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I'm looking to make a Guard unit on a red dust planet. I've seen a million examples of weathering powders on vehicles that look fantastic, but has anyone seen weathering powders that look good on a uniform? I'm not trying to make the mud around the boots look, but a lived in sort of dust on the clothes. If anyone's seen any good examples of this or knows how to go about doing it, I would appreciate the help. If there are other good ways to go about doing it, I would appreciate the help.

Bumping my own thread. Tragic.

I used tamiya weather powders for my old space marines, turned out really well.

Do you apply it the same way you would on a vehicle or do you have to use another techinique? I'm mostly worried about how it would look on "cloth" as opposed to armor.

There are a number of ways you can apply it, usually the powder comes with a sort of soft ball type brush. i have heard of people mixing it into washes and applying a minimal ammount that way.

i have never applied to veichles, i just used it for my troops. i also cut holes into the armour parts to simulate bullet holes and silver painting techniques to look like chips.

i am just starting a guard project and will be using these techniques so i will keep you posted to show you how it goes.

I haven't tried this yet, but, like mentioned above you can mix with water/rubbing alcohol to make the powders a wash. This I think would be best for troops since it would allow the powder to get into the folds of the uniform, where dust would actually gather. I'd suggest experimenting with a junk model or two and get the technique down.

As menziez said, there are numerous techniques.

For a dusty look just matt varnish the model (always varnish before using powders, use matt to apply dust, gloss to apply washes) and apply the powder dry with a brush. Try to use at least two colors of powder, alternating colors as you apply to add visual depth (same reason blush compacs always have 3+ colors in them). Spray with alcohol/thinner to set, then varnish. Remember, dust is usually a lighter color, darker colors will look like mud.

Mix it with thinner first to get a muddier effect or a wash.

MiG is supposed to be the highest quality, but is pricey. Vallejo is supposed to be good. Doc O'briens is really affordable (12 colors for 25$), but I wonder about the quality. It is described as "self-adhesive".

Or, for a grainier look make your own by getting some pastels and grinding them down on sand paper. I know really good modelers use both powders and pastels as it gives the model more depth.

I don't know how much dust can actually stick to a person. Enough to need an actual 3D product on a small scale model? Perhaps all you need to do is some heavy drybrushing. Marines are a bit different as they have a lot of hard armour and nooks and crannies for stuff to get lodged, but Guard uniforms? Not so sure. Feel free to convince me otherwise, however

I agree with flinty, dust doesn't really stick to you

Flinty wrote:I don't know how much dust can actually stick to a person. Enough to need an actual 3D product on a small scale model? Perhaps all you need to do is some heavy drybrushing. Marines are a bit different as they have a lot of hard armour and nooks and crannies for stuff to get lodged, but Guard uniforms? Not so sure. Feel free to convince me otherwise, however

...so I guess you were not a boy scout? And never went on any long dusty hikes?

Trusty me, dust sticks to people just fine. Dust sticks to everything.

Funny I'm having a hard time finding any pictures.

Only muddy hikes

You probably wouldn't need weathering powders.

Just looking at that photo, I would do a basecoat of the dusty colour you want (making sure you get it into all the folds of cloth), a heavy drybrush of a lighter dust colour and lightly drybrushing the colour you want the cloth to be over the top of it. That way it looks like the dust has gathered in the folds while the peaks of the cloth are varying shades of the 'proper' colour. For those jeans, I would basecoat in Calthan brown, Heavy brush of kommando khaki, lightly drybrush several coats of blue onto it. Maybe a very, very light brush of kommado khaki again to tone down the blue a little.

If that makes sense?

riplikash wrote:

Flinty wrote:I don't know how much dust can actually stick to a person. Enough to need an actual 3D product on a small scale model? Perhaps all you need to do is some heavy drybrushing. Marines are a bit different as they have a lot of hard armour and nooks and crannies for stuff to get lodged, but Guard uniforms? Not so sure. Feel free to convince me otherwise, however

...so I guess you were not a boy scout? And never went on any long dusty hikes?

Trusty me, dust sticks to people just fine. Dust sticks to everything.

Funny I'm having a hard time finding any pictures.

Heh, I'm from Scotland. We tend to do mud more than dust

However your picture is a perfect reference. There may be dust, but its not in big clumpy layers. Its stuck in the weave of the material and perhaps a thin layer over the top. You don't need to muck about with weathering powders to replicate that, just some drybrushing.

That is what you might call a light dusting after a walking through a work site, not a heavy march.

Anyways, I never said you had to use powders. He asked if he could use them and what kind to use, and I answered. It is an easy and effective method to create such an effect, and acts very much like actual dust, not in big, clumpy layers like you are describing. They have great utility throughout an army and are good to have, and this is a valid use for them.

You can of course accomplish the effect through drybrushing, airbrushing, wet blending, oil paints, washes, and any number of other techniques. Weathering powders are just another option. They are easy to work with and look great.

This has given me alot of ideas. I was figuring powder rather than drybrush because I figured it would contrast better, if you understand what I mean. I thought drybrushing would look like, well, drybrushing, and since about ninety percent of my painting is drybrushing, if you count basecoating as ten percent, I thought it would sort of mess with it. I haven't experimented with it yet, haven't had a spare model, but I'm pretty excited. I was hoping that red dust on a grey uniform would pop very well, just hoping it doesn't end up looking like they were painted pink. And the idea of basing it in the dust color and drybrushing the uniform color over it sounds interesting. This way, the dust would be in the cracks and the uniform would show better on the edges. I'll need to con a few spares off a friend, or buy some of the dollar bin ones that were wrecked by twelve year olds' paint jobs. And after setting up a tent in Baghdad, you have dust in your underwear and socks, let alone how much is on your uniform. I figure a long campaign in a red desert without KBR washing your drawers would ruin anything.