curious obout one thing. Can you do this directly on the flat paint and then spray the gloss, decal and then spray the flat? Is there a drawback in this approach?

And Swanny - thanks for the info.