Model aging technique. How scale model aging is done

The scale is the same as previous ships. If the scales are different, then it will not be interesting to look at all this. I have calculated everything properly and determined that both of my ships are not in 50 scale, but in 1:55!
A real modeler is obliged to use any scraps of time for his favorite pastime! In 9 hours I have to go to the championship, but I still managed to make a frame. All frames are glued tightly. Before that, they were installed exactly along the axis of symmetry. Additional stiffeners between the frames will align my "herring", so there's no need to worry. For the 3rd time I am convinced that a precisely built 3D model and then accurately cut parts allow you to get rid of a bunch of jambs during the construction process. The fit of the parts is perfect!

Completed the decks and leveled the hull. Jumpers between the frames gave additional rigidity. A little more processing and you can sheathe.

He began to gradually sheathe the sides with a rough sheathing.
I will no longer shoot on a cell phone due to strong distortion.
The hull turns out to be very strong, and even with 1/3 of the side plating it is no longer possible to twist it around the longitudinal axis. Thin (2 mm) frames are, of course, good in the sense that they almost do not need to be ground down for laying the skin, but on the other hand, they are not very convenient for driving in nails.

Why rulers and not plywood? You can’t easily cut plywood with an ordinary paper knife, but you can calmly cut rulers.
Besides good plywood costs about 2 times more expensive in terms of area and waste is inevitable, tk. there are always some stupid corners and trimmings.
When making elements from rulers, I select the desired length for each section of the part so that after building the entire skeleton in the pictures above, waste, in total, was less than 2 30cm rulers!! Those. This is a no-waste building!

Almost finished the rough trim. Time for sheathing with slats took until 2 pm. Unfortunately, the lines are over again - that's why I stopped.

This is lens distortion! And on last photo generally not clearly frontal, but slightly deployed body. At a length of 60 cm, the pulls seem terrible even with minimal body rotation.
As I sit down at the ship, I will pull the thread along the axis of symmetry to show evenness.
When assembling the frame, there was a problem that one ruler was slightly thinner or thicker than the other. But when building frames, this does not create problems. With rough trim - too. All the same, then the case will be strongly skinned and everything will be smooth. Where the thickness is fundamental, I first calibrate the rulers for thickness.
I'll start with the bad news: Mr. Scrafter ( Karopka.ru forum user. Note. site ) turned out to be right. Having a diamond eye, he really determined the roll of the hull. Having broken through the hull with a laser level, I determined that the stern, starting from the third quarter of the hull, went to the right by 4 mm from the axis. Still, somewhere I did not follow. Well at least that this will not be visible (given the specifics of the model). Otherwise - in the fireplace and for alteration.

Now about the rest. Since in all my fairy tales initial stages similar, I skip them. Draft sheathing as always - rulers, fine as always - ash veneer 0.5 mm. The veneer is over. So, I'm waiting for deliveries. I installed velvets, but the nails also ended. So for now, everything is halfway there. Around the ports of the upper gun deck made platbands. Cut from rulers, wall thickness 1.5 mm. This is on the verge of a foul: the frames broke just under the instrument itself without pressure. I had to impregnate the tree with cosmofen and after drying they were normally processed.

In anticipation of veneer and nails, I decided to do the tank. Broke out part of the deck, installed the beams. At the ends of the crane beams carved bird heads.

In no case should the rulers be soaked - a chaotic warping of the tree begins, which does not recover after drying. I either notch the tree or bend it alive with microfractures. This is when the crackling of the first fibers begins, but the rail itself still retains its strength. Depending on the curvature of the arc, you just need to choose the appropriate length of the segment and break the rail with such segments. After sanding everything looks great.
The fruits of today's washed down simply "amaze" the imagination.
While waiting for the veneer, I decided to tackle one of the bulkheads. 3 hours sharpened this wick:

It seems that everything turned out very well, and after tinting and fouling it will look as it should ...

Only one joint showed up... This detail is from the wrong deck!

Only one thing made me happy today - the veneer came. I'll go with grief to the case further sheathe. Today, there is no strength to redo this detail.

The hinges are photo-etched from the shipyard.
Arcs are cut with this tool:

By the way, do you know that you can successfully seal cut wounds with cosmofen? It helps a lot to get back on track.
He gathered his willpower into a fist and cut out a new bulkhead, though already in size.

