It's back..! Wheathering: from washes to pastels - domi's way! -

Can anyone else help me out on this one? What is a good way of holding or otherwise securing the hull and/or turret while they're being painted? Thanks in advance.

Buff, those 'handles' are just some evergreen plastic tubing... I attach them to the hull and turret with CA glue, as it will snap clean off when I'm ready to put the model onto its base. Liquid glue would make the joint more 'intimate' and might damage the plastic kit when I remove the tubing.

And to glue turret onto hull, I only use Wood glue. It's strong enough to resist vibrations during transport and weak enough to allow for removal of the turret and re-placing.

Thanks, Domi. If you don't mind, I'd like to bend your ear again, First, what is CA glue? I've never heard of it before. Second, when my washes dry, I'm still getting very noticeable lines. I use artists' water colors, one drop of dish soap, and a few drops of vinegar. I've thinned out the wash some, and gone from 2-3 drops of vinegar to 4-5 in 125ml of water, but it hasn't helped. Finally, about drybrushing. Do I have to wait for each coat to dry, or not? In the early coats should I see any paint on the flat surfaces at all, eg between the rivets on a riveted turret, or should it just appear on the raised detail and sharp edges? Thanks again for your help and patience

Buff,

CA glue is cyanoacrylate glue, aka superglue. It's very strong obviously, but only in a linear way. If you try to break the joint sideways, CA glue bond is then very weak, and I can therefore break the tubing off the turret and hull without any major problem. However, don't go crazy with the CA glue. A drop is more than enough. In fact, too much CA glue tend to take a long time to set which can be annoying!

As to the hard lines, you may just be using too weak of a mix. I use about 2 drops of dishwadshing liquid and 3-4 drops of vinegar for a shot glass of water, to which I add a pea-sized amount of paint...

I do my drybrushing with oils as soon as my wash is dry (I have little patience!). However, I'm also very gentle and se a very soft flat brush so that I'm not going through the base enamel paints I used on the vehicle camouflage. If you use acrylics as base, no problem. But enamels and oils are more dangerous a mix! However, if you do have patience, wait to make sure your base coats are fully dried before going onto the weathering with oils.

If you are very gentle and delicate, the oils that you are drybrushing will tend to appear only onto sharp edges and raised details. On large flat areas, it is good to have a bit of 'forced' definition with a bit of lighter paint in the middle of the panel. But only try to acheive this after you have done the raised bits and you are sure there's really just about no paint left in your brush! If you start there first, you'll end up with a contrast that's too strong. When I do weathering on a 1/72 AFV kit, I normally only have to dip my soft flat brush once in the oil paint. I then proceed to remove the excess in a rag then start drybrushing onto the bottom part of the hull (to test) then move onto the wheels (cause if there's still too much paint, the wheels will look the worst after dusting anyway), then slowly move onto the main, sharper, edges of the hull and turret, moving onto the smaller raised details and finaly onto the middle of the flat panels (if needed).

Thanks again, Domi. I was using a much weaker wash, so next time I'll be able to sort that out. I think for the drybrushing it was a case of too much paint, too much pressure and too stiff a brush. I tried to add some rust spots and had pretty much the same problem. They were far too big and dark. Until I tried it (and this was the first time I attempted weathering a kit), I didn't really understand just how subtle the process is, how little paint is actually needed, and how soft a touch on the brush is required. It has been a real learning experience. At least I didn't pay for the kit!

Buff, practice is the key. If you have an old pre-painted AFV kit, practice on it.

can you do the same or use the same technique with planes if is so that 's a hell of a good and easy technique thanks for the unfo.

Juan, unless you want a very dirty plane, like one that's left rusting away on the airfield, I would advise you not to...

For planes, I use a very fine brush and thinned oil paints to add some darker paint into recesses and panel lines. I work little areas at the time, and use Q-tips or a flat brush to drag some of that paint away, to represent leaks and other stains in 'strategic' areas. But you've got to be very delicate.

Here's one I did using this technique...



After the 'wash' I used a light grey to drybrush the airplane, particularly around the flying surfaces but also all around.