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Retired War Veteran: WC-51

I wanted to try different methods to obtain a whole range of rust effects, so for the mud guards I went for one of Scratchmod’s (yes, Rob Ferreira’s) popular rust techniques. Real chipped paint can be created this way; it’s simple but very effective! An acrylic rust tone was airbrushed on, followed by a rust color oil wash (burnt sienna is my favorite). Rust pigments were then dabbed in to the wet wash, the pigments soaking up the wash. The final color was carefully sprayed on top of the pigments in different stages. After drying, the yellow paint layer was ready to be realistically chipped away (see photos 1+2 below).

The wheels were treated in the same way, and washes and pigments gave the look I was aiming for. (see photos 3+4+5+6 below).

In order to get the truck bed to resemble old wood the plastic surface was carved and textured a little with a file. I painted and finished this part of the Dodge the following way.

The entire truck bed was given a light wood color then the wood surface was masked with tape; an acrylic rust color was used to cover all of the metal parts (see photo 7 below). I then applied a ‘rusty’ oil paint wash (see photo 8) and while still wet, rust color pigments were immediately dabbed in (see photo 9). The faded green was carefully sprayed on (see photos 10+11). I went for several fine layers in order to keep the pigments intact. Peeling off the tape was fun as the wood underneath was revealed (see photos 12+13+14 below).

The green paint inside the truck bed was then chipped away with a combination of tooth picks and a short haired brush, and the exposed rust pigments fixed with pigment fixer. Now it was time to move on to the weathering of the wood. Different oil washes were the solution to create old rotting planks. The exterior was also finished in a similar way (photo 15), the result being a very intense weathering look (see photo 16).

Finally the wooden bed was ready to be filled with old bricklayer’s stuff. The centerpiece was a dirty, rusty, blue concrete mixer (see photo 17 below), an essential bricky’s tool of course! A cement encrusted bucket was made from Milliput, shaped to look as if it had been made from the bottom third of a cut-down oil drum (see photo 18). Two shovels (see photo 19), old planks, rusty chain and an ancient looking wooden wheelbarrow complete the composition (see photos 20+21+22).

I made a simple diorama base for the Beep - a forgotten place somewhere in the back yard (see photo 23).