Recreating Weathered Public Statues

For spraypaint tags, a soft coloring pencil could do the trick. Never done it myself, but seen on YouTube several examples that looked quite nice. (If I remember which ones, I'll post them.)

Hello!

My first tip would be to find photos of something the likes - bronze statues in this case, and then to look at them for a long time. Just then try to figure out how to get that look.

Then the material - might be bronze, but might also be stone. Stone is pretty easy to do - just paint the figure flat white and then apply wash to the whole figure - black, green (for moss or algae) or brown.

Hope it helps - have a nice day

Paweł

Head over to the paint aisle at the craft (not hobby) store.   They have various products to replicate copper & brass on craft statuettes made of papier-mâché or plaster.  They include verdegris weathering materials.  Most come with, or have available, instructions on their application.  I know I looked at such a product when I was considering weathering the copper hull on a sailing shi.  

Thing is - when you look at heavily weathered statues - they don't look metallic at all. That's why it is important to do some research and look at the real thing.

Pawel

Thing is - when you look at heavily weathered statues - they don't look metallic at all. That's why it is important to do some research and look at the real thing.

Quite right. Unless you're dealing with copper alloys (think Statue of Liberty), most oxidation tends toward chalky grey tones over the darker base metal. Dry-brushing is a great way to replicate this...but photos are your friend. Do a web search for the kind of thing you're looking for.

The real advantage of that kind of search is that you may turn up some little detail or display idea you hadn't thought of, that will add that last perfect bit of poignancy or realism to your diorama concept.

Good luck.

This technique uses paints by Games Workshop for weathered bronze, but you can achieve the effect with other brands. Just they have their own special paint for verdigris. The technique is shown on a shield, but could easily be extended to an entire model. Master Box makes some 1/35 Civil War figures that might make good statue toppers. 
https://youtu.be/T4o-5HUFrx8

MJames70

. Master Box makes some 1/35 Civil War figures that might make good statue toppers.  

ICM also makes some ACW soldiers in 1:35 scale, injected plastic.   Both Union ...

... and Confederate

The Confederate trooper in the slouch hat reminds me of the statues I've seen around city halls throughout the South.   If your intended diorama with graffitti is a BLM theme, he may be the one for you.

I hadn't seen the ICM Confederate's, I'll have to give those a peak... The whole thing isn't strictly BLM themed but the idea was inspired by the riots. It's a near-future soft-apocalypse setting, and I'm tossing around the idea of "End of the Empire" for the title. It is supposed to represent the sort of street fighting and civilian terrorism that a 21st century civil war would present, with one or two of each side fighting across the wasted monument. Original idea was to go for a kinda generic memorial with a WWII Marine or something as the central statue but I really like that confederate kit you linked; maybe a confederate and a later warrior standing together and have it be a generic southern vet memorial instead of a memorial to any specific conflict. Also thanks for the weathering suggestions everyone, I dug a few old half-finished 35th scale guys out of the spares box and am going to try em all out.

Public statues are often "larger than life" so you might want to look at 1/24 or 90mm figures.

Bronze statues cast since about 2000 have a heavy epoxy 'lacquer' "patina" (which is really a deep brown/black finish) coating them.  That finish is supposed to have a 50 year lifespan with 'ordinary maintenance.'

Now, it turns out paint strippers and paint removers (like as used to remove previous graffiti) will strip the protective finish off, and leave a very brass sort of color to the statue.  Which goes green very rapidly.

You all have forgotten one big thing common to all public statues .  .  . lots of pigeon poop (or doves, depending on where the piece is; city or country scene). This is especially important if the piece is neglected.