Hi all,

I'm not accustomed to writing tutorials or getting across complex ideas without waving my hands around so I apologise in advance for this post!

I was reading a thread discussing weathering and damage on models and as a modeller who has recently moved into military modelling I thought I would try to demonstrate some completely different techniques to those I learned at the knee of the ‘Eavy Metal team.

Firstly, please bear in mind the model I chose to do this on was bought from eBay already painted. I didn’t remove the paint and it shows in the surface in some of the pics.

Secondly I’m not a great photographer, these pics were taken at my desk with my phone.

Thirdly, I don’t claim to be an expert, I just want to show some completely different techniques. I’m not working to a finish here, I rushed this through in an afternoon.

I hope this opens some new avenues to you in your painting and gets them ever closer to that picture in your mind!

Step 1
Undercoated the model with Tamiya Super Fine. A fantastic product which when dry reveals a great cover without obscuring detail.



Step 2
Pre-shading. A technique from military aircraft modelling. Basically spraying round panel lines with a colour dark enough to just show through on the final paintjob. Very subtle and sometimes difficult to judge, but the results can be spectacular (they weren’t on this project in the end… bah). This is probably a good time to mention I use an airbrush, an Iwata HP-CH and worth every penny, alongside a twin piston compressor.



Step 3
Base colour. A gradual build up of the basic colour of the vehicle. Applied in thin coats and built to allow stopping when the preshading hits the right level. On this model I put too much on, meaning the preshading was too subtle later. This colour is a thinned Tamiya Desert Sand.



Step 4
Seal.
Once the base colour is on, it needs sealing. This is important as we will be mixing media between oil and waterbased paints and we want to keep them separate. I sprayed a floor polish on at this point. One of the best kept secrets of military modelling – Johnson’s Klear (in the UK). Military modelers use it for a million and one jobs, in this case – gloss varnish. This finish will allow me to protect the base colour and prevent the later oils seeping into the acrylic paint. That way I can add, remove, add, remove to my heart’s content.

Part 5
Detail. As is happens I should have done this before I sealed the base colour in, but I decided late that I was going to add a camouflage scheme. Slow, careful free hand airbrushing and we’re done. Ideally sealed in under Klear, and if it was a large pattern I would add another coat of Klear. As it’s so small I didn’t in this case.



Part 6
Filters
After completing the ‘out of the factory paint’ including decals it’s time for fun with oils. In order to unify the different colours I used a filter. This looks very like a wash, but the purpose is different. A wash is intended to build up and add shading, a filter is to adjust all the colours. If it pools in detail you’re adding too much. This filter was a very, very thin burnt umber artists oil paint thinned with white spirit. You can build additional layers after each filter dries for more powerful effects. The engine on the left has a filter on it. The right does not. The left’s colours are more ‘combined’.



The whole thing filtered.



Part 7
Washes
More fun with oils. Oil is different to ink in a couple of ways. It has a much lower surface tension so you get a better running action and smoother edges. It stays wet for much longer meaning you can adjust and change it easily (especially on a gloss varnish finish). Because we glossed the base colours they are protected and we can work safely on this stage till we’re happy. You can be a lot messier too because the excess wipes away.

A similar mix to the filter (but with more pigment) lamp black and burnt umber artists oils thinned with white spirit to add detail to panels etc.

You can see how carefree you can be in application here.

Part 8
Clean up
With kitchen towel or my finger, I can wipe away the excess wash. Always wiping in the direction of airflow where possible (on a slower tank wipe in the direction of water run-off). This leaves a crisp finish for the wash.





With oils it’s important to let them dry thoroughly before working again. If you apply wet oils to drying oils it will lift them. Put water based acrylic on top and it won’t sit. Alternating between oil and acrylic and a layer of Klear between them keeps things save.

Part 9
Damage
Now I’ll add some chipping of the paint. As this is a desert vehicle I’m assuming it was shipped from some other world and had the desert camo applied over the top. As such I’m chipping through to olive green (the previous camo scheme).

Sponges offer a great way of getting very small and very random chips. Put paint on the sponge and dab it off as if you were drybrushing, then dab on the model. This technique needs to be used little or it starts to look fake really fast!



Now some handpainted chips and scratches. Thinning the paint so that it is workably flat but not too thin that it is transparent, I make chips where I expect there to be heavy wear. The pilot’s canopy edges and next to the vent where he might step on entering the cockpit. Then adding small random chips, lines and scratches.



Where there is very heavy wear of the paint, it chips or rubs past the olive colour scheme back to the bare metal, such as on the step of the hatch where countless boots have rubbed.

Part 10
Fading
Another coat of Klear to protect and then I fade the paint. In a desert paint won’t stay the same colour as when applied. The areas exposed to high amounts of sun will bleach.
I added spots of titanium white artists oils on the exposed areas I want to fade and then with a brush only just damp with white spirit blend them in small circles on the horizontals.



Where appropriate instead of circles blend in the direction of airflow.



