Masking Tape & Weathering

Masking off the wings can test your patience. Luckily they are just basic shapes and after you make a mask for the right wing it works for both so you only need to make two. I applied dabs of liquid mask in the areas of the red markings and let them dry. After I sprayed the red I scraped off the liquid mask and it resembled chipped paint. That was the first step towards weathering - and there's alot of it on Star Wars models.

Now it's on to the serious weathering, but before I start I coat the whole model with dull coat. I really like Testor's dull coat because it dries fast and has an even flat look. Then I diluted some oil paints (the kind that come in a tube) with thinner. I thin the paint down approximately 5 parts thinner to 1 part paint. I then brush this over small areas at a time. The wash brings out alot of the details that disappear in the solid white surface - especially the panel lines. Before it dries completely I wipe the excess off witha clean rag. After that dries I spray on another coat of dull coat to seal it.

This is the point when I like to use pastels to weather further. The pastels are ground down to a powder and you can apply them with a brush, sponge, Q-Tip, anything you like. The idea is to get the effect you want no matter what technique you use. It is really easy to get carried away when you're weathering so proceed slowly and refer to your reference photos often.

Remember, although you may be working on a fictitious vehicle you can still refer to real world things that you can use to apply to it. Looking at an old truck that has alot of wear and tear can inspire you to add things like oil stains, chipped paint, dents, burn marks, the list goes on. Using real world elements brings an added sense of realism to your work so look around and collect pictures.