Weathering Techniques for Spacecraft

(Page Two)

Another weathering technique that can be used is drybrushing. Drybrushing is very close to what it sounds like. One gets a paintbrush - (which has real hair bristles and not the nylon or synthetic type) - and dips it into the paint being used. The paint should be a slightly lighter color than your basecoat. The brush is then brushed back and forth on a paper towel until most of the paint has been removed.

It is then brushed rapidly back and forth over the desired area. The small amount of paint remaining ends up coloring the raised areas more than anything else, simulating the paint being worn.

This drybrushing technique can be applied anywhere on the model, pretty realistically simulating the paint being worn. This technique is best practiced over and over again, until you are comfortable with it.

A third technique is to slightly "silver" the edges of the protruding parts and raised areas of a spacecraft's hull, giving the impression of paint being worn away. In general, the term "silvering" describes the wearing away of the upper layers of paint of an object, (usually an airplane or automobile or tank), revealing the metal surface below peaking through. When applied to models, this term describes a type of weathering technique used to make models appear more life-like by making them look worn. With severely weathered objects, in addition to the areas just mentioned, the silvering can occur wherever rubbing occurs.

Silvering can be applied by drybrushing or by using a silver colored pencil.

Another silvering application technique I recently discovered from a friend of mine named John Ezzo - (who also builds models) - goes as follows: After the kit has been assembled, some Model Master Metalizer (lacquer) buffable Aluminum paint is airbrushed on as the prime coat. Once the paint dries, it is buffed up to a shiny finish (using some cotton balls or an old, clean tee shirt).

After this has been done, the normal paint colors are painted over it. When dry, some very tacky tape is pressed down onto the areas where you want the silvering to occur and quickly removed. If things went well with the painting, only sections of your paint finish will be removed, leaving the prime coat of Aluminum showing through, (simulating the metal finish of the actual object). In addition to using tape, you can very lightly scrape away some of the model's edges or very carefully sand away the upper layers of paint with some fine sandpaper.

The wash, drybrushing, and silvering techniques, (in my humble opinion), really won't look right on smaller scaled spacecraft. In addition to the unlikelihood that a vacuum would cause weathering, even if weathering did exist on these spacecraft "in real life" it could not be seen on models this small.

These techniques work better on larger scaled model spacecraft, like the DS9 Runabout, the Star Wars X-Wing fighter and the BattleStar Galactica Colonial Viper. All of these, I just realized, are designed to enter the atmosphere of planets anyway, which would cause them to be weathered.

As always, with any new modeling trick or technique being learned and used, practice, Practice, and PRACTICE SOMEMORE!!! Use an old, unwanted model as your guinea pig before going on to your model masterpiece that you've spent hours working on. You'll be glad you did!

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