Need help doing something new with metal

[War Angel]

I have a bunch of the sector imperialis bases and the realm of battle board. I want to do something different with some of the metal parts, and I thought it might look good to paint some of them to look like they were painted long ago, but though wear and tear the metal underneath is starting to show. I'm not sure exactly how to paint this, but I'm also unable to find examples of what I'm looking for and can't even tell what it should be looking like.

 

Does anyone have anything that can help? Also does anyone have suggestions on different ways to paint metal.

[N1SB]

Ya, like pieces of a tank and the paint's starting to strip off, exposing the metal underneath, like that?

 

It's actually really easy and will look really good.  What you do is:

 

- paint it up normal like before wear & tear

- then drybrush the edges with a light metallic colour (because paint peels off edges 1st)

- (bonus) take a small sponge or a corner.  dab it in the paint.  dab it in some paper 1st, then dab it on the area

 

We do this with our Imperial guard vehicles, to show they're a bit worn.  For actual debris, we'd just dial it up.  I'll try to upload an example when i can later.

[War Angel]

Thanks

[N1SB]

Hi Brother War Angel, sorry for the late reply.

Reason is, having some problems with the camera shots. It looks better in person, in that the tanks/titans here look worse, more worn, more beat up. I've a Nurgle-corrupted-Guard army so I was doing something similar to what you described to show rusty effects, etc.:

I cut into the miniature's armouring with pliers, leaving these ripped effects. Drybrushed a gunmetal colour, you'll see how it looks worn on the edges or the curve of the hunchback armour plate. That's just simple drybrushing. I also drybrushed browns and orange, because once paint strips off of something, it starts to rust. Easy to do, lots of fun. Another example:

If you see the front hatch and the gun platform in particular, it's pretty worn along the edges. Minor note, I also used a lot of Tamiya Smoke, this miracle ink you may have heard about before, on a lot of the large metallic bits to give it an oily, greasy feel.

Just some ideas. It looks less metallic under this lighting, the reflection is so strong it just looks like highlights. Sorry about that.

[War Angel]

Ok, so you suggest I use a lighter metal color, as opposed to a dark one with a lighter follow up

[N1SB]

Ok, so you suggest I use a lighter metal color, as opposed to a dark one with a lighter follow up

 

I found it looks better with just a lighter metal colour from experimenting.  I tried Leadbelcher.  That didn't look "good".  On a lark I tried Stormhost Silver.  I thought it'd be too bright, but it looked about right to me, "realistic", and I covered up the Leadbelcher entirely because it looked better that way.

 

That's my experimentation, drybrushing metal as the last highlight to show wear & tear.  it's both effective and quick imho.  But you have a big board...you might want to try a darker shade or different things.  Like maybe that Dust colour, like the place is covered in dust.  I kinda want to paint a big board now too.

[War Angel]

There's plenty of room for help lol, I've got a lot of options ahead of me. I'm trying to do something different with the boards and sections so it's not just a copy and paste of one thing three times

[Grotsmasha]

There is a way to do what you're looking for. I've only read about it and seen the results, I've never tried it.

How it works is you prime the vehicle, then paint the area's you wish to show damage completely in your browns, rusts, metals. Then you varnish those areas. Then sparingly dampen the area and apply nice, big, chunky rock salt. Then (preferably) spray Undercoat your base colour, then paint the vehicle as normal, all the way to highlights. Then gently rub the rock salt areas, removing the rock salt and revealing the damaged surface beneath. When done correctly, it looks unbelievable.

 

EDIT: http://www.scalemodelguide.com/painting-weathering/weathering/apply-realistic-paint-chips-salt/

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Rik Lightstar]

I tend to use a sponge for this, buy a "bathroom sponge" with a decent variety of holes, and then slice off the size section you need to stipple the area you're doing at the time.

 

Then I use a couple of colours, normally a dark brown, a dark silver and a light silver to give varying stages of the "chips", either rusted, old or new, in different quantities.

 

Rik

[BrotherEndcat]

One thing I figured out a fair few years ago was the whole sun-fade idea. You know when a car is left out in sunny environments with no shade to protect the paint from fading? Yeah this.

 

From memory (haven't done this in probably 7-8 years);

 

1 - paint your metal area as standard no weathering.

 

2 - then I would combine 3 parts lahmian medium (or another medium equivalent) with 1 part light grey or bone colour depending on the base colour.

 

3 - apply not over the whole piece, only small areas where sun would be hitting the painted metal most directly.

 

4 - apply rust, chipping, and what N1SB has done as well!

 

disclaimer - havent tried this in a long long time so experiment on some sprue plastic or something see how you go. i think this would still work but yeah, try it out.

[Brother Tyler]

I wonder if techniques used for achieving a distressed look on furniture might work for achieving a similar effect on miniatures.

 

There are two methods that I've used.

 

The first involves sanding, and this has two subsets. The first subset is to paint the furniture, lightly sand (or use steel wool) areas where wear and tear might occur (corners, handles, etc.). Stain is then applied. This method is probably least applicable to resin/plastic models because stain wouldn't work (unless you applied a light colored paint to the worn areas before applying the stain/glaze/wash/ink).

 

The second subset is to paint using the old color(s), with the main color last. Then lightly sand to remove outer layers, with lower layers of paint showing through.

 

In both of these sanding subsets, you would have to be very careful about the sanding/grinding so as not to damage the plastic/resin underneath. You are also very likely to have areas where you remove paint down to the plastic/resin, so some paint will have to be applied after the sanding/grinding. Ultimately, instead of sand paper or steel wool, I recommend using a light burnisher to gently rub away paint in areas where you are most likely to experience wear and tear.

 

The second method, I think, is more applicable. With furniture, you apply vaseline/petroleum jelly to areas that you don't want to paint. I recommend using a liquid painting mask instead of vaseline/petroleum jelly for plastic/resin miniatures, though. Using this method, you build up to the final/outer layer.

 

In all likelihood, the weathering techniques that others have mentioned are probably much easier and work very well for the desired effect. Practically speaking, you might combine both tradiational miniature weathering techniques and (modifications of?) the furniture distressing techniques I've described.