I use CA-12 "Cosmofen" glue. Nothing is soaked in the cosmophane. I just smeared the piece of wood with glue, waited 2 minutes to dry and can be processed. Due to the large liquid of the glue, it impregnates the wood through the fibers to a great depth, strengthening it more from the inside than from the outside.
Put the model on a stand. Partially sheathed the sides and made buttresses on the starboard side. Since the ship will be very heavily algae and almost no sharp corners (not overgrown), you do not need to seriously worry about the exact gapless connection of parts, which saves a lot of time and nerves. The hull below the waterline was deliberately sheathed only in places. In these places, boards will be visible, in the rest everything will “overgrow” and, accordingly, does not require sheathing.

He put buttresses on the port side, partially sheathed 2 decks. I made decor around the bow guns. Began to do the aging of the case. All threads are made with a tapered diamond shank. How did the muzzle: I glued 2 more layers of skin on the skin of the nasal frame and already cut out the muzzle in it. The aging of the hull was done by drilling the shank into the body of the skin and breaking out all the offal. After that, everything is filled with cosmofen.

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to age the bottom of a wooden ship model. In order to get the job done quickly and accurately, I will use the following materials:
- the actual model of the ship - in my case it is from the Zvezda company (9037).

Model putty "Tamiya", gray

Toothpick (where without it :))
- linen thread or sanitary linen

So let's move on to step by step process"spoilage" of the model:
1) We take a tube of putty and, after squeezing out the contents a little, we begin to dot the future growths on the bottom of the ship. Repeat until you are satisfied with the result.

2) Now, with a toothpick, we level the applied putty, and give it a more natural shape. I made "stabbing" movements with a toothpick so that there was an imitation of overgrown corals and other marine life. For greater persuasiveness, you can dig up on the Internet and see photos of corals, and if you're lucky, then the growths themselves.

3) We will imitate algae with a linen thread. We take a clean toothpick and begin to unravel the linen thread into strands, the thinner the better. In truth, if you use plumbing linen (you can get it at any plumbing store), it will be much easier. I, without looking for easy ways, took a toothpick in my hands more comfortably and set to work. After you are satisfied with the result, you can start gluing linen to the bottom of the vessel. The more carelessly and messily it sticks, the better, and most importantly, our algae will look more natural.

4) After letting the glue and putty dry, you can proceed to further work - priming and painting. When priming, I used Tamiya primer, painted with MasterAcryl black paint from Zvezda, which has a very good liquid consistency and is compatible with its use in airbrushes. After the paint had dried, I covered the model with Tamiya matte varnish and worked the bottom of the ship with a dry brush, highlighting all the necessary areas. It seemed to me that the result obtained was not enough and I decided to cover the bottom with a light pigment for greater clarity. You can see the result of all these researches in the photos.

Thank you for your attention and see you soon!
Yours sincerely,

The main idea of ​​"aging" ("weathering" - weather aging, LSH) of the model is to make it (BTT model) look not new, used, with traces of operation. At the same time, “aging”, as such, is not, no matter how other modellers would argue, a panacea for hacky assembly-painting. The typical "standard" for "aging" today is the sequential application of a dark wash, followed by highlighting with a dry brush to "emphasize details." As a result, the model looks very impressive, but does it look right? And what kind of processes occur in nature, that the more the detail protrudes from the surface of real armor, the lighter the color on it becomes? In short, in order to obtain the effect of natural aging, pollution and traces of exploitation, it is necessary to consistently, as in life, repeat the same thing, only on a scale, on a model.
As usual, you need to start with a research study. Cars in the desert are unlikely to be smeared in the mud to the same extent as those that literally crawled "on their belly" along the Eastern Front. So, first of all, you should decide what was behind the theater and what time of the year it was in the yard, ideally, what kind of weather accompanied those events from which you “pulled out” the historical prototype of your model. The best source of information about what's going on with real machines is the real machines themselves. As an option - heavy tracked skidding equipment, which in many ways resembles combat vehicles (and some are even made using chassis from old Shermans!). However, unwashed, “used” tracked vehicles can be seen at construction sites, in industrial zones, etc. It is also useful to see how the paint on the bodies fades from old cars gathering dust and rusting in the backyards of garages.

