Fiddler WIP Part 3 - Weathering step 1, oil discoloration

This is my 3rd post regarding this build, and I am getting into what I would like to be the focus of this WIP series, weathering with oils. First a few thoughts on how I look at weathering.

1. To mimic the weathering that takes place in real life I feel like you need to work in layers.  The much that you find on a tank, or the sleight discoloration that you see on equipment that is left out side did not occur over night, it happened over time, layer upon layer.  I think representing realistic weathering in modeling is best done the same way, layers.

2. Oil paints.  I really like using oil paints for realistic weather effects. I have a bin that is full of enamel paints, oils paints in tubes, brushes and orderless mineral spirits, this is the core of what I use for weathering.  When oil paints are applied over an acrylic surface, you can easily erase, mix, move around and blend the oil colors while safely leaving the bottom acrylic layer safe.

3. Patience.  Oils take time to dry, and steps need to be taken between applications to ensure that previous work is not disturbed.  Some modelers do not like "steps", this process takes time, and patience, if you are not willing to learn them, experiment with them and use them, maybe oils for weathering are not for you. 

So what are my "layers" that I use to create realistic weathering effects.

1. Primer - a good primer goes a ling way to any project.  Often times with the type of weathering I like to do I am masking, scrubbing, rubbing and scraping the surface.  A good primer will keep paint from peeling.

2. Quality paint - I use p3, Tamyia, and Vallejo paints.  I find there colors to be very vivid and for the most part the coverage is great.  For heavy paint chipping I do prefer to use Vallejo and Tamyia paints over p3.  I find the p3 gets a little "gummy" when trying to do paint chipping.  This layer will sometimes consist of multiple layers and includes the layers of the paint chipping, and the top layer, along with any other colors that may be used to create the effects that I am after.

3. Surface discoloration - This is typically my first layer of oil paint weathering. I will go into more detail later about how to this layer works and the purpose it serves.  This layer also helps to tie together all the paint chipping you have done, and kind of helps to unify everything.

4. Panel discoloration - This is the second layer I do where I will pick random panels or areas of a model and alter the base color of the model slightly, either making it darker, lighter or change the tone slightly.

5. Specific Weathering - This final layer is where I will go back to some of the chips I made, create rust streaks, grime streaks, or emphasize some chipping.


These are just some of the general thoughts that I have regarding how I approach weathering a model, onto talking about surface discoloration.


To start with here is an image of the model I am working with and the supplies I am using.  You will need a paper towel, brushes, Odorless Mineral Spirits, mixing cups, a palette and of course your paints.  I picked 3 specific colors for this part of the process, Yellow Ocher, Dark Rust, and Starship Filth. The first 2 colors are pretty warm colors, I did this because as you can see in the photo my original surface is pretty cool.  The third color I picked, Starship Filth is a pretty cool dark grey, this is an attempt to just even things out a bit.  The whole purpose of this initial layer is to create the general discoloration that comes from exposure to the elements.  This weathering is applied all over the model and will change the final color, so when choosing your base color, keep in mind that it may be different than what you intend the final color to be.

The process is started by dipping a wide flat brush into the mineral spirits and then "wicking" as much of the excess off on a paper towel. Then take this brush to the area you intend to weather and brush the mineral spirits on to the surface.



This is an image of the area before applying the mineral spirits.

Here is the same area with a coat of the mineral spirits.  This is probably a bit more than I should have put on, but I was juggling a camera in all this, I actually let this layer evaporate a little before moving on. You will notice that the surrounding areas are flat.  I prefer using a flat surface when working with oils, I know there is a lot of back and forth on this topic, but the way I look at it is canvas is a flat material, so maybe keeping my surfaces flat will help me work with the oils better.

The next step is to randomly apply the chosen oil colors all over the area.  There is no rhyme or reason to this, it is random and will all be blended together to create a nice, discolored surface.  I keep as many brushes handy as colors I am using, that way you do not need to rinse between colors.  As you can see from this photo as well, you do not need to be pretty about how the dots are applied. Also a word about color choice, there is no right choice.  If I wanted to enhance the cool look of the original surface I would have gone with dark browns and blues and maybe some green, but I choose to go warm so I went with reds and yellows, the choice is yours, experiment and don't be afraid to mess up, you can fix it easily with oils.

The next step is pretty simple. Get yourself a second wide flat brush(remember your first one was used to prep the surface, a second one will be used to blend the surface), dip it in your mineral spirits and "wick" as much of the excess off onto a paper towel, you will need to experiment with how wet you want your brush to be, but the basic idea is to begin to work in a vertical motion working your brush up and down blending all the colors together.  If your brush is to wet, the colors will come off in one or two passes.  If your brush is to dry, you will smear the colors all around, it really is about finding a balance that reflects the look you are after.  I like to work is small sections at a time, it helps create variety in the over all appearance and allows me to easily step away for a bit and come back again if I need too.

Here is an image at about the half way point.  I have completed the center cockpit area and the surfaces to the left of that.  You can see the clear difference between the left and right side of the model.  Notice how the chips on the left appear now to look more natural and the surface color appears blotchy and weathered in a very subtle way.  Even the decals now look less like decals and more like they were painted on.

