Chipped Paint II

Following on from my first attempt at re-creating chipped paint I found that not even clear coat could prevent the undercoat from being scraped off once the final spray coat had dried, resulting in plastic showing through when attempting to scrape the paint away the following evening. There was also some "bunching" of the scraped paint in some areas when it was scraped while wet, so there must be a sweet spot of drying time in the middle!

I also experimented with some contrasting colours.

Despite this I was quite happy with the results, and after a quick highlight of the paint edges and a light shading glaze, I felt the technique could be used to great effect on my next Ork model, a "Dakkajet", which has really caught my imagination and kept my enthusiasm alive for my new Ork colour scheme. So I proceeded as before with a dark undercoat, this time without any metal, and taped the areas I didn't want the final colour to cover. Then a triple coat of clear coat, following by a dark and light yellow base coat:

After pausing just long enough to admire the beautiful snow covered mountains (finally visible after a very cloudy and rainy winter/spring!) I used my modelling tool to scrape just enough of the base coat away to give the appearance of chipped paint. As mentioned, this was done when the top coat was still slightly wet, and I recommend holding on to the model by the base to avoid any unwanted fingerprints!

You can see only a couple of the scratches around the gun have been highlighted so far.

From what I have read on other weathering blogs and guides for paint chips, the critical part is to not overdo the number or size of chips. You want to chip the panels, not the whole model, and it's important to remember the size and location of any scratches. I have done quite a few on leading edges, and although not shown in the photo I concentrated some on the underside to represent small arms fire from the ground. The idea is to no affect the colour/look of the model at first glance, but to brake up the large painted areas with some battle damage. As I am painting a science fiction model I didn't have to be too careful about making it look realistic.

After the base coat had dried I began adding highlights to the edges of the chips and scrapes, which you can see above. I also started on some of the other colours and details which I will later shade and weather to match the rest of the model. I am still undecided as to shading with glazes or pigments, so it'll be back to the Killa Kanz for a little while.

Part way through, having penciled in the pattern on the wing.