How to simulate blast marks

[Alex Dumas]

I am working on my Revell Gunship and I would like to add some 'battle history' to it. Do you guys have any good techniques to simulate large and small phaser blast hits?

I have been testing with oil paint and pastels but nothing convincing so far

Thanks!

[Ziz]

If you're looking for physical battle damage, put a small bit in your Dremel, hold the bit against the model while it's stopped AND THEN start the Dremel briefly. That will skip the bit across the surface of the ship and create damage that looks like subsequent small laser hits.

As far as painting them, I experimented on an old MF model by dipping a q-tip in black paint and "striking" it across the surface the way you strike a match to start a fire.

[TER-OR]

I've used the heavy foil from wine bottles to simulate torn metal. Composite materials may well just melt or flash away. Don't go with just black. Paint grays, blues, yellows etc as these materials can drastically change and quickly oxidize with heat. Transparent paints are a great choice here.

If you look at aircraft damaged by conventional weapons, the skin doesn't show a lot of damage. Explosions are usually fatal and there's not much wreckage. Armor - small holes on the outside and complete carnage inside. Burn marks from vents, seams etc. are all you get.

[robiwon]

I use black pastel chalk to do blast marks. This turned out well on my SS X-Wing. I just took the stick itself and nicked the model in places. Seal it with dull coat.

[Alex Dumas]

Thanks for your input, guys!

First, the goal here was to have a week-end project (I really needed that...) where I could try a few new weathering techniques. I chose to built the new Revell Republic Gunship and wanted to give it that 'hard week' look without altering the factory paint... But just by dirtying it down

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adumas02/5258265025/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adumas02/5258265259/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adumas02/5258264891/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adumas02/5258872748/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adumas02/5258872082/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adumas02/5258872520/

For the blast marks I have used a mix of black, brown and silver pastels (to simulate bare metal). I have also used a basic grey wash, which got to dark to my taste, that I applied in the seems and onto some sections of the fuselage with a sponge to simulate paint chipping.

Here's more experimenting I did on a styrene sheet using the technique above (first pic) and others using matches (second pic, on right) which works better than expected even though I haven't use it on my subject.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adumas02/5258875046/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adumas02/5258874988/

Don't hesitate to give me your feedback ...this was mostly an experiment.

[robiwon]

Those blast marks look fantastic! Great job. I never tried the match technique before. I may have to give it a try.

[PetarB]

Hi Alex. What kind of wash did you use there... it actually looks quite effective. I have this kit too... and I have held off on this as I don't feel like repainting it again, but it looks like you've got a more than adequate finish there to be honest. Looks like you polished that twin canopy quite dramatically though, looks great!

In terms of the blast marks, I think they look a lot better, and more convincing where you have the dark discolouration around them come out radially. I can see, especially in the tests on the styrene, some of them lack the radial point of origin, they look from side to side. Secondly, I think that when there is more detail in the blast marks, it looks a little better, rather than just a blur. I'm experimenting with rough masking at the moment of blast marks, with tiny strips, then going over them a few times. Once I have something to show, I'll have to put it up here for review as well.

Anyway, great work, nice to see you building up a model! Laura's still waiting on you though...

[Alex Dumas]

I used Model Master's enamel grey diluted in thinner (1 part of paint for 4 parts of thinner). I should have used a lighter grey or a bit more thinner in my opinion.

I agree, the blast marks with a dark contrast around the impact are much better. I tried to do so in fact but the surface got too glossy for more pastels to grab on. The tip might be to give it a light coat of clear mat finish before adding more pastels...

I did nothing special to my canopy except washing it in soppy water. You could try dipping it in future floor wax. I guess I got lucky with mine, EXCEPT that it has a crack on the front cockpit (probably from transport).

Thanks for the feedback!

P.S. Unfortunately, the Laura is no longer on my projects list. I hope Bad-Azz will come up with one in 1/72.

[MillenniumFalsehood]

Whenever I do blast damage, I make radial lines around it with my airbrush and always do one that is longer and bolder than the others to suggest the direction the laser was striking from. The radial lines are for the larger pieces ejected from the blast site which would have a bigger smoke trail and consequently produce darker soot marks. They are also longer in the back of the blast than the front, relative to the big streak, because of the direction of travel at the instant it was hit(when it'****, a starship in the movies is always pushed down a bit in the direction of the laser hit).

You can do the same thing with pastels, just grind them up and use a micro-brush to do the streaking.

[Alex Dumas]

Seems like a good technique, thanks! However I'm affraid my airbrush skills aren't good enough for little impacts. Instead, I have tried using the same approach I did earlier but using mostly micro brushes:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adumas02/5269009391/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adumas02/5269009461/

It looks much better in person... Lighting was poor today to make good pictures.