Its been a long, long while since I’ve posted here (The High School thing is keeping me pretty busy). I have taken Christmas Break to try to finish my Tamiya 1/35 M5 Stuart. I have it assembled except for some stowage and it is painted and weathered with all the grime and other “stuff” I would expect a tank to collect out in the field. So now, my question:
How do you add 3-d mud or caked on dirt or anything like that? I have painted it to look like it has kicked up alot of dust (or atleast I think so[:P]), but I want to add some mud and dirt on the front by the hedgerow cutter.
David, don’t laugh when I tell you about the last mud I made. I went to the back yard and picked up some dirt and some grass. I sifted the dirt until it was almost a fine powder. I then mixed it and some of the grass (that I cut into VERY small pieces) with a little water and Elmers white glue. After mixing it, I applied it to the surface of the model and let it dry for a day. The color looks like it should…dirt. You can apply it with a toothpick and have chunks of dirt, or you can smooth it out a little as well. If you want a little gloss to it try some Future.
i have hear modelers using coffee grinds, sands, putty or stuffs from outside like mm23t mentioned. there is alot of things u can create a mud-like. Just be creative but of course takes practice. I havent done it yet but might will when i start on my tank later on.
I mix Mig pigments with a few drops of enamel paint thinner until i get a thick sludge. I then stipple this on with a brush where mud would collect. HTH!
First is MIG pigments used with MIG pigment fixer or MIG acrylic resin and PVA glue-it’s good because any shade or texture is dead easy to make.
I also use Tamiya’s new Diorama Texture Paint-it comes in three shades of mud brown from dark to light sand and they have a green colour too, it works a treat.
Obviously I don’t use mine in Dioramas (yet), I just slap it on my models wherever I want and you can easily change the tones of colour by dusting pigments on top. It dries ROCK hard fairly quickly and when it’s half dry it can be shaped and moulded.
Cool, thanks for all the help guys. I’ll probably just try the natural dirt one for now and try to pick up some of the MIG or Tamiya products next time I get some money.