rusty exhuast pipes

An easier way to rust exhaust pipes I use is. 1st. Paint the pipe rust or red brown. 2nd. while still wet sprinkle BAKING POWDER not soda on the pipe. Let dry then paint over the pipe with your rust color. The powder creates the textured look of rusted pipes. 3rd. Using dry brush or pastels, blacken the exhaust outlet. Hope this helps you out.

There is one problem with the baking powder trick. Over time, (and I mean like 10 years), it starts to decay and decompose. Rusted mufflers on my Marder III and Hetzer have crumbled and leaked a sticky, yellowish liquid, requiring them to be repainted. Now I use talcum powder, (make sure it doesn't contain cornstarch, which may be the culprit in the baking powder), alum, powdered silica or carborundum abrasive powder from the rock tumbler. Mix a little bit in some dark black-brown paint and stiple it on the muffler. When dry, dry-brush with various rust colors, highlighting very lightly in straight orange, let dry. Wash with dark brown-black wash, dry. Dust with a 50/50 mixture of orange and black pastels. This should look pretty good.

Good tips Leopold, thanks.

I use the base color of the vehicle and then hit it with a dark wash. Starting with brown I stipple the surface. Then use a lighter stipple to give it a variated look. Like leopopld I'll then use a light orange to drybrush the highlights. I'll then take orange pastels and put a heavy coat of pastel dust on it, with some brown. This gives it that powder rust coat look. A little black or dark brown pastel along seam lines or edges and then once over with some graphite on hard edges and it makes for a pretty good looking rust job.

Overspray is just that. Think of overspray as any surface behind the object you are targeting. The "over" spray is all the extra that went past your target item. It gives a light dusting to that surface because the particles or micro droplets of paint are further away from each other in the spray cone. If you looked at it up close it would look like dust on a surface. It is because of this that the eye is fooled into thinking that the surface looks lighter.

Back the airbrush away and "mist" the area. (Obviously this must be done before attaching the muffler or exhaust to the vehicle). You can make some nice weathering highlights with this too by using a slightly lighter shade of base paint and overspraying the upper surfaces. Makes for a nice sun fade.

This also works good on lower hulls of vehicles for road dust and grime. Use it sparingly though. Too much and you may as well repaint the vehicle.

Mike

Nice stuff, been thinking about the same thing. Now I have some things to try.

all good ideas, thanks.

I bought the Rust-All system from Micro-Mark. I have not used it yet, but will let every one know how it works.
mark956

I've seen that advertised mark. Please do. I'd love to see how that stuff looks and works.

Mike

The way I do it is with an old paint brush, take a burnt seinna color and with a generous helping of paint on the bristles dab it on to make sure there is a texture to the rusted item, let that dry, next take raw seinna, and dry brush over the item, then drybrush again with raw umber, finally blacken the end of the pipe however you choose to.

I use the Rustall system and combine it with ground up chalk (reddish orange color). It looks good when it dries. After it is dry, I use black pastels around the tip of the exhaust for that "dirty" look.

QUOTE: Originally posted by mark956 I bought the Rust-All system from Micro-Mark.

Haven't used the above set.

Over here we got a product called Sabi-Tennen which uses 2 liquids to also rust anything. Takes a few days for full rust to develop though.

I had good results with this set.

thanks for all the ideas guys, and i have tried that rusr all stuff. i dont really like it. the rust just seems out of scale and to thick when applying to a small portion. it makes the affect over done. but im sure if u mess with the water/mix ratio you could even it out.

I paint my exhausts Gunmetal then, spray with Testor's Dull Coat. While the Dull Coat is still wet I "Flick" on a FINE mixture of Black, Brown and Tan Pastel chalks.

If you look at my Tiger below, I used the same technique to weather the spare tracks hanging on the turret.....

My Father served in the Waffen SS and he says what rust? His Scharfuhrers'(Sargents) would not allow any part of a vehicle to become rusty. At the end of every day before they cooked their only hot meal, they had to inspect and wash the vehicles down with either petrol or diesel (if available)! If none was available the vehicle was wiped down with an oily rag! So No Rust! even on exhausts. Rust means not used, broken or abandonded! He went on to command a reccon troop and he was the same even on the Russian steps. 'Clean vehicles mean maintained and inspected vehicles that won't let you down'!

Cool! At least I'm accurate then when it comes to the German vehicles.

One other method a friend of mine told me about, and showed me. He washed all the soap out of a Brillo Steel wool pad. Then he soaked it in water un til the right color rust showed up (lighter for new rust, darker for old rust.) Then he crushed the rusted Brillo into powder and applied it to his tracks, after which he sealed it under a dullcoat. Voila! Instant rust done cheap!

Instead of spending a fortune in fancy products I prefer to use "home made" rust and I'm quite happy with the results i got on the exaust of this tiny L6/40...

If someone is interested in how I do it pse have a look here:
http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=PostBoard&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=16500&page=1<br />

Very nice looking tank Fabio. The link and the tip are great.
mark956

Thanks arnie, and tell your dad thanks for the input. Very helpful. All too often we only get to see the stuff in books and then what we are told or are used to practicing. He would know better if he had to use the elbow grease to keep them clean and buffed.

Its fortunate to have access to firsthand information about the details we take for granted.
If your father is still around, I'd have him impart as many of the stories as he can before its gone forever. Politics aside, I think it would only benefit you and anyone else that had access to that type of field information. Once gone, that portion of it is gone forever unless recorded somewhere. Even if only a oral history.

Mike

thanks for all the great ideas guys, i just printed all the idaes out and am loking forward to see one i become accustome too. thats really cool about ur dad, i wish i had a living referance book. but the model i am building isa m41 bulldog. after 5 minutes or so of high speed engine running the exhaust pipes would become a bright red, therefor not really rusting the pipes, but burning them. but it looks like rust in referance piks. it is sorta like that article in fsm about the dirty f15, and how to weather it. there was much disagreement on how dirty it was. people who have been involved with a bird in action tell that it was cleaned thuroughly but the model did not depict that-that probably didnt make since...- but anyway thanks guys!

One of the effects of high heat, like through an exhaust manifold, muffler, etc. is rust. Chemical and molecular changes as a result of the temperature changes can oxidize metal, as it cools and moist air contacts the metal, the metal reacts to this moisture and therefore causes rust.
Rust happens. We can only slow it down or inhibit its formation. i.e. wiping down the surfaces etc.
I don't know how prevalent it was in allied armor but I could see where the germans, having an increasingly more difficult supply issue, would take a keen interest in keeping the equipment up and in shape.

Mike

Arnie, just curious, was the petrol treatment used by the troops of the Waffen SS the norm or different from the regular army.