Hi all. I guess everybody has their own way, and their own special mixes of colors to finish tools and machine guns, and that is a fine thing.

I am almost ready to start on my tools, cables, and mg's and have been pondering over the different ways to do these items, and I must say that I have seen some of the examples that some of you guys have done that are absolutely stunning to say the least.

I have some Tamiya Dark Yellow, or Tamiya Deck Tan that I feel would work for the wooden handles of tools and gun stocks, then lightly stained with Burnt Umber, or Dark Sienna for effect. But now I need some advice with the metal parts.

What do you recommend for shovels, axe heads, bolt cutters, and of course machine guns, (barrels and magazines etc.)?

I'd like to make them look as real as possible. I think my kit is going to turn out nicely and I am really pleased with it so far. I must say that it has really been an experience in patience. So the painting process is next up and I certainly don't want to screw it up now, after I have around 200 hours involved in it so far. Man, talk about concentration and detail, what a long hard ride!

Please chime in and tell me what your paint mixes consist of to get those beautiful weathered tools, towing cables and guns.

Thanks for all of your help.

Greg

Well hello....glad to meet you...
I have my own methods for such things, and among the first is research. The Internet is an amazing tool. Find out how the items in question were actually finished. I do WW2 armor and figures, US and German almost exclusively, so my files of photos are pretty fat.
I always paint the tools and auxilliary equipment off the model and attach them later after the basic colors are on the model.
I use Testors enamels...the old faithful petroleum base. It's how I grew up and what I'm familiar with, and I get the result I'm looking for.
For weapons....there is no such color as "gunmetal". I don't know where this idea came from. US weapons of the period are finished in a grey zinc electroplating called Parkerizing. The color varies widely from a light satin grey to a dark grey, depending on age and contractor. There is a touch of green tint in some parkerized finishes I've seen. So, I mix my own...on a palette. Flat black, flat white, and some od green. Mix to taste with brush. Gun stocks with US weapons are wood but usually finished pretty nicely...I use Burnt Sienna with variations of flat black/flat white to lighten or darken.
German weapons are a black paint finish mostly, but there is a lot of stuff that looks like a gun "blue" type finish was used, but it's not blue..it's black. See photos online for variations. German weapons used some black plastic grips (gloss black) and wood also, but toward wars' end the wood became less and less well finished and a bit "light".
Tow cables are huge braided steel cables and I use Testors steel with some flat black to tone down the shine, and rust washed into the deep lines, as these cables are mostly unfinished bare steel.
Tools. If they're US, I use Testors' Wood and vary the tones with a bit of burnt sienna..tools on military vehicles are fairly "new", so the wood is usually light in color. If I want to show the factory finish I'll paint the tool heads OD green and wear the edge with Steel..if it's well used, the steel is most of the tool head, toned down with some flat black and wash of rust for age. German tools can be black paint or worn steel, but research is key. I've seen some grey, but I don't know if that's authentic.
I don't know if this helps any...I do tend to go on a bit. And I'm certainly not 21st Century..totally old school. I don't use acrylics, I don't use oils or pigments, I don't airbrush small things..my painting is very "painterly" as they say in Art (I am after all an illustrator by trade)..I use a pallette and six cup tray and have paint open everywhere. The smell is marvelous and I like the look I get.

Hi Greg,

Usually I use acrylics, as I don't like the smell of thinner in the mornings...
For tools, I use buff,dark yellow and light "yellows and ochre" colors. For the guns, I paint it black (I paint it all the model black for a pre-shading effect, with Krylon)but I attach them at the end. Later, I pick a HB or 2B Faber stick, from an art store, or you can use a pencil, to shine and buff the surface.
The metal part of the tools, the same, but if you need to add some oxide, you can try with oranges, reds, and oxide color.
BTW, I found an old iron pipe with oxide inside, and its the best for add oxide, as its natural shade. Also, usually the pipe have different hues.
But, also I add pastel chalk dust, as are more easy to find to me than the MIG pigments etc.

Regards, and go on!

Alvaro

"And I'm certainly not 21st Century..totally old school. I don't use acrylics, I don't use oils or pigments, I don't airbrush small things..my painting is very "painterly" as they say in Art (I am after all an illustrator by trade)..I use a pallette and six cup tray and have paint open everywhere. The smell is marvelous and I like the look I get."

Thanks for the reply Gary, glad to meet you also and I proudly can say that I am not 21st century either. I miss the old days when we as humans were a little less "modernized" in "some ways".

Very good advice, and I will research the items and colors as suggested. Do you have a link that I might see some of your finished work on armored vehicles?

Greg

I found them. Thanks, and nice work especially on the Browning MG.

Greg

Thank you as well Alvaro. I like acrylics too, although I wish I were a little more experienced in the use of oils. But, I guess experience comes with experience.

Greg

Well, you know the saying about techniques, "They're like butt-holes: everybody has his own."

So, in the end, the best technique is what ever works for you and gives you the results you want and like.

Here'er a couple of examples of how I paint my tools and weapons:











I paint these kinds of details separately when possible.

I like to put as much effort and care into painting these as the rest of the model, so each one is weathered and finished individually with some thought given as to its use, purpose, and "story."

I often airbrush the base colors (OD or dark yellow) using slightly different shades than the base vehicle to give some contrast.

On the other hand, if the tools have molded on tool clamps, I'll paint these at the same time as I spray the base and camouflage colors so that once attached to the model, I have continuity in the finish. Any molded on tool clamps get the same treatments (chipping, washes, etc) as the base vehicle for the same reason.

I do the detail painting on tools and weapons using acrylics followed by glazes, and washes of artist oils.