The effect is contrary to the method
The so-called "standard" method of "aging" BTT models involves applying a dark wash and then drybrushing the surface with paint tones lighter than the base coat. This method is so firmly merged with the entire practice of technical modeling, one hundred de facto has become the standard for assessing the quality of painting at all competitions. As an example, a few years ago, the author happened to hear the following dialogue of the judges in the address of his "Jagdpanther":
- Looks real...
- yes, but practically not processed with a “dry brush”, how about this one? (and points to a dark gray Pz. I finished with white paint!)
So it is unlikely that a model painted with even a little bit of common sense will win a prize at SUCH competitions, and this is why the author established and sponsors the “Correct Coloring” category at the annual “VMMS Island Open show” competition.
Most of the problems that a modeler has in reproducing a realistic coloration of a model, and the only reason for the popularity of the "standard" method, is that there is some confusion between the desired effect and the technique to achieve it.
That is, a novice modeler sometimes stupidly rubs the model with a dry brush on the forehead, because it seems to be the way it should be, without much understanding of the essence of the effect produced. Therefore, instead of describing the various techniques of work. Such as "wash", "dry brush", etc. it would be more logical to consider in more detail the effects of weather, seasonal, operational influences on the color of the BTT, and how to achieve this in scale on the model.
Timeline of aging
Chronology refers to which of the events that affected appearance prototype took place and in what sequence in relation to other influences. Was the prototype dirty before the fuel was spilled while refueling, or was it dirty after it was dusty before crawling through the swamp, etc. Before processing the model, it is necessary to estimate all this in advance and then reproduce all these effects sequentially. In principle, this article further lists an approximate order for sequentially obtaining the effects of aging paint. Shadows, base paint showing through the top coat, field-applied camouflage, or winter lime whitewash all form the basis of a model's primary paint job. Effects acquired during operation, such as paint peeling or old dust, appear later. This is followed by temporary effects such as rust or oil stains. And finally, dirt, snow or dust - appear on top of everything else.
It should be noted that the possibility that the materials used to obtain a particular effect may damage the previous coating. Thus, a water-soluble acrylic wash to create a dusty surface can destroy the secondary camouflage previously applied with tempera. To prevent such misfortunes, you should use coatings based on paints on different bases, for example, alternate between acrylic and oil.
Effects of Aging
It is assumed that the modeler is quite familiar with such concepts as "wash" or "dry brush" (if not, you can look at the [Tips] page - similarly, LH). Of course, patience and practice is the only way to improve skills. It is very useful to check certain effects on scrap, old models, it is only important to remember what kind of coating they had before.
Listed below are all the effects that can be reproduced on the model.
Paint damage.
An often overlooked aspect of aging is normal wear and tear. From minor dents in the mudguards to completely torn off fenders, it all gives the impression of not new, used technology. To do this as convincingly as on a full-scale object, it is necessary to recreate the nature of these damages on the model. It would be a mistake to simply heat and bend these parts, it is much better to bring their thickness to a scale and then bend it with pliers. The result will be much more realistic. The most commonly damaged parts in the field are thin-walled parts of combat vehicles, such as fenders, tool boxes, trunks, and mudguards. Thinning the details is not difficult, but requires some patience. Alternatively, you can attach sandpaper to a piece of wood or plastic. The thickening technique is exactly the same as when processing vacuum-formed models. Curvilinear sections are processed with a piece of skin folded a couple of times by hand. The main thing is not to rush, ensuring uniform thickness and not overheating the plastic during intensive processing. It is convenient to control the thickness in the light until you get the result “in a newspaper”. Sometimes, however, it is easier to replace the part altogether with a home-made one made of thin sheet plastic (0.0050 ″ or 0.12 mm) or tin, copper, brass, etc.
Now that the part matches the scale thickness, it can be deformed. It’s worth doing it wisely - to get dents, you can put something not very hard (an “unnecessary” book in a cardboard cover is suitable) and hit it with a hard, non-sharp object. To obtain curves - bend the part with pliers (round-nose pliers, LH). You can generally try the part “on the tooth” (seriously!) with a good result (if you don’t feel sorry for the teeth, LSH). It is not recommended to heat the tool or the workpiece itself - the part will look fused, but not naturally deformed.
This - with regard to the general approach to deformations, I am sure that in practice you yourself will enrich your experience with various effects. Now let's move on to special effects.
Dents from shells.
Often, on heavily armored objects, shells do not penetrate the walls, leaving characteristic dent marks. Simulating this effect on a scale is quite simple and fun. First of all, you should glue a piece of thick polystyrene properly on the back of the "armor plate" and let it dry thoroughly. Using a drill with a ball head, select a hole-hole (however, you can also use a drill of a suitable diameter, the main thing is to punch a hole, LSH), trying not to plow it too healthy. After mixing a little "Milliput" (or any other epoxy or polyester putty, LSH), fill the hole to a level with the surface of the "armor". Small, non-sharp object round section, the back of the handle from a thin brush is suitable (yes, even with a dull carnation, the main thing is to lubricate it with something so that the putty does not stick, LSH), poke into the putty to form a “shell” dent. In this case, an annular flanging is formed. The advantage of the method is the possibility of its repeated repetition until a satisfactory result is obtained. However, it is recommended to study photos of real cars.
shading
If not aging in itself, creating quality shading on a model's paintwork is quite a hassle in itself. Usually dark washes are used for this. It is known that washes are a rather capricious technique. As an option, you can advise toning with a similar shade - use a dark brown color for a dark yellow background, dark Olive Drab for green, etc. Next, airbrush to give some shading with a thin coating of the main background. Notice how more dark tone will collect in crevices, holes or holes. Again, only your personal practice will be the key to success.
faded paint
Many hours of exposure of the paintwork in the air under the scorching sun leads to significant lightening. This is especially characteristic of the African theater of operations or the steppes of southern Ukraine or Russia. These effects are typical, again for summer companies, so check the historical references for using your prototype. For normal everyday highlighting, you can simply add 10% by volume of white paint to the base tone and gently blow on top of your model. To significantly brighten the tanks / armored personnel carriers that have burned out in the desert sun, it makes sense to rub a light pastel with a soft, short-haired brush (try not to “bring” small details from the surface). For those who use Tamiya paint, it is recommended to add 20% Flat Base and 10% Flat White diluted to 20% and gently blow the model with this mixture. The result will be more than realistic.

