Tutorial: How to make a winter white winter camo part 2

On this second part of the tutorial, we will see how to use oils and enamels.

For this tutorial, we will use the upper hull of the Tiger 1 as exemple.

What I'm using:
Thin Brush N°00
Flat brush N°3
Round brush N°2
Custom made round brush, I used a round brush with hard bristle and cut the top Enamel Thinner Piece of sponge

AK Interactive enamels:

AK017 Earth Effect

Abteilung 502 oils:

ABT002 Sepia ABT170 Light Grey

Humbrol enamel:
34 Matt White

This is the hull after the chipping phase on the white colour.

The first step consist of creating chips: With bare metal colour and others with lighten tones used for the original camo.

Now that we have created all the chips and scratches on the paint, start the next phase: The oils and enamels.

For the oils using the sepia and light grey from the lights and shadows set by Abteilung 502, for the earth colour I'm using earth effect enamel from AK and of course also in enamel matt white from Humbrol.

Similar to the dot technique used for the weathering, here using white, sepia and light grey. The white and light grey must be placed in the area already covered with white in order to highlight them. Also this will give a nice contrast between area where the white paint is almost intacts with others where it is faded giving more richness to the model.

The earth colour is used mainly where dust or mud will be accumulating like on the fenders or the side skirts.

With a flat brush wetted in thinner (it is important to get your brush barely wet and not flooded with thinner) with vertical movements from top to bottom we will blend the various colours.

Once dry, few rust streaks are added to increase the aspect of the tank being on the battle field for a long period.

Once everything is dry, this is the result:

Now with the hull set in place:

Once more, you can see this isn't hard to get a nice and realistic effect very quickly and easily.

How to weather tank tracks

How to weather tank tracks

Depending if you are using plastic or metal tracks, you won’t get the same aspect, even more if you are using your tank outside.

In this tutorial, I’ll be weathering 2 kind of plastic tracks: Tiger 1 tracks, they are without rubber and U.S. T91E3 track with rubber.

What I’ll be using for this:

Acrylic colours:

Tamiya:

XF-9 Hull Red, XF-10 Flat Brown, XF-64 Red Brown, XF-52 Flat earth, X-18 Semi Gloss Black and XF-16 Flat Aluminium.

Washes:

Vallejo rust effects wash

Lifecolor LPW 07 Eroding Dark Rust, LPW 08 Eroding Light Rust

AK Interactive Streaking Rust Ak 013

Pigments:

Vallejo Dark Red Ocher 73.107 and Brown Iron Oxyde 73.108

Home made Graphite Black (made out of pencil)

After a coat of primer, I’m applying various layers of Tamiya acrylic brown tones randomly:

XF-9 Hull Red, XF-10 Flat Brown, XF-64 Red Brown, XF-52 Flat earth.

Once dry, with a brush I’m putting washes once more time randomly but on the parts less in contact with the ground.

On the rubber tracks, it is the time to paint the rubber pads. For them I’m using a mix of XF-1 Matt Black mixed with XF-57 Buff (80%-20%). You will have also to damage a little bit the rubber pads with a sharp knife (being careful for your fingers) to simulate the damages made to them as on the top picture.

Once completely dry, I’m dry brushing a mixture of X-18 Semi Gloss Black, XF-16 and Graphite Black. (75% - 10% - 15%)

Followed by some rust pigments:

While, on the rubber tracks, it is time for a dust wash followed by a dry brush with XF-52 Flatt Earth mixed with XF-67 Buff (75%-25%)

Of course depending on the operational theatre, you must match the mud and dust colour you’ve applied on your tank.

Now it is time to work on the inside of the tracks, where the wheels are in contact with the metal.

As you can see the track pads don’t show any wear (for the moment).

Time for the dry brush. I’m using a mix of Humbrol enamel: 21 Gloss Black and 191 Metalic you can also use metal cote gunmetal 21004 after a quick polish on it.

I’m using a custom made brush that I use only for that purpose.

