hey guys! welcome to weathering 101 which is dry brushing. the good thing about dry brushing is that it's effects are not permanent unlike battle damage, and can be easily washed off with its specific thinner. so what is dry brushing? dry brushing is a painting technique that adds extra details on your gundam like burns, scratches, rusting, and many more. this is also accepted as battle damage, though its not the very serious ones. dry brushing, takes more time than an ordinary paint job, but it is very useful in making your model look more realistic.

materials:

>small flat tipped brush

>acrylic paints ( black ) it depends on your wanted effect

>piece of paper/ cloth

>cotton buds

>thinner

>graphite pencil

in this tutorial i would only be using  black just as an example on how dry brushing works, but there are a lot more pigments used in dry brushing.

first, shake the paint bottle a couple of times before opening.  when opened there should be a small amount of paint stored on the cap.

using the paint stored on the cap, dip your brush adding a little paint on the tip.

since we are not going to use most of it, rid the excess by dabbing your brush on a piece of paper or cloth.

keep wiping until paint is barley, or not coming of it.

to know if its about right, it should look more like the one on the right side.
(the lighter one)
once thats done, you can proceed to brushing the piece.

lightly brush the edges and the curves of the part, you must do this multiple times before you actually get to see the effect on the piece.
get this right, and it should look like this.


tah-dah! master piece. it looks pretty rough huh? so for the people who don't really like this kind of look (like me), you could "fix" it a bit, by doing the step below.


start by dipping a cotton bud in a dish of thinner and carefully smudge the paint about the piece towards the flow of gravity. this would slightly tint the whole piece making the weathering smoother and even.


make sure to focus on the damage on the part before you proceed on weathering anything else, because it's damage right? try making it stand out more by starting the dry brushing from there.


the final step, using a graphite pencil, shade the edges of the piece to give it a metallic shine.


and thats it, try experimenting on other colors for the dry brush technique like: black for burns, silver for scratches, and brown for rust, make your own combinations to make your gundam look more interesting!

for me, this is the most basic and easy type of battle damage to do. as you know most gundams who enter battle collide into other objects, leaving small dents and scratches. to imitate this battle damage would make your gundam look more realistic. this is very simple to do so don't worry about the difficulty.

materials:

>metal file [thats too easy]

so wear are you supposed to apply the armor damage? this is mostly found on the edges of it's exposed parts, or the ones most likely to get worn down.

so using the file, carefully scratch the edges using the flat or the side of the file. try putting pressure on the file making different depths of the scratches.

try experimenting with the different angles of your file to make creative results.

once you have done most of the sides it should kinda look like...

 this!

the worn out edges would look a lot better once dry brushed.

part after dry brushing and adding black paint chips.

thanks for reading!

welcome to gundam web.'s tutorial page. learn some tips and tutorials on how to improve the overall look of your gundam. feel free to comment on my posts if you see any corrections, or if you just want to drop your opinions. don't forget to check back on this site once in awhile, because I'm always ready to update this whenever i get the chance. have fun reading!

-GW

there are many kinds of ways to do battle damage, and I'm going to be teaching you guys how to do an easy and simple battle damaging process for your gundams. though i usually do the cutter type battle damage, there is also what i call melting. melting are used for slightly small bullet holes that actually got to melt through the gundam's armor.

materials:

>barbecue stick/ nail

>candle

>lighter (or anything you could use to light the candle up)

>cutter

so to start this tutorial, find a logical spot for this type of battle damage. because you surely can't have bullet holes under a shield right? so that is step one, find an area to damage.

lets start with prepping the materials that would be used in this tutorial.



light up a candle and burn the point of a barbecue stick.


blow the flame off the stick once it starts to glow red. if its not red, your wrong.


 while the tip is still hot, carefully pierce the area where you want the damage to be done.


slowly remove the stick once the hole's depth is to your liking.
remove any excess melted plastic and clean off and remaining amber.



using a cutter, draw some scratch lines in the direction where the bullet came from.
(if its was shot from the left, make scratches on the left side of the hole)

finished.


 more bullet holes on the shoulder armor. once properly dry brushed, you will see the bullet's effect.

finished product.

 there would be no images in this guide, this will NOT teach you how to build one step by step, this will just give you an idea on what you should do first when putting together a model.

>first start by cutting down all the necessary pieces using pliers.

>sand down any excess nubs.

>first assembly [take a good look of the model]

>disassemble by sections [legs, arms, etc.]

>paint your first coat of primer on all parts. [multiple coats are optional]

>paint base color.

>put on your choice of top coat. [optional]

>add your decals.

>panel lining/wash.

>finish detailing.

>weathering and battle damage.

>2nd assembly

>2nd detailing.

>spray the whole model one more time with top coat. [optional]

-finish with a smile-  :)

paining with spray cans or what we call spray painting is a quicker and even way to cover the surface of the part with paint, than just simply hand brushing. this can be a good alternate for an airbrush if one knows how to make use of it well. spray cans release a larger amount of paint in a wider area which makes it harder to use than an air brush.

for parts with plugs, using alligator clips or any type of clip whatsoever to hold it.

its all up to you how you want to hold the part, and once you find a way to hold your piece its on to the painting phase.

always remember to find a well ventilated area to spray, outdoors is a good idea because the fumes real eased by the spray can isn't  good for the your health. spraying with a mask on can also help stop paint getting into your breathing system.

after multiple layers [3] the paint has fully covered the piece,  now find a nice  place for it to dry.

barbecue sticks and styrofoam are a pair to be used to stand the parts as it dries.


or the slits of a box can be used too.

the paint dries pretty quick but to be sure, wait around 20 minutes before handling it again.

 double check if its dry before proceeding to the next step. [panel lining]

protect it with a spray of top coat.

[more parts ready for it's top coating]

 apply evenly among the parts, then leave to dry.

till next time guys!

this technique is a simple way off adding battle damage to your mecha, great for bullet holes or explosions and simle dents and scratches. this is quite basic so you dont need to be a great modeler to apply this to your gundam, you just need a simple cutter and your hands.

 find a nice spot which you would want to do this type battle damage, make sure that place is logical and not some random area which you just picked out. now align your cutter and the area, and with the tip of the blade pointing down, twist the cutter while and apply enough pressure on it. now you should start to see a hole being formed underneath your blade. keep scewering the blade util the depth of the hole is to your liking.

 brush of any plastic shavings around the hole.

next, cut your own dents and scratches on to your part. [be creative]

after multiple cutting ^

for the weathering phase, i suggest

 dry brushing the piece with black, or paint with high pigment.

i prefer using flat black, or grey, because it has a good burnt look to it.

also try damaging the decals a bit.

 next, add dry brush a little of silver for paint chipping and scratches.

in this tutorial, i used metallic powder as an exchange for silver. this works the same, add a bit to the tip of your brush, then brush the edges evenly through out the piece.

 final result.

thanks for reading, till next time!