Weathering

I like to airbrush a mix of gray wash thinned so much that the first coat is hardly noticable. Study the photos of your subject and weather those areas that are faded and dirty. The best models of German WW-2 aircraft I’ve seen tend to show weathering and fading but always leave the white areas, spinners, numbers, crosses, as pure white as the day they left the factory.

For scratches I like to use a metallic base and while the main coat of paint is still drying take a sharp scalpal (#11 blade) and start gently scratching. Time consuming, but injoyable.

See http://www.swannysmodels.com/Weathering.html

The stuff on washes is pretty good. Try Tamiya ‘smoke’ acrylic paint, thinned and brushed on then dabbed off with kitchen towel. The trick is to emphasise the panel lines without making the model look like someone’s smeared oil all over it.

Really, it’s all about experience, but it frustrates me when the modelling magazines blithley say ‘I then weathered the exterior’ without giving frustrated novices any idea how they achieved the fantastically lifelike exhaust stains, paint chips and so on.

One tip I have heard but not yet tried is to use pastels – grind conte crayons (apparently it has to be conte) into powder and brush on. You can then brush as much as you want back off again depending on how dirty you want the model to be, then seal with a coat of Johnson’s ‘Klear’ floor polish.

I used a mixture of pencil lead, with water and a drop of dishcleaner..and then liberally applied it to bring out the panel lines..the good part is that, with a damp kleenex, and with the direction of the cleaning being in the direction of the airflow, one can easily create the effect of soot on an aircraft..and one thing that you see most on aircraft is soot, apart from other discolorations.

Here’s everything you need to know.very good site this.

http://www.swannysmodels.com/Tools.html

Dose anyone know how to reproduce the effect of dented body work, on say on a fuselage.Its for a diorama i have planned.
dave

Something I’ve not really noticed on some models is the RE-application of paint in certain areas. Even with a spot of cordite or exhaust blow-back, they still look factory fresh!

There’s a famous shot of a Spitfire VB that’s been retouched with paint at various times – that’d be great (but hard, I imagine) to achieve.

Pencil lead looks pretty good for scratches etc, as long as you don’t overdo it

Hmm… my personal method for weathering models is to simply dip the end of the brush into my “dirty” paints (brown or black for dirt, silver for metal) and simply dab it on where I want, then wipe it off. Repeat it two or three times and it can be pretty good.

My Battle of Britain Spitfire VB is an example of it – especially the undersides.

I prefer drybrushing or light stippling.

The best advice is : a little is a lot . . .very subtle weathering is most effective! I dry-brush a lot, a little enamel on the end of the brush and gentle brush strokes.

i personaly have never seen them over weatherd. i have seen in badly done but never to much. i have seen pictures of ww11 planes realy desperatly in need of a repaint.

Do you find though some people over weather and “scuff” their models?

When “weathering” a paint job,prime the surface,then paint/spray the colour you finally want to see.Then paint/overspray “top” colours,and,when dry, useing fine wet and dry,rub back to get the effect you want.This takes a lot of practice,so get used to it on “scrap” first 😉 Also takes planning,to take in different effects for different parts of the model.

When I’ve tried it I’ve dry brushed exhaust stains but I tend not to do it too often.