what to use to practice weathering

[redbull8983]

Im getting ready to paint a hardbody , but ive never tried weathering . I just always went with a nice slick paint job . What would be good to get to practice on before i start work on my actual body . Id like to get the technique and look i want figured out before i try it foreal .

[durok]

Buy sale 1/24th scale cars or military models, they can be found dirt cheap if you look around.

https://www.amazon.com/Revell-Datsun...%2C156&sr=8-49

[Jim85IROC]

Assuming you're using a lexan body, save some water bottles or any other clear plastic jugs. You can practice to your heart's content on those.

If you're using a hard body, save any hard scrap plastic that you can use.

[JatoTheRipper]

Yes, scraps will work fine. For Lexan you can save the pieces you cut off when cutting a body out. With hard bodies you can also get sheets of Styrene to practice on.

[58_Willys]

This is an excellent video for weathering techniques

https://youtu.be/m2Vr7MIAWBs

[odomandr]

i use a rock to actually scratch through paint to primer then tamiya weathering powder. it is dry and flammable and needs a clear over it. i want to try some other ways in the future.

[redbull8983]

cool thanks for the ideas i didnt know that water bottles were the same as lexan . Im painting a hardbody though i went ahead and ordered a pack of styrene sheets . Ill cut them in half and try out the different paints with the different ways of doing the weathering until i come up with what i like best . Thanks again for the help

[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by redbull8983

cool thanks for the ideas i didnt know that water bottles were the same as lexan

They may not be the same, but they're good enough to try out some coloring techniques, etc. You don't need the paint to stick like glue if you're just testing it.

That said, years ago I painted up a 2 liter soda bottle for an RC project and the paint seemed to hold up just fine.

[struhall]

I have weathered one body and I didn't do any practice before I did it, I just jumped in balls deep and went for it.

I used heat to warm up a few spots and pushed in on them with different things on my desk to simulate dents. I used a pointed dremel bit to rough up the areas where rust happens on the real trucks and the edges of the fenders like they were rotted off. I didn't get pics of this process but you can see it in the finished results.

I then painted the entire truck with a rust red primer paint.



Once the paint was dry I misted the body with water and sprinkled salt everywhere i wanted rust to show up. I did more salt on the dents and rot areas and the leading edge of the hood and roof. I sprayed the color I wanted on the body over the top of the salt and let that dry.




After everything was dry I rinsed the body with water and scrubbed it gently with a scotch brite to get all the salt off. It left a rough texture to the paint but it looks and feels like weathered paint.




I apologize for the size of the pics. I thought they were smaller but I'm not going to resize them again.