Hey fellas, I’m a bit new to the aircraft side of things (o.k, really new [:D]) and I wanted to pick your brains a bit…is there a “standard” set of weathering techniques that you go through on every build? Obviously there’s the panel line wash, but past that where do you go?
Panel washes and washes in the cockpit and recesses like wheel wells are pretty standard. Also things like LG struts get a wash to pick out the detail. If it is going to be a well used aircraft will determine how much of the panel wash get wiped away and what stays behind. That’s the basic that every one of mine gets.
After that… gun blasts stains, exhausts stains, some panel line post shading, oil stains/drips and some of the little stains that follow the slip stream at the back of a hinge or the corner of a panel. Then some chipping/scuffing with a silver artist pencil.
Exhaust stains both from the engine(s) and APU, gun blast, fuel overflow/spillage, human made (scuffing from shoes, chipped paint from wear and tear are among the norm. Take a look at picture of well used aircraft (not show planes) to see their condition. Navy aircraft seem to take the greatest beating due to the environment they operate in. You can weather your model to represent anything from factory fresh to retirement. Have fun![:)]
[#ditto]
Weathering techniques vary from subtle to extream. You should collect as many reference sources as you can from pictures to literature about weathering and then decide what technique is best for you.
Below is a good example of how dirty Navy/Marine aircraft can get when operating out at sea. I did the weathering and shadeing with a graphite powder rub and panel lines where accented with a dark gray wash. My refernences were Navy and Marine F-8 Crusaders deployed to aircraft carriers and I wanted to show a realistic representation of Marines F-8 durring carrier operations.
Hope this helps.
I have found several different mediums can be used to achieve different levels and effects of weathering. From pastel chalks to oil washes to airbrushing washes of lighter shades of the same base colors, you can get some great results from utilizing different methods and styles of weathering.
Maybe one of the best pieces of advice I ever got though was not to overdue the weathering effect.A good rule of thumb I was told was that if you think it needs “just a bit more weathering”, then you have in all likelihood got just the right look. 1:1 reference is invaluable though when it comes to accurate weathering of aircraft and armor models. Keep in mind as well that now with so many of our aircraft operating in the extreme desert climates of the Middle East, these aircraft show many more onvious signs of the climate they are operating in, just like the Navy aircraft assigned to the salty environments of the high seas.
Also, visualize the area/era where the aircraft are operating that you are modeling. A Desert Rat Hurricane tank buster will be weathered different than a Korean War Mig-15. The operating climes were far different. Rain, sun, dust, airfield roughness, etc all take their toll on the aircraft finish.
Just a helpfull tip so you do not find out the hard way. Always use a different base for your wash than your paint. Basicly if you sprayed your model with enamals use acrylics for your wash. I like to use Acrylics because the clean up is much easier and the fumes are far less nasty. The other reason I like to use Acrylics is it allow me to use artists oils for weathering. Acrylics dry very fast leaving you very little time to adjust you washes. Artists oils dry much slower and if you over do the wash it can be wiped right off. Artist oils also work great over Future clear coats and will not react with the clear coat. Here is a picture of a little “reaction” accident on my P-51 A. A lesson hard learned. It may not always happen but after this I always used Enamels or oils to apply washes.
Now I would like to claim I weather this North African service P-51 A to represent the harsh fading that occured in the sun but I can not fib that big. The sad truth is I put an Acrylic black wash over Acrylic painted dullcoat and it clouded it. Just do’nt want to see someone esle make the same mistake and suffer the heartache of having to repaint a well build model so I hope others can learn from my mistake.
Hi Dupes,
Without blowing my own horn too much, look at the July issue of FineScale’s Reader Gallery and you’ll see my P-39D Airacobra. This depicts a an aircraft in the Guadalcanal area in the South Pacific so I made it as weather-beaten and worn as I could. I used ModelMaster enamel faded olive drab paint to which I added some flat white to indicate sun-bleaching. The gun and exhaust stains were brushed on using black & brown powdered chalk and the paint chips around panel openings, wing walks, wing leading edges were done using artist’s silver pencils of variying colors. The pencils and chalks are found at any artist or similar store (such as Michael’s) and are easy to use because mistakes can be erased and done over again. Hope this bit of information helps. I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the results you’ll get. One last thing–when it comes to accentuating panel lines, I use a drafting pencil with a #2 lead. Lots of times, if you’re not careful, when using the wash technique you’ll end up with very deep lines. I try to do panel lines that are equivelant to looking at the real aircraft from at least 50 feet away.
Panel lines appear differently on each aircraft. Here is a picture showing how evident panels lines are on this NASA F/A-18. Research your subject, looking at how they really appeared at various times during their deployment. Like humans sometimes (wrinkles) panel lines become more evident with age. The guy in the photo pointing out these lines is someone who should know…John Vojtech, two time winner at the IPMS USA Nationals. He was adamant about this subject hence his pointing it out while were were inspecting various aircraft.
Wow, thanks for all the info guys! There’s definitely some stuff in there that I hadn’t thought about, coming from an armor-building perspective. I suppose my biggest shortcoming right now is that my aircraft reference section is basically…not there. Can you guys point me towards any good online sites you might be using?
Those panel line pics are quite interesting. It’s been a long time since I’ve looked at any real equipment up close…forgot how distinct the panel lines really are.
Not all panel lines are as distinct as those. You just have to look at the subject closely.
I spend a little time thumbing through the magazines at Barnes & Noble, if I find a particularly useful one I purchase it and add it to my reference library or stick it inside the kit the topic covers. Then when I am ready the references are handy.
Watch your local schools and public libraries for book auctions, you can sometimes find some rare treasures there too.