The Boat- Salt Weathering

The boat is done, and I have had a few questions about how I did it. As I said earlier, I decided to have a go at salt chip weathering, a technique I had seen done numerous times on the internet. It was always that one that I went wow, that is so cool, but I have no airbrush so I can't do it.

Well, I didn't buy an airbrush, but I have a fair bit of creativity, which is sometimes enough!

At this point, I will offer a disclaimer for following the tutorial that this technique has entirely been stolen from other people, and I am no means an expert and I accept no responsibility for my own actions, let along being responsible for yours.

This is just a log for my (possibly awful) method of doing it, feel free to copy and improve it for your own creations.

Right, so lets have a look at how to do the technique!

Step One
Undercoat the whole container in a dark red. I used a test pot of housepaint for this, as I knew I was going to be painting a whole darn boat with it!

I matt varnished the boat once the paint was dried also.

Step Two
Using a paint brush, paint water on the areas which you would like the rust to show through. Once the water is on, then sprinkle salt on top. I used normal, everyday salt for this.

I found a bit of trial and error here, working out how much water to put on before salting, how much salt etc. You will find the salt will adhere by itself, giving a really strange look:

Salty container

Salty ship!



Close up on the salty ship!

Step Three
Once the salt had been given time in the sun to dry, it was time for the next layer of paint. Ideally, this would be done via an airbrush, to give a nice thin, even layer of paint.

Being cheap, I bought enough spray cans from the local hardware store to make any graffiti artist jealous, and gave all of the pieces and even coat of colour.

I call this colour "Fallout Blue"

My high-tech spray painting facilities....

Step four
The fourth step is to get rid of all the salt! The how to guides I read recommended that I used a paintbrush, and brush the paint off. Now, I am sure that will work excellently when you use an airbrush, and a thin coating of paint.

Not so much out of a cheap spraycan!

So, once the paintbrush wasn't working well enough, I used a more forceful method of scraping using the side edge of a metal ruler (highly effective) and adding water to the paintbrush (to dissolve the salt).

One trick with the salt is that it will dissolve, then return to a solid when the water evaporates, meaning that like me, you may end up with a white salty covering of your nicely weathered model. More cleaning gets rid of it of course, it is salt after all!

Container!

Containers and ship decking

Step Five
Paint the details on the containers- the lettering and any other details. And then give it all another matt varnish.

You would think the alliance could afford a repaint....

Step Six
I was really happy with how it was looking, except the colours were still too bright. So I took some Army Painter strong tone, and heavily diluted it with Tamiya thinners (or turpentine, whatever you have handy) and washed the entire boat with the mix. I paid careful attention to not let the wash pool, the last thing I wanted was big drips and puddles on my hard work!

And once that had dried, it was time for the FINAL matt varnish, and the whole beast was done!

Hmmm. I wonder who this black container marked Bale Industrial might be shipping goods for....



Boat!

Well, there you have it. My attempt at a how to guide for a process which I (at least in part) made up.

Overall, I am really happy with how it finally came out. If I was to do it again, I really would use an airbrush, it would have a much, much better effect. I am not sure what I will next use the technique on however, so I have a bit of time to work out what I am going to do!

Back soon with February's project, and I need to get on to my other challenges too!

CP

Painting Zombie skin- a quick little tutorial

It was a long weekend last weekend, so I spent much of it (too much according to some!) building and painting zombies, survivors and a little bit more terrain.

I thought I would just put down a quick look at how I paint Zombie skin. Mainly so that I can remember what colours I have used in painting them! To assist with that, I have called on Dave, the Zombie.

Meet Dave. He is another of my Wargames Factory Survivor/Studio Miniatures Zombie conversions. Step One is of course to assemble the miniature, and then I use Tamiya Light Sand texture paint for the bases. It just provides a bit of texture, just enough to represent a bit of concrete! Then the miniature gets an all over coat of Nuln Oil from Games Workshop. I prefer to do it this way, rather than a spray undercoat simply so that I can see the details better. Plus because I tend to use washes and dry brushing as my main techniques (lazy as I am), the thinner the coat the better, because you are relying on those layers to show up the detail in the washes/drybrushing.