For wood parts, I start with a very light, clear wood color like Vallejo Iraqi Sand. I'll add thin lines of other acrylic colors for the grain. I usually paint wood handles before the metal parts because I can run this grain colors all the way to the ends and even over paint the metal if necessary.

Metal parts are painted again with acrylics. I like the Citadel / Games Workshop metallic colors for wear and tear. I paint this just like I paint the chipping on the rest of the vehicle. I usually start with a rusty color, and then add metallic grays and silvers to reflect the degree of use.

Finally, over the wood, I usually add a burnt sienna oil wash and over the metal, I use either burnt or raw umber oil washes. Sometimes on all metal tools, I'll use raw sienna and burnt sienna oil washes over the metallic chipping for the rust stains.

Weapons deserve the same care. They're usually near focal points on your model, like hatches and figures, so they get a lot of attention. A little research will tell you if the weapon has parts that are "removable," like gun barrels, magazines, anti-aircraft sights, etc, and these can be painted in slightly different colors for interest and to give the weapon some "history."

So, I think weapons look best when there's some variety in the colors used. I have several "gun metal" acrylic colors mixed up. Vallejo Dark Rubber with some silver makes for a very nice new "Parkerized" finish. Lighter grays with some silver make for good "worn Parkerized" finishes. I usually save gun metal and silvers for worn highlights.

After detail painting, I usually give weapons either an Indigo or Payne's Gray oil wash. The Indigo imparts a slight blue tint (like "blued" metal) and the Payne's Gray gives a more worn, grubby look.

HTH,

Hi Mike, very nice work! I am assuming that you seal the acrylic colors on your metal tools and their wooden handles with a clear coat before you add whatever oil washes that you plan on using on them, correct? And do you spray that clear coat with the AB or thin it and lightly coat them with a small soft synthetic hand brush?

Excellent effects pal!!

Greg

Thanks, Greg.

Nope! No clear coats or other barrier layers used at all.

Nothing applied over the acrylics before the oil washes and glazes.

I do allow the acrylics to dry thoroughly, usually overnight, but if not, at least a couple of hours before I apply any washes made with mineral spirits.

Once the washes are dry, I often apply a dust glaze mixed up with Tamiya Buff (5%), Tamiya clear X-22 (10%) and thinners lightly sprayed over almost everything. The clear is necessary to add some acrylic binders to the mix, but it also imparts a slight egg-shell sheen. So my last step is almost always Testor's Dull Coat.

However, I don't use any barrier coats between weathering steps. I just alternate between acrylics and enamels or lacquers. I do use gloss clear (Future or Tamiya X-22) to prep locations for water-slide decals, and after the decals, I'll usually apply another gloss clear layer to blend the edges of the decal film. But I always follow this with Dull Coat to create a consistent finish overall for later steps.

I do all my color modulation and general washes and pin washes using artist oil paints thinned with ordinary mineral spirits over flat finishes - either the base acrylics or Dull Coat.

I will allow any color modulation (oil-dot or filter washes) to dry before I do any general or pin washes, but once dry over a flat coat, the previous oil colors are very durable and not greatly affected by subsequent washes, etc. (Another advantage of doing these over flat coats - no barriers needed and the pigments hold tight to the base coats.)

Having said that, though, a lot of guys get otherwise excellent results using various barriers, etc, between weathering steps. However, I've never found any to be necessary. I think that consistency is probably more important with this than the particular technique. That is, I've learned to manage oil paint washes and filters over flat finishes, and that's what I do.

If you, or anyone else, is used to doing your washes over gloss (or semi-gloss) clear coats, then you should probably continue that way unless it's not working for you the way you want. Then maybe a change would be in order.

Here's my current project if you want to see how I proceed with finishing, etc:

Armorama::Riich Models Universal Carrier Mk.I Build Blog

BTW: All of the models in the above pictures were presented here on Armorama in build-blogs with a couple of them also in the Features section.

HTH,

Greg;

There are certainly lots of working approaches to tools. Mike R.'s stuff is really super, IMHO, and his approach sounds like a great way to go.

Do note those German wire-cutters seen on the side of his Panther; these tools had grips made of an early non-conducting "plastic" similar to Bakelite called Tuffnel. It came in various orange and red colors, as shown. NOT wood, and NOT painted metal.

While many tools - maybe all tools - on German (and most other's) AFV came from commercial makers and were essentially or plainly garden tools seconded for use in war, and they thus arrived wearing the original varnished wood finish with usually black enamel on the metal parts, the metal parts did often get re-painted to match base-coats (there are good pics of wire-cutters which clearly were post-painted dunkelgelb over the original black enamel, for example). And tools often got painted-over while on German tanks later in the war. That is, a replacement or newer tool might be mounted on a Panzer base-painted Dunkelgelb, and the crew then painted on their camo using the available paste and application methods... and sometimes, as seen in later-war photos, tools and tow-cables and spare-tracks, too - were left on and "painted in place" with the camo-stripes, etc. So you could get a wood handle with a green stripe, etc.(but not likely the dunkelgelb base!)!

And wear and tear and dirt on tool blades is, I think, essential. Once the shovel or pick or pry-bar was used, it was a dirty tool. But probably NOT a very rusty tool.

Just some thoughts!

Bob

Hello Bob,.. hope your well, and thank you for stepping in and adding your input as well. Always glad to learn new tips and better ways to do things. Yes, Mike's work is exceptional. You boys on this site completely blow my mind with your work.

I was thinking about the "used tool is a dirty tool" thought as well. I had that little spark tucked away in a separate brain file for near future use with the rest of these fine pointers. And I also had wondered about the reddish color on the wire cutter handles. The non-wooden handle material makes perfect sense, and that explains it to me.

Thanks again,

Greg