Painting "careworn" powerarmour ?

[Brother Clavero]

 I was reading the  short story "Reflections in Blood" by James Swallow concerning the Knights of Blood. In this story, the Knights armour (pewter/metallic), is said to have a "careworn" appearance,  not neglected or "decrepit or falling apart". My question is how to best represent this look on a model? I'm planning on using Leadbelcher as a base but passed a wash of Nulin oil I'm at a loss on how to achieve a "careworn" look. Does anyone have any ideas for this?   

[Valkia the Bloody]

I would go with lots of scratches and also parts of armor that were replaced/ have a slightly different color.

This is armor that is cared for, but which is also under duress, maybe replacements are hard to come by.

So they have to use what is at hand.

I see it like a much beloved older car, which is well cared for, but has scratches, maybe one door has a slightly different color and the side mirrors definitely come from a different model. Pretty much like my 20 year old Toyota. I loved that car. Best car I ever had. Reliable, indestructible but maybe not a winner of a beauty contest.

[Slave to Darkness]

I just googles careworn metal and all I got was some dodgy metal band. Eww...

[Brother Tyler]

Applying weathering techniques to likely contact areas is a good start. Things like the toes, kneepads, elbow pads, forearms, and hands are obvious. Also consider places where you expect regular contact to be made with things - places where weapons are stowed, extremities that might bump into narrow vehicles/structures, etc.

 

Then look at places where your figure may have sustained recent damage in combat, applying scratches, dents, scorches, etc. If your force is themed for fighting against a certain foe, you may apply thematic damage (e.g., fighting against Tyranids might result in claw marks, fighting against Asuryani might yield lots of shuriken marks, etc.).

[JeffJedi]

Maybe mix agrax earthshade with nuln oil and wash then bring back to leadbealcher so that it's only in the deepest areas.

 

Make the highlights with bright silver but don't make them straight, more like the edges were scraped to silver.

Edited January 15, 2022 by JeffJedi

[Brother Clavero]

Thank you all for the replies!  Thinking about it, The metallic parts should be fairly easy to weather, the only other colour on their powerarmour is red at the shoulders, chest eagle, and bits on the power pack. Those red areas are where the wear will really show up I think.

 

Valkia the Bloody: Your Toyota sounds exactly like a 1980 Nissan Datsun that I had once upon a time!   

[N1SB]

 I was reading the  short story "Reflections in Blood" by James Swallow concerning the Knights of Blood. In this story, the Knights armour (pewter/metallic), is said to have a "careworn" appearance,  not neglected or "decrepit or falling apart". My question is how to best represent this look on a model? I'm planning on using Leadbelcher as a base but passed a wash of Nulin oil I'm at a loss on how to achieve a "careworn" look. Does anyone have any ideas for this?   

 

Brother, quick reply, let me give you an alternate take.  I just thought of this, gotta go to Warhammer Store, so it's short but important.  The Red Toyota analogy i think is spot on, but "careworn" is a thing.  The only other time I've heard this is in regards to old aristocratic manor houses.

 

I once heard what took me a minute to realise was an insult, "He buys his own furniture."  This came from a British lord, proper aristocracy...he's never had to buy furniture or a house in his life, because his family had so much land and manor houses and all the furniture you'll possibly need.  It's polished smooth by hand, not from housemaids or valets, but generations of aristocrats resting their hands on it, etc.

 

That ancient furniture, sat on by lords and knights for centuries, is "careworn".

 

The biggest example in the world, imho, isn't British, she's French in origin, but now American: the Statue of Liberty.

 

The Statue of Liberty is now like this beautiful turquoise, she's iconicly that colour...but she wasn't supposed to be.  She was metallic bronze, supposed to be like shining gold, "Send the homeless tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the GOLDEN door."  The oxidation turned her into the colour we know, that's a careworn patina.

 

You see that in old nobility estates, the gates, the door handles, usually bronze, they look like they were spraypainted brass then washed with Nihilakh Oxide Shade.  They take pains to keep that worn look.  You hire some cleaning guy and he uses some chemical treatment to remove that, the butler will hang himself.

 

Seriously, think of an old Techpriest lovingly maintaining that power armour.  He never wants to take off the patina, it's part of her beauty now.

