weathering

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

Hey Guys! Ok I’m looking for a easy way to bring out the lines and features of the kit I’m building. What is the easyist way to do this, here’s the snag I’m color blind and the colors don’t always look right to me, so I’ve always just skipped it. Now I want to try it again, I have been trying to accent panel lines with a pencil but it doesn’t look right to me (could be my color blind eyes). What about a wash over my model and will it look right? What is the best way to weather or accent or highlight features on the model.

2

There are many ways you can weather a kit or at least bring out details. I can give you a couple methods I have used and you can use one or all or none. They take a little practice to get the right look

  1. Preshading- First airbrush panel lines and recessed areas a darker color of the base coat. Then lightly spray your basecoat allowing the darker underlying areas to subtly show through. You can also spray the higher areas and the center of panel lines with a slightly lightened base

  2. Postshading- paint your base, then mix up a thin mixture of the base and add some brown or black to darken it (depending on the color of your base…just trying to darken it some). Lightly spray along panel lines and recessed areas. Again, you can then spray some lightened base towards the middle of panel lines and high areas. Should give you similiar results as option 1

  3. fading- a simple way to fade paint/make it look dusty is spray thinned Tamiya buff mixed with Tamiya thinner. I had been spraying this about 8 inches away, but I read a painting instruction by an excellent armor painter who says to do this more like 3 feet away.

  4. Washes and drybrushes…washes of burnt umber, sienna or black will make panel lines stand out. After it dries, dry brush the high points to make the details pop out. This isn’t really a weathering technique so much as a way to make details pop out

  5. Weathering poweders such as Mig or Tamiya’s weathering sticks. There are a few methods to apply these, usually in the instructions.

Hope this helps

3

I just can’t see that working. 3 feet? The paint would arrive dried into little clumps. I would think maybe closer than you, but yours seems right to me.

4

I haven’t tried it from 3 feet. Now I use acrylic and I believe he uses enamel. But either way, it is more thinner than paint so I would think it wouldn’t dry. Gotta test it out

5

True, I use acrylics too. Still, 3 feet away wouldn’'t allow much control.

6

I’ve done mist coating from about 2 ft. above the model for a general overall faded approach with enamels and it works well depending on the surface you’re working on and the overall affect trying to be achieved. I tried this with the 234/2 to blend in the camo with the basecoat and it achieved a nice effect. Trick is to have very highly thinned paint and just do very very light passes. The high thinner ratio means the paint is still carried to the model but dries relatively quickly so you can do multiple passes with a little care.

Note: I’m not and don’t play on TV the modeller that jason is referring to. [:D]

7

I think even 2 ft is to far away, hard to control the mist at that lenght.
Normally I sray about 1ft away, often time, less than that, and it is easier to control.
Just add more thinner to overcome the over color and spray at lower psi.

Ben

8

Got this from my model club meeting the other day… it was on a DVD from an IPMS national convention in Atlanta in which this award winning modeller (wish I could remember the guy’s name) was showing how to bring out panel lines with oils. After you’ve finished your paint job and applied decals, put a matte coat or dull coat on your model. Put a small glob of oil paint (preferrably Winsor and Newton, Raw Umber) on a piece of sheet styrene serving as your pallet. Take a number 3 or 4 brush and dip it into paint thinner. When moistened with thinner, dip the brush into the small glob of oil and wipe off the excess onto your pallet. Paint it into your panel lines and wait roughly five to ten minutes. According to him, any less will keep the effect too light, and any more will embed it into the dullcote. After the 5 to ten minutes, moisten a rag with thinner, and run it along the panel lines to wipe off the excess from your model. I haven’t tried this yet myself, but the effect he was able to create on the DVD was very nice. I’m planning on trying this technique on the model I’m working on right now. Hope this helps. Good luck to both of us!!! Dan in Virginia Beach

9

I use a Faber-Castell PITT artist pen “B” to shadow panel lines. It has a very sharp fiber tip and uses dark grey Indian Ink. It works well for me. I use this in addition to various colors of pin washes too.

10

Where do you buy those?

11

I got mine at an artist supply store. You might also try a university’s book store, as they usually sell art supplies too. Faber-Castell is a major brand in art supplies, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

12

TIPS: When buying Faber-Castell color pencil set, make sure to buy the set that includes the Silver color pencil. You will need it for scratch, outlinings, and weathering stuff.

Ben

13

Prismacolor pencils are also very handy. Wide range of colors, can be used to do shadows/shading, scratches, etc. Come in sets or as individuals. I picked up several at Hobby Lobby for just a couple bucks each and use them for a wide variety of things. One more tool in the arsenal.

14

I think Jason (Jwest) went over pretty much all of the major techniques you could try. I would try a combination of either preshading or postshading with washes and drybrushes. Getting a preshade and postshade to work right together is tricky, but it all depends on what kind of effect you’re trying to achieve. The natural progression of that is to use washes and drybrushing to enhance lowered and raised points, respectively. Misting works ok, just make sure you use a LOT of thinner, and very little paint, and work with several layers. Again, a technique that takes practice. Similar to that is a technique of applying filters. You can use complimentary or opposing colours to your basecoat. Basically, you mix a drop or two of paint with a lot of thinner, and make sure it is transparent. This is not a wash, you want even less paint and even more thinner. Then, just paint the model. Imagine looking through a tinted glass window. The colour of the window will alter the tones of whatever you’re looking at. This is a great technique for blending camo colours.

15

Thanks. I wanted to check before running out and looking.