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Hi all,

Just wanted some opinions on the rusted armour I have tried to produce on my Skaven. I was going for a straight out of the sewers look for it, as though it is has barely ever had any contact with anything other than claws/weapons scratching it.

That looks really good! very nice rusty effect

If you wanted, it's not absolutely necessary imo, you could add some typhus corrision in places. It's a very nice dirty, corrosive (grey/brown) with grit in it look. If you dislike it, or put too much on, you can always rust over it again as well. Sometimes I do that in layers to get the look I'm going for.

Another useful technical paint, if you wanted, is the nurgle's rot, for a green sewer drippings look. Or, again, not - depends what you're going for really.

Very much diggin it. How did you achieve that awesome rust effect?

To achieve it i started with a base of leadbelcher to give a dark steel, which i then painted over with Jokaero Orange. I made sure that i thinned it down and just used 1 thin coat. You could almost see the gleam of the iron through the orange. I then heavily washed with Agrax Earthshade, but let some of it pool a little on the plates to show darker brown areas of rust.

I then used Ironbreaker to edge highlight and run scratches and stuff across the armour and weapon.

Im glad you guys like it, i was questioning myself that there might have been a better way! Im going to try some typhus corrosion on areas to see how that will look too, thanks for the suggestion.

It looks rough to the touch, like the texture of rust. I tried my hand at rust effects recently but I think I might have been too light-handed (example below) as it seems a bit too subtle to me and hard to make out the effect. I'm going to try throwing on some agrax earthshade for some variance in the rust tone.

Is that plate area on the Skaven rough to the touch or is it just the illusions of a pro paint job? If it is indeed textured, what brought that texture out? Did you rough the area beforehand?

Here's my attempt at rust/old effect. I used drybrushing with a brownish/orange in the Army Painter range:

It's a flat area, with no roughing of the area done on the model itself. I hadn't intended to do a rust effect, I just tried it out on a whim.

I wouldn't say pro paint job though! But when I applied the metal highlights I was rough and ready while still maintaining control. Lots of little brush strokes, especially for the scratches on the plate and weapon, some heavier than others.

I like the effects on your truck, it is soft but it's a good job. Maybe a dark mettalic here and there lightly applied to the crumpled edges of the bumper in small rough patches to show the fact it's rusted metal rather than dirty perhaps? And agrax earth shade with some stippled light orange would also work well I guess.

You can do rust a couple of ways really - with texture paint, like Ryza Rust, with weathering powders, and with just paint. If you go with just paint, you can use a bit of packaging sponge from a mini pack, or any small cel sponge (make up brushes for eyeshadow for instance work well). You want to use an almost drybrush technique with this approach, keep less paint on the sponge, wipe, dab a lot off before you use it. It doesn't have to be totally dry, just enough that you end up with a nice pattern. Test a bit and you'll see what I mean. You use the bit of sponge, either with your fingers, or holding it in a pair of tweezers to dab at the surface you want to be 'rusted'. You build up the concentration to as much as you like. Several shades of rust sometimes work really well, to make it look natural. I typically use a red brown like burnt sienna to do this sort of weathering.

This is also a reallly useful technique when you want to use chipping fluid. You basically rust the entire metal (paint it with the burnt sienna) apply the chipping fluid all over. Wait for it to dry, then paint over with your top coat colour. Then you use something like a wet cotton swab or a bit of toothpick and water to gently remove the top coat of the paint. The chipping fluid allows the rust to show underneath.

If you build up rusty areas, just pay attention to where it would accumulate the most. I use a lot of reference pictures, as well as just imagination to figure out where the areas rust has come from. Areas that are more exposed would have more rust, for instance.

For areas like armour etc you can leave behind colour, to show areas where the armour hasn't quite rusted yet. This can included a 'base' metal colour (like leadbelcher) or the colour of your top coat, if you have coloured armour for instance. You can actually go over your painted on rust with your basecoat colour, with the same dabbing technique and packing sponge, then again with a metal colour (leadbelcher) in the highest areas, or areas you want to show some metal.*

Scratches follow pretty much the same logic. You can "highlight" your scratches with either your highlight colour, or a metal highlight (like a silver) as well. This gives them the illusion of a bit of depth.

Aside from adding texture, one of the main differences between using weathering powders and paints to do rust effects, is just that most paints aren't especially matte. Unless you buy specific matte paints for this, like Vallejo has some in its Panzer Aces line that are really matte. You'll find rust and weathering's main characteristic is how it reduces the shine, and makes areas matte - this alone really helps the realism when you're trying to achieve a good rust effect. Add in logical areas that would rust, and a little texture and you've got a superb weathering effect going.

Anyway lol have fun rusting it up ^_^

*This is how I did these barrels:

I just took a few more pictures after having a play with a lightbox I just made up this evening. I think I need either thinner paper on the sides or stronger bulbs to be honest, but happy with the results! They certainly show a lot more than the previous images!



I also took a couple of pictures of a Rat Ogre that I painted a few years ago, when I started getting back into the hobby. Not amazing by any stretch, but I feel like its a decent enough table top quality. I am going to paint up all of the skaven from the Isle of blood boxset and get them on Ebay, as it is great painting practice for me and should bring in a few pennies to allow me to get a Custodes force on the go.



Going to actually finish up the rest of the unit of skaven over the next couple of days. Just a quick opinion, should I paint all of them with rusty weapons/armour? or just a couple and use the Agrax earthshade method to show metal that is not too well cared for?

Looking good! your rat ogre looks awesome too

I'd say rust 'em all but I love a heavily rusty/weathered army heh. You could always do it piecemeal and decide as you go. Maybe some of them found newer shinies? ^_^

Just finished my test model for the unit, opinions requested please!



I havent based them fully, as I am going to sell them on Ebay it will make life easier for whoever actually (hopefully!) buys them.

Looks good.

Suggestion? A turquoise (some sort of bluish/light-green) highlight on jewelry, eyes, equipment, or clothing would really complement your models and make them pop.

Noted. Most of them are carrying items or tokens, ill go back and repaint with a warpstone green theme to see how it works.

The pictures dont really show it, but the eyes really glow as they were bloodletter glazed over a white basecoat. You could imagine being terrified of them coming at you in the dark!

 Garrlor wrote:
...eyes really glow as they were bloodletter glazed over a white basecoat. You could imagine being terrified of them coming at you in the dark!