So after undercoating, the next step is the first layer of skin. I use Games Workshops Ogryn Camo colour. Using a green base means that when you layer the colours on the top, there will always be a bit of green showing through. Remember that this is a zombie, not a healthy human, so we do need to reinforce the point! I have just painted it pretty liberally over the skin, don't worry if it goes into the cracks and crevices on the skin, it is a good thing. The drybrushing will leave it behind, making your zed look even deader.

The next step is to do the first drybrush of Vallejo Medium Sea Grey. Why that colour? Well, it is a blue-y grey, and I like it. Which is what it really comes down to, I use the paint colours I like! The key here is to have very little paint on the brush. Too thick a layer here and you might as well have not bothered about the green undercoat, but too thin a layer and you will have green zombies (maybe not a bad thing?). Inevitably, I always end up going a bit thicker than I should with this coat. It isn't a big deal at this stage, but it is nice to have a few bits which are still sortof green.

Still a bit green, but not all green!

The next step from here is to paint the skin with Games Workshop's Drakenhof Nightshade (?). It is a lovely purple blue colour, which just goes really well with the grey and the green. Sick, cold and dead flesh? This is where it really starts looking like it. Avoid letting the ink pool on the model, make sure it is an even coat. You don't want to ruin your hard work by making a big purple splodge do you?

And then we are on to the second drybrush. Again using Medium Sea Grey, and this time you will have to use a very light drybrush over the skin areas. The key here is to have all the layers you have built up show through, and also to have a very thin layer of the grey as a highlight. It is much easier to do very small amounts, than to put on too much. Although, if you do put on too much, just ink it with the Nightshade again, and have another go (I have done that once or twice. Or a lot...)

And with that the skin is done!

Now I have two important details which I add to my Zombies. The first, is eyes. I know that most people don't paint eyes (I am generally one of them, this is the first project where I have ever done them), but there is just something haunting about having the zombies all have those staring white eyes.

Painting them can be a pain, but bear with me.

I use Games Workshop's Ulthuran White. Why? Because it has good pigment, which means you only have to paint the eye once. Last thing you want to do is to have to paint something as fiddly as an eye twice. I am sure master painters do, but I am not one of those, so I take the lazy route. Anyway. Eyes. I find it easiest to go from side on, so that it is a single line, up and down. If you go over the edge, make sure that you have covered the part you want to be the eye, and then touch it up with grey. If it stands out too much, put a Nightshade ink over it.

For Humans, I use the same technique. Except that I then use a 0.05mm pen to draw on the iris- if I try to paint them all I get is goofy expressions and bug eyes. I have found I get much better control with a pen.

The second important detail is the blood and gore. These are zombies, so they will need to have blood etc over their skin and clothes. The gore is the last step in the process for me, I paint the skin, clothes and base, and then I do the blood.

The blood is a single paint colour, Vallejo Hull Red. My technique is to paint a bit on where I want the blood to go, say a hand, then wipe it with my thumb. This has two results. One, my thumb becomes painted red. And two, you end up with a streaky finish to the gore, some of the original colours show through. You can do as many layers as you want, sometimes I will go over it a couple of times to show off wounds, others will be more subtle. On the Zombies, I focus the blood on logical areas such as open wounds, the hands, the mouth, spilled down their front etc. I also put some blood spots on all my bases, just to break up the dull grey concrete, and to remind about the whole Zombie Apocalypse thing!

So, this is Dave the Zombie in all his finished glory:

These photos attempting to show off the eyes and blood smears. I will get some proper followers once the rest of his zed buddies are completed!

Come back Friday for the next survivor, and I have even more of these conversions in the works. I am hoping to complete them over the weekend, so should be up here early next week.

Chris