Weather and Battle Damage - Anime - http://maxpages.com/gundamwing2001/Weather_and_Battle

1: THE STORY

Let's recap what we've done so far. Our first kit went relatively easy. It was out of the box, snap together and BAM! A really cool robot stands in front of you. The second kit was a little more advanced, but also relatively simple. (Just wait until you do a 1/1 scale Deathscythe… just kidding.)
From my experience, looking at some of my models day in and day out, it gets slightly boring. My remedy for this "Model Kit Lull" is to enhance the kit with a certain "destructive" flare. I had seen photos in some of my old Hobby Japan magazines that showed robots, monsters and aliens with holes in the armor, arms ripped from their sockets, and tons of damage. Cool stuff like that.

My first attempt at altering a model kit went pretty bad. I used a lighter to char the edges of a model airplane that quickly turned into a four alarm fire (well sort of). My mom was not happy. She wasn't upset that I used her lighter or that I ruined an expensive model. It was the ENORMOUS amount of black smoke billowing from the melted lump of plastic. How was I supposed to know that her friends were on the way over!? Needless to say, new techniques were a swift kick in the pants.

I've tried to everything to get my kits to look a certain way. I've used clay, Sculpey, Super Sculpey, Super Duper Sculpey, drills, dremols, dental tools, butter knives, soldering irons, battery acid, pliers, scissors, BB guns, and oatmeal to name a few. The best results have come from the soldering iron, dremol tool, and dry brush together.

My first attempt at altering a model kit went pretty bad. I used a lighter to char the edges of a model airplane that quickly turned into a four alarm fire (well sort of). My mom was not happy. She wasn't upset that I used her lighter or that I ruined an expensive model. It was the ENORMOUS amount of black smoke billowing from the melted lump of plastic. How was I supposed to know that her friends were on the way over!? Needless to say, new techniques were a swift kick in the pants.

I've tried to everything to get my kits to look a certain way. I've used clay, Sculpey, Super Sculpey, Super Duper Sculpey, drills, dremols, dental tools, butter knives, soldering irons, battery acid, pliers, scissors, BB guns, and oatmeal to name a few. The best results have come from the soldering iron, dremol tool, and dry brush together.

2: THE LESSON

Let's begin by using what you learned in primer, base coat, etc. I like to base all of the dark stems with Flat Black paint. This way, when you dry brush the piece, the lighter color stands out more. Remember, PAINT FIRST, AND ASSEMBLE LATER.
The next step involves dry brushing gray-blue over the Chassis, inside the head, the bands that go on the springs, and cockpit area of the Zaku kit featured here.

Make sure you don't over do it on the first try. Do several light coats with the dry brush technique. This way you can always add more highlights according to your taste. If this were a real robot, certain areas would be exposed to the elements and battle.

Also, when metal rubs against metal, paint will be removed, exposing bare metal parts. These exposed areas will require the dry brushing of Silver or "Gunmetal". Areas may include exposed joints and sockets, the edges and bottom of the feet, fingers, some weapons, skirt edges, chest plate and damages areas.

For the outer armor on the Red colored stem, use plain Red paint (spray or brush). The shoulder spikes are Yellow. After the paint has thoroughly dried, use a Micron .0005 pen on the panel lines as shown in lesson 2. If you have a problem with the ink not drying fast enough for you, hit with a hair dryer for approximately 20 seconds. Now is the time to apply any decals or logos to the kit.

2: THE LESSON (cont)

If you've noticed throughout this lesson, the model pieces have remained on the stem. You can do it the way you're most comfortable with. Sometimes I do it on the stems and sometimes I do it off. It depends on what mood I'm in. If you choose the "on" method, as you take the pieces off of the stem, trim the flashing and touch up the area with the designated color.
Now assemble the kit as directed, but don't do the final assembly step yet. Here comes the fun part! Before operating any electric tools or soldering irons, read the instructions and follow all safety guidelines.

If you have a Dremol tool, use the round, metal grinding wheel and lightly scrape a portion of the shield that may have acquired some damage. If you are using a soldering iron, lightly run the tip across the surface for laser hits or sword slashes. You might also want holes that have been blasted into the armor, depending on the size of the hole, run the tip of the iron through the piece. The melted plastic will form strings as you pull away from the model. Just twirl it like spaghetti, and it should come off. Depending on how much damage was inflicted, you're ready to make that mess you just made look a whole lot better.

Use a small paintbrush and paint the areas that are damaged Dark Brown or Burnt Umber. Next, lightly dry brush Yellow Ochre or Mustard over the Brown and Silver (very, very lightly) over that. Hopefully it's coming together for you. Now dip the tip of your finger in some Black paint (acrylic) and create a "charring" pattern around the damaged areas. In a circular motion, fan the paint outward, away from the hole or scrape. For the skirt, chest, knees and elbows use the dry brush technique. Slide the side of the brush along the edges. Now, randomly dab spots here and there. You can go ahead with the final assembly and enjoy the wreckage.

The idea here is to make your kits more realistic. You should have fun doing it. If you don't think your kits need any spicing up, great. But, if you're bored and tired of looking at the same 'ol thing, BAM! Here's the way to go.