Ok, now a real tough question for you. I have been building armor for several years, but I guess you could say that when I'm "finished" with the kit I'm affraid and go on and weather the tank or whatever I'm building.

http://hem.passagen.se/tbviper/4.html

I guess the picture in the link shows my problem pretty good... I guess no tank had the "off factory" look for long out in the field. Have made a little attempt to weahter, but the "fresh out of factory" look still remains on the paint...

http://hem.passagen.se/tbviper/17.html

So, now I would like some pointers on how to weather a tank, and get a good look (without having an airbrush). And low budget is a big tips.

And please remember that I'm new to weathering so try to keep your explanations simple.

Well, that's all for now, but I'm sure ll be back with more questions...

Welcome Thomas,

Altough it applied with planes this url would give you a pretty good and simple idea on how to weather armor. My best advice will be : Practice on some scratch first and never ever overdo weathering. Bad weathering kills the model, but good weathering on the other hand gives you a real kick !

http://hem.bredband.net/thomaskolb/art/models/weather_e.htm

Good luck !

Thanks, that helped a little, but a follow up question.

What kind of paint is best to use when doing washes, acrylics or enamels.

And what thinner is best, I'm mainly using Humbrol enamels.

Howdy Thomas,

First, a warm welcome top the site. Second, regarding your query on weathering AFV's, I'll point you to the 'Features / Sections' of this site. Click there, and read the article entitled 'Weathering Heresies' for a good all around info on weathering.

Tread.

...and further on, under the Armor & AFV's section there is another fine article on 'Weathering & Drybrushing'....hope that helps!

Tread.

The articles have been printed, and I'll have a look at them as soon as I'm of from work.

Hello Thomas,

Are you using brush for these models on your website. I would suggest to get an airbrush, that makes weathering a bit easier. I do washes, as well as drybrush. But I really like the effect of a coat of air brushed buff or sand color on my AFVs, and I also use chalks for weathering, also a reasonable effect. I have only been doing weathering for last 6 AFVs, and it's not hard to get a hand of it, but need a lot of practice. And also need to read a lot, this site is great for this.

Good luck and welcome abaord.

No airbrush... not yet at least. But at the moment I can't afford one.....

If you just want to buy a cheap airbrush for practice a good idea is to buy one of those Testors airbrushes. There is an all-in-one kit for aout $25. It includes pretty much everything you need. It can help you practice with an airbrush until you have the money. Unless you are trying to save up a lot of money for a high quality airbrush this is what i think i would do.

Mark

Mark, I second that.

Thomas, it seems that the Jagdpanther you had built is from Tamiya. It's an expensive kit. If I were you, I would use the money for my next 3 or 4 kits, to buy a good airbrush, you will be much happier with the result. I just came back to Armor modelling for 6 to 7 months. 90% of my money spent on it goes to all the tools I need (that includes airbrushes, and compressor, etc). only 10% went to armor kits and AM items.Once I got my tools set up, I enjoy this more. But of course this is just me.

I wouldn't know it the Jagdpanther was expensive or not... Got it on my birthday...

Thomas,

Just start with an old plastic sheet or something like that. carve and fold that plastic sheet and then paint it in one colour.

After painting, get an old brush, dip it in some paint and just tap it onto a piece of paper until there's no more paint comming of the brush. Now start moving the brush up and down the painted piece of plastic (or wood or whatever) and watch what will happen.

Try the effect on sharp edges, slight curves and so on.

Once you've seen the effect, try to use a bit more paint, DON'T tap off the paint, and find out, by moving the prush up and down over the sheet again, how easily you can make a mess of things. Once you''ve seen de difference between little and too much paint, you can experiment to your hearts content.

Once you get the hang of it, cut of some piece of styrene from the leftovers of the kit and pretend it's a piece of the actual model. Handle and paint it like it was supposed to be a barrel or something like that. After painting, try the simple and cheap weathering technique a described above. Use different colours that are near the main colour of the test-object.

