scifibuckets
New Member
Hi there,
I have had a few people ask me about my painting and weathering process so I thought I should post this in more detail.
For a base, I use acrylic based spray paints, These are the brands I use:
Humbrol Acrylic spray , Montana gold , Army Painter.
I use all of these, although my favourite is the Humbrol acrylic spray MATT, I only use Matt acrylic sprays as gloss ones DON'T work with this process, I also prefer the MATT look of things and I don't like things looking ''new''
For this helmet I used White army painter and Humbrol Sea grey and Tank grey
Step 1
Priming and base coating the helmet.
Step 2
Painting, the parts have been painted in the colours needed, using the acrylic based spray paints.
Step 3
After the part have been Primed and painted, I go over all the edges, recessed parts and any areas where two colours meet with a black in my airbrush.
This helps the paint get into all the edges and corners and helps it look a bit more extreme, but most of this will get washed away.
Step 4
I go over the whole helmet with a black acrylic wash. This is watered down black acrylic paint.
I use one rag that isn't very absorbent to move the wash around the helmet and then another ones that is absorbent that will pick up the extra wash and help dry the surfaces,
If you want it darker add more wash, If you want it lighter use water on the second rag and rub it a bit harder into the surfaces, this will help bring some of that wash out and help lighten the surface.
The aim for this stage is to remove most of the airbrushing we did previously and leave it in the recessed parts and edges, it also gives the surface and nice weathered and non-uniformed look with darker and lighter patches.
Personally this is the least amount of weathering I will do, this is what I would call ''new looking'' nothing crazy but has some more depth to it. and I think this is a good universal method anyone could use and then after this is when you can use your own methods.
Step 5
More airbrushing, so this part can vary for your personal style/preference but what I like to do is repeat step 3 with the airbrushing on the edges to darken them
This helps to get ready for the silver I will put on next.
Step 6
Silver, for the silver edges/scratches I use silver rub'n'buff and a sponge brush to get a more uneven surface when applying the silver, and helps to get into some of the darker to reach edges, I used to use cut up pieces of sponges, but now I use the brushes.
Step 7
This isnt much of a ''step'' but this is when I paint the silver parts using the same silver paint and brush, not going to heavy with this so I get a nice un even surface with some slight darker parts.
Step 8
Pigments, I have recently been using pigments to help make some more weathering with some dirty spots.
Step 9
Cleanup, with this stage this is usually done after I have not seen the helmet for a while so I have been working on something else, or usually gone to bed and taken a look the next morning.
This silver is difficult to remove, but because it was on top of the black we can use a wet rag and remove the silver and any black, there was some silver that I removed so it wasn't too symmetrical and also removed some of the black that didn't make much sense.
That is pretty much it,
If this helps anyone I would love to hear it, or if you have any other ways you do your weathering,
I used to do some different methods, but like I said anything after step is really up to you and what you like to do.
I have had a few people ask me about my painting and weathering process so I thought I should post this in more detail.
For a base, I use acrylic based spray paints, These are the brands I use:
Humbrol Acrylic spray , Montana gold , Army Painter.
I use all of these, although my favourite is the Humbrol acrylic spray MATT, I only use Matt acrylic sprays as gloss ones DON'T work with this process, I also prefer the MATT look of things and I don't like things looking ''new''
For this helmet I used White army painter and Humbrol Sea grey and Tank grey
Step 1
Priming and base coating the helmet.
Step 2
Painting, the parts have been painted in the colours needed, using the acrylic based spray paints.
Step 3
After the part have been Primed and painted, I go over all the edges, recessed parts and any areas where two colours meet with a black in my airbrush.
This helps the paint get into all the edges and corners and helps it look a bit more extreme, but most of this will get washed away.
Step 4
I go over the whole helmet with a black acrylic wash. This is watered down black acrylic paint.
I use one rag that isn't very absorbent to move the wash around the helmet and then another ones that is absorbent that will pick up the extra wash and help dry the surfaces,
If you want it darker add more wash, If you want it lighter use water on the second rag and rub it a bit harder into the surfaces, this will help bring some of that wash out and help lighten the surface.
The aim for this stage is to remove most of the airbrushing we did previously and leave it in the recessed parts and edges, it also gives the surface and nice weathered and non-uniformed look with darker and lighter patches.
Personally this is the least amount of weathering I will do, this is what I would call ''new looking'' nothing crazy but has some more depth to it. and I think this is a good universal method anyone could use and then after this is when you can use your own methods.
Step 5
More airbrushing, so this part can vary for your personal style/preference but what I like to do is repeat step 3 with the airbrushing on the edges to darken them
This helps to get ready for the silver I will put on next.
Step 6
Silver, for the silver edges/scratches I use silver rub'n'buff and a sponge brush to get a more uneven surface when applying the silver, and helps to get into some of the darker to reach edges, I used to use cut up pieces of sponges, but now I use the brushes.
Step 7
This isnt much of a ''step'' but this is when I paint the silver parts using the same silver paint and brush, not going to heavy with this so I get a nice un even surface with some slight darker parts.
Step 8
Pigments, I have recently been using pigments to help make some more weathering with some dirty spots.
Step 9
Cleanup, with this stage this is usually done after I have not seen the helmet for a while so I have been working on something else, or usually gone to bed and taken a look the next morning.
This silver is difficult to remove, but because it was on top of the black we can use a wet rag and remove the silver and any black, there was some silver that I removed so it wasn't too symmetrical and also removed some of the black that didn't make much sense.
That is pretty much it,
If this helps anyone I would love to hear it, or if you have any other ways you do your weathering,
I used to do some different methods, but like I said anything after step is really up to you and what you like to do.
