#weathering tutorial

Thought I'd write up a quick tutorial to how I approach weathering for my gunpla kits. Typically, I'll do a quick gunmetal drybrush of the grey parts of a kit before I start building, as well as correcting any colour inaccuracies. This tutorial covers some of the things I do to a kit after it's built, to give it a more "lived in" look.

For the best effect, I apply stickers and other decals before weathering, as well as graffiti. This way, weathering cuts through or over these designs, helping tie them to the kit a little better.

The example kit here is the HGUC 1/144 Nemo, which I'll upload a review for soon that should be linked in the future.

Bullet Holes & Impact Points

I typically use a hobby knife, pressing it into the surface of the plastic to make a small mark where I want the bullet impact point to be.

Usually with a blade that has a damaged or flatter tip, I'll spin the blade around, just like you'd use a hand drill (although I don't have any of those, so this suffices). Holding the blade at a slight angle will make the hole wider and a little more bowl shaped, just like a dent from an impact point.

Using a round metal file, I widen some of the holes and bevel the edges. Apart from making the hole a little more visible, this also creates a bit of a raised edge.

A starburst pattern can be created by cutting a few shallow lines with a knife traveling out from the centre of the hole, creating the implication of shrapnel from a shattered round.

Armour Chips and Edge Damage

Using a round file, I carve a rounded indent into the edge of the armour section. Depending on the angle you use and the position of the indent, this can come across as a dent or a chip of armour blown off. You can see what this looks like in the second image.

After this, I'll use a hobby knife or an angled file to cut deep grooves heading outward from the dent, as well as on their own to create cuts and chips along more acute angled on armour pieces (think the 90 degree angle on a square leg piece). As additions to the rounded damage, it can look like shrapnel damage from an intial angled impact. On their own, more angled chips give high points on armour a more worn effect.

Paint Damage (Sponge Chipping)

This utilizes a technique I learned from @radiofreemagica a few months ago. Give their blog some love!

Sponge chipping involves lightly applying paint to areas you want to appear chipped or worn using a sponge. The effect is that paint is applied as a series of small spots, which if done right should look as though the pain has fallen off in large flakes. The sponges here are simply offcuts of an old kitchen sponge.

For my first pass, I use a slightly heavier application of black paint.

Dab a little of the excess off on a piece of paper - you want the impression of the sponge to come across clearly for the small little dots. If there's too much paint on the sponge, it'll blot onto the model and obscure detail.

Apply the paint across raised edges, especially corners, where the mech or vehicle is likely to experience the most friction. Try to be measured on application - not every raised edge needs to have chipped paint!

For the second pass, a gunmetal is appropriate. Use an even smaller amount of paint.

Dab the gunmetal over the top of your black. This will make it look as though underneath the black "primer" is bare metal.

Drybrushing

This step helps to augment the wear and tear established with your sponge chipping. Using a lighter metallic, you can emphasise the idea that under the bright colours of the model kit is tough metal plating.

My go-to drybrush for this is Citadel's Necron Compound, which is a drybrush-ready silver. Usually I prefer cheaper and more dilute Vallejo Air, as it reduces the risk of drying out or clogging in the bottle, and doesn't need to be thinned. However, Citadel's technical paints are really well made, and worth the extra cost.

For a drybrush style paint, you only need to wipe a little excess of your drybrushing brush. For a typical silver acryllic, you'll need to keep wiping until only a little silver comes off the brush, enough to only stick on the high points. You can use a specific drybrushing brush for this, or just any old brush that you don't care about abusing a little.

Only lightly tickle the raised edges with silver. A little goes a long way - you just want the edges of the armour segments to catch the light and give the implication of worn metal.

Painting the Damage

Coming back to the damage we carved with files and knives, it's time to give the impression of metal underneath them, rather than plastic.

For this, I'll use a plain silver acryllic, something around a flat aluminium rather than chrome or purer silver.

With a small brush, apply the silver paint into the chips, cracks, and bullet holes you made earlier. Make sure to work it right into the thinner recesses, and wipe away any excess with a cotton bud.

Next, to bring down the tone and to add depth to the damage, I use a black wash. You can buy premade acryllic washes, or even use something like liquid panel liner, but I prefer to just make my own.

Make sure your brush is very wet, picking up water with your brush.

Mix with the paint until it is very thin. You should be able to see through it.

Apply it into the bullet holes and cracks, letting it flow into the deepest sections just like with a panel liner, and wiping away the excess.

This should make the damage look a little deeper, and give it a bright edge from the silver.

Finishing Up

Make sure to give your kit a protective topcoat, so that all your paint doesn't get chipped off when posing or moving your kit! I use a matte finish pray on sealer. Right now I'm using the Mod Podge clear acryllic, but in the past I've also used bog-standard Rust-O-Leum Matte Clear varnish without any issues. It's important to cover or mask off any clear or gloss parts when doing a matte finish, as these will ruin the parts and it's very difficult to clean them once the topcoat is set.

I wrote a small tutorial about weathering on Deviantart, check it out!