My Weathering Tips for those who asked for them

[Ranger565]

Part one

Hey guys, and Cowie

Here is some of the weathering ideas I have learned over the years. But for me to explain I Need to take you back to some of the basic stuff and Fabricating that I had done to the kits. I dont claim to be an expert, becuse I have learned alot from this board.

Yes I did post this a long time ago and I know the pictures are no longer on the thread. So I will just post some of the steps that I did in a shorter form but with lots of pictures and ideas for you guys to try.

First off when I created this kit about 4 years ago I was still in the newb stage of my modeling and learing alot from you guys. So with what I larned I started to work on it with steps.

First this kit is the VF-1A super from Hasegawa. ( they can still be bought.)

First give you a background on what I did to paint and start the kit. When weathering a kit I find it all starts in the Painting.

I wanted to represent the what a VF-1A Standered issue would look like in the middle of the Last battle in episode 27. I called this "The Survivor"

Everyone knows that the Cannon Fodders were always blown away, but to me this is my Fav fighter. Guess you can say I have always had a heart for the backbone of the Basic Fighters.

After cutting my pieces out from the sprew trees.

1. I wash them in dishwashing soap. I make sure I get all of the Oils from my skin and other debris off the parts ( you need to do this for any kit.)

2. I begin to Build the Kit. Using Putty where needed and Making sure that I work each piece. ( If it takes me 2 hours on 1 piece then I will work on it. If I get tired I just put it down and come back. I like to use very fine Sand paper up to 3000 grit.

Here is some pictures of a project that I never got to finish. I ended up moving to Long Beach Cali and I had to leave alot of my stuff back home in New Orleans. But they show some of the process.

I was desiging a VF-1A Battroid Standerd issue with booters.

This was my thread posted on the Monkey boards last year. But as I said, I never got to complete it

What I was showing here is that the DYRL Head is WAY different from the TV Head. And I was always a TV fan the Kit is designed after the DRYL Heads. So I cut out and used PART 15! from the FIGHTER KIT Clear Sprew. IF you notice Their is no use for part 15 and its was some kind of design for the TV Head

So I made it work and made the head.

Edited March 30, 2008 by Ranger565

[Ranger565]

Part 2

Once I have glued what pieces togeather that I can Paint easy. I begin painting the parts that I KNOW have to be painted before glued.

I am sorry I dont have any before pics to the Fighter but this is the best I had at the time. You can see that I was working on the kit and comming up with ideas.

3. Prime your parts, Get all the stuff needed to paint them. RESEARCH what you want to do. Think about what paint scheme, what Colors, what dammage you want to portray. I normally took me about 2 weeks of research before I made my kit. I wanted mine to be right, 90% of the pics I have seen out there are wacked. So if you wanted stuff to be right you take the time .

I dont like my kits to look like they are right off the assembly line. To me Macross anything has seen combat. So if you see me do a kit you will see the Battle Dammage and the Wear and Tear on a kit.

Here is a few pics of my Tomahawk from John Mascoto. This was me working as I began to invision what I wanted to do. Its hard to explain my Planning process but the pictures will explain how I was thinking.

This Tomahawk again was themed from the Mars Battle. I used Orange powder on the legs to give the effect it was walking in the dirt and dust of Mars. There is 3 shades. a Light Orange dust, Dark orange Dust, and the color Rust powder. They can be bought at a hobby shop.

I did not like the decals I put on the first part of the kit. So I did remove them later and placed Indian decals. I love naked women on my Kits, Just gives it that GUYS touch. And the feel of World War 2 pin ups. The decals can be bought from Starshipmodeler if you dont already know. They are part of the "Cheesecake Series"

PS. I never liked the Indian after I was done. I chose it because its a "Tomahawk" I thnk I would have liked a better looking Indian. But I did put the Indian chick on the side crawling

Also MANY of these decals I custam made. or used from The Buyer Sheets that you can find out there on Ebay. I custom made the Red and white Kite.

Edited March 30, 2008 by Ranger565

[cowie165]

Thanks for taking the time to repost and provide the pointers! Much appreciated. I remember seeing your Tomahawk when you first posted pics - it still looks great.

