Need help/tutorials for two weathering techniques

Hey all,

I'm in a weathering kinda mood, so I've got two projects in mind. One is a 24h LeMans 962c and the other is a rally car diorama. I know there will be some similarities between the two, but I imagine they are quite different as well. Does anyone know of a good tutorial that speaks of either or both? I've tried to find some WIPs with these here but to no avail or they weren't what I was looking for.

Anyone have an idea to share or a site to share with ideas? Thanks!

Well I've never done a rally car but I suspect there's a lot of dirt/mud involved rather than tire and brake dust of an endurance car.

I've done two weathered LeMans/endurance cars and one can be seen here:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1061045

It's not a WIP but will give you ideas. The other is a WIP of my GT40 but that's on another site. In general, build up slowly, study real car photos, and work from heavier front to lighter rear. Don't forget brake dust on wheels and tires, rain streaks on glass and over the bodywork from the airstream. Dullcote looks like dust on the lower portions and an airbrush is required for better paint control and spatters.

If you have questions I can try to answer you in PM's. Good luck.

Yep, saw your 935 over on that 'open wheel' site. Very nice. Did you just use an airbrush for the black spots on the bumper? Or is it something else?

For race weathering, I see rubber bits (black dots) and also grime from wet weather that runs up the hood and bodywork. I wonder how that is accomplished? REALLY thinned out flat black/dark gray? Put it on and then "blow" it up the bodywork with an airbrush (just air coming out)?

Thanks for the suggestions!

Yep, saw your 935 over on that 'open wheel' site. Very nice. Did you just use an airbrush for the black spots on the bumper? Or is it something else?

For race weathering, I see rubber bits (black dots) and also grime from wet weather that runs up the hood and bodywork. I wonder how that is accomplished? REALLY thinned out flat black/dark gray? Put it on and then "blow" it up the bodywork with an airbrush (just air coming out)?

Thanks for the suggestions!

You're welcome. That site has my GT40 which is very recent and better-researched. Look up "Trumpeter 1/12 GT40-what to watch out for" in WIP or Completed-I forgot where.

Some of the 935 nose was done with flat black and primer gray rattle cans-held far away. You have much better control with airbrush-pressure, distance, thinness etc.

For up the nose and along the sides make soft masks on about the upper half of the bodywork-Friskit with Playdoh tucked under the edge to raise it. Then LIGHTLY build up layers-you want it irregular-not like the normal way you want paint coverage. Some larger splatters is good-just go easy. Again Dullcote is also useful to just 'dust' the paint in dirtier areas. Remember the rear from the spoiler down has all the dust and exhaust clinging to it.from the airstream-road splash too. Think like air.

Best I can say is study guys successful weather jobs, get really good reference shots of your car in action, look at actual race cars in action (the drag strip is easiest) and practice on white foamcore to get the right mix, distance and pressures.

Don't forget that cockpits and engine bays take a beating too. Scuffs from drivers, mechanics, hand marks, oil leaks, heat burns-it's all there if you look for it. My GT40 shows a lot of that. Painted dash edges get scuffed down to bare aluminum on the edges. Fuel puddles leave brownish stains-just be SUBTLE. Endurance and rally cars get tons of bashes and scratches-mechanics tape and rivet up repairs-use your imagination.

Here's a perfect example of 1015 at LeMans in '66. Notice the dust/rain/rubber streaks:
http://i679.photobucket.com/albums/vv151/Aframe/Hulme-MilesFordMkII.jpg
Here's three views of my GT40:
http://i679.photobucket.com/albums/vv151/Aframe/M.jpg
http://i679.photobucket.com/albums/vv151/Aframe/N-1.jpg
http://i679.photobucket.com/albums/vv151/Aframe/488.jpg
Practice and have fun...

I did not wheather a car so often, but did some dioramas by the past though.

The first thing to make a good weathering on a rally car is to keep in mind the race conditions, many put dust on Monte Carlo cars and mud on Sweden cars !!??

Corsica used to be a dusty not mudy rally except if rain falling, whereas Monte Carlo snowy or not (except the really formers years when it was raced during one week and really crossed the south of France and many mountain roads fully snowy) always bring mud on cars.

The main colors are dark brown shades for a Monte Carlo car, or a rainy tarmac event.

The second point to keep in ming IMO is to get an homogen weather to all the car, for example not forgetting the wheels.

And the third advice I could give is not to make too much !! Real pictures inspiration is the trully sight to have on the cars.


If you let me know which car and event exactly you intend to depict in your diorama I'll try to give you some better and more precise advices and also find some good references for it.

Thanks, Phil. I was hoping you'd chime in!

I'm looking at doing the Burns' Carisma GT from the '98 Safari Rally. Obviously more dust and some water, plus that car was beat to *hell*. I'd really like to do a scene where the car splashes through a small creek with water effex (some type of resin/epoxy stuff). I've seen it done well and have some military builder friends that are diorama experts who will help me.

What types of paints do you use? Does it matter (say, Mig vs Tamiya vs Vallejo, etc)? Again, I am clueless here...;)

Thanks!