Looking for weathering opinions...

Keycube

Well-Known Member
Hey folks. Looking to get a few opinions/critiques. New to the weathering gig, and I know I don't have the skill or patience to do some of the incredible detail work I see on here; so my goal is basically to be able to take a cheap toy and make it look a bit less like a cheap toy. :) Just a basic "grimed" appearance to enhance the realism.

I wanted a medium that I could wash off easily, was cheap, and readily available off the shelf. I tried this a few months ago with chalks and I didn't care for the look, so I thought I'd try dollar store eye shadow. :) On this AT-ACT, it's all black, except for the orange section that's more of a silver-grey, to take off the plastic sheen and (hopefully) look more grimy metallic. It took me awhile to get the hang of applying it; you have to kind of dab it on aggressively and then brush gently, but it tends to stick around the panels, which I liked.

A friend who's an artist told me I should try more colors, and I probably would on a lighter model, going for some "dusty" areas, but it didn't feel right here.

I'm basically just looking for something I could put on a shelf that looks halfway decent from a few feet away, and feel good about enhancing its stock look. Do you think I achieved that here, and what else would you recommend? I'd like to be able to have a basic routine I could replicate with other inexpensive models like this (so I don't have to worry about ruining anything too much). :)

Thanks!

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I think that looks good. You should try (if you didn't already) matte coating everything before weathering. It will give a consistent surface to work with, and will allow you to try chalk pastels again with better results. Matte coat again when done to fix it all in place.
 
Check out Cosplay Chris's videos on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/user/horrorfx. He has great ideas how to weather things in ways I hadn't even considered and it's cheap and easy too.

Especially check out his Jakks Superman and Batman customizing videos. It's insane how the before and after are so extreme and his work really shows off the quality of the Jakks sculpts, which the factory paint simply wasted.

I was amazed to find out that his main weathering tool was shoe polish.
 
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Check out Cosplay Chris's videos on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/user/horrorfx. He has great ideas how to weather things in ways I hadn't even considered and it's cheap and easy too.

Especially check out his Jakks Superman and Batman customizing videos. It's insane how the before and after are so extreme and his work really shows off the quality of the Jakks sculpts, which the factory paint simply wasted.

I was amazed to find out that his main weathering tool was shoe polish.

That guy is amazing! A couple of questions that you might know the answer to (I'm asking here because you're likely to see this before he would see a comment with that older video); why would he use Model Master primer instead of Rust-Oleum primer; and applying gloss paints onto another gloss paint isn't an issue in terms of adhesion?

Thanks!
 
Look online for a product called "PanPastels" they are like an airbrush on your paint brush. Amazing!

I picked up a couple of these yesterday and they seem pretty great so far. Will have to get used to them a little more but I think I may end up using them on my current model. Thanks for the recommendation!

Have you got any tips or pics of things you've used them on? (Not to hijack the thread but we ARE talking about weathering.)
 
It's really hard to beat good old artist's oil colors for weathering pretty much anything. Get yourself a tube of a black, Lamp black or Mars Black are two of my favorites. Dilute a dab with paint thinner and brush liberally all over the model, really goop it on everywhere. You'll be horrified at first but the great thing about oil paints is the more you wipe it down, the better it looks. just keep wiping the paint off the surface with clean rags, leaving some in the cracks and crevices. If you want to remove even more paint, moisten the rag with a little thinner. Artist's oils take a long time to dry so you can come back in hours, or even days and still take the paint off. If you're more inpatient for the oil paint to dry you can get faster drying 'alkyd' oils. For some brown rusty color you can use Burnt Umber or Burnt Seina colors.

There are several good examples of projects here which have used artist's oils for the primary weathering. Darkview's DeAgostini Falcon weathering is pretty amazing. https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=240711&page=48. And I used artist's oils on my Escape Pod model to pretty good effect, https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=260606

Good luck!
 
That guy is amazing! A couple of questions that you might know the answer to (I'm asking here because you're likely to see this before he would see a comment with that older video); why would he use Model Master primer instead of Rust-Oleum primer; and applying gloss paints onto another gloss paint isn't an issue in terms of adhesion?

Thanks!
I guess he uses what's available where he lives or what he prefers. Regarding gloss on gloss, I've honestly never heard of that being a problem even if you don't seal it with clear coat.
 
use professional materials like Tamiya weather kit. Dissolve material with denatured alcohol and apply with brush. Material wipes off should error occur (assumes you use automotive grade, or similar, finished (aka not real lacquer or acrylic that the denatured alcohol would dissolve immediately).

Same tech works with all pastel products too.
 
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