tomzag ,in my eyes, you seem to be the redsmurf(wise-experienced) of the site .
having a hell of a time applying rust leaks and spots to my model .[sm=drowning.gif]
i`am trying with a brush ,but it keeps looking brush-painted.

do you have an advice or links to apply rust ?
(no powders ,i play outside with it)
should i use a brush?

my friend, you got to have an airbrush. it is must-have.

for 1/35, you still can make it by brushing small strokes, but for 1/16, it is not even and look ugly.

i got mine from Ken, the president of Badger airbrush. we met at eastern hobby show, he was there watching the booth. I was there to help MAAD to demonstrate rc tanks. he almost give the air brush and pump for free, it was SOTAR 20-20, it can do fine line like pencil.
he sent another airbrush and full line of badger water based paint. nice stuff. the condition was to send him pictures of my tank later.

again, study reference picture and practise your airbrush.

good luck, tom

thanks for the info .
i was starting to [sm=bananahead.gif] ,cleaning and repainting [sm=spinnyeyes.gif] ,
like you said : it is not even and looks ugly.
will think of getting a good fine airbrush ,mine is to old and cheap to do that.

Although not directed at me, I might suggest you consider using rust colored pastel(chalk). Gring it up find with san paper and "paint " the streaks on. If you don't like the results, wipe it off. If you do, clear coat it.

It is very subtle and quite realistic IMHO. Just a suggestion.

o.k. will give it a try .
thanks arachna