"If weathering is about replicating the way real objects age, then we must first concentrate upon studying real objects."

So what is Weathering?

Each individual will have their own view on what this means. To some it is any finish used to make a model a more convincing representation of the real world. This need not mean distressing models to make them look old, it could just mean scaling down the colours (for those that haven't read the section on scale colour I would advise doing so, as it underpins my approach to weathering). However, for most modellers weathering is synonimous with faking the signs of dirt, rust, dents and repairs that all give character. My own particular interest is derelict railway and industrial architecture (odd perhaps?) but the finish is everything with such subjects. Nevertheless I'll try keep this guide focused more upon machines and metal work than bricks and mortar as this I suspect will have a more general appeal to most modellers.

Tools of the trade.

Everybody seems to start by asking me if they need an airbrush to weather models. Put simply No! I've spent years weathering and painting models without one, the only time you need an air brush is for applying smooth, even and uniform coats of gloss paint, which is rarely necessary when weathering. Nevertheless I did recently get around to investing some of the hard earned folding stuff in such a quality gadget and the requisist air compressor. No doubt with time as I play with this "new toy" I will find uses for it, but by and large all of the effects other people tend to state you must have an air brush for, I can achieve with a selection of paint brushes in less time than it takes me to set up my air brush, not to mention the excessive amounts of time cleaning the damn thing when you've finished with it. As far as I'm concerened all you need for weathering is a large selection of different types of paint brush, more often than not old or cheap ones as many of the techniques I use destroy them, along with a selection of matt acrylics and assorted cheap chalk pastels. (The expensive oil pastels sold for artists tend not to work as well.) What I can't do, which many people ask, is give recipees for mixing colours for different finishes. I don't have set colours or mixes for anything, I have a few basic paints and mix these to match reference photographs, or better still the real thing. For this reason the most important things needed for weathering are not things you can buy; They are a keen eye and inginuity, both of which come through practice, with these at your disposal you'll find ways of achieving what you want with the tools and materials you have, rather than resorting to going shopping every time you start a new project.

So what are we looking to achieve?

Weathering of real subjects, be they geoloigical features, buildings, machines or even trees, is something which happens slowly and cyclicaly with time. Dirt, dust and muck build up, and then get washed away by the actions of wind and rain, or by the hand of man with an oily rag or bucket of soapy water. Time and time again this happens which slowly abraids surfaces wearing away material, colours fade and occasionally a more catastrophic incident will result in a major dent or breakage, exposing fresh material to start the whole process again. Through out this process our subject may be subject to deliberate vandalisim or alterations, modifications or repairs which will again change the appearance. It is the combination of all these subtle changes that give character and it is these changes that most modellers are looking to capture. If you think that there are quick ways of replicating this on a small scale model let me dis-illusion you now. The only truly believable way of replicating this look is to spend time, and lots of it, building up the finish stage by stage, replicating in turn, each process that happened to the real thing. Yet few of us can spare this time, so weathering becomes the art of compromise, carefully judging how many of these small, subtle and slow steps we can combine into one quick all encompassing step without sacrificing too much of the final appearance. Nevertheless I will often spend three times as long weathering a favourite model as it took to build, longer if it was kit built. Some may consider this excessive as painting and weathering is to many, secondary to construction. Yet I've always felt that the overall colours, textures, and tonal balance is what helps a model settle into it's surroundings, far more than fine fiddly constructional details, which are usually lost or obscurred under a crudely painted finish anyway. It is for each individual to decide how long they are prepared to spend on a single model. The techniques I intend describing are not inherently slow, and can achieve acceptable results quite quickly but will really reward those willing to take their time.

