mud and dirt on tanks

[Show Case Studio]

can you help, i am putting together a dark angels army and want to get the mud and dirt on my tanks and tracks spot on, up till now i have never bothered to weather my tanks so dont no where to start all help needed. thankyou.

 

[TaurenMoo]

For dirty a simply drybrushing can work, also works for worn look, for splattered mud I would do something similar to the tutorials on blood splatters, try a thicker brush loaded with mudlike color and just kinda thumb back the bristles as they snap back they will spray a splatter of paint... just an idea...

Rust tutorials might be something to look at, usually paint wears off at the edge of things (real world stucko is cool especially when the paint comes off and you find the support is rusting under the stucko) and rust kinda drips down the edges under the paint...

Keep in mind im still new but playing with different stuff is certainly how I would learn.

See this link for a bit of \"gore\" effects that could also work for mud... and nasty...

gore effects

 

[Sand Rat]

Key thing to remember is that your track links will actually be clean on the surface that hits the road.

A good way to get a look at how tracked vehicles muck up is to go to a construction site where they are shifting earth with tracked vehicles - they all mud up in a similar fashion.

 

[TaurenMoo]

So something that is constant movement / contact won\'t have nearlt as much muck on it.

Things that have less movement might have caked or cracked/ sorta dryed mud.

And lastly, things that don\'t move at all (solid metal plates near moving tracks) will have well caked mud on them that is clearly dried and not affected by past movement?

 

[demonherald]

well your in luck just putting together some tutes for my website and tank dirtying is one of em ..heres a couple of pics and steps more in depth will be done soon....
step 1 after painting tank apply a filter this is made using black ink scorched brown approx 1:1 and about 9 parts clean water washed over the whole model to mask the colours.

step 2...add rust in deepest crevices by thinning Dark Flesh with about 5-6 parts water and running into the deepest cracks and along sills etc.

step 3 add chips ...basic idea is to mark out in black first where you want them add slices scratches bullet dings etc...concentrate on edges but ultimately just use your gut and what loks good to you...Paint inside the black with Dark Flesh then paint on the bottom edge a thin light of a light version of the base colour...

now onto mud....
step 1 go around the bottom of the model don\'t worry about being too neat mud doesn\'t but avoid big crayon like strokes...the paint is black and scorched brown 1:1 and about 4 parts clean water...Paint around all the bottom edges.

add bestial brown to this and paint inside the darker colour starting at the edge and work up do this a couple of times adding fortress grey to lighten it in places....

now paint some chainmail in the odd area for extreme wear down to metal...usually towards the front end as this takes the most punishment....

now it\'s time for a bit of mess...mix up Brown ink Black and Scorched brown 2:1:1 and 5 parts clean water...Take a largish brush size 2 or 3 ..Load the brush with the paint ..Not too heavy brush should be fully loaded but not dripping... Hold at the area you want to create splatter and blow sharply onto it creating a spray...This is great fun and you can easily get carried away but as with all effects just paint what you think looks good for you.....the end thing with painting mud is like in nature the more haphazard and natural an effect you get the better it looks....

The finished battle hardened tank....

This is just one way this is quick and easy I did the damage on this one and 6 others the same in around 4 hours part of a commission....

any other help you need just p.m me I am churning out tut\'s left right and centre ready to do my website.....

 

[TaurenMoo]

very cool demon ^..~

 

[Sand Rat]

Pretty much spot on TaurenMoo. The really tricksy part is, in the US Military at least they usually wash the vehicles as soon as they come in from service to prevent damage caused by heavy muck build up - or in the case of the guys in the land of sand to keep the sand from eating the vehicle.

Then they may repaint to cover any scratches, depending on the orders of their commanders - I\'ve seen vehicles with 4 different colors of tan on them rolling down the road - just to cover dings and such in the paint.

 

[TaurenMoo]

I see... well very interesting... hey demon whats your webpage id love to look at some tutorials ^..~ since I\'m not working on a model at work today...

 

[demonherald]

There\'s nothing up at the minute just going through final proofing before uploading will let you know when all up and running...

 

[Show Case Studio]

demonherald

great tutoral will give it a go many thanks. cant wait to see what you put on your site if this is anything to go by.

 

[DaN]

I\'d do a search through the galleries for examples
Miltary modellers are always good for realism tank-wise, so have a search on their sites too.

Nice tute DH, though I think the scratches could do with a bit more variance in colour

 

[airhead]

try:

Fine Scale Modeler Magazine

Those guys love to put mud in tank treads.
Try drywall joint compound. You can thin it with water and dab it around with a brush (much like snow bases). Try mixing a bit of your earthtone base into it - helps keep from having any bright white spots if you miss something or it gets damaged later.

 

[Bengoodall]

Someone on here, had used flour, mixed with brown paint, and just smeared it all over the front of the tank.

It was a forge world vindicator if you wanna find it.

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

Actually a good mud formula is clear matt medium gel, plaster of paris and some paint to pigment. Makes very nice mud.

 

[callhan]

I\'ve recently been getting into weathering myself and took some lessons from scale modelers. Check out the following site for some great examples of what can be done with paint pigments and weathering:

http://www.missing-lynx.com/rare_world/rw05.htm

Some fantastic effects can be generated. Mud formulas are similar to others\' suggestions. This site suggests mixing paint pigments, spackle and acrylic resin. Looks pretty darn fantastic.