R|M|D Photography
Pebble Pounder
I have had many people ask how I got my rigs looking so life like so I thought I would show people one way to get the "trail ridden" and "weathered" look to your hard body scale rig. Cause lets face it, you don't see many nice shiny rigs with perfect paint out on the trails, especially on extreme rigs or expedition vehicles.
This particular rig means a lot to me as it came from my best friend Andy Curran(Altered-Images on here) who took his own life a short while ago. He and I grew up together since about kindergarten and have been into various forms of RC as long as I can remember. After college he moved to Grand Rapids and had plates that said "BADANDY'.
The start of the project as I got it...at this point just a roller.
Stage 1: Grime
Read ENTIRE article before starting any projects!
So to start off I put a fresh coat of pumpkin orange on the body.
After removing the masking
For the weathering part this is my supplies.
3 mixing cups
1 jar burnt red paint
1 jar dark green paint
1 jar black paint
water
soft rag
paint brush
sophisticated finishes rust effect
First I start by squeezing about a quarter sized dollop of paint into one of the mixing cups and then adding water until it was watery thinned.
!!!From this point on you have to be prepared to work fairly quick.!!!
I start by dabbing the brush in the thinned paint and painting it over the whole body. You really want to make sure to get it into all the lil crevices and nooks and crannies. Apply very generously so it pools up on the body panels. I usually start off with the green paint, but as long as you use black last it will be fine.
Now I keep going back to the areas I started with and lightly brushing more on. Once I can see that when I am brushing that some of the pigment is staying on the body then it is time to start blotting and wiping. I usually use a wiping motion to get most of the liquid off and then go back and blot to create more random grime and funk patterns.
after the green is blotted and wiped
You can see how after wiping it will leave a very grimy look around all the details on the body, and then areas I didn't blot as much when I was wiping it down.
Now to Red, you can't see much because of the orange body but you start seeing it after looking like water stains.
after wiping
Now to do the black wash, this one you really want to set into the cracks to give the element of depth.
after wiping
Stage 2: Rust
At this point I like to use a thick bristle stiff brush as posted in the photo above. with the right motions it will look like rusted scratched surfaces.
I first apply the iron paint in areas likely to have rust on a real vehicle. Be mindful of things that are fiberglass or plastic in real life as they wouldn't rust of course. But I like to do things like under hinges, under body molding lines, quarter panels...etc. Use as little or as much as you want.
Now you just apply the rusting solution and wait. Then reapply and wait some more. Then repeat until those grey spots of iron paint are nice and rusty.
Stage 3: Wind Dusting
Unfortunately this is a part I really couldn't take photos of me doing. But basicly you use an airbrush and mist some brown, tan, or even grey paint onto the rig from the front angle as it would get on it from driving down the road. Before you do this you may want to take the time to make some wiper templates out of tape and put on your windshield.
Here are the results. (I halfassed my wiper templates but will be putting clear glass on soon and redoing it.)
And with my Yota I did with the same 3 stage weathering technique.
Notes....
I would suggest going fairly thin with watering down the paints. If you wipe it down and don't see as much "grime" as you want then repeat the process.
If one wash color completely overtakes your previous one just go back and do the previous one again.
Change the colors up, these work well for me, but you may try different shades and colors altogether.
Rust and dusting can get out of hand quick, do a little then look it over after it drys and if ya want more go back and do more.
When you do the dusting get it straight on and at a slight angle to the side as well so it travels down the sides a bit.
Do multiple colors of dustings just like your grime colors.
This particular rig means a lot to me as it came from my best friend Andy Curran(Altered-Images on here) who took his own life a short while ago. He and I grew up together since about kindergarten and have been into various forms of RC as long as I can remember. After college he moved to Grand Rapids and had plates that said "BADANDY'.
The start of the project as I got it...at this point just a roller.
Stage 1: Grime
Read ENTIRE article before starting any projects!
So to start off I put a fresh coat of pumpkin orange on the body.
After removing the masking
For the weathering part this is my supplies.
3 mixing cups
1 jar burnt red paint
1 jar dark green paint
1 jar black paint
water
soft rag
paint brush
sophisticated finishes rust effect
First I start by squeezing about a quarter sized dollop of paint into one of the mixing cups and then adding water until it was watery thinned.
!!!From this point on you have to be prepared to work fairly quick.!!!
I start by dabbing the brush in the thinned paint and painting it over the whole body. You really want to make sure to get it into all the lil crevices and nooks and crannies. Apply very generously so it pools up on the body panels. I usually start off with the green paint, but as long as you use black last it will be fine.
Now I keep going back to the areas I started with and lightly brushing more on. Once I can see that when I am brushing that some of the pigment is staying on the body then it is time to start blotting and wiping. I usually use a wiping motion to get most of the liquid off and then go back and blot to create more random grime and funk patterns.
after the green is blotted and wiped
You can see how after wiping it will leave a very grimy look around all the details on the body, and then areas I didn't blot as much when I was wiping it down.
Now to Red, you can't see much because of the orange body but you start seeing it after looking like water stains.
after wiping
Now to do the black wash, this one you really want to set into the cracks to give the element of depth.
after wiping
Stage 2: Rust
At this point I like to use a thick bristle stiff brush as posted in the photo above. with the right motions it will look like rusted scratched surfaces.
I first apply the iron paint in areas likely to have rust on a real vehicle. Be mindful of things that are fiberglass or plastic in real life as they wouldn't rust of course. But I like to do things like under hinges, under body molding lines, quarter panels...etc. Use as little or as much as you want.
Now you just apply the rusting solution and wait. Then reapply and wait some more. Then repeat until those grey spots of iron paint are nice and rusty.
Stage 3: Wind Dusting
Unfortunately this is a part I really couldn't take photos of me doing. But basicly you use an airbrush and mist some brown, tan, or even grey paint onto the rig from the front angle as it would get on it from driving down the road. Before you do this you may want to take the time to make some wiper templates out of tape and put on your windshield.
Here are the results. (I halfassed my wiper templates but will be putting clear glass on soon and redoing it.)
And with my Yota I did with the same 3 stage weathering technique.
Notes....
I would suggest going fairly thin with watering down the paints. If you wipe it down and don't see as much "grime" as you want then repeat the process.
If one wash color completely overtakes your previous one just go back and do the previous one again.
Change the colors up, these work well for me, but you may try different shades and colors altogether.
Rust and dusting can get out of hand quick, do a little then look it over after it drys and if ya want more go back and do more.
When you do the dusting get it straight on and at a slight angle to the side as well so it travels down the sides a bit.
Do multiple colors of dustings just like your grime colors.
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