Here is another image showing the top completely weathered.  At this point the model will be allowed to dry for 24 to 48 hours, and then sealed with an acrylic coat of Vallejo Matte Varnish and Future Floor Polish.  I will then move onto discoloring individual panels to really add some more depth and variety to the surface of the mode.



One last thing with these last two images, it kind of shows an unintended result of this process.  You can see how the oils paint has collected as a "muck" in some of the cracks and crevices, as I move on this will only increase and help show off more of the detail, although it looks like I need to go and remove a stray hair that found it's way onto the radar dish!

FIddler WIP Part 2

So I am back with part 2 of this wip.  I have gotten quite a bit done since the last post, but I failed to document it, because it was basic paint and weathering stuff that I have covered before, or will be covering in future posts on other projects.  With this project I would like to focus on using oils to weather and enhance the surface of the model, I will be demonstrating 3 specific uses, how to use oils to discolor a surface, how to use oils to create panel variation and how to use oils to create weathered effects.  That will all come in my part 3 of my WIP, but for now I just wanted to show some pics of where the project is currently at.

 I have always been a fan of the Naval Aviators known as the "Jolly Rogers", perhaps one day I will pick up a F-14 or F-18 and paint it up in those colors.
For now though I felt like using that scheme to influence how this mech is going to look.  I sourced some skull and cross bones decals and busted out my paints, airbrush and masking tape and went to work.

Here is the result so far.  A quick rundown of the colors used for the base coat was a 50/50 mix of VMC Neutral Grey and VMC Off White.  I also through in a drop or two of VMC Blue Grey, and VMC Flat Earth.  The end result is a color that is a little more blue than I would have liked, but I like the final result so far.  When I bust out my oil paints I can modulate the color a bit then. 

Anyway my custom color was applied over a dark grey automotive "etching" primer.  I find this product is great for use with resin and it creates a really nice, durable surface that paint will adhere to easily.

The grey color was applied via airbrush over the primer is a random pattern, basically I airbrush a lot of squiggles over and over an area and slowly build the color up.  This results in a finish that has varied amounts of the dark grey primer showing underneath.  I will be doing a tutorial of this on future projects to better describe the process.  In this picture that I posted I have a 1/35 scale figure I have been working on to provide a sense of scale.

After I got my base layer painted I went in and started to add in my paint chipping, and some alternate colors.  The yellow areas were masked off then taped and the white areas were hand painted.  I really wanted this model to heavy a heavy used "urban" look.  When I go in with my oils I will not be doing a lot of rust, probably just more grime and what not.

After the paint of course came the decals. Here is a close up of some "fiberglass" decal that I added on the front nose area.  I think it kind of gives the model a ED-209 look.  I am kinda of thinking this is more or less some kind of optic or sensor array that allows the pilot to obtain a virtual image of the world outside the cockpit.  You can also see the Jolly Roger I added as well as some decals along the left side of the image that actually have a pilot name there.






Finally here are a few images of some of the weaponry. The rounds on the belt feed are not completed yet, as are some of the other details as well.  This is because of the weathering I will be doing, some details will need to be cleaned up after the fact anyways. Next post will be the oils and the process that is involved in using those!!

Fiddler WIP Part 1

This is the first part in a mulit-part process documenting the build up of the the Fiddler Mech by White Dragon Miniatures.  It is a really cool original design, it comes in 1/35 scale, but if gamers were interested in using it in systems like Infinity or even 40k, it does scale nicely with 28mm figures.

In this project I am going to attempt to replicate the pose of the Mech that is in the artwork on the White Dragon Website. When I saw this artwork I knew immediately I wanted to build it.

The kit is a multimedia kit consisting of mostly resin pieces and some brass rods for the barrels on the weapons.  I felt the packing was a little lax as far as the pieces went.  They were organized loosely
into 3 bags and then packed with foam.  I think some better thought could have gone into organizing the spurs.  There is a lot of pieces in this kit and it was hard to keep everything straight at first.




 I found the pieces of the kit to be, for the most part well cast, albeit a little soft on the details in some spots.  The 2 areas I was disappointed with the most was the wench and the greeblies around the shoulder joints.

There was a few parts that the casting was quite horrible on.  The lower leg sections seemed to suffer the brunt of this miscast.  In addition to the legs there were several pieces that had  sleight mold lines, sometimes I feel like the small mold lines are at times worse than the big ones, to me it seems like it takes more effort to putty and clean those, than it does the large ones.  But, this is resin and semi-professional casting so I am willing to live with some imperfections.

Over all I am really happy with this kit and I am looking forward to finishing it.  I have already seen a few wip's on it, with a variety of colors, but I think I am going to be going with a light blue-grey color.  I have also sourced some appropriate scaled decals to add a bit of realism to the over all build.

Onto some build up info...

So have assembled the Fiddler into its major sub-components, upper and lower hull, weapons and base.

 During assembly I also took care of some of the softer details, I replaced the wench with a scratch built one, and I drilled out all the anchor points as well to add a little more detail to the model, at this point I am not sure if I will be doing anything to the detail on the shoulders as it is all well hidden when fully assembled. I am pretty much ready to move forward with primer and paint, I am going to need to wait a few days for the snow to stop before I can prime, but once I do I will get more pics posted of the progress.

Here are a few more pics of my favorite part of this model, the big ass gun!!