People often ask me how to improve their weathering. There are just two main problems people tend to encounter; One I've already outlined; That is you need to spend more time on your weathering, not necessarily trying to do more, but to break down what you would have done anyway into many smaller more subtle stages. The other problem is that most modellers don't actually know what real weathering looks like because they haven't been and looked at any. It may seem an obvious and slightly patronising thing to say, but you can't reproduce anything in miniature if you don't know what it looks like. Reading a book, a magazine article or even this web guide is no substitute to going out and looking at the real thing. There are an amazingly huge range of subtle textures and colours found out there in the real world, no two are ever exactly the same, we therefore can't rely on a few standard treatments when weathering models. Every model should ideally be matched to a real example. Investing in a good quality digital SLR camera made more of an impact on my model making than any other tool ever did. I can now take hundreds of photgraphs without worrying about the cost of developing them all, and details can easily be enlarged on the computer. I need never be without reference material again. If you can't gain access to your subject to photograph it, look for published pictures. If the worst comes to the worst use drawings paintings or whatever is available to gain basic dimensional information for constructing your model, and then go out and photograph objects of similar materials from similar environments in order to give you a basic idea about likely colours and textures when it comes to weathering. Now I may claim to have somewhat of an advantage over many model makers in this respect. As somebody who has worked as a museum conservator and restorer I have several years of professional experience studying dirt, decay and the deterioration of many materials, there were times when it felt as if my masters degree was spent studying nothing but rust! (If you though rust was just rust then you'd be wrong, there are many common oxides and oxyhydroxides of iron including Goethite, Lepidocrocite, Haematite and Magnetite, before we get onto other corrosion compounds of iron such as sulphates, carbonates, hydroxides, silicates, phosphates and chlorides.) Anyway, whilst the complex chemistry of all these corrosion products need not concern us, the vast array of colours and textures should; With "rusts" ranging from shiny greys, blacks and silvers through powdery dark browns, reds and pinks, onto coarsely textured, even lumpy creams, yellows and oranges. So whilst I could go on, I won't, I will simply stress again the importance of basing your weathering upon relevant reference material rather than guess work and genric approaches.

Having said that we can't rely on general approaches, there are still some common factors, pertinent to most examples of weathering we will need to replicate. Consequently the following ideas could be said to form a basic outline approach which should only be deviated from if your specific references justify doing so. Firstly the combination of scale colour and weathering tends to lighten and fade surfaces. Therefore beware of using blacks, dark greys and browns. Secondly weathering introduces variation to otherwise flat uniform colours. So take care not to achieve too thick or even a covering when applying pigments to weather a model. Too many people's attempts at weathering involve hiding strong vibrant colours under thick dark coatings of simulated dirt. Better to tone down the original colours with thin pale washes as we are rarely seeking to achive a complete change of colour, just subtly vary what's already there. In this way we harmonise and reduce the contrast between supposedly different colours. Another point to note is that the action of rain often causes dirt to streak, gravity encourages this to streak downwards. So as to suggest this try to keep all brush strokes vertical when applying weathering by hand. Another point to note is that moving objects tend to throw dirt up from the ground. Therefore it is the lower edges and surfaces, along with corners and recesses that trap dirt, that need weathering most. A point further emphasied by dirt from above being washed downwards onto them. Raised edges and protruding fittings are the places most likley to get abraided, knocked, scratched or broken, this tends to keep then relatively clean of dirt but exposes underlying material, be that wood, metal, rust or whatever, so these fittings tend to need different treatments. Again I could go on, but it all comes back to looking at your reference material to get an understanding of your subject.

The last thing I will mention before moving on is the difference between painting a model with a weathered finish, and weathering a painted finish. The difference is perhaps subtle when written down like this, but huge in terms of approach. The former is always preferable. Wherever possible I would advise thinking about the finish to be applied at the time of construction, and making the weathering part of the general building and painting process. Not only does this tend to give beter results it can also be quicker. However, the latter is almost always the option we are left with as it is common to end up weathering models other than those we have made ourselves. These could be factory finished models bought "off the shelf" or could be kit built or scratch built models finshed by friends or clients. Either way we are faced with having to do something about the painted finish already applied. Sometimes the best option is the drastic approach of stripping the paint off and starting again, but more often than not an acceptable result can be had by working over the top of any finish already applied.

Making a start.

