streetsquid

Hi all,
I recently posted some pics of my DAK Tiger on another thread about an excellent DAK reference sight. After posting those pics I had numerous requests on that post as well as several PM's to please share my technique in how I paint and weather my DAK armor. I don't really have any great secrets, but I'm more than willing to share what I have learned. So for the rest of this thread I will post "how to" photos and corresponding text in an attempt to walk you through what I do

streetsquid

I'm currently in the middle of a couple of other projects. But I have put them on hold to put this thread together as requested. I looked through my stash and decided on an SdKfz 251 from 21rst Century Toys as the basis of this thread. This way I don't have to build anything and can focus strictly on the painting and weathering techniques. Once finished I'll just add this vehicle to our club's collection of static battlefield elements and props. Let's get started.

The 21rst Century halftrack is first stripped of it's detail parts and washed in preparation for paint.

Once dry I masked off the front and rear license plates with Scotch 3M blue painters tape

streetsquid

Then the entire vehicle is base coated in a dark brown. In this case I used Rustoleum brand "Esspresso Brown". The color has a satin finish and is part of their "American Accents" line of paints. The can does not specify whether or not it is a Laqcuer or a Enamel, but my guess would be that it's a fast drying enamel as the can list the top ingredients as Acetone, Tolulene, and Xylene. I have used this previously and have successfully sprayed Tamiya acrylics over the top of this base coat with no adverse reactions or adhesion problems.

Truth is any dark brown base color would work. I use it to add richness and depth once it's over sprayed with the top coat color. It also serves to even out the base and cover up the factory applied camo scheme and markings. I intentionally let the color be slightly modeled with less coverage in some areas and left other areas completely unpainted, such as the driver's front tire, as this will add even more variation and lend to the realism once we add the final color.

Then everything was set aside to dry for the night.................................more to follow!

googlydoogly

I have this bookmarked. [&:] Thanks again for putting your projects on hold so you could do this tutorial.

streetsquid

googlydoogly,
No worries mate! I'm happy to do it. Glad to share or help anytime I can. The Sherman and Pz III projects will still be there in a couple of days. Truth is the Olympics being on TV had already side tracked me from those builds. Doesn't matter Summer or Winter Games and I can't ever seem to turn away!

Squid

pattoncommander

thanks for the how-to on the DAK weathering. A lot of us are following....your system works great.

bowlman

keep it coming streetsquid im ready to learn i have a airbrush and ive painted big areas with it but never done weathering and camo with it .

thanks
jimmy

streetsquid

pattoncommander,
Thanks a bunch I'm really glad that someone finds what I do interesting and successful in their eyes. I've said many times before on this forum I'm all about doing things as cheaply and simply as possible. I try to experiment and learn something new on every project, because if you're not learning you're not pushing yourself to be better.

Bowlman,
Don't ever be afraid to just jump in and play. I try to never forget that although this can be an expensive hobby, it still is a hobby and something we do for fun. So load up the airbrush and have at it! Hopefully you can find something helpful on this thread


Squid

streetsquid

Hi all,
Alright got through a few more steps tonight and as promised have a few more pics to share.

The brown enamel base coat had dried sufficiently to proceed with adding color.

One note; I did find that the Rustoleum enamel base coat has started to attack the surface of the rubber front tires making them somewhat sticky to the touch. No worries, merely a happy accident that should make the desert dust stick really really well once it hits the battlefield (LOL).

I loaded the Iwata airbrush with Tamiya XF-60 (Dark Yellow) acrylic paint. Using a combination of Tamiya thinner, distilled water and Isopropyl alcohol to sufficiently thin the paint. I know this mix may sound a bit complex or unnecessary but I have found it to work excellent and give me incredible control when spraying acrylics. I don't measure out specific ratios, but mix by eye, kind of like vodoo mixing, a pinch of this and a dash of that................ the ratios are about:

40% Thinner
20% alcohol
10% water
30% paint

With this mix the water has a higher surface tension than the thinner which helps avoid making the paint mixture too thin and runny. The alcohol evaporates very quickly which helps the paint flash over so you can lay down a nice wet coat and avoid dry over spray. Because the alcohol evaporates the painted surface dries to the touch quickly. Now others may wish to use straight thinner or follw the paint manufacturer's specific instructions, I'm just sharing what works well for me.

