Andy's Grey Army: Popski's Private Army

Weathering has always been (and still is) a bit of a thing for me, I don't particularly like doing it as I feel it is so easy to mess up all of that hard work with sloppily applied weathering. For a long time I didn't do it at all but there was obviously a big chunk of the final idea missing.

Some time ago I attended a course run by Geoff Coughlin at Scale Modelling Now, an online model magazine that hosts actual modelling workshops by some of the best in the hobby. This particular workshop was run by (to me) the master of dust and weathering, Lester Plaskitt.

I've known Lester for some years so I thought I would go along and try and pick up some tips. And boy did I, the sequential approach and hands-on instruction and guidance was worth every penny. As a consequence, I suggest if you are looking to up your game and want to learn from some of the best modellers around, look into getting yourself on one of these workshops.

Anyway, I digress. You want to know what I learnt. To repeat what I said earlier in the blog;

"Weathering is a layering process; it needs to be considered at every step. Why is that area chipped? What caused that streak? Would that be rusty? - There is a lot more to it than buying a jar of the latest wonder-product and slapping it on without consideration. Take your time, think it through."

So by way of a reminder, this is the jeep before any dust effects.

Compare that to this shot of the finished piece. Bit different, isn't it? And you can probably see now why I spent years avoiding doing this !!

So to start to tie everything together, the first thing to do is to create a base to work from. This step was to spray a highly diluted mix of Tamiya XF57 Buff over the lower areas of the jeep. This was then repeated on horizontal surfaces, those surfaces that would gather dust. All we are doing here is changing the tone of the paint gradually and in a patchy way, we aren't trying to cover everything in an even coat of dust.

That dust is now worked up into a more opaque layer gradually and by concentrating on the form of the object we are weathering. i.e. Dust gathers in recesses, is removed by wear and can be smeared and moved around. It is anything but uniform.

This process works best if you work on one panel or area at a time, it is easy to gauge progress then and you can alter or refine areas as you go. What it also does is make you think about what you are doing: where would the dust accumulate here? would that area be in constant use? If so, how would it get rubbed off?

For the next stage I mixed up two versions of the following Vallejo acrylics: a thinned version of approx. 50/50% 987 Medium Grey and 976 Buff (mix 1), the second version has a little more Buff added and isn't thinned as much (mix 2). This is the scary bit so I urge you to practice this on an old model first.

Add a little washing-up liquid to water (this breaks down the surface tension and slows the paint drying a little) and brush this on to your desired area. Next, apply some of the thinner mix 1 to this and use your brush to literally "move" the paint around to where you want it. Remember, dust will gather in recesses but it will also leave a trace across the entire surface. Once happy, and when this is dry, (use a hairdryer to speed up this process) you can then enhance the effect by using the thicker mix 2 in the areas of greatest build-up.

This is a slow process but it does create that build-up of dust that cannot be replicated any other way. True, pigment application is far quicker but it doesn't give you as much control, and that is key. For a final touch, dry pigments can be applied to enhance the effect and I have done this selectively here, using the same pigments I used on the base.

As a case in point, compare these two wheels: one before the dust layer, the other after the application of acrylic only "dust".

So, not forgetting to apply this technique to the lower areas of the figures, all that remains is to mount everything on the base and apply some final pigments to any missed areas.

So does it work? I must admit that initially I thought I had overdone the dust effects but then I looked at my reference photo's again. I'm happy with the end result and this project pushed me through a mental barrier when it comes to a heavily dusted finish. All that remains, then are the final pictures.

Thanks for following along and if you have any questions please drop me a line.