Part 11
Random bits
By adding random spots of oils (white and browns) then dragging them in the airflow direction, I can simulate some oil/water/bug/smoke marks. Only oils blend this softly because of their properties.



Part 12
Matt varnish
A final coat of Klear to seal and then a matt varnish to take away that horrible shine! This is when the whole thing really comes together and the plasticy finish disappears and you’re done!

Well it's 01:20 now and I'm sure my tired brain stopped explaining well towards the end.
I'll check tomorrow for sanity!

The model I've shown here won't win Golden Demon (total actual painting time around 1hr without drying time), but I hope it does demonstrate a completely alternative way of painting without using a single GW product or (afaik these days) technique.

Next of course for a display model would be pigments and dirt, soot, smoke, but for a gaming model they're not really practical in my humble opinion as they just rub off.

Cheers

T

Excellent Tutorial.

I'm impressed with the work put into this model and how well it came out. Do you use a similar method for crisis suits and fire warriors? I personally stick to the cheaper method of paint and brush with water but I recently discovered the glory of washes when I painted my warmachine army.

One question: When you were talking about fading the paint due to 'sun' exposure, did you spread those little white circles around to give that segment a lighter tone or did you just leave them be white bits? I couldn't tell from the walkthrough or the pictures.

Once again, great job.

Hi Ray,
thanks for your comments.
I have used the same techniques for crisis suits, it's tricky because they are so much smaller, but it does work.





The pictures are in chronological order so you'll notice the white dots in the fading are not present later. They have been spread about to make them very thin and just lighten the base colour. Of course depending on what colour your base, you may use other colours as well as white to lighten them.

T

Nice to see someone who has a more realistic approach to weathering than often gets seen. I still think the chipping is overdone on the devilfish, but that doesn't matter. I'll still be stealing some of the ideas though.

Seeing as you have an airbrush have you tried a technique called 'misting'?

I've yet to try it on any vehicles, but I understand it as using a 'fading' colour in your airbrush and spraying over the top of the model, so that the paint settles on it. It simulates sun-fading and dust collection.

Just another idea for you.

Thanks Prophaniti. Subtlety in the chipping wasn't my aim here, just to show how I do it. Of course the amount is down to personal taste in the end.
The finished fish is really not what I wanted to show, it was a vic.. volunteer for this.

You're more than welcome to steal anything there that takes your fancy, it's just to show some different ideas.
I have tried misting (I'm a big believer in letting the model do the work for you) but with limited success. For the final fade and dust I tend to use a very, very thinned buff colour and add it where it looks right. I might give it another go though now you've reminded me about it!

T

This is a really impressive tutorial! I'm yet to broach the subject of vehicles, but I'll certainly be pinching some of your ideas - especially the weathering parts!

Love the Crisis suits too!

Great work Tyto.
It's interesting to see other methods of painting, I especially like the idea of pre-shading. Have you tried the new citadel washes? Do you think you can get similar results from them as you've explained with the oils?

Rus'El

Thanks Rus,
I feel I might have to do a proper job on a kit to show these techniques properly. The thickness and poor quality of the original paintjob I got as a bonus with this devilfish shows.

I haven't used the Citadel washes. I believe they are water based, so they will work in a different way to oils. There's just something about the surface tension of oil that makes it behave very differently to water based paints. If I was painting figs I'd probably stick to water washes for speed (they dry so much quicker) but for vehicles oils offer so many options.

If there are any of the steps that I didn't make clear enough or if anyone would like more details I can do step-by-steps within steps (if you see what I mean!).

T

Very good article- thank you. Since I live in Austria it would just be very useful to know the german version of the brands used. I have never used oils before but think I might try this on a blachreach dreadnough Ipurchased recently (since my Tau are on the clean side)

Hi Cannonfodder, thanks for the comment.

I'm afraid I don't know the German brand name for Johnson's Klear, I'll see if I can find out for you.

The oil techniques work really well for washes and filters. One of the benefits is you have much more control over how much you want because of the delay in drying time. You can make it as clean or as dirty as you like.

I hope your experiment goes well!

T

I like it, how much does a good airbrush assembly cost?

-Eric

Hi Eric,
you can go crazy and spend fortunes! My set up cost me £200. If you're serious about airbrushing I found it pays to invest in a good rig. As I do a lot of military models it made sense for me. I can get a line finer than a pencil line at a push or as broad as an aerosol depending on how I set up, all with the same brush.

T

I bought a new camera yesterday (yes a proper one!) so I thought I'd see if I could get some better close ups of the weathering on the suits. I've also included some of an F18 in 1/72 scale to show the effect of oil washes and weathering when done with a little more care and attention!

I hope these show the results possible much more effectively than the quick devilfish!

This is a superb tutorial, easily one of the best I've seen on ATT.

E.

Thanks Eiglepulper, that's very kind of you.

T

I'm going to put this up as a Painting section direct Sticky, whilst it would work well as a R&D article, I'd rather this available more readily due to its content, technique and layout. Great tutorial, thanks for compiling this!

~ Tael.