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Hey guys. I wanted to try a different approach to weathering, and I think I like the results! I remember reading that they use motor oil, dirt and sand to weather the armor on the set. There's this old photo from the set of the guy using a brush to paint on this mixture to weather the armor. So I decided to do another "CSI experiment": what exactly does motor oil, mixed with dirt and sand look like? Why not try and replicate this, since this is what they really used? We all see in the film stills that the weathering looks dark and patchy in some areas, and it's actually not very "sand" or grey colored like we would think it would be. I had some old used motor oil left from an oil change I did a while back (so it's nice and gunky!) and I added dirt / soil and sand. After I let it sit for a day, this is what I got: Notice that the dark areas are where the oil has saturated the dirt is quite dark. The sand didn't add too much other than "grain" and grittyness. But I think the most interesting part is the color of the oil. In some areas it's darker where it's thick. In thin areas, the oil is more transparent and a warm reddish brown translucent look appears. This has a much more random organic quality to it. So how do i replicate this with acrylic paint? One thing I noticed is that the paint in a tube is not the same color when it's sponged on and thinned down. Here's a test swatch I did on scrap plastic. The right has the burnt umber spread out and the left is my "oil" mixture - replicated with paint. I took a 2 layer approach. Do one pass with Burnt umber, thin it down and applied via sponge, let it dry, then used a terry cloth and wiped it off in circular / dabbing motions to make it look like dried transparent oil. Then let it dry overnight so that it "binds" with the plastic. I did a second pass with my own oil mixture which was actually 70% Burnt umber, 20% black, and 10% warm grey. I only let this sit for about 5 mins, then rub / dabbed it off. I let some brown show through in some areas, and in others I built it up on top of the brown. The result is that it creates this rich layered look, which is very similar to the oil / dirt / sand test I did. Here's a comparison of the ammo strip and the oil / dirt / sand test. Some weathered pieces Chest plate does not have the second pass with "oil" yet Right thigh I did the boots too, which in my opinion should be the "dirtiest" item in the costume (your lower body gets more heavily soiled than the upper body) Shin with boot Here's another cool test. I wanted to see if these results replicate the film used suits. I took the photo of my "oily" weathered ab armor (far right), then colorized and blurred it to match the set lighting from the film (second from right), then added some noise to simulate film grain (third from right) and lastly compared it to a screen grab of the the STS trooper ab armor (left). I will add some more details to make the weathered shapes similar, but the look is very similar to what was seen on screen. Keep in mind that things are usually more detailed in real life than what is seen on film (loss of detail). So the still photos we have seen from the set are closer to what was really done in real life, to get what we see on screen. I really like this "gritty, oily" look. The armor looks very tough, and abused and has a lot more depth to it. The great thing is that you can make it as heavy or as lightly weathered as you like. What do you guys think?