I also made sure not to make my painted surface to "even" as I want a somewhat modeled or even slightly blotchy look. Not so much that it looks intentional, but I definitely don't want the vehicle to look like it just rolled out of the paint shop either. Remember we chose that brown base coat for a specific reason. Besides covering up the factory camo scheme it also plays a part in the finished appearance of the dark yellow top coat. Let some of the brown show through, or at least keep some areas of dark yellow thin enough you can see the shadow of the brown undercoat........................kind of a pre-shading

streetsquid

Because the alcohol flashed off as fast as it did we can move directly onto the next step.

I created a very diluted mix of XF-60 Dark Yellow and XF-10 Flat Brown. About 2 to 1 mix Dark Yellow to Brown, and then thinned heavily about 20% paint to 80% thinners (50% Tamiya thinner, 10% water 20% alcohol).

Once again I loaded the airbrush, but this time I cranked the air pressure way down to about 10-12 psi. With this really thin paint mix and low air pressure you have complete control over a very subtle application of paint. I did a free hand pass over the entire vehicle highlighting panel lines, edges of panels, rivet detail, and then I added some verticle lines and streaking to help break up the mono chromatic finish.

This application is very subtle as the color is a variation of the base color. This is the very first step in the weathering process, and there are no stringent guidelines here. Work slowly and step back from your work often, keep you hand free flowing and try not to be too rigid in your application. You don't want your lines to be straight.

streetsquid

Ok one final step for tonight. We're going to add the first filter.

Now you may have heard of different terms to describe types of washes and applications (sludge wash, pin wash etc.) and most washes are applied to specifically bring out or accentuate detail items.

Well a wash used as a filter serves a slightly different purpose. Where a wash outlines or defines certain details, a filter is designed to add depth of color and variation to the overall painted surface. My preferred method is using high quality artist's tube water colors. They have dense pigments, are easily thinned and once dried you can still thin, manipulate or even completely remove the water color filter from an area.

The color of the filter is determined by the color of the paint you are applying it to. For Dark Yellow I used a combination of yellow ochre and burnt umber. I avoided thoroughly mixing the paints together so that once again I would have variation as the filter was being applied. Some areas have more of a yellow hue from the yellow ochre while other areas have a red brown streaky appearance from the raw umber. During this process I will often dip the brush in straight water to further dilute the filter as it is being applied to the vehicle

streetsquid

The first filter is now on the entire vehicle and we'll let it dry for the night. Tomorrow we can go back in and push the filter color around, thin it out, or completely remove it using nothing more than a damp brush. Next we'll look at adding a few washes to make the details "pop"

edoubleaz

My Feedback: (1)

nice! Got the build page going.

http://web.me.com/ethandunsford/DAK2...NG_AND_WX.html

Now I need to get that Desert Sherman going!!!

mackem

Thanks for the tip on using water colours as a filter medium.
Brilliant effect, can't wait to try it out, and even better, it's none destructive!!!!

Top class thread, keep it up [sm=thumbs_up.gif][sm=thumbs_up.gif][sm=thumbs_up.gif]
John

YHR

Very good thread. I find it interesting to see the differences. I usually satin coat over the base(to protect the "factory finish" and add decals before starting the weathering. I am interested as to where you add the decals in to the mix?

streetsquid

Mackem,
Glad you found something useful here.

I have used water colors for a long time in my model making. You have an incredible amount of control and versatility while painting and even after it has dried. In fact when using acrylics and watercolors right up to the point that you seal the paint you can completely remove it back to bare plastic using nothing more than Windex brand glass cleaner. Besides filters, watercolors are also great for adding washes and weathering to bring out detail, which you'll soon see if you stick with this thread until the end.

Squid

streetsquid

YHR,
I agree, the infinite value in this site is the breadth of knowledge and experience that's gets shared. I too love learning what others do and try to apply what I've learned to my next project.

You must have read my mind........................read ahead decal and markings are the next step. I usually apply one or possibly two filters before adding decals, because the filters help set the tone of the base color that the markings are to applied too.

pcomm1

Very cool, and well, I was with you right up until the wash part.

So, show us how you continue to blend these water mark stains so they do not look like your 5 year son just baked your your battlefield prop in the AZ sun after floating it in the bath like a little yellow ducky?

