Taking my weathering to a new level

[PhildaFish]

Now as some of you are aware, I'm a big fan of the excessively weathered look and after seeing some of the work of others on this site, (Cheers BrummieModeller, I've finally become a tea leaf!) I've had a crack at a new effect - 3D mud!

A while ago I saved a few days worth of used tea bags and two filters worth of coffee... umm... grinds? Well, whatever you call them (I drink neither, but the wife gets through enough!) I saved it in an empty plastic butter tub and dried it out by leaving it on the heater in the kitchen and then last night I finally had a go at using it on my Airfix Sherman!

I mixed it with PVA glue and added small amounts of water until it looked right. Then I added some weathering powder and a little paint until I got the colour that I wanted which was the quite pale mud of Normandy. Then I just went nuts with a paint brush, slapping it on in all the places where I thought it would build up! Obviously all around the tracks and wheels but also around the front and where muddy boots my have been stomping around and where splashes may have landed.

I had loads left over and decided to do my old Revell Chaffee and the base as well, so I darkened the mix a little to match the dark weathering that I'd done already and found it really hard to darken the already pale mix so there was a lesson learnt. One of the good things about doing the Chaffee was that it was the first tank model I'd tried to weather so I have 3 photos to show my differing approaches.

The top picture shows the painted on mud which looks pretty awful. The middle picture shows the effects of dry pigment brushed into all the nooks and crannies and the final picture is the properly filthy looking, tea bag and coffee effect!



Now, what else can I try to make them look even filthier?!?!?

[SuperDryBeef]

I prefer the second picture,

[Lego]

Yep second photo is the best.

[PhildaFish]

Really? I know I went a bit over the top with it but I thought the actual lumps of mud added an extra dimension to it and the base seemed much more realistic than the wet mud effect I'd tried to paint on the plastic. Perhaps I should've confined it to the tracks and wheels?

[DC87]

The texture of the 3rd pic is great, it's just the colour is so so - looks too much like clay to me.

Add a wash or pigments to your tea and coffee technique and it will be perfect

[PhildaFish]

I had the colour ideal for what I wanted on the Sherman but I couldn't get it to darken very well for the pictured Chaffee; I added Humbrol 10 Service Brown, Citadel Colours Chestnut Wash (which was what I used for the original painted on mud and the gloss effect of the base), and some Pinnacle Pigments Medium Mud and some of my own dark earth pigments and after all that it wouldn't go any lighter! Perhaps I'll go over it again with the wash and see what happens...

[BrummieModeller]

That looks great mate the mud looks realistic instead of just flat that you see on alot of models, neat idea mixing the teabags with the pigment too

[George]

I really like the effect on the base. It looks like real mud. Nice.

[Lego]

If you want a dark wet look you need to use some dark red brown. Mixed with varnish or wet effects it gives you the dark wet look you are looking for. You could experiment with house hold varnish to give you the wet look or water in tracks or that hole. I have seen this technique used to great effect.

It is hard to know what you are looking for without a reference pick because the image is in your head if you know what I mean. I have sent you a link to something that might help you. Keep chugging

[PhildaFish]

Thanks for all your feedback, now I have a load of things to try out next time!

[kiwigav]

Now thats really dirty!!

look forward to your next weathering pics...well done