The Return of the Friday Diatribe - March 2026 - How's the weather?

[Stokesy44]

Good morning all

After the runaway success of last month's diatribe (no responses because it was way too long for people to read ), this month's diatribe will be about the weather. Or more specifically, the way I weather. This will not be a how to guide, rather it is hoped to be a conversation starter. From the point of firing up the airbrush to putting the model on display, step by step processes for aircraft and AFVs.





Could be fun, could be dull as ditchwater but hey, its me, so don't get your hopes up

[Stokesy44]

There’s been some good chat on the forum lately about what constitutes ‘weathering’, lets have a look at it from a practical point of view.

Here’s my philosophy. I aim for realism within the confines of the kit’s engineering and my ability as a modeler. Part 1 is usually similar across builds as I tend to go for relatively modern kits across manufacturers I trust. Part 2 is a much broader question, impacted by impatience, lack of application, inconsistency and (many) genuine gaps in my skill set!

Sticking to aircraft and AFVs. There are 3 layers to my process

A – Deplastification (copyright pending) of the subject - Eliminating the plastic look and obvious scale references

B – Wear and Tear – Ageing the kit to reflect time and usage since it left the factory

C – Completing the process based on environmental conditions

Deplastification – getting the subject from primer to how it might look as a fully restored non-running Museum piece.

AFV – lay down the base coat. If the base is dark (green or olive drab) then lay down a lighter version of the base and modulate accordingly, this creates depth and mitigates against the scale effect, whilst keeping the kit from being too dark. Add the decals and then a gloss varnish. Add an all over dark dirt clay wash to highlight panel lines, details and to tone down the effect of the gloss and create a metallic effect on the skin of the vehicle. The more of the wash I clean off, the shinier the vehicle gets so I’m careful to leave a sheen of the wash on all the vehicle’s surfaces. I’m aiming for an end result with a color that has depth and variation, finished with a metallic look with the details picked out.

Aircraft – lay down a marble coat and / or a pre-shade depending on the base colors. Pre-shade looks great with light colors but is useless if you are painting a late war USN fighter like a Hellcat which is all dark blue. Add the base coat to the extent where the marbling and pre-shade is visible but not overly so otherwise the kit looks like I’m being too arty farty and the effects are overdone. The remainder of the process is the same as for AFVs, gloss, decals and a dark wash wiped back to a metallic finish.

Wear and Tear

AFVs – if its not going into a museum, I add the following process after the decals have gone down. I seal the decals with a matt varnish then I apply an oil dot filter. This creates more modulation and a washed out effect, the intent being to show sun fade and a general reduction in the lustre of the paintwork. I then chip the vehicle using black or dark brown paint applied with the edge of a sponge, this gets added to all areas whish should show wear and any edges. Sometimes I also add chips (or highlights) using a lighter version of the base coat to show where the paintwork has been damaged but not necessarily all the way through to bare dark metal. I use pigments to rust exhaust pieces and I airbrush black paint to blacken the exhaust ends and the hull if its adjacent. Then I am back to the original process so a gloss is next with a dark wash and wipe to finish.

Aircraft – I don’t use oils as the kit will already be showing the marbling and / or the pre-shade through the paintwork. After the decals are on, I use the airbrush to produce gun smoke and engine exhaust, I nearly always overdo it no matter how hard I try to show restraint. I add chipping using silver and a fine brush. I am trying to find another way to chip aircraft because I am never fully convinced it looks any good. Undercarriages and wheel bays and specific areas get addition dirt stains then I am back to the original process of glossing and a dark dirt wash and wipe to finish. That’s it for aircraft. At this point I see the kit as finished.

Completing the process based on environmental conditions

AFVs only – this only really covers winterising a vehicle by whitewashing and distressing it or going to town on the mud side of things by adding physical texture to the lower hull and running gear to represent mud or snow / slush. This is after everything is done. For the whitewash I use a white clay-based wash through my airbrush, its easy to distress because its water based so it can be worked simply by using a damp cloth or ear bud. Rust streaks with oils can be added over the top of the wash and it can all be toned down by spraying a filter of light brown or tan, just enough to make the white wash look less like Dulux ceiling paint! For mud I use Tamiya snow paint cut with brown or black if I am going for slush. I brush this on to all the running gear and tracks as well as the lower front and rear ends. The idea is to create a vehicle where everything lowdown is covered in mud, while everything above is covered with a dirty, flaking and rapidly washing off winter coat. To finish off, the kit needs a matt varnish to protect the whitewash from coming off if the kit is touched.

So that’s it, that’s my process, what’s yours?

Cheers
David

[Tomcat64]

Sorry mate - I completely missed this during my somewhat hectic March...

With AFVs being my comfort zone any aircraft I build tend to have very little in the way of weathering applied beyond a panel line wash. Part of this is because with aircraft I've probably spent hours masking stuff up for paint, and then even more hours decalling (especially if it's something with a ton of stencils) so I'm wary of making a mess of all that work and will generally go with the less is more approach for the most part.

For AFVs it's a different story altogether, and will often be based on whether I've got my eye on the next project in the stash by the time I get to the finishing post. If I want to move onto the next project then weathering will be limited to misting over the decals with the base colour to "fade" them in a bit and then a quick bit of chipping followed by blended oil dots to generate dust etc.

If I decide I'm going all in then it's all about the layers as Stokesy mentions in his original post... so there will be some chipping, some dirt, maybe some more chipping, then a winter wash followed by more dirt... it's all about thinking how/when the grime will be accumulated and looking at real vehicles.

In tems of inspiration I'll pay attention to the way that grime and wear and tear build up on my own car; when we're at the railway I'll be looking at the old, dilapidated rolling stock; heavily used farm equipment is another source of ideas.

Ultimately how much weathering goes onto a finished kit is very much the choice of the individual modeller and it's sometimes worth remembering that even the most beaten up tank was fresh out of the factory at some stage.

This is probably the most weathering I've thrown at any kit


It took a fair while but I was really happy with the finished results