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Ultra-basic vehicle weathering tips

Warhammer 40K's eighth edition still has me gripped firmly by the Jacobs, so I've been farting through Astra Militarum Imperial Guard units like a champ. The thing about Imperial Guard armies is that they tend toward the numerous, so as previous posts have explained, the main objective for this army is that they should be quick and easy to paint.

At a friend's request, I'm going to go over how I weather my tanks. This is basic stuff, so if you're after something more advanced, I suggest you read Mark's post on the subject. Now, here's one I prepared earlier:

Capt. Dewi Kusuma's Executioner, No. 2 squadron's command tank.

Like I say, basic. It's never going to win an award, but it can sit on a table without me wanting to report myself to the commissar. Here's how it's done...

Step one: basecoat
Seriously, just flat colours. The lenses/periscopes etc will get done post-weathering. I did use a wash on the tarpaulin and the heavy bolter's covering, but that's it.

Le basecoat.


Step two: foamy
Take a bit of foam - I used some from a GW carry case - stick a corner in some silver paint, wipe off the excess so it's not goopy but still fairly loaded, then gently dab it anywhere you want the tank's paint to have chipped. You can see from the image below how loaded my foam was, and after that, you can see the finished stage.

Le spong.

Le dings.

Step three: mud
Technically this is two stages. First, slather the Citadel Technical paint Typhus Corrosion over the tracks. Thickly. Then dab it liberally around the bottom of the track units. Then with much less on your brush, work it into recesses and other bits of the tank as you please. After that, lightly drybrush a mid-brown (I used Vallejo Game Colour Earth) higher up the track units and on other parts of the model to represent dust and dried mud.

Le squelch.

That's it! Weathering done. At this point I'll go in and paint the lenses, but that's got naff all to do with weathering, so hear endeth the lesson.

Finally, here's the Chimera with its unit: Suspiciously Bald Squad 3. They've transferred into the 107th Ankran Mechanised from off-world, and they're rather cliquey. Probably nice chaps, even if they keep misspelling 'forearms' as 'four arms.'

Le heretiques chauve.

Comments

  1. Hi mate. Good tanks. I just have one comment - chipping with silver makes it look like the tanks are made from aluminium rather than steel. Ali chops to bright metal whereas steel chips to a darker gray that oxidises quite quickly. Maybe consider chipping with a mixture of a non-metallic grey or a mix of grey and brown so that the exposed metal looks more like steel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your point is well taken, and although when I began this army I considered doing a darker/rustier colour for the chipping, it wouldn't show up well on such a dark green. If I was starting this army again I'd be spraying everything olive green and chipping in realistic colours, because that would show up better on the lighter tone, but sadly I'm now locked into Caliban Green!

      I am, however, tempted to point out this shortcut to greater realism by editing the main post...

      Delete

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