Weathering a TS

[TK6237]

I´ve weathered two TD suits so far, but never really been happy with the look afterward; the color´s either been wrong, too strong or too dark, or I´ve ended up with too much of it, and in the wrong spots...So, I decided to try something new when I weathered my TS, and I´m a lot more happy with the result - so much so, that I thought I´d share it with the rest of you.

Instead of soaking the parts in hairspray, then sprinkling a pinch of dry pigments on it before I started working with the sponge, or going with acrylic paints - I did this:

1) First spray hairspray into something like a small plate (I used one from a tea set), until you have a small puddle of hairspray floating in it (about 2-3 teaspoons).

2) Drop a pinch (1/8th of a teaspoon, or less) of pigment in the puddle; if you want a really strong color, use more pigment. If you want a fainter color, use less. Adjust with adding more hairspray or pigment to the mix, stir until even.

3) After getting the right shade of whatever color you´re after, soak a sponge in the mixture, and apply to the armor parts in a dabbing motion; keep dabbing it (dab-dab-dab-dab-dab etc.) until the hairspray starts to get sticky. It´ll be runny and hard to work with at first, but just keep dabbing it all over, making multiple passes over the same area. This is important, if you want a sand-, dried dirt or smoke-like texture. Change the angle of the sponge every now and then, to brake up any too-intentional looking patters. Naturally, you can also smear the hairspray-pigment mixture on the armor, if you want it to appear as oil, mud or grease. Or, do a little of both. But keep working with the sponge until the hairspray starts to dry up, and the surface gets all sticky. I recommend cutting up the surface of the sponge a little, to avoid it leaving any straight lines. Just trim it lightly with a pair of scissors, to get an uneven surface.

4) If it dries up too quickly, or you want to redo an area, spray a small amount of hairspray directly on the part, then work it over with the sponge again. Re-soak the sponge in more pigment-and-hairspray mixture when needed. If you want some extra pigments in the nooks and crannies, you can also add some using a stiff brush with a little bit of powdered pigment on the tip, and sort of just dab it in there.

5) Once you´re happy with the part, put it aside to dry for a few minutes, while you start working on another part. 10-15 minutes of drying time should be enough.

6) After it´s dried, start working on the part with a slightly damp cloth, rubbing off the weathering, switching between dabbing and circular motions, trying to get it to look as random as possible. This is where the magic happens; take your time, keep an eye out for cool effects and patterns. I repeated step 1-6 about three times for each part, starting with a very heavy black color, of which I removed almost everything. Then a second layer, a bit thinner, but still removing most of it - and then a third time, using almost no pigment at all to lots of hairspray, resulting in a thin, just barely noticeable layer of grayish "grime". Also, try to find a cloth that isn´t fuzzy...The old terrycloth towel I used left tiny little balls of lint all over, sticking to the hairspray.

7) Once you´re happy with the look of things, let it dry for about a day before showering all the parts with a couple of more layers of hairspray to really fixate the pigments and make the weathering stick better. Be careful not to wet the parts too much at a time, which´ll cause the weathering to get all runny. Rather do several light passes with the hairspray, leaving the part to dry for an hour or so between each pass.

8) Aaaand you´re done!

...Here´s a rather crappy picture taken with my mobile phone of what my suit looked like after this process:

More pictures of the finished armor HERE

I found several advantages to using this method. First of all, it´s a lot cleaner than laying the parts on the ground, soaking them in hairspray and drizzling pigments on them - which, when I did my TD armor, resulted in me weathering much of our living room in the process. Another considerable advantage is having full control of the saturation and brightness of the color you´re using, adding more pigment or more hairspray, or even mixing pigments, to the mixture before putting it on the suit. It was also a lot faster than any other method I´ve tried so far (using acrylic paints or applying the hairspray and pigments directly on to the suit). And, should you want to remove the weathering, a little luke warm water with a drop of washing-up liquid will do the job, while the weathering will still hold really well to regular use and abuse of the armor. I haven´t been out in a solid rainstorm yet, but I´m pretty sure it´ll hold up well to a light drizzle, at least. Acrylic paint has a much stronger hold, but on the other hand, cleaning it off, if you want to redo the weathering, is one heckuva job!

I find that this method is a lot more economic when it comes to the use of pigments as well, as you can leave the plate with the pigment-and-hairspray mix to dry if don´t have time to do all in one sitting, and revive the mixture the next day, or week, with a few more splashes of hairspray (much like working with watercolors!).

The pigments I´m using are from MIG Productions, which you can pretty much get at any hobby shop that sells scaled model kits. I´ve tried several types of hairspray, but the one that has performed the best so far, is called Clynol Styling Spray, Ultra Strong, bought at Bunnpris (a chain of grocery stores) in Norway. Curiously, some other brands didn´t work at all, but I´m sure there are several others out there which´ll do. You just have to find one that´s really sticky. To apply the weathering, I used a cheap household sponge, hacking away parts of it here and there, just to give at a more uneven shape.

I´ll update this post with some more pictures of the actual process, soon as I can get around to taking some. I´ll be redoing my TD using this method, when I can find time for it.

Special thanks to Mike (TD-1536) and Gundamzeppelin, for being fantastic sources of both knowledge and inspiration!

EDIT: Here's a few more detailed pics of the weathering:

And here's the look I tried to emulate:

(MoM Snowtrooper)

...Looks like I may need to add a bit more dirt!

[FIVE]

That's great stuff man!

I just used craft paints on mine... didn't do the "real" weathering processes. But this is some top notch suggestions for sure! Thanks for posting!

[DirtyBoy]

Great stuff bro!!!

I actually have a secret mixture I've use on mine

[Pappy]

Naturally, you can also smear the hairspray-pigment mixture on the armor, if you want it to appear as oil

Hope this can be of interest to someone!

This interest me a lot

I'm sure everybody will find it useful,your weathering looked great for that,cant get enough of weathering threads are we

[troopermaster]

Your TS looks amazing Mads!

Great tutorial too

[Daetrin]

Wow - I'm not normally a fan of the TS but this looks great. And your technique is off the charts. Makes my dabbing around with Raw Umber for an hour or so seem...primitive

[TK6237]

Thanks for the comments! I love reading how-tos and build-ups from other people, just happy I got the opportunity to contribute for once. I really don´t wanna take all the credit for it though - I basically started out with Mike´s tutorial, but since working outdoors is kinda rough about 8-9 months a year here in Norway, I needed to find a cleaner way to do it, indoors. Hence the idea of putting the hairspray on the plate, mixing it with pigments and dabbing it on with the sponge, rather than spraying and drizzling that stuff everywhere. I´m still cleaning patches of Fuller´s earth out of the nooks and crannies in my apartment after my previous weathering attempt, more than a year ago...

Your TS looks amazing Mads!

Thank you, hope I did the DL kit justice. By the way, I´m really pleased that you liked it, as I´ll be redoing my TM set of TD armor using this method, soon as I find time for it!

And your technique is off the charts. Makes my dabbing around with Raw Umber for an hour or so seem...primitive

This one´s really easy to do though - pretty fast, too. Clue is to just keep dabbing with the sponge, until you get the right texture, and then take your time when wiping it off. No hocus pocus, I promise!

[TK6237]

Finally got around to updating the first post with some more detailed shots of the weathering.

...Yeah, I seriously need to find a better material for the cowl.

[kenthork]

looks really similar!!!

curious to know what did you use for this result?

[TK6237]

Thanks!

I used Mig Productions dry pigments mixed with the stickiest liquid hairspray I could find, applying it using kitchen sponges, and then wiping it off with a damp cloth. All the details are in the first post.