by Eric Bergerud » Fri Nov 08, 2013 6:01 am
A year back I built the 1/350 AFV I-19 and decided to use it as an exercise in very heavy weathering with a goodly dose of rust. (I built it along with a Type IX Uboat.) Except for a Floquil primer I did I-19 entirely with my own brews made up of Golden and Triart artist acrylics, paints that I really like. The effort received a very chilly response here because - it had too much rust. Actually I don't think I was fighting history with a IJN sub - here's a photo of I-400 while surrendering after VJ Day:
I've looked a lot of photos and I live in a harbor city and see a lot of ships. I admit that in general I'd say ship models are under weathered. That said, if a warship has had moderate duty I'd be thinking much more of streaking and fading than rust - for one thing rust starts when the paint is damaged or worn - salt water will do that and it will fade and streak the ship. Nor would I apply heavy weather on a full hull ship. To my eye, it just doesn't look right. In the real world we don't see ships below the waterline, so I reserve weathering for waterline models - unless its a sub which you do think of sailing around underwater thanks to the movies. (I've only built two full hull ships and both were very moderately weathered: I'd do less if doing them again.) If, however, you're modeling a ship that's been in a lot of action, rust is certainly part of the equation - perhaps even a large one.
The key to rust is to think of it as a kind of process. If you want heavy rust it must vary in color. I would fade any general area that's getting serious rust. Then would come on a blotch of a very light color - something almost pink. If doing heavy rust you want it to get increasingly darker - ending with something like sepia. If you want rust streaks that will draw attention make some kind of chip with a dark acrylic and have the rust streak come down from it. There are lots of rust colored paints acrylic or enamel. There are also dedicated rust weathering brews put out by companies like MIG, or AK that cater to the armor crowd. They work. If you want some serious rust spots use some baking powder and pigments to give the stain a kind of 3D effect. You can also pick the pocket of the rust meisters found in the model railroad fraternity. They're very good at it and I use their techniques now. One "oldie but goodie" is the Rustall weathering system. It comes in four bottles - one is liquid rust (the real stuff - hard to beat it) that's very light and needs several coats to darken. (Also comes with a dye that serves as an all purpose pin wash, some extremely fine sand that I use for armor, and a bottle of water containing mica fragments that give a fascinating blotchy matte effect when used.) My favorite is Iwata Com.Art which is used by airbrush craftspeople doing almost anything but models. These are coarse acrylics and come in dozens of colors both opaque and transparent. You want transparent. There are three shades of rust, although light and dark are enough. It does not adhere well to plastic - which is what makes it great for weathering. It leaves a kind of blotchy surface which perfect for showing indistinct grime and wear. The stuff is also very forgiving: you can take it off the next day with some warm water. The I-19 below was rusted with acrylic rust colors, enamel streaks and rust pigments to give it body. I did a 1/700 Shigure that was weathered with Com.Art. If you want to get into this stuff seriously track down some of the DVDs or books by the armor gurus Mig Jimenez or Adam Wilder. Pics from yours truly below:
Eric
A year back I built the 1/350 AFV I-19 and decided to use it as an exercise in very heavy weathering with a goodly dose of rust. (I built it along with a Type IX Uboat.) Except for a Floquil primer I did I-19 entirely with my own brews made up of Golden and Triart artist acrylics, paints that I really like. The effort received a very chilly response here because - it had too much rust. Actually I don't think I was fighting history with a IJN sub - here's a photo of I-400 while surrendering after VJ Day:
[url=http://s971.photobucket.com/user/ebergerud/media/March13/15sub_zpsfa091ddc.jpg.html][img]http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae191/ebergerud/March13/15sub_zpsfa091ddc.jpg[/img][/url]
I've looked a lot of photos and I live in a harbor city and see a lot of ships. I admit that in general I'd say ship models are under weathered. That said, if a warship has had moderate duty I'd be thinking much more of streaking and fading than rust - for one thing rust starts when the paint is damaged or worn - salt water will do that and it will fade and streak the ship. Nor would I apply heavy weather on a full hull ship. To my eye, it just doesn't look right. In the real world we don't see ships below the waterline, so I reserve weathering for waterline models - unless its a sub which you do think of sailing around underwater thanks to the movies. (I've only built two full hull ships and both were very moderately weathered: I'd do less if doing them again.) If, however, you're modeling a ship that's been in a lot of action, rust is certainly part of the equation - perhaps even a large one.
The key to rust is to think of it as a kind of process. If you want heavy rust it must vary in color. I would fade any general area that's getting serious rust. Then would come on a blotch of a very light color - something almost pink. If doing heavy rust you want it to get increasingly darker - ending with something like sepia. If you want rust streaks that will draw attention make some kind of chip with a dark acrylic and have the rust streak come down from it. There are lots of rust colored paints acrylic or enamel. There are also dedicated rust weathering brews put out by companies like MIG, or AK that cater to the armor crowd. They work. If you want some serious rust spots use some baking powder and pigments to give the stain a kind of 3D effect. You can also pick the pocket of the rust meisters found in the model railroad fraternity. They're very good at it and I use their techniques now. One "oldie but goodie" is the Rustall weathering system. It comes in four bottles - one is liquid rust (the real stuff - hard to beat it) that's very light and needs several coats to darken. (Also comes with a dye that serves as an all purpose pin wash, some extremely fine sand that I use for armor, and a bottle of water containing mica fragments that give a fascinating blotchy matte effect when used.) My favorite is Iwata Com.Art which is used by airbrush craftspeople doing almost anything but models. These are coarse acrylics and come in dozens of colors both opaque and transparent. You want transparent. There are three shades of rust, although light and dark are enough. It does not adhere well to plastic - which is what makes it great for weathering. It leaves a kind of blotchy surface which perfect for showing indistinct grime and wear. The stuff is also very forgiving: you can take it off the next day with some warm water. The I-19 below was rusted with acrylic rust colors, enamel streaks and rust pigments to give it body. I did a 1/700 Shigure that was weathered with Com.Art. If you want to get into this stuff seriously track down some of the DVDs or books by the armor gurus Mig Jimenez or Adam Wilder. Pics from yours truly below:
Eric
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