Special cases of highlighting
Winter white color.
Usually in snowy areas, BTT is covered with white. For German technology, it was most often a water-based lime suspension (mixture) (whitewash was also widely used in the Red Army and among the allies, LH). This temporary camouflage coating was applied with spray guns, brushes, rags, brooms, up to splashing out of a bucket (basin). It is most convenient to reproduce this on a model using artistic water-soluble paints (tempera PVA, LH is suitable), spreading and applying with a brush, as well as on a real prototype.
Sometimes, however, spray guns were also used. To simulate such a coating, it is necessary to dilute the paint thinner and apply thin layers on the model over the main paint, leaving small bald spots and denser spots.

Water-soluble paints are preferred because they make it much easier to imitate the subsequent aging of the coating. Areas with worn whitewash will be obtained if you partially peel off the paint layer with a slightly moistened Q-Tip (or electrical tape, moisture removes adhesion (stickiness, LSH). A moistened toothpick (or a sharpened match, LH) can be used to simulate scuffing. It is recommended to practice and remember the feeling measures if you do not want to get a sloppy model.

Water soluble secondary camouflage
To mimic field-applied secondary camouflage (eg dark green/brown in the Wehrmacht during World War II) it is often much more convenient to use water-soluble (not acrylic) art paints. If they are dissolved and applied with a brush, then due to their translucent effect, you will get a pale “faded” coating.
It is important to protect the result with varnish, because if you use water-based or alcohol-based paint for further aging, then there is a risk of damaging the previous coating. However, many enamels and lacquers can also "blur" the subtle effects that you so carefully achieved before. So it's better to experiment beforehand.