Learn from the results of this test and improve skills from here. a few more tips I want to give you:

- People can describe and teach you their techniques, but it's your hands that must do the trick. So practice a lot.
- I prefer the most soft brushes that money can buy. The brushes last almost forever, so it's good value for money.
- Look before you paint and weather. Like a photographer, you must be able to see the tiniest shades. Take pictures for reference, since the human eye is easy to cheat... (put a man in a white shirt under a tree on a sunny day. You see a man in a white shirt, but the foto shows you.......a man in an GREEN shirt)

and for the rest.......practice , practice and......practice. Your hand can do magic, only you have to do is to try and to be patient.

I'm sure some day you'll show us the results on qhich you an be proud of !!

Go For It !

Great advice, Danny, and a great link, too. Thank you. You've certainly helped this pup.

Mike

woof!

:)

Hi,

Master Sergeant EAGLE you are a MASTER. You also helped me a lot.

Thanks.

I was facing the same problem today. The Schwimmie looking so bright and shiny...and I was afraid of proceeding with weathering...
On my way home I bought a couple of pastel chalks. So many times I´ve read here how people use them to weather and I just couldn´t believe it. Now I can´t believe how EASY it turned out to be. In ten minutes I got the look I was aiming for! The best thing is, it washes off easily.
Oh the happiness!

Toni :-)

I'm going to apply a wash to my Sherman next week... This'll be my first time using a wash. Any advice?

Hi Thomas
Im in the same boat as you... no air brush. My first 3 or 4 models were painted a little like yours. Then I discovered all the pages about washes and dry brushing. I stripped all my models and started agin. I have only painted the one colour schemes at the moment. I buy humbrol enamel sprays.... Wentzels in Stockholm and also Panduro Hobby and Biltema have a a good selection as well (not hunbrol but good and cheap). I then wash directly over them with a little oil and humbrols enamel thinner. Then dry brush with the base colour I sprayed the model with and a little white added. Then a second dry brush witha little more white. Viola. At least Im happy.. for now. Im gonna get an air brush after the summer. But as Im interested in Dios I spend a lot of time there as well. I use humbrol enamels otherwise.
Take a look at these. I have been doing this for 8 or 9 months now.
http://photos.yahoo.com/frank_glackin
One thing I believe is that washes and drybrushing hide some little mistakes as well. Jump right in, its not that hard. Send me a mail if you want to know more,

Are you describing me? :-) :-) That is exactly the same thing that happened to me. But then I discovered the wonderful world of weathering. That's a tongue twister.

Mark

I agree with some of the other posts. You need the right tools to not only make your AFV's more realistic, but make it more enjoyable in the process. You just can not get the same result using a paint brush. I suggest you get an airbrush, it will make your life much easier. I too used to paint my tanks with a brush. But now I couldn't imagine not using my airbrushes!!! :-)

I seriously second this. For me my airbrush and my compressor was the best investment I made in this hobby. Why buy 5 kits now and brush paint them that 3 years from now on you don't even want to display them because they are not exactly painted the way you wanted or you can save that money to get an airbrush and start to paint the next model with result that you can be happy with for a long long time?

Just my opinion of course.

I disagree!!!

I hated using an airbrush. Noisy, messy, smelly things. I found airbrushing greatly reduced my enjoyment of the hobby. I brush paint only. That means that some camo patterns are harder to do, but I don't think an airbrush is an essential tool.

My opinion only, but you can brush paint without leaving brush marks. It's just another skill, like learning to use an airbrush.

Andy

Andy,

can you post some picks of your models. I really like to see your results. I'm pretty good with a brush myself, but I think I'm not that good with it that paintbrushing alone will do my trick. I keep on grabbing my airbrush everytime.

Maybe your pics can persuade me to practice more on my paintbrushing skills.

Eager Eagle is willing to learn...

Hi Danny

Look in the Diorama gallery and the Figure gallery. The items are listed under my username, herberta.

The schwimmy, Mobelwagen and Luchs are all brush painted.

I have some more things to post soon, and I'll provide a link.

Andy

I know how you apply chalk to models. (rub some on...) But, how do you get the chalk to stay on? Would a typical clearcoat suffice? Interesting.... most interesting....

YodaMan