Monday, October 21, 2013

Weathering to improve realism

As you might know, weathering is the act of treating a model to make it look it has been exposed to the elements, both natural and man made.
There are some fantastic examples out there, but it is also something that puts people off, being afraid to over do  it and ruin a model.

However it doesn't need to be like that, and a few simple treatments can make the appearance of a model less 'toy' like, and isn't complicated or 'scary'.

See the below Before and After pictures.
All that was done to this hopper is apply a light weathering as follows:
- Using tempera pigment powders (any weathering powder or chalks will work just as well or perhaps better, it's just what I had on hand) and apply these with a soft brush and Qtips to the model. I only used three colours: Black, Burnt Umber and Raw Siena.
-Painting of the wheels in a rust brown colour (Humbrol RC402 in this case)
Dry brushing the trucks with the same paint (dry brushing is done as follows: dip the brush in the paint, wipe this brush off on a piece of paper until it almost doesn't let off any paint, and 'brush' the trucks. It is enough to accent some details ).

After I was happy with the results of the powders I sprayed a light coat of Testor's Dullcote over the model to fix the powders in place. (spray from about 8" away so you don't blow the powders off the model again).
Total time spend on this model, less than 15 minutes.
I could do a lot more, and I will in the future, but my initial plans are to treat every car on a basic level like just described, to make them look a bit less 'plastic', and more real, and then come back to them to add more intricate weathering etc.

Give it a try.

BEFORE

AFTER




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