Okay so painting is one of the most important part when it comes to preparing a plastic model so today I will be teach a simple but very effective way to add extra flare to your paint scheme.

I call this patterning since I would paint on a subtle and noticeable patterns with the help of Tamiya's plastic mesh. You can use any other mesh if you please but this one is thin and easy to manipulate which make it my go guy to when doing this technique. 

I started off by covering the whole area in silver but you may use a lighter color depending on what outcome you are going for. 

Lay the mesh over the piece like so and spray on your base color. Another way of doing this is by taping the mesh over on a flat surface to ensure that it wont move during the process.

Gonna go for red.

As you can see the mesh worked as a "mask" successfully transferring its pattern with the paint.

I'll be showing you another way to apply this technique but to achieve a more titanium like finish. Same concept as my Titanium Tutorial but with patterning to add more effect.

Instead of spraying the darker base color over the silver, I did the opposite having the silver on top of the darker color making the pattern lining darker. And to top it off, spray your choice of clear color to fully use the reflective nature of the silver.

And just like that you have one alien like material kind of thing going on already! 

Simple but effective.

If you found this tutorial helpful, share it around so that you would help others too!

Till next time!

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!

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!