I am especially interested in your technique for bullet holes/blast damage and how you achieve the weathered effect on the 1A super. To me it looked a lot better than I'd expect from pastels and an oil wash...?

Edited March 30, 2008 by cowie165

[Ranger565]

Hehe yeah its actully alot of Pastels and oil washes. on the VF-1A I have not gotten into much of that yet. I was just taking a small break. If I am over doing this let me know. I wanted to work on part 3 after dinner. I am kind of Nervious posting on this stuff. I am sure others have great ideas. But I will be back with part 3 soon.

Ranger

[promethuem5]

Good little write-up... always like to see your work. Just wanted to strike a little extra emphasis on something you said:

3.RESEARCH what you want to do. Think about what paint scheme, what Colors, what dammage you want to portray. I normally took me about 2 weeks of research before I made my kit. I wanted mine to be right, 90% of the pics I have seen out there are wacked. So if you wanted stuff to be right you take the time .

This really is a critical step to a well executed model, and I don't think enough people take planning and research into consideration.

[cowie165]

Hehe yeah its actully alot of Pastels and oil washes. on the VF-1A I have not gotten into much of that yet. I was just taking a small break. If I am over doing this let me know. I wanted to work on part 3 after dinner. I am kind of Nervious posting on this stuff. I am sure others have great ideas. But I will be back with part 3 soon.

Ranger

Sorry about that, I didn't realise there was a Part 3 coming

I'm surprised you said you're nervous on posting this stuff - your work speaks for itself! And remember, once you have the basics, there really is no such thing as wrong technique, just different! Thanks again, looking forward to more whenever you have time.

Cheers

[ron5864]

Testor has videos online for building models and how to paint them for a weathered look. Most of videos are 5-7 minutes long to demonstrate each technique. They are for model aircrafts which is close enough for most Macross models. These are good tips nevertheless.

Here's the link

http://www.scaleworkshop.com/workshop.htm

[cowie165]

Cool link Ron. Cheers. Incidentally, Brett Green is an Australian guy that looks after Hyperscale.com

Just waving the Aussie flag...

Hey I have an off-topic segue about Oz - did anyone read about the Australian girl that was arrested in Connecticut last year after saying "Fair Dinkum!" on a US domestic flight? True story. Down here, saying fair dinkum is the same as saying "gee whiz" but the poor stewardess thought the girl was about to hit DEF CON 1, so she took passport details and officers detained the girl at her destination. Kinda funny story.

Edited March 31, 2008 by cowie165

[Ranger565]

Sorry I have not been able to continue this today. work is just crazy. I will start again later tonight. I think we should also make a weathering theread on these boards. Oh can Cowie I will get into the bullet holes. I promise.

I would love to hear of other people ideas and abilities too. I think we could all benifit from it.

[MechTech]

Thanks for posting the How To's. We can never have enough of them! By the way, I love the custom decal work on the Tomahawk. I never saw your build up of it earlier. - MT

[cynispin]

Sorry I have not been able to continue this today. work is just crazy. I will start again later tonight. I think we should also make a weathering theread on these boards. Oh can Cowie I will get into the bullet holes. I promise.

I would love to hear of other people ideas and abilities too. I think we could all benifit from it.

I agree, there should totally be a weathering thread! Can't wait to see the updates

[Ranger565]

I agree, there should totally be a weathering thread! Can't wait to see the updates

yeah I am going to get back to this. Just tired, with work and its hard to sit at my comp for 3 hours typing things up sometimes.

[cowie165]

yeah I am going to get back to this. Just tired, with work and its hard to sit at my comp for 3 hours typing things up sometimes.

I'm in the middle of two papers for grad school - I know the feeling!

[cowie165]

buuuump!

Ranger do you have time for the VF-1A how-to please? There is still an audience waiting to hear how you pulled that kit out of your hat!

[Ranger565]

buuuump!

Ranger do you have time for the VF-1A how-to please? There is still an audience waiting to hear how you pulled that kit out of your hat!

Ok ok ok, I will get on this. Sorry for the delay Work= the devil, and when you work with Animals they tend to take over your life sometimes