Let's discuss rust!

Not different. I agree with everything that you have said. I would also point out that rust has a texture. Try mixing your rust paint colour with talcum powder to provide that bubbled texture. Where the rust has been breaking through paint, use a salt mask.

Get some ordinary table salt and dissolve it in water to provide a saturated solution. Dab the salt on the areas that will be uncovered. Let the salt solution dry. Then, spray the main coat of paint over the top. Once the paint has dried, rinse the model in warm water so that the salt dissolves away. This will leave a random pattern of rust showing through the paintwork.

I've heard (but NOT tried) of painting the model with actual rust. According to the tip that I saw, rust out a steel screw or nail in some vinegar for a few days or weeks until you get a ~lot~ of rust in suspension. Brush this on the model in the area where rust would be expected to be seen and let dry. Later, spray of light coat of clear flat over the rust to fix it in place. I'm told that real rust will have a shade and patina that paints can't quite match.

Rust comes in all sorts of color flavors. But orangish red or orangish brown is not uncommon.

Fresh rust is orangish. It tends to darken towards a brown or reddish brown as it ages. But presumably any rust on a operational vehicle or ship (as opposed to a derelict) would be fresh. Ordinarily, rust would be removed or repainted before it had time to darken appreciably.

Cheers,

Cheers,

Ditto...except that my preferred texturing matter for both rust and non-skid is baking soda. It's fine enough that you can control the "grit" of it with the amount you use.

Actually orange is the color of fresh rust and tank treads that move and abrade away the old rust to show bright metal DO turn orange first.

There is a model railway product available in the UK that actually *is* rust. You paint on the base coat and then apply a solution that causes the base coat to oxidise and become real rust.

Excellent tip! Thanks for that.

Steel wool in a jar of vinegar is quicker than a nail ,also steel wool in a jar with water works good .I just leave it until the steel wool rusts away and then grind the rust in a motar and pedstal to a fine powder. Steel wool and vinegar leaves a black coloured residue ,but turns brownish when used. I also have an old cast iron dutch oven which is out in the garden and gets water in it from the sprinkler ,it makes really decent rust powder when dried out.

I remember going to Catterick to see the resident armoured regiment in the

Tracks that had been in use for some time had all weathered to a similar colour which I think was a mixture of rust and dirt. This was a light greyish buff colour. I later mixed this colour very successfully by first mixing equal parts of black and white to produce a neutral light to mid toned grey. I then mixed this with an equal amount of Humbrol No 26 Khaki or No 29 Dark Earth. These two mixes covered the narrow range of variations in the colour that I saw. The black rubber track pads had a dark grey appearance produced by the grit and dirt embedded in them. Where the road wheels ran in contact with the inner surface of the tracks, the paint had worn off and the bare metal showed as a dull steel colour with a slight gloss to it.

I don't doubt that some tracks might be orange when freshly rusted but I think it would be unusual for it to last long.

Gordon McLaughlin

on 5/22/2007 3:53 PM Gordon McLaughlin said the following:

That's true. And one cannot go to a museum to see what a tank looked like during war. Someone posted examples of rust on concrete and steel ships that were wrecked. That is not the same as steel on moving vehicles. Just examine any piece of tracked construction equipment for how steel tracks rusts and weathers. I don't really know, but was the steel used to build tanks regular ordinary steel, or were there some other ingredients to retard extreme rusting, or make it a little stronger? I don't mean to be contrary, but just want the best way to weather models.

It lasts about 2 minutes of running at speed before it's polished off.

Rustall? It's been available here for about 15 years. I've never tried it myself so I can't offer an opinion.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Rust never sleeps...

Oh come on, you just knew 'somebody' would.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

You are very observant and I agree with your analysis. As a result, the best weathering materials are the various powders (such as the new Magic Dust) that can be mixed to create the entire range or rust tones. And let's not forget that you can also mix larger amounts of weathering powders into water or clear coat to create a slurry that ranges from thin to thick. This approach can be used to replicate everything from rust to mud.

Hope this helps.