weathering

Weathering is an art, not a science. You need to play around and find out what works for you and what effects you want to show. How beaten-up do you want it to look? You can do everything from putting an undercoat of silver down first and then chipping the top-coats off to using washes, pastels, ink, airbrushing and drybrushing over the final paint job. It's merely a matter of personal taste.

You can simulate exhaust stains with thinned paint, charcoal, pastel, graphite shavings, or clean out the tailpipe of your car, grind the soot small and rub it in. Exhaust stains are more prominent nearest the exhaust pipe(s). A solid black exhaust stain with the same intensity and thickness all the way along just looks wrong. They should start out narrow and fade out wider as the stain gets farther away. Exhaust stains are more greyish than black. They often follow the curves of the local airflow, especially over (or under) the wing roots. The older the airplane, the longer the stain, but they should never be too long. Exhaust cools rapidly, so it stops damaging the paint when it gets a few feet away from the pipes. You can highlight the panel lines and surface detail by running washes or ink into the lines, or airbrushing or drybrushing along them. Don't be too stark. Much can be accomplished by subtly tinting the paints. Remember that however much you beat up the outside, the cockpits should show a similar amount of wear so plan the amount of waethering you want to apply while you can still get at the inside bits.

Paint fades when exposed to sunlight, so if it's going to be a desert bird, mix white in with your final colour and randomly lighten the top surfaces. If it's not from the desert, just use less white. Fabric control surfaces very often look a little lighter or darker than the adjacent metal, and any patches or damage repair will have fresher (darker) paint on them.

Stuka wheels liked to collect lots of mud so if you decide it was muddy out there should be some splatter on the spats and under the wings in line behind the struts. You may also wish to put muddy footprints on the wing-walk areas to show where the crew stepped while working on it.

The propeller wash threw up little bits of gravel and garbage which would chip the leading edges of the stabilisers. If you do this, don't go overboard; the gravel was tiny. If it was muddy out, there would be tiny bits of mud overtop the chipping on the stabilisers. The further back from the propeller, the smaller and more spread out the mud speckles should be.

Oil leaks can be shown by applying a tiny drop of thinned paint where the leak started and blowing or wiping it backwards in the direction of the airflow with a Q-tip or similar implement. Remember oil is slightly shiny so you could easily use gloss paint for this. Don't go overboard on oil leaks, because serviceable airplanes just aren't allowed leak that much (unless they're Skyraiders, but that won't apply to your Stuka). Keep the leaks small.

Keep the level of your weathering consistent. You don't want tons of exhaust staining on an otherwise factory-fresh paint job. You want to show use without making it look like it came out of the scrapheap (unless you want your model to look as though it's on the scrapheap, but that's a whole other story). Let the weathering tell the story of how the aircraft was used, and remember that aircraft only got dirty and chipped, not filthy.

Remember that you can get caught up in applying the weathering and go too far which makes your model look like a toy. Stop often and take a break. When you come back, look at it from all angles and see what needs to be added (it's always easier to add weathering then to take it off). Stop just before you think you've done enough (which is a trick and a half. Use a test model to practise on before you go to town on your masterpiece).

Last of all, have fun : )

Try here:

Thanks, Borosteve.

Thanks, Borosteve.

My most basic weathering technique is to mix up some paint-chalk color, the top surface color plus white or very light grey. I mix about half and half.

Then, I airbrush it VERY lightly, more on horizontal surfaces than vertical ones. This dulls the decals and "chalks" the paint, as paint looks when exposed to much sunlight.

I do this before I add things like exhaust, oil, paint chipping, etc. which are each worth a discussion by itself.

Many have pointed out the different mediums to use, be they chalk/pastels, enamels, oils, acrylics, water-colors, etc., and how it is really up to what woks, and what is most comfortable, for *you*; as there is no "correct way" to do this (nor any other part of modeling.

As was pointed out by Jessie, weathering is an "art" (actually, so is *all* model building), so learn, and take inspiration, from the works of artists. Examine the paintings of your favorite (canvas) artist; and see how they achieved what they did, in two-dimensions. Study their color palete. Apply this to your "art" that is in three-dimensions.

Note that "weathering" (as also shading and highlighting) is not just to represent dirt/grime, the effects of heavy use, etc...it is also used to help replicate the effects that natural lighting has as it falls on the real 1:1 scale subject. Shading a model does not just simulate dirt or staining; it also helps replicate the areas on the real subject which may fall under shadowed areas. And highlighting represents the effect that natural light has on the upper and/or exposed surfaces...*not* just faded paint. Natural sunlight falling upon a "real" life-size object...is totally different from artificial (EGADS! fluorescent!) light falling upon a miniature representation.

Go back to the aforementioned paintings. Note that the artists probably do *not* put as much detail into them as you *think* you saw at first. Instead, their carefully planned color selection, as well as their added shading and highlighting, make your eye and brain

:o)