Tutorial: How To Do Realistic Damage And Weathering

[tenfingersofdoom]

Everyone on this site does amazing work on their armor and paint jobs. However drybrushing silver paint on top of everyting takes away from the realism. there are 3 secret ingredients to making realistic damage that work much better than drybrushing. One i'm going to show, the others i wont because i started this really late at night and didnt want to go shopping.
The best way to do this is:
[attachment=9842SCN0419.JPG]

yep. mustard.
take your armor and put on an undercoat of silver where you want paint to be stripped away.
[attachment=9843SCN0414.JPG]
i'm just using a random chunk of unpainted styrene.

Now paint the mustard on in the shape of the damage you want to make, for this tutorial i did a scraped edge and a bullet or plasma hit.
[attachment=9844SCN0415.JPG]
let the mustard dry out and then paint over it. once the paint is dry you then scrape off the mustard and there you go[attachment=9845SCN0418.JPG]


the other 2 ingredients you could use are rock salt and cold water. just paint wet rock salt on the areas you want chipped, let it dry and paint over it. This method is much more brittle and easier to mess up, it doesnt stick to anything but flat horizontal surfaces, and even then you can't bump it without having everyting break apart.

That's why a mix of rock salt and mustard would work even better.

Also, an excellent putty that can be made that doesn't shrink, crack, break or warp, yet dries instantly and is sandable is a mix of baking soda and super glue. just pour the baking soda into the place you want to fill, smooth it, then pour the super glue on top of that. Dont breathe the vapors or have skin anywhere near this when you mix it. Depending on the super glue you use you could burn your eyes or the lining of your esophagus or your skin. Generally the thinner the super glue the more dangerous it is.

 

[sharkhead7854]

Aha! Improvising at it's best
Some people on the site have also found success using the same method but using vaseline (petroleum jelly).
Good info though on using baking soda and super glue as a filler

 

[HaloFreakX]

Well, this certainly was a creative one! You could do some with toothpaste and latex brush-on which can be found at craft stores.

I just hope it won't smell funky in those spots, lol

 

[seaninja]

Nice tutorial. I might use it for my weapon cases and/or armor. The only thing I would be concerned about would be the paint chipping off too easily.

 

[Shaymin Sky]

ZOMG! COOL!

 

[FalseKnightmare]

i use hobby masking film...i think that mustard will be a bit cheaper, ill have to try this!

 

[BFDesigns]

Rubber cement also works very well. Pick up a rubber cement "pickup" at your local art supply (AC Moore, Michael's, Hobby Lobby) cuz you'll need it. Apply the rubber cement to the area that you want masked, spray over the rubber cement and wait until the paint is totally dry, then use the pickup to take the rubber cement right up.

 

[Cadet]

I've been using toothpaste for the vast majority of my weathering over the past year and have gotten good results.

 

[BFDesigns]

Not to thread hijack but here's a result from the rubber cement method - flat camo green over silver. It's kinda nice cuz it will give you some interesting fade effects when applied with the built in brush.

To get the best results, try to apply it thickly and try to let it dry almost completely before you spray over it, kind of like when you're doing a double surface bond with the stuff. This was rubbed off with my finger so don't worry about what I said about needing the rubber cement pickup.