Weathering with the Tamiya Weathering Master

Tools 'n' Tips Article by Flanker

 

 

As a regular visitor to this excellent web site I have always wished that I could come up with something useful to share with this community.  Now I think I have one for you.

Are you good at weathering your aircraft models?  Pre-shading and all that stuff that take up your precious time.   Isn't it a bit tiring?  Well, here comes the Tamiya Weathering Master for your rescue.

As I started assembling the 1/48 SDB-2 Dauntless (Accurate Miniatures), I had to decide how I should finish up the painting.  I am not much in favor of pre-shading as it only gives a monotonous and even shade.  You know the navy aircraft always look rather dirty with various stuff such as oil, soot, and rust.  You need shades with gradation of more than a single dark gray.

So I tried this new weathering method using the Tamiya Weathering Master.  The kit looks like women's eye shadow kit with 3 different colors of solid pigments (some powdery and some sticky) and an applicator stick.  All you have to do is to apply the pigments of your choice to the finished painting surface.

There are several merits over the conventional pre-shading:
1. It is easy to handle and saves time.
2. You can have a wide variety of shades.
3. You are allowed to make mistakes; just wipe it off with wet tissue in case you messed up.
4. It works on decals to some extent (dry pigments do not stick well on glossy decals)

Click on images below to see larger images

  

On this Dauntless model I mostly used the Soot and Rust from the Kit B with some use of the pigments from the Kit A.  The Soot gives a realistic shade not only for the exhaust and oil stains but also for the aging panel lines when combined with lighter pigments from the Kit A.  The highly characteristic speed brakes of this aircraft show rust streaks from the air holes, which can be easily recreated by applying the Rust along the air flow lines.  It is a shame the low resolution of the photos does not fully capture the delicate hue of the shading by using this method.

Ciao,
Flanker

Photos and text © by Flanker