Hi,

I recently started making 1/35 models again after a pause of 25 years or so and I'm new here. So much has changed over these years and may things have not. One thing that's now much easier to do is weathering your tanks. So I decided to make my King Tiger a bit muddy, oily and grimy. I ran into some issues with doing mud though. I can't seem to find the right technique or tools to do it, the splatters are always unrealistic.

My mud is a mixture of some white plaster, Vallejo pigments, some Vallejo pigment binder and water. I've tried quite watery versions as well as quite solid versions. Tested techniques:

1. Old toothbrush. This works somewhat ok, but the splatters tend to be quite uncontrollable and often far too big. With watery mud the splatters are often big drops.

2. Brush and paintbrush. Dip the brush into the mud and then spray through it with a paintbrush. This seems way too random, the splats end up all over the room, no way to get a controlled pattern. Maybe my compressor pressure is too high or too low? I normally paint with 20 psi, but have tried 20-40 psi?

3. Brush. This works quite well for general mud buildup, but doesn't give nice splatters.

Any tips or links to tutorials? I'm a total newbie here. If needed I can show some photos of my model, but that perhaps belongs in the Feedback forum?

Jan,
I'm not a pro with mud at all , but my recommendation would be to omit the plaster from your mixture when trying to do splatters. The plaster helps thicken the mud when you want to build up the layers, but for mud splashes I think it will be too thick. You can also try thinned acrylic paint for doing mud splashes. A toothbrush or an artists brush with short, stiff bristles should give you a nice, fine spray. And as with most things in this hobby, apply small amounts each time and build up the effect until you get the result you want.

Good luck!

You might try masking along the edge of the upper hull or trackguards and directing the splattering upwards from below. In my experience AFVs can commonly appear to be mud coloured below that level yet remarkably clean (except on the rear face, where the tracks throw mud upwards and forwards) above it.

I did mask the upper areas of the tank with some masking tape and paper and that worked ok, but created a bit of an artificial clean boundary.

So the trick for splatters is to use thin mud, not something with a muddy consistence? So make the splats with paint and then manually add heavier mud in some areas where a buildup could have occurred? I have to try with paint and see how it works. With my mud mix I had the best result actually with the paintbrush blowing through the toothbrush.

When I do something splashes, I try to get most of the material out of my toothbrush, by flicking it on a paper towel first. Once I see the proper sizes and amount coming from the toothbrush, I move to the model. It's more realistic and easier to control.

Aha, I do something similar, but I think my brush/toothbrush is perhaps a bit too full of mud. I'll have to test these new ideas, thanks for the help!

Here's how I do it:

Just flicking on a mix of pigment fixer and pigments, start off with lightest colour for the widest pattern to show dried mud, then a couple of subsequently darker colours in smaller areas to represent wetter mud. I mix up several different shades of 'mud' for this.

Not sure I understand what you're doing there. Do you drag a hard brush over a metallic edge to create the splatters? Your small splatters are exactly what I'm looking for. Do you use a plain color or perhaps even a thinned color?

If this helps----Michaels Craft Stores sell Acrylic paints for about 69 cents per bottle. They have a dull-browns, tans, greys etc. Great for mud effects (with the right brush!)

Vallejo splash mud works great. And their mud and grass is outstanding. They are in the 73000 series.

g

I load the brush up with the paint or fixer/pigment mix and flick it across a toothpick, xActo blade or the putty tool shown in the pic. Experiment with different mix ratios and amounts on the brush until you get a feel for it.

Aha, thank you for clarifying.

I have some Vallejo pigments as well as some of their thick mud (the one that's more like a paste), but I'll see if my local supplier has the splash stuff too.

Awesome help, guys, this seems like a really friendly community. Thanks for the help!