Hi, Just dropped in from the figure side to ask a question more in keeping with the expertise this side of the fence.

Can anyone point me at a good demo/guide on painting small scale (braille scale) vehicles with rusty battle damaged finishes.

I am looking for general how to rather than any specific vehicle/era.

Thanks
Rob

Look at the very nice KV-II on the Rivet Review Board. It's currently the third post down.

The techniques are the same as 1/35, basically. You will probably want to tone down the intensity of the effects, though, since keeping exactly in style with 1/35 would look overdone.

If you can wait a little while, I'll be writing an article about how I burn-out vehicles. I'll be using a 1/35 sherman turret, but it is the same technique I used on the KV-II.

Thanks guys, I have found several great sets of pictures, but very few "how to" articles.

The problem I have is one of scale.

I have a 1/300 scale sci fi figure (Battlemech) to paint in a rusted paint scheme for an online multi round painting competition and am concerned about how to do this in a manner that befits the small scale. Drybrushing and stipple techniques are out due to the scale issue (what works in 1/35th is going to swamp a 1/300th figure) so it is going to come down to washes and painted detail.

Given a scale height of 120ft represented to a 40mm high model ...what is a streak of dirty rust from a badly fitting armor plate going to look like?

Assuming you could even see it with the naked eye, here's a favorite of mine I've used almost thirty years:
With a needle, add tiny spots of burnt sienna oil paint to your model. Make sure it's mixed well. In fact, if you can get more pigment and les oil, all the better. Get a one inch sable brush or similar, and very lightly feather the streaks down until you achieve the desired effect.