Getting ready to paint and weather Academys Gulf War Sheridan.Can any of you Gents help Me out?I haven't done desert weathering before and was hoping to get some ideas.Dust,rust,chipping,fading?Thanks Jeff T.

I'd recommend using a lighter shade of your base color for a panel fade (lighter center of panel fading to regular base color as you get to lines or breaks) and heavy dusting.

Unless you're modeling an abandoned vehicle, I don't think there'd be much opportunity for chipping and rusting.

Regards,

Rich

Richard,thanks for the help.That's kinda what I thought.I could get the same result with a pre shade?J.T.

I would think that the sand would wear the paint on the road wheels and front glacis.

Matt...check the ger r done 3 campaign picture pages to see what I came up with. I think it looks pretty good. I did a pre shade with black,then sprayed some Revells Gulf War sand. After which I dusted on some Vallejo buff.Jeff T.

@Jeff

A few years ago (maybe 2005-2006 I think) I did Tamiya's 1/35 Challenger II as a Desert Storm build. I did the same as you, mostly. I primered the entire thing in flat black, then airbrushed a 50/50 mix of Tamiya's Dark Yellow and Buff. For dust, I used highly thinned Buff and sprayed upwards along the skirts for the effect. I lost most of the photos, but have a couple that I found backed up on an old USB drive:





Hope that helps. I'm not a big fan of mudding things up, as unless I see a picture it generally looks out of scale and overdone. I'm more of a subtle weathering type of modeler.

That's very nice work Matt. I'll have to try that approach with the 1/72 Abrams I'm building.

Tim

I'll see if I can dig it out and bring it to the October meeting. It's packed up with most of my 1/35 finished kits somewhere down here in the basement...

Gentlemen,now that I have access to my laptop here is how mine turned out...
This was my first desert paint job.There are a couple of things that I would do differently next time,but I don't think it came out that bad.Jeff T.

I've seen some pretty good results from colored pencils actually. Think it was a 'How to Weather' stick on IMPS's Stockholm site? It only simulated scuff marks but it'll add some extra detail.

Nice effect.

@Jeff T

The Sheridan turned out great. In the Gulf (and I've been there 7 times since 1990-1991) the biggest issues isn't the abrasiveness of the sand but the fact that it's EVERYWHERE! Having a good dusting/misting of a buff color does a good job of replicating that, just like your build.

Even out in the Persian Gulf, we had sand everywhere; sea snakes too...sheesh.

The sand got into any crack and crevice in our equipment, and it would wreak havoc on most mechanical parts (hydraulic systems, gears, etc) but unless you got a big sandstorm it wasn't taking the paint off stuff. Glad I'm not doing that stuff anymore!

Thanks for the comments Guys.
Big S...your Chally looks sweet,I will have to try that paint mix on My next desert job,and Dude,7 times? Thats just crazy.Thank you for your service.Jeff T.

Jeff,
Good looking Sheridan. It appears that your Smoke Grenade Launchers are oriented a bit too far to the sides. If you are still in the weathering process, I would recommend adding a thinned burnt umber oil paint pinwash, to help to make the panels, louvers, and other details to stand out. The burnt umber will contrast nicely with the sand paint. I would concur with using colored pencils for those light scratches. I have used the same technique for doen th esame thing on the Meng Merkava that I am working on for an AMPS review. You have a good base to make an outstanding model.

As an aside, I had a friend command D Co 3-73AR while in ODS. He had some great stories of having to put the Sheridans back together after that little fracas in Panama.

John

Jeff, your paint and weathering looks great on my laptop. Nicely done.

Joel

John... I think you are right,a pin wash would help the build out.As far as the smoke tubes go,the fit to the hull was not very good,and the instructions not very clear,so they ended up where they ended up Jeff T.

Jeff,
Totally understand about the SGLs... Let's see some additional pics after you do your pin washes.

John