Seems to be some difference between rendering 1/35 fine scale armor and weathering 1/18 and or 1/16 scale armor and I have yet to see any of the super skilled contest modelers really use any washes on their 1/16 scale master pieces (the size of the water stain seems over sized and a little horsey), but if you have a break through, I am more than interested in learning and seeing the "how to".

Please demonstrate the finish, the time between posts is killing me.

Here is Tamiya's tips for this yellow over brown technique (Used this method for several years now with limited success, the brown seems to always go away, LOL): http://www.tamiyausa.com/articles/fe...?article-id=33

John

streetsquid

Now that the filter has had a chance to dry, tonight we're going to apply some markings before we add any additional washes or weathering. Obviously the idea here is to make all of the markings look as if they are painted on, as on the real vehicles.

Whenever you use decals you run the risk of the dreaded "silvering". And at no time is this more apparent then when you try to apply decals over a flat paint. Personally I don't like to gloss coat my models so I choose to add gloss to localized areas immediately under and around the decal. Since I work almost exclusively in water based materials, my only choice for gloss coating is Future Floor Polish (Johnson's Klear in the U.K.)

I apply several generous coat using a wide flat brush. To expedite drying I grabbed my daughter's hairdryer and added a little forced heat. The decals came from spare sheet of Tamiya's Panther G markings. For this I'm only using the Bauklkenruz and hull numbers, which will also get some additional painting that you'll see later!

streetsquid

Ok decals are on and set aside to dry for a short period of time. Then I add one thin layer of Future over the decals to seal them in, protect them, as well as match them to the sheen of the surrounding paint.

The DAK logos are going to be hand painted and for this I create a disposable stencil. I used the artwork from my Avatar here on this site and duplicated it in three separate sizes. I cut and paste them into a word document then printed them out on my printer. I used a x-acto to cut out the palm tree design and taped it to the side of the hull.

Using a diluted mix of white/ ivory thinned about 85% thinner to 15% paint, I set my air pressure once again to about 10psi and airbrushed the DAK logos

ksoc

Craig,

You guys should get together and make a photo etched set of brass DAK logos in various sizes.

Ethan,

Thanks for the build page, will save me the hours of cutting and pasting...... this thread is a keeper!

streetsquid

Once the logos were airbrushed I went back in and touched up the hull numbers. The Panther decals were designed as a broken white outline, with a hollow center, mimicking a stencil. To add interest and break up the monochromatic look of a solid Dark Yellow vehicle, I mixed a red brick color and applied it with a small round brush.

Once the numbers were painted I loaded some thinned Dark Yellow into the airbrush and oversprayed the decals and painted logos. By using the body color the markings start to blend into the rest of the body and take on a more "painted on" look.

We'll continue this process as we get into weathering, but for now the decals need some time to dry

streetsquid

pcomm1 (John)
Thanks for the feedback and the link, I wish the pictures in that article could be blown up a tad bit bigger, would definitely make them more useful.

Funny I build both 1/72nd scale and 1/35th scale armor, and although 35th is twice the size the same techniques still seem to apply. Not so going up to 16th scale.

I understand what you are saying and completely agree with you about the out of scale water spots (stains). But that truly is the beauty of working with water colors. Once they are dry a damp brush, cloth, or even a Q-tip and you can soften edges, move paint and push it towards the edges of raised detail, create fluid spills and stains, or completely remove it without affecting the acrylic paint underneath.

As I mentioned I have to let the decals dry before doing anymore tonight. Just in the last 3 hours I Futured the hull, applied decals, overcoated them with Future, painted the numbers, and then airbrushed a thin layer of acrylic paint, and added one filter coat of water color to the surface of the decals, so they're looking a little fragile.

Tomorrow night I will address blending the filter, and adding washes to bring out surface detail. I'm glad you are interested in what I'm sharing I'll do my best to expedite it, but bare with me (LOL)

streetsquid

Kevin,
That would be pretty cool, and probably not to hard to accomplish. I'm pretty sure Micro Mark makes a kit for making your own photo-etch at home. I've never tried it though.

Truth is I kind of like the rough look of a hand cut stencil, I think it kind of adds to the realism as if each was painted on by hand in the field.

Glad you like the thread, just put it together after numerous requests. I hope you guys find it helpful or at least interesting.

Regards

Craig

pcomm1

Hi Craig, Really nice. The decal treatment is great and thank you for explaining the "how to". John