How to weather question

[slookabill]

Hello all, I'm still very new to painting and techniques(I'm lucky to mask and do various extra paints beyond the main color... though I do have an airbrush and compressor). I'm wondering if there's a good tutorial/book/videos/etc, for actually how do you weather things... obviously looking mostly at starships, so reentry burn marks, soot... or even battle damage. The basics thread here, when I've perused it, seems a bit daunting and still requires you to understand various terms, or how to do certain things or focused more on how to mix colors, or nuances of techniques.

[southwestforests]

Hey there! Basics ... hmm, that's a good question, and having been modeling for almost 5 decades I'm not sure how to describe the very beginnings of weathering because it is so intuitive now.
Well, hey, here comes an idea - reentry, look at images of Space Shuttle after reentry and note where it appears darkened, 'smoked', and how that flows around the structure. A wash of paint through airbrush can be used to suggest that effect, oh, say, something like 3 or 4 drops of paint in an airbrush cup of thinner. Maybe a little brown/black & then a little light grey, so both the light areas and the dark areas show something.

Do a Google image search for space shuttle landing and note color staining on those images.
Such as:
STS-135 Atlantis Landing (201107210007HQ) by NASA HQ PHOTO, on Flickr
Note dark stain on white and greyish-ash hue on black,
https://images.csmonitor.com/csm/2012/0 ... rd_600x400

Battle damage will depend on what materials took the hit, and hit by what. Plus, I doubt the Star Wars craft are thin sheet metal over frames like most of our stuff is, so only a limited amount of battle damage can be based on WW2 and current aircraft. I'd expect a number of Star Wars combat vessels are skinned with a more armor type of material, so looking at tanks might suggest some things - anti-tank weapons turn a lot of kinetic energy in to heat energy, so they could be used as at least some basis for modeling beam weapon hits.

I know of a couple books dealing with battle damage for aircraft and for armored vehicles, but I'll have to look them up. Who knows, here in the internet age, might be some tutorials on YouTube.
There are a few sci-fi modeling publications, and again, I'll have to look them up.

[southwestforests]

Aha, some Millenium Falcon images here show hits as melted punctures, https://imgur.com/gallery/Zt9Y4
specifically, https://i.imgur.com/TSGg4En.jpg

which was found from this a rticle https://gizmodo.com/these-insanely-deta ... 1649565509

These Insanely Detailed Star Wars Models Are Truly Works of Art
Alissa Walker
10/22/14 7:30pm
As the next wave of leaks from the next Star Wars are oh-so-slow to trickle in, hopefully this will tide you over: A colossal collection of 140 photographs featuring Industrial Light & Magic's model-building process from 1977 to 1983. It's simply incredible.

These photos can tell you everything you need to know about great filmmaking. In some cases it's only a tweak of the lighting that makes the models go from a hunk of gray-painted plastic you might have made in your basement to "OMG I can't believe how real that looks." Which makes sense: These ships were often built with pieces from commercial model kits, which explains the model airplane vibe. They still build them this way, although now ILM might be inserting familiar shapes as more of an inside joke: For example, we know that a Batmobile is embedded in the new Millennium Falcon being prepared for Episode VII.

[southwestforests]

Ah, Starship Modeler's own store has a book, a new one, https://starshipmodeler.biz/shop/index. ... ct_id=8426

Out of This World Modeling (2017)
Out of This World Modeling, edited by FineScale Modeler's Aaron Skinner, presents 16 all-new projects from the exciting worlds of science fiction and fantasy movies, TV, and comics. Experienced modelers demonstrate construction, painting, weathering, lighting, and scratchbuilding with spaceships, vehicles, and figures from popular culture.

Softcover, 144 pages, ISBN 978-1-62700-455-8, Kalmbach Publishing 2017.

[wowyz]

Weathering is tough to get right.
I see many people that over-weather their kits, exagerated panel lines, etc.

Most common techniques are washes and dry-brushing, both should be applied sparingly and build up in layers.

Hth.

[aussie cylon]

Go on youtube. There are literally hundreds of "how to" tutorials on model building. They show you how to do whatever your heart desires. Lots and lots of very good videos. Familiarise yourself with a technique, watch the video over and over again, practise on a piece of plastic or even better, a cheap crappy kit until you get the hang of it. Then, do it on your model. Youtube is simply brilliant.

[dizzyfugu]

I used a step-by-step project in a Francois Verlinden book many years ago as my initial weathering fix. It was a "simple" 1:35 M4 Sherman tank, and I started with duplicating the process outlined in the book - and it worked well. Anyway, atechnique or effect which works on one kit or scale might not work for another. And using real-world references is always helpful. Might be complicated for SF models, but the Space Shuttle shown above is IMHO a good example for a weathered space ship surface - and proof how interesting a vehicle with a simple B/W livery can look in real life.

Anyway, the degree of weathering is a matter of taste. I agree that very often the weathering is overdone, or in a way which makes no sense and looks goofy (e. g. "dusting" a tank with an overall airbrush layer). On the other side, unweathered models can look pretty artificial, too, even if they are built and painted well. Again: reality is the best benchmark, and imperfections, repairs and small dents are everywhere. Some simple changes can already make a huge difference.