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In my quest to further my painting skittlz I wanted to see if anyone knew techniques for making a rusted copper look.
If you know how to do any rust, explain your methods. Try to give colors in terms of GW paints, as that's fairly universal.

copper goes green. use GW scaley green as a wash over brass mixed with a bit of red or over copper.
rust over steel - vermin fur mixed with orange & or orange weathering powders.

copper does not rust. It tarnishes then turns green.


Your best bet would be to pick up a cheap ageing kit at a local hobby store. It should run about 5 bucks and give you better results than you could get with anything else.

In the latest issue of White Dwarf, they paint the AoBR Ork Boss and it shows how they do the green tarnished copper.

Yes, I know it turns green. Tis why I specified it over regular rust.
It looks nice and Nurgly compared to other rust. I've come fairly close with dry brushing and a bit of Rotting Flesh.

Clthomps, could you elaborate on that aging kit? Maybe a link, it sounds interesting.

i believe its called verdigris?

and is the result of oxidisation in the metal?

the best way may be to undercoat scaly green, and drybrush/layer up?

info: Corrosion. Rust is a type of corrosion. These take many forms in look and color. In this case copper corrosion would be green-blue. You will never see rust on copper but the green is in the same family. Magnesium turns white (that one is free).

^^the prior navy Corrosion inspector in me had to say something. lol sorry.


Kits: powders.. Tamiya Weathering kit, MIG pigment powders. Tamiya is cheaper. But you could also use pastels.

Tarnish copper: mix green+blue/ mix 1:1 water and hit the rivets and faying surfaces.

Copper does rust...

Rust - dictionary.com

2 any film or coating on metal caused by oxidation.

However in everyday speek rust usually means the redish brown rust on iron/steel.

Right, no more about the definition of rust. I will now refer to it from now on as oxidized copper.
I have looked at people's galleries (some of you have some SEXY skills), and is there anyway to achieve those kinds of results with GW paints?
Bubber's suggestion was a good one, but options are nice.

just minutes ago i was reading an article on CMoN about verdigris, ill find it and link you

EDIT: here you go http://www.coolminiornot.com/article/aid/662/page/1
each page is a different method

Does copper rust? Really yes and no. Rust is what iron does when it oxidizes. Copper also oxidizes, but we don't call it rust, we call it 'patina'. 'Rust' actually has several definitions: one means specifically the iron oxidation like on a vehicle, and another definition means the oxidation of ANY metal. So it is confusing -- both answers "yes" or "no" to copper rusting are BOTH true -- depending on what definition you are using. It is more proper however to call the copper 'rust' >>> patina.

Blighter me, Corpses, that's good stuff!
Stuff like that helps tons.
Also, LBursley! Fine, I declare it cleared up!
More stuff on copper patina (or is it just patina?)! Do eet!

I just did some verdigris a few days ago with a mixture of ice blue, thraka green wash, and water and it turned out very nicely

Yeah, at this point I'm thinking about a mix of 90/10 Rotting Flesh and Mordian Blue over a base of Gun Metal with Gyphon Sephia and working my way up adding a bit of white to the flesh/blue for bright spots and dripping Badab or Devlan wash for rained on effect. I dunno, I'll get to work on it tomarrow and post pics if the thread doesn't die before that.