Giving models a realistic appearance doesn’t have to take long. TIM SHACKLETON shows how a ‘big picture’ approach using large brushes can create a lifelike look in minutes.
Some of the most satisfying weathering I’ve ever done involves the simplest methods and materials. Obviously confidence plays a part, and it helps to have done something like it before, but I thought what I’d look at here are techniques everyone can be comfortable with. As always, locomotives predominate but that’s what people like, and there’s nothing here that can’t be migrated as necessary on to rolling stock and scenic features.
When teaching people how to paint models, I’ve been struck by how hesitant many pupils are, at least at first. It’s very easy to start with a dab here, a dot there and follow up with a long pause for thought while considering the next move. This is how the portrait miniaturists of the 18th century must have worked, but it’s not always appropriate in a weathering context. Slosh and wild abandon, in my view, is the way to go. If that sounds like a slapdash and risky approach which could ruin a precious model, bear with me: there is method in the apparent madness.
You need to be relaxed when painting a model, not tense like a coile…
