Feeling Like a Forge World...

Quick weathering experiments… 

The forges of my spare bedroom have been churning and there are now 10 tanks lined up ready for weathering. Not bad for a weekends work! The arrows are just plasticard arrows that for whatever reason I had not put on when I snapped this pic! 

As for weathering, I’m aware that in the past I’ve gone a touch overboard and slightly amateurish with my weathering attempts (see the razorback below - excuse the old photo), but there have been instances when I think I’ve got it right, for example the casing on the las cannon and, to some extent, the chipping on the fuel can.This is more the gritty but realistic feel that I’m going for.

So, on with a series of experiments with two slightly different approaches. They both start out exactly the same way, so i’ll start with that and then move on to the bits that I’m still umming and ahhing over. 

To start with I mixed some Vallejo Model Colour Black with some GW Rhinox hide (a lot more black than brown, maybe 80/20) and applied it with a sponge to areas that would see the most wear. To get a slight it of variation, a couple of these areas used the mix above with a touch of Hull Red. I then used a brush to pick out some more precise edges, and then went back with the sponge/brush combo using GWs chainmail. This has been pretty much a time honoured approach to basic weathering since citadel first put out miniature painting guides. The next bit is where I need some advice. 

I then started weathering the bottom, two slightly different examples are shown. In the first i dry brushed the bottom rhinox hide and then again with a slight mess of cavalry brown, zhandri dust and parasite brown. I need to fix the obvious brush mark bits, but being an expert amateur painter, i am more than used to fixing such errors!

For the second i just used light earth weathering powder.

I do think the second one looks better, but the problem is ‘fixing’ it. - These are designed for constant gaming use after all. Even using the airbrush (which I struggle to do in my poorly ventilated flat) the varnish I apply just takes it much darker than i want. BUT i do like the way the powder clumps up in corners.  

To be honest the first is a lot closer in colour to the second (which is my preferred dusty tone) than those images make it seem, so i think in the end I will probably go with that method, as I feel much more comfortable with the way the process works, but then apply the weathering powder to corners and fix with a dab of brush applied varnish. I’ll have a further experiment and report back. 

Ooo also, mud definitely needs to be applied.