Painting rust

[IBBoard]

thesteelclaw asked about painting rust. Since it's a topic that's separate from the new paints it can have its own topic.

The way I paint rusty metal is not to rust it too much. As I briefly mention in the painting section for the Slugga Boys then I just use watered down armour wash with watered down chestnut wash in places once it has dried. The armour wash takes the shine off the weapons and leaves them looking used while the chestnut wash adds some patches of rust and fluid leakage. The same effect can be seen more liberally used on my Killa Kan (although that's my first Kan, so it's a bit rougher than the newer one)

I never measure the amounts, but I'd guess that I normally do about one part ink to two or three parts water with the rust mix. With it being ink rather than paint I then soak up as much as possible and apply it wherever seems reasonable. If it gets a bit too waterlogged then dry the brush and remove some of the wash and re-apply it elsewhere.

[thesteelclaw]

Is it me or was there an article in the white dwarf recently (last few years) about painting rust, maybe someone knows the issue?
In regards to your tip IBB I have never thinned inks before so I will give it a try later thanks.

[IBBoard]

I think there might have been an article, probably related to Ogre Kingdoms. I know I've seen someone's version of rust recently and not particularly liked it because it looked too orange and painted.

The rust I go for is more "stained metal" as Orks won't necessarily know to look after their weapons too well, but they're not likely to let it get to the stage of full-on rusting without having used it.

As for watering down inks, I tend to do it a lot. The ink on its own can be very heavy in pigment and can pool too much. By thinning it I find you can get a more even thin wash.

[augustmanifesto]

Good inquiry. I think weathering is all too often ignored. It is a very effective way to add an element of "dark realism" to your army, which, after all, is supposed to exist in the "grim darkness of the future."

I recently started a Imperial Fists successor chapter, and when I looked at my models I thought the colors were great, they really popped, but I needed them to scream, "I've been killing stuff for 500 years." Here was my solution:

I. wear and tear: this will simulate minor damage (scratches etc)

(1) paint black specks around the armor where you wish to place the wear and tear. keep them small, well distributed, and be sure to mind some of the common areas that would likely be scuffed up a little bit (knees, corners on SM backpacks, etc).

(2) Fill in the black with a metallic color (I like chainmail, but most use boltgun), but be sure to leave just wee little bits of black still showing.

II. Rust/weathering: this will simulate rust from the damage as well as discoloration of the paint on the armor, giving an effective 'dirty' look to your models.

(1) using a dry bush, dry brush flesh wash in vertical streaks from your wear and tear. this gives the impression of 'dripping rust'. It's best to 'let her rip' on this and not worry about about being too controlled; approach this like us Americans SHOULD approach government - very liberally.

(2) eyeball the model, do the same to other areas which may not have wear and tear, but be more conservative about this application (how us Americans actually approach government).

(2) work in some 'more wet' applications of flesh wash, but do so very sparingly, limiting yourself to getting nice 'drips' coming form a few wear and tear locations.

and boom!

I'll get some pics up sometime soon. I should end by saying the above was APPLIED TO A YELLOW SURFACE.

[IBBoard]

Sounds like an interesting way of doing it.

I can imagine that flesh wash would work well on yellow. Chestnut or a mix of flesh and chestnut may work better on other colours. I know that rust on white (e.g. when dripping over checks on Orks) looks better in chestnut as flesh tends to look too yellow/light/fleshy.

[thesteelclaw]

I have tried the watered down ink technique and quite happy with the results thank you IBB.
I also visited Warhammer world (what a place that is) and was advised to try a Tin bits basecoat overlaid gradually trough bolter silver to chain mail. I will give it a try and see what the results are like.

[IBBoard]

Tin bitz would do good as a base for old chips in paint work that have been weathered, or chips in cheap steel and 'evil' armies where you don't want too much brightness.

I did a similar thing with my Looted Predator starting at Boltgun Metal and I guess it would have looked even Orkier and rustier if I had used Tin Bitz (but I think all I had then was my old pot that had pretty much dried up).