Antarius' "Heavy Rust" Recipe

[Antarius]

If, like me, you want to do a lot of heavily weathered/rusted metal and, like me, you are kinda sceptical of most of the rust products out there for whatever reason (if you don't want to play around with solvents, you're too poor/cheap/clever to invest in expensive hobby products that just do the one thing, or maybe you just don't feel that they look right on your models etc.), well then you're in luck.

I just remembered this recipe that I've used to good effect in the past and now I've written it up for you on my blog: 

The recipe is easy, cheap and quite satisfying (at least that's how I feel about it). You just need an old brush and/or sponge and a couple of brown acrylic paints, as well as your steel colour of choice. I hope you find it useful!

Edited October 17 by Antarius

[Firedrake Cordova]

I think it came out well, but like you say you've got to be careful with the metal application - I don't know if it's worth applying it in a more targeted manner with a regular brush, rather than drybrushing it on?

 

The result of the rust colours looks similar to those from a pigment-based tutorial, which is a good reference.  

[Antarius]

On 10/18/2024 at 12:49 PM, Firedrake Cordova said:

I think it came out well, but like you say you've got to be careful with the metal application - I don't know if it's worth applying it in a more targeted manner with a regular brush, rather than drybrushing it on?

 

The result of the rust colours looks similar to those from a pigment-based tutorial, which is a good reference.  

Thanks! And yeah, you can definitely apply the metal "scratches" in a much more targeted manner if you like. I think I used to do them with a sponge, which actually worked quite well for a natural looking "semi-random" effect - but that was on vehicles and terrain, so maybe a more targeted approach would be better for infantry size models.

I wasn't aware of that video at all, thanks for linking it! It was quite interesting but, not to toot my own horn too much, I also think it highlights why I generally like to do most stuff with acrylics and techniques if I can. Generally speaking, I find that you can buy a ton of products and have a process with a lot of steps that doesn't always produce a markedly better effect than just using what you already have lying around