Edited January 16, 2022 by N1SB

[Bung]

Another Take would be old but still in use tools and mashines.

Look at the Rally old Singer sewing mashines.

How the metal handles are dulled down by use and hand sweat.

[Brother Clavero]

Thanks for the replies!

 

N1SB: thanks for the writeup! I had never thought about it in that way before. 

 

After reading  The Devastation of Baal"  by Guy Haley, it seems that the Knights of Blood were utilizing any non marine for blood to soothe their "Red Thirst" and to stave off the "Black Rage", so probably, there would not have been many thralls or chapter serfs around to help clean the armour like in other chapters.  The story "Reflections in Blood" predates "The Devastation of Baal"  but the impression that I get from Sentor Jool and Gabriel Seths conversation in TDOB, this had been going on for a while so its possible that the lack of serf help was a contributing factor to their armours appearance.    

[Jukkiz]

Are we looking certain kind damage or just worn through generations look?

something like this?

[Chaplain Raeven]

It's basicly weathering without the neglect like rust and verdigris.

- Bare metal edges on painted armour/gear

- Scratches without rust, just a bright line of untarnished metal.

- Metal parts with darkened recesses from oil or age, shiny high spots by constant use.

 

Jukkiz' example is pretty much spot on.

[Brother Clavero]

Thanks for the responses!

 

Jukkiz: Nice pics, but yes, those could be used nicely in spots. I'll probably go with a mixture of slight damage but worn, not necessarily "through the generations" look but more like, "this armour could stand a new paintjob and tidying up a bit" look.    That's the impression I get from the short story, now, if I were to go Devastation of Baal look, then rents, scratches, dents, and a general dose of nid ichor covering everything would be the way to go I think!

[Moonstalker]

Perhaps Google some images of "EDC" "Everday Carry," stuff, particularly looking at pistols (maybe try "carry pistol finish wear"). When carried, handled, used, etc every day, the edges and corners take the brunt of it. If they weren't rounded down to begin with to make carrying it more comfortable, they'll lose any sharp corners/edges, and you see a lot of bare metal around the rims. Think about edge highlighting, but with a metallic paint.

 

[Brother Nathan]

I'd read care worn like over taken care of. Like if you ever watch antique shows and they over polish something and it soothes detail off. Or when you see something polished through its layers of paint. Old steps worn away with use and rain.or like in some parliament building a lucky statue or piece of cloth is stroked for luck. Hundreds of times per day... over the century's wearing through grime and removing oxidisation. What does this mean on a marine. Anything. Older components kept and cared for. Some details not as crisp but still bright and cared for. Areas of wear different from normal... anything that rubs being realy shiny. Armour well oiled and cared for. Tools for care.more veneration of tech marines and armoury. Rarer newer marks. Likely more knowledge of previous wearers. I'd near guess most would know which parts belonged to whom. Could well think of their armour like the mandolotian does and moreso than most chapters. Plenty of fluff scope as well as conversions and paint.

[Leonaides]

Interestingly - the Blood Angels know the names of every marine their geneseed is descended through and the names of every marine who wore each piece of armor. The genelines must be required memorializing (hypnotherapy presumably) and the armor has each wearers name inscribed inside it when they take it on. 

 

All this is according to the Rafen books of course, but its a nice nod. Rafen recognizes one of his dead squad-mates names on a new/replacement piece of armor (i think its a glove as the name is written in the wrist cuff IIRC) that he is fitted for at one point and he also recognizes the name of a HH era marine as being a previous bearer of his own geneseed.

[Brother Clavero]

Thanks for all of the great replies!

 

kitwulfen: Your post got me to thinking, so I laid out my dad's things that he brought back from WWII and also my service weapons and uniforms (I'm retired police), and gave them a good study. Taking your and the other posts into consideration, I think that I now have a firm idea of "careworn".  It seems that even cloth will show this in its seams, shoulders, etc. basically, any area that comes into regular contact with something else. Like the example that you posted, it really is expressed on dark (blued)  metal. 

Side note: I would have loved a Colt 45 but when I started in 1988, we were issued S&W 686s (a six shot revolver) and when I retired in 2020, I had a Glock 40 cal. Never quite made it to that 45!