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To help muddy the waters concerning the best way to weather models
(especially armor) AV Vallejo has just released a new "how to" DVD
called "Acrylic Techniques." As the name implies it is a video guide
to painting and weathering model armor using acrylic paints & mediums along
with some pigments. No oils, no enamels, no plaster. Acrylics and pigments -
along with various mediums available from Vallejo consisting of ingredients you
can best guess by buying them from Vallejo. If you want to make your own (and
thus really understand the chemistry of painting a model) some experimenting is
required. Take some of my remarks with this in mind. This may be the best of
these efforts and I recommend it highly with reservations.
There are a number of DVDs like this out now which leads me to believe that
they have serious advantages over slightly less expensive "how to"
books published by people like Osprey. This is the fourth one I've bought and
am very sold on the format. Watching how things are done has huge advantages
over books and articles. Some of this is inherent, some of this is that
modeling people write modeling articles and books and frequently are not very
good at putting themselves into the shoes of those that do not understand what
they're doing. (I'd like to get paid for reading segments of a
"build" article that refer to picture for illustration of a technique
discussed in print that leave one with the question of "how did they do
that?") With things on video you see it. However things are rushed and a lot
of the really important technical details concerning timing, sequence and
especially non-paint materials are left up in the air. This defect is largely
because companies that want you to buy their products create these DVDs. Which
means that you are buying for an advertisement as well as a tutorial. No
problem if you trust the company and don't mind that as much possible is done
for you and don't mind paying for it. It is a problem if you want to achieve
the same results with standard solvents & pigments of a large variety: to
do that you need to know what solvents are employed. Much to be said for the
later approach. You could save a little money, but it would also help a lot
during weathering if you understood what you were dealing with and what the
effect the product had under different circumstances. This is not without
importance here, because the acrylic paints recommended are from Vallejo which,
in dramatic contrast to Gunze or even Tamiya, is very close to a water based
acrylic paint. (Fans of these DVDs or You-Tube lurkers might well check out the
wonderful site Foley Models - formerly Promodeller from the UK.
http://www.florymodels.co.uk/ Phil Foley has about 20 3 hour plus video builds
concentrated on single models. They are very good and Foley has the ability to
understand that you don't really get what he's doing. It's $2 a month for full
use the video builds, photo builds and a remarkably informed and civilized
forum.)
This DVD is written by Mig Jimenez who is now talking a very different
modeling game than he did in the early MIG days. (MIG has at least two videos
by Adam Wilder that show their techniques.) Jimenez last year did a DVD that
highlighted the use of enamels in filters/washes and streaking. (I might note
that everyone wants you do use acrylic base coats. The question is what to do
after that basic phase is past.) Now Mr. Jimenez argues that you can do the
whole thing from start to finish with acrylic paints and some standard
pigments. The techniques employed are mighty convincing and if it all worked as
claimed would undoubtedly save the modeler a great deal of time. Of course the
author is one of the world's great armor modelers and I suspect he could do
something decent using crayons and sharpies. That said, if you want to do
anything under the general category "weathering" you can now do it
with Vallejo acrylics guided by Mig Jimenez. You will need some Vallejo goodies
however if you want to follow the bouncing ball. First, is "acrylic
thinner" which is often used. What is this stuff? It's milk colored and
resembles greatly the "airbrush medium" or "airbrush
extender" available in art stores. If it was closer to Tamiya A-20
thinner, I don't understand the different color and somewhat denser viscosity.
Vallejo varnishes both matte and satin also appear. Here again, they look more
like artist mediums than either Tamiya Clear or (certainly) Tamiya Flat Base.
(Not going to bet money on it, but I'd guess that Tamiya Flat/Clear would fit
better into this scheme than the ISA based Tamiya thinner.) Vallejo now offers
a acrylic retarder that is thicker than anything than I've seen, but is used to
give a little extra time for streaking etc. That's a new one of me - the
acrylic retarders I use are clear and water thin. Even their airbrush cleaner,
which appears clear, has some use. All I know is that stuff is clear: might be
something like A-20 with a little ammonia in it. (Might add that this DVD alone
discusses tip clogging and suggests some good measures to deal with it. As I
use this type of acrylics and mediums, I would still suggest lacquer thinner
for this and brush cleaning. Water based acrylics are wonderful paints but
require a good cleaning or you brush will stick and require surgery the next
time. The good news is that if done right away the brush will clean extremely
well and be ready two weeks later. The bad news is that water based acrylics can
really gum up a poorly cared for brush. (It’s a little like using Future: bad
stuff not to get out of your airbrush but easily done if you tend to it.)
I haven't done a model with these techniques yet but I think my next tank (a
Dragon PKI - let's see this brown/grey scheme) will work well with it. The
advantages are pretty obvious. The more comfortable one is with a paint the
quicker you’ll get into its tempo and understand how things will look a few
steps down the road. Must say using acrylics, oils and enamels (and pigments
natch) on a tank – which I do now, leaves a lot of “let’s see” problems down
the road. Lessening that will help a lot of modelers I think. Drying is fast.
Clean up easy. If a good model comes out of this maybe there’s good reason for many
to put aside artist oils. Might add that because acrylics are the star, Jimenez
uses the airbrush for as many tasks as possible – like that or not as you will.
Interestingly, I noticed that the model used in the DVD (a modern PKII) evolved
into a kit that was lovely and complex. It was not, however, as “over the top”
as I’ve seen from the “heavy weather” gents on Adam Wilder’s DVDs and a host of
video builds on the board. Good or bad news as you like.
Eric