First we need to put masking tape on the sides of the tracks where the wheels are not in contact with the tracks.

Once done we can start our dry brush. You must know exactly where your tank wheels are in contact with the metal of the tracks. In this example I'm using Tiger 1 tracks, in this tank 3 lines of wheels are in contact, also don't forget the guide horns on the inside, track pins and connectors on the edges and sides.

Here is the result once the masking tape is removed:

How to make rust effect tutorial 2: Peeling rust

Next chapter on this tutorial about rust:

How to create peeling rust:

What you will need for this:

- Various rust tones with acrylic paint. They have to be MATT
- Your model paint colour must be SATIN
- Maskol
- An old brush to apply the Maskol

First of all, I'm applying layers of rust tones with acrylic paint.



Let's take this Tiger 1 model as exemple:

Here you can see I painted a first layer of rust tone, on the side (the darker area) as well as in front of the grill, I applied Maskol with an old brush where I want to get the peeling effect on the paint.

Once it is dry (the Maskol must me transparent) I'm applying a coat of base colour on top of the it. Depending on the effect you want to achieve, you can superpose various layers of paint to represent the primer colour then your model colours. 

  

I let this coat of paint dry completely.

On this model, I wanted to represent too a burned effect on the paint so I putted chipping fluid followed by a layer of black. 

To know more about the burned out effect please check the Burned Out Tutorial. 

Now, with the help of a toothpick, we will lift some parts on the Maskol where we want to have the peeling effect.

On the next step you can use rust wash and pigments to get the result you are looking for.

This technique works on flat, inclined or vertical surfaces.

Another exemple on the side of the turret:

As you can see it isn't hard to get the aspect of the paint peeling due to rust of heat.

Now it is your time to try it, good work folks!

Rust effect tutorial 1: Rust

In the case of the M41, I paint it first with various Tamiya acrylics to get the rust tones:

XF-64 Red brown, XF-68 NATO Brown, XF-10 Flat Brown, XF-9 Hull Red, XF-7 Flat Red, X-6 Orange, X-24 Clear Yellow and XF-1 Flat Black.

For better details you can paint some area with a sponge.

Always remember where you putted the areas you want to show when you will be removing the camo paint.

Once it is dry, I used the Chipping effect from AK Interactive, you can also use the same product from Ammo or Vallejo. If you don't have it you can use hair spay.

If you are using hair spray you must do first a test on an old platic kit of sheet of plastic as some hair spay can react with the paint.

I'm covering the areas I want the paint to be removed with the Chipping liquid, you can apply it with an hairbrush or a brush. Once you can see it is dry, you must apply the camo or paint layer including the mapping directly.

In the case of this M41, left outside for many years, I used various Tamiya acrylics green tones as:

XF-5 Flat Green, XF-67 NATO Green, XF-71 Cockpit Green and XF-2 White.

Once you can see it is dry, you can start to work on the chipping effect, using water and a brush. Your brush must be wetted and not flooded with water. Apply water on the surface, wait a little bit and brush the surface from top to bottom. You can also use a toothpick or a thin pin for other kind of chips.

The areas more damages or more worn must have more chips than other areas.

On the next step, I'm using various enamel washes and grime.

If I'm using enamels and not acrylics or water based products is simple to understand, the base is acrylic, if I'm working with acrylics it won't react the same way, also the acrylics have a faster driying time than the enamels.

You can use already prepared washes or you can do them your self with enamel colours and thinner.

Finaly I'm putting some rust tone pigments (light, medium and deep) with and old brush on some areas.

If you want to fix the pigments, you can use diluted mat varnish.

The final result:

That's it for this one, if you have any question just ask.

Don't forget if you have an old model try it first on it.

Remember less is more, don’t over do the effect or you can ruin your model.

How to make US Army wooden crates quickly

Whatever it is for a diorama or storage on a vehicle, crates are always welcome. 

Like this one:

I used balsa wood to create them.