Paint damage
Imitation of scuffs on paint requires careful planning of the process, because if you peel off the paint, then bare metal will appear, and, in some places, a layer of primer. So, before covering the surface with the main layer, you must first imitate both the "metal" and the primer. Figure 1 shows a typical picture of a damaged coating - visible (from the center) and clean metal, and a layer of rust, a primer and an undamaged paint coating.
To get a similar effect, you can do the following:
1. "metallize" the surface, after drying - close with a mask ("Maskol", "color stop", etc.)
2. paint a layer of “rusted metal” and again cover with a mask so that a “halo” of rust remains around the “metal”
3. repeat step 2 for "primer"
4. Finally, apply a base coat with base paint.
Most modellers, including the author, are impatient enough to do this for every speck. Moreover, it is simply impractical for small "badass". In this case, it is easier to work with a dry brush, starting with the “primer”, continuing with “rust” and ending with “metal”. Remember - the main thing - do not overdo it!
Rust
The effect of light rust can be obtained with a dry brush with enamel paint, the author prefers Testors Rust for this as the most realistic. For old rust, you can pre-coat the surface with a layer of a mixture of diluted PVA and abrasive detergent(such as "Komet" or "Ajax" is shorter than the sinks are cleaned in everyday life, LSH). Having previously covered the dried crust with dark brown paint, use a dry brush to lighten the surface with lighter shades of red.
Rust streaks can be imitated with pastel, but it is important to remember that only in very extraordinary situations (for example, rain that did not stop for weeks) did the technique (if it did not lie in a landfill) acquire similar effects. In short, although it "looks", it is better not to do it.
Dirty grease
Engines and other parts are covered with similar rubbish if they are abundantly lubricated. It is mainly a mixture of engine oil and dust. The easiest way to imitate is a dense wash of black, with the addition of gray and green paints. For very dirty surfaces, you can add a little dark brown pastel dust to the wash.
Dirt
Applying dirt to the model is a rather subtle finishing moment, inaccuracy can nullify all previous efforts. However, after some study of the pollution patterns of real machines and some practice, this process can become one of the most enjoyable. For example (proportions are approximately equal):
o Tamiya paint (acrylic), color - depending on specific conditions, for example - Flat Earth (earthy XF-52, LSH)
o Artistic waterborne paint
o PVA
o Filler (anything - sifted sand, tooth powder, even ground coffee)
o Fibers - imitating grass (in the original - "Static Grass", LSH)
All this is diluted with water to the consistency of toothpaste.
After the mixture is ready, guided by photographs of natural objects, the mixture is applied to the model with a brush. Periodically, the brush should be moistened with water to facilitate the process of "dirtying". “Wet” dirt can be obtained by covering with diluted PVA, “dry” - by rubbing crushed earthy pastel with a brush.
Snow
A mixture of soda and PVA imitates wet snow well. To obtain “dry snow”, the same mixture must be sprinkled well with the same soda on top. To imitate hoarfrost or hoarfrost, apply white paint with a dry brush. In this case, the main thing is not to overdo it, so as not to highlight the protruding details too much.
Dust
Dust is the most characteristic attribute of used BTT. Dust can be simulated in one of three ways, depending on what effect you want to achieve.
Old Dust
You can apply several coats of diluted paint in earthy tones. The paint is applied with a brush (in principle, the same wash, only with a tone lighter in relation to the base color, LH). The method is diametrically opposed to the classical method of highlighting protruding parts with a dry brush, and at the same time, the most realistic, since in life dust collects precisely in crevices, scuppers, and not on protruding parts. You can dry it with a hair dryer, the main thing is not to melt the model.
dusting
Blow out the model with an airbrush, the main thing is not to rush, otherwise you will get a model painted with earthy paint instead of a dusty model.
light dust
Crushed pastel crayons are applied with a soft, wide brush. Try to get coverage in one pass. This method is universal for any model. Rain drips can be obtained by spraying water after the model.
Pastel
In principle, any art (colored pastel crayons) of various earthy shades is suitable (It is most convenient to get pastel dust by rubbing the crayon on the skin, LSH).
Fixing varnish coating
Not recommended. Most often, covering the model with varnish (enamel or acrylic, no difference) over the pastel, the whole effect is lost, in addition, the model becomes darker. The only way to avoid unplanned fingerprints is to fix the model on the stand and only handle it. However, if “fingers” have already appeared, they can be hidden by applying a little more pastel with a brush.
Oil and fuel stains.
It is most convenient to apply with washes. The question of what color the fuel is is quite controversial, decide at your own discretion, adding a little green to the wash gives a good effect. The trick is that to get fuel spots it is better not to paint them themselves, but to work on previously created effects. Thus, fuel spots most often complete the aging process of the model. Oil stains are most conveniently obtained with a dark brown wash (Natural Umber, LSH). This wash will tint the previously applied pastel dust. For old stains - they can be powdered (the brush will leave traces!) Over the pastel, the pastel itself will sit on wet places.
While none of the painting techniques mentioned above are new in themselves, I believe that the concept is important, in which the effect obtained is more important than the technique used to obtain it. I hope this will be useful to readers when creating realistic models.

Modern trends sometimes require giving things and products a kind of “aging” (“weathering”), which finds its expression in the fact that the model does not look like a newly acquired or assembled one, but has all the characteristics of the one that was already in use.

Giving the product "aging" is not at all a panacea to make up for inaccuracies in assembly and painting.

To give a typical aging standard, a dark wash is applied to the product, which is then lightened with a dry brush, thereby emphasizing individual details of the product.

The result of such creativity is a spectacular view of the model. The only question remains how correct it looks after giving it such an effect so that unnecessary questions do not arise: why does it become lighter when the part protrudes significantly from the surface of the armor? To make "aging" natural, you need to achieve the maximum repetition of several actions that occur in real life and then the thing will turn out to be contaminated with traces of use.