mud

Go out to the garden, dig a spoonful of dirt, go back to your bench, apply it to your AFV,seal with the medium of your choice. badda boom badda bing!

I mix some sand (from the Rustall kit) with Elmers glue and Tamiya paint (buff, dark earth, or whatever color your aiming for) on a [iece of cardboard and stipple it on the tank with an old stiff brush. When it dries, I give a wash of browns and thent a shot of MM Acrylic flat to take away the satin finish.

Try thinning Tamiya putty with liquid glue (thin stuff is best) and mix with coffee grounds and some static grass. Stipple onto the vehicle and add more coffee grounds in a random pattern. The glue/putty mix makes it stay on the kit.

I made some out of celluclay. Not the best but it can be done to look really good. Just have to make sure and use the right color.

I mix flour, white glue whatever color floats my boat, and static grass together then apply it onto the model with anything really...

Good luck

thanks alot every one

Well happy birhday...mine was yesturday too (16). WEll what i do is get some spackling past mix some brown paint in it, sand and maybe some clippings of hair like substance. Then i paint it on. When its dry i drybrush it with earth tones and add future to it to make it look wet. They only thing is it wont come off so do it right hte first time.

Another technique that I've used is to grind artists pastels (basically colored chalk) into a fine powder, mix it with some flat acrylic to act as a binder, and stick it to the model. You can put it on reasonably heavy, although for a really thick build-up, using a few light coats is better to help alleviate cracking problems.

About your air-brush, I'm guessing that you're on a tighter budget. I recently picked up an inexpensive Paasche single-action unit for about twenty bucks. I think they were able to make it so inexpensive by using a molded plastic body rather than machine aluminum. I've done some clear coating with it, and it seems to be a fine unit.

My little mixture I like to use is this. Plaster of paris, Cheap acrylic paints from the craft store, pastels, a bit of white glue and some real dirt (sifted fine) and herbs thrown in for good measure. It usually dries light colored so I can use oil paints to stain it light and dark brown to make wet or dry mud.

I use what ever works:
1 Good ol' ground up dirt (as mentioned) microwaved to kill the little crawlies and molds, mixed with white glue (wet mud), with acrylic paint mixed to match its dry color (dried mud), sprinkled over a coat of the same acrylic paint (dried, compacted or dusted soil).
2 A mixture of putty and some sort of grit.
3 Pastels (as mentioned), which can also be 'powdered' or brushed on.

I love messy, dirty tanks (just like they REALLY look). Light weathering is great for 'in garrison', 'on parade' or New into battle, but not for a well used (even a couple of days out) vehicle. Unfortunately, the current 'doctrine' is for weathering that's so light it makes the vehicle look as if it's in a museum or something. I DO do light weathering when I want to show off a cool camo scheme or something, but usually LOVE HEAVY, VERY HEAVY weathering.

Ron

I just mix pastel powder with white glue to form a sticky paste, and apply it directly to the AFV. If you thin the white glue with water, then you can pick up this 'muddy water' with the bristles of an old toothbrush and flicker it on the model for that splashed look. Once I'm happy with the results I seal everything with a coat of clear flat.