Writing a guide about weathering is somewhat of a thankless task. As every case is going to be different, you are faced with the problem of either writing something very general so as to be of use to a wide ranging audience, which ultimately ends up vague or contradictory and says little of use. Or writing very specifically about a particular project knowing full well that it will fail to cover many of the points that others would consider to be of interest. For better or worse I have chosen to produce a step by step guide to weathering an "off the shelf" plastic 'OO' gauge model railway wagon bought cheaply at a swap-meet. The sort of project the average modeller should be able to complete in under an hour. Whilst not necessarily going into detail about all the myriad techniques at the model makers disposal, this should give an overview of my approach to the subject. Something which most modellers can relate to more readily than perhaps a lengthy account of how to simulate frost damaged brickwork, or rotten roof joists in scratch built architectural models.

The starting point for our project, not a great model but for just a couple of quid great value, and typical of the sort of thing found on many model railways. Although it's a fair representation of the ubiquitous 16T mineral wagon there is still much a lick of paint can do to improve it. The trainset like qualities of chunky wheels with overwidth tyres and woefully deep flanges running on excessively thick rails set too close together probably says more about my predjudices against 'OO' as a set of modelling standards than any particular inadequacies of the model. However, if we can draw attention away from the wheels it will be to our advantage. The mass of gloss black plastic underneath the wagon goes some way to masking this but doesn't look realistic and also masks some really rather fine axle box and brake gear which we ought to be making more of. Huge tension lock couplings scream train set again, but if we're not to replace them with something more protoypical, we must do all we can to disguise them. The body shell is actually quite well finished without too much of a high gloss finish, with neat lettering and markings, but when did you ever see one of these wagons where there was enough paint left on so as to be able to read the lettering! To make this model a little more believable it needs toning down and coating in rust and muck.

The first step with this model was to attempt to scale down the overall colour and try to pick out the detail in the under frame with a quick drybrushed coating of a general pale muck colour. My preference for such work is a pale creamy coffee colour. Lightly dry brushing with a wide flat brush from beneath the wagon highlights much of the moulded detail underneath and starts to tone down and simulate dirt creeping up the wagon sides, reducing the impact of the lettering without obscuring it all together. Effective dry brushing is about using a longhaired brush whose hairs splay outwards rather than holding a sharp point, and getting the consistency and amount of paint on the brush just right; It should have the consistency of cream, and the excess should be removed by brushing against a paper towel until you are achiving the right sort of marks when brushing vigourously. Do not attempt to paint slowly and carefully when drybrushing but work quickly as if beating eggs. Tickling the surface of the model with the ends of the hairs, applying paint with every downward stroke, which since we are wanting to suggest muck coming up the wagon means holding the model upside down. With a little practice this first step can be achieved in less than a couple of minutes.

From here we next need to hint at the rusting of the body sides and bring out some of the detail in the door mouldings. This was done with a very watery wash of a dark rusty colour splodged liberally over every part of the model inside and out. As this was beginning to dry a clean flat brush was used to dry brush off the excess from the centre of the panels, leaving more of the dark paint trapped along raised edges where it simulates shadows. Using vertical brush stokes again helps simulate streaking . This is the only time I would seek to darken the overall finish of the model, and would hope all further weathering would lighten the appearance. When removing wet paint in this manner it is better to be over cautious and start almost immediately, than to let it dry too much before you start. We would not want it to dry in blotchy puddles on the surface. Paper towel is again useful here to clean the excess wet paint from the brush, drying it after each few brush strokes. Again, because we are not looking for specific effects but just an overall change in tonal balance this step can also be completed quickly in just a few minutes.

So far what we have done has been about toning down the colour by reducing contrasts and giving a blurred soft focus feel. We now need to start simlulating particular weathering effects and sharpening up the model to add character and interest. We can start to stipple specific patches of rust onto the body sides using a drybrushing approach, but applied with short stabbing motions which will splay the hairs out as they are pushed against the surface. This should give some slight texturing, and adding in powdered filler or pigment should add to this if necessary. Mixing a single colour for rust is nigh on impossible. The effect should be built up with several subtly different layers of colour, including reds, browns, silvers and greys. Long term stable rust tends to be these darker russet browns and silvery greys, fresh rapidly formed rust tends to be much more textured and more vibrant oranges and yellows. As with everything match the colours and textures to your reference material. Gently abraiding these patches with a glass bristle brush as you work will stop them looking too thick, as in reality the rust should be beneath the grey paint not applied in lumps over the top. This abraision by the glass bristles also starts to apply many micro scratches and textures to the whole surface and cuts back through the paint to underlying finishes, bringing back some of the original grey lost in the previous step. Again the weathering process is just as much about removing applied coatings of pigment as adding them. This is one of those steps that should really be several much smaller ones spread over several hours for maximum effect, for this simple exercise though I limited myself to fifteen minutes.