Model 1:

Out balsa strip of 10 mm X 2 mm we will create the box itself. 
Out of 4 mm X 1 mm we will create the lid and bottom.

   
You need to cut first 2 boards of 35 mm length and 2 of 16 mm.

Once done, glue them with cyanoacrylate glue (super glue)

Take great care to get the corners squared as well as getting it flat.

While it is drying, we can now work on the lid and bottom of our boxes.

For this, out of the thin balsa you must cut 4 boards of 35 mm length x 4 mm. Sometimes it is hard to get 4 mm strips, so you can use wider ones and cut them to 4 mm.

I'm using a piece of 1 mm/1 mm to get the lid centred allowing me to set the crate in open or closed position.

For the bottom it is better to glue them directly. 

ET VOILA!

It took me between 4 and 5 minutes to do one, so that’s why I’m saying it is quick.

Of course now you can weather or paint them and get a result like this.

So what I’m doing is, when I have some minutes left in a day, I’m making one or two of them.

Weathering Tutorial Part 4: Streaking (Grime, rain marks and oils)

These streaks on the colour are due to grime, dust, mud, liquid leaks, rust, rain etc. Streaks are only applied on vertical or sloped surfaces. For flat surfaces we will use another technique describe on the dust effect chapter.

Colours I used for this are enamels:

Humbrol: 
Khaki Matt 26
Radome Tan Matt 148
White Matt 34
Black Matt 33

Model Master: 
Burnt Umber
Burnt Sienna

Vallejo rust streaks AK 013
Vallejo Dark Streaking Grime AK024


Tools: 

Thin brush N°1
Flat brush N°3
Enamel thinner

Streaks:

With a thin brush I'm taking some grime I made with Burnt Umber (dilution ratio of 60% paint and 40% Thinner), you can also use  products like AK or Ammo streaking grime. 

The most important is to use an enamel based product as we already applied enamels (or oils) on our model, any water based product won't react properly.

I'm drawing thin lines on the sides on the model, from top to bottom. The lines must have different size and length.

After 2 or 3 minutes, with a flat brush wetted in thinner for enamel I'm stumping the lines with vertical movements from top to bottom.
Don't overdo it or you will remove it completely.

You can repeat it various time or also vary the colours used until you are satisfied.

Like here in some areas I added some lines of khaki. 

Here is the result, it have to be subtle.

We are not looking to get a Tiger stipes look!

 

Let it dry completely before going to the next step: Rain marks.

Rain marks:

Rain marks are due to the water or rain flowing down over the dust and mud.

I'm mixing light grey with buff (Radome tan works too) diluted with thinner.

Rain marks have to be drawn from bottom to top. 

After few minutes, we start to blend them with vertical movements from bottom to top.

Again you must let it dry completely before the next step. 

Rust streaks:

For the rust streaks, you can use specific products like AK Rust Streaks, or use enamel paints. In that case I'm using Burnt Sienna for the orange red tones and Burnt Umber for the darker tone.

First have a look at as much real rust streaks as possible. Also you have old and fresh rust streaks. 

The streaks have to start also from some previously painted chips or rusty panel also painted before.

Of course depending of the operative situation of your model you must add more or less rust streaks. Some models like used on the Russian front with very hard weather conditions will means more rust streaks. On another hand, vehicle used in desert condition will not have the same kind of streaks.

Also the rust colour will vary from orange for fresh rust to deep brown for old rust.

!!VERY IMPORTANT!! 

BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE PLACE WHERE IT START. EVERYTHING ISN'T MADE OUT OF STEEL.

Two techniques are recommended, the first one is to blend the streaks with a flat brush wetted with thinner. With this technique the center of the streaks will loose intensity. I would recommend it as a pre streak.

For the second one, once the streak is done, with a thin (brush N°0), wetted (never flood it) with thinner I blend the streak first on one side, second on the other side. With this technique, the center of the streak keep it intensity. 

Again let it dry before getting to the next step.