Below are my tips on weathering. I am by no means an expert so if other modelers have additional techniques it would be great if you could share them with us all, on this thread.
First it is worth discussing why people weather models. Weathering is used to bring out the detail of a model or to simulate the look of 'used'. Even, if for example, you were building a motorbike you wanted to be in show room condition you still may want to do use some weathering techniques to bring out the detail.
these are my weathering rules...
1. Research the look you are after. It is very easy these days to search the Internet for images that can give be a gide to how your weathering should look. For example if you are building a Tiger tank and want to capture a used in the desert look, then look at the images of the modern tanks that have been out there for some colour images.
2. Understand the material you are weathering. I don't mean the model material although that is important also, but the real thing. For example for light weathering you may want to simulate worn paint and you need to know what was underneath. WW2 German tanks were all camouflaged in the field. During the middle part of the war the base colour was dark yellow, applied in the factory. so you would simulate wear on the camouflage with the yellow base colour. I will demonstrate this later. Secondly if you are weathering down to the base material know what that is, so you don't put a used steel look on aluminium or plastic!
3. Have a story in mind. For me weathering needs to be structured and have a reason otherwise you are just doing it for the sake of it and will end up looking random. I have seen many models where the weathering is overdone and defeated the object of adding realism, for example I have seen countless tanks with blackened gun muzzles, but this never happens in the real world!! ship guns yes, tanks and AFVs no. Always remember less is more!
I am going to start with a technique developed in the late 1980s by Verlinden. Verlinden manufacture diorama accessories predominantly for military kits and they developed a weathering approach that became the benchmark in the modeling world using washes and dry brushing. The idea is simple washes highlight the recesses of the model and dry brushing highlights the raised surfaces giving depth shade and light to the model. It is excellent for textures such as buildings, roads etc and works well on machinery and vehicles if not over done. It is often used on figures also but I don't like the look so only do washes on figures.
How to do a wash...
I use artists acrylics for my washes because they are easy to thin with water. Personally I don't use thinners for washes because of the way and speed of evaporation. The principle is that the wash settles in all the recesses or collects around the base of raised detail. As the water evaporates the particles of paint pigment concentrate where there is still some water eventually all collecting in the recesses as it dries.
This is a heavy wash and I have libraly washed the entirety of the wheel with a wash of Raw Umber. The more water you add the lighter the wash becomes, you will have to play around to understand how much water to add.
Don't be tempted to wash large flat areas as the wash will pool and it will dry like a stain.
Where you have detail within a large flat area, such as this late production Tiger 1 turret top, then apply the wash with a fine brush to the detail you want to highlight, in this case the cupola and hatch rim. you can see how the light has gently added some depth and highlighted the weld seam.
I have added some black to the Raw Umber for this piece of wall and done a full surface wash. at the bottom I have added more black. Black is not a good wash colour you should never use just black it is to harsh and muck is not black even a dirty oil should be a very dark brown or grey.
one your wash is dry you can dry brush. Dry bushing takes some practice, but the principle is very simple. dip your brush in paint then wipe it all off (don wash it off) when there is seemingly no paint left on the brush gently draw the brush over the raised surfaces of your model, a fine coat of paint is added.
This is the late production Tiger 1 wheel we gave a heavy wash of Raw Umber.
Dry brushing with the base dark yellow brings back the raised detail. its very subtle but you can see more clearly what happens on the camouflage pattern in the turret top. I have done a heavier dry brush on the cupola the more you go over an area the more paint you put down in this case it has brought out the gentle pitted detail of the cast on the cupola. If you were doing a modern tank in the gulf war, where the desert yellow got sand blasted away revealing the green paint underneath, this is the technical you would use; but be careful over doing it will look wrong. On the wall I have done the left side in the base colour note how the darker area at the bottom gives an more aged look. on the right I have used a light colour to show you the contrast that dry brushing gives. Using base colour, wash and dry brush you can have three layers of different colour.
So that's the basics of highlighting but there is more that can be done lets consider rust next...
Rust occurs in different ways it can be textured or translucent take a look at this tank captured in Iraq (my Photos)
If you look at the area were bolts hold on the rubber flap, you can see how a wash of red oxide followed by a dry brush of base colour could emulate this. To emulate rust I use a combination of paint, wash and chalk. You can get chalk from any art shop or hobbycraft.
So starting from the left on the turret top. On the first hinge mounting of the hatch I have painted in neat Daler-Rowney Rich Transparent Red Oxide. If you wanted to add some texture for say an exhaust manifold, you can add some baking powder to get a grainy flaky look. On the other bracket mount I have applied a wash and then drawn it out to simulate water run, you can see that the large flat surface rule still applies and it looks more like a stain! But if you look at the run I have done in the center you can see a difference. to do this run I took a very fine brush and painted the wahs down and then back up this draws the pigment back to the top, once dry I overlaid with a darker wash drawing down only a third of the way then back up, I think that looks much better. on the cupola you can see chalk. chalk is subtler but can give an impression of early surface rust this is done by using an old brush with the bristles cut back to a stump I mixed an orange and brown chalk (you do this by rubbing in the bristly brush on the chalk to get a powder, mix the powders together then dapple the brush onto the surface, blow away the excess and then with a normal brush gently dust over to blend. Below the hatch there are two other surface rust effects. on the left I have used a cut down brush to dapple wash onto the surface to emulate rust spots. then on the right I have used a darker wash (less water) and dappled until they join up to simulate a full rust surface.
If you want to emulate paint that has been worn off, on say a grab handle, then you can simply use a HB prepelling pencil. I have over done it on the photo to show the effect. Simply rub the pencil over the edge you want and it will look like worn or scratched paintwork.
It is possible to recreate bubbled or flaked off paint work. start by painting the base colour that you want to be seen under the flaked off paint. then with a cocktail stick dapple some pva glue on the dried paint. Once dry paint over the top coat and allow to dry, you can leave like that for bubbles or you can lift the glue off with a knife from the top center of the blob for flaked off.
Finally dust.
I use chalks for dust. create the chalk powder as described above, then brush onto the area you want. I have done one half of the Tiger wheel below in a desert dust (pale yellow chalk)
On the wall I have created a burnt look by piling the powder at the bottom of the wall and drawing up with my finger.
So I think that is it. Like I said at the start, I am no expert, but if you try the above and experiment you should get some different looks for your models and move away from the out of the box look.
I would love to see other peoples ideas on this
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
US