We now switch from what could be genericaly called overall work, painting the whole model, to picking out one or two finer points of detail with a fine brush. You can spend days doing this on really finely detailed models, some might say waste days doing this, it all depends upon how closely the finished model is going to be studied. In most cases all that is needed are one or two small points of interest to stand out against the muted overall finish. Things to achieve are to start painting in a few subtle shadows on the lower surfaces of prominent details, along with highlights on the upper surfaces to make them stand out. The complex mouldings of the end doors benefiting greatly from this, as lumps of moulded plastic can decieve the eye into seeing seperate and delicate handrails. If we place the emphasis on the highlights this will also, psychologically atleast, have the effect of appearing to lighten the model without actually changing any of the colours. We can also introduce specific marks, srcatches, areas of damage or any other features from our prototype we feel are worth spending the time adding. However, for the purpose of this exercise to show what could be done quickly I've again limited myself, this time to just twenty minutes.

The final touch for me is always to spend a couple of minutes with the chalk pastels, many people may use weathering powders purchased from the model trade but these are just the ground up pigments used in pastels sold at inflated prices. Nevertheless a couple of quid here and there is probably of no great concern, the main thing is to get a good selection of colours from wherever you can. These powders then need brushing on dry around points of fine detail, dark powders to emphasise shadows, rust and muck colours in areas that trap dirt. The depth of pigmentation in these is far greater than paint and they have to be used sparingly as a final finishing touch, but they do make a surprisng difference. Having brushed these on, get a large soft brush often known as a mop (or pinch the wife's blusher brush from her make up bag leaving her to wonder why her cheeks look rusty the next morning!) and vigourously dust off all the powder you can. The amount that comes off is always seemingly more than went on and you wonder how these powdered pigments can possibly have an effect. They do though and it really does only take microscopic amounts of pigment for a believable effect, so do use them sparingly.

As with everything about weathering it is better to have an underdone and overly subtle finish that draws you in to the model, than an overdone finish that seems to push you back. Fine fettling and the finishing touches like these can make all the difference but you have to know when to stop, which is usually five minutes before you actually put down the paintbrush in annoyance at having spolied your work. If you're unsure whether it needs anything more, the answer is always "No it doesn't!", spend your time on something else. Only keep going when you can clearly see why more work is necessary. Weathering is a time consuming process not because of the distance we travel but the speed at which we must travel. If you've finished and don't like what you've done, don't keep going, tyring to do more to improve it. Clean the model back to where you started and follow the same path much more slowly, looking to achieve less pronounced changes with every little step.

Many people might think that the work ends there, and for too many people it does, a single model painted and weathered in isolation. However, it always pays to think about how you intend using the model, or where you are going to display it, aswell as how it is going to be lit. No matter how well finished a model, to be seen at it's best it needs to compliment it's surroundings, and it's surroundings need to compliment it. All too often a model which looked beautiful at home displayed in a diorama or setting you have produced to house it, can clash horribly if taken to a club to display or operate in a model environment created by others. Right from the start we need to think about whether we are weathering a model to match the lighting and colour palette of an existing display or collection of models. Or if this is to be something different where we give priority to working to a new set of standards and will therfore need to think about producing a new display to house it.

There's undoubtedly much more that I could, and probably should have written about, but you could fill a thousand pages and barely have scratched the surface of this vast topic. For that reason I will leave it at what I have written. For when all is said and done the techniques of manipulating, applying and removing paints and pigments is not really what weathering is about, nor is it the difficult part of the process. Weathering is about a familiarity with, and understanding of how different materials are affected by different environments and conditions. So if weathering is about replicating the way real objects age, then we must first concentrate upon studying real objects.