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So, I've begun building terrain to have a place to play matches because apparently there isn't any real gaming stores near were I live. That and it should be fun to build an entire table on top of all the other things going on. I was wondering if anyone had any tips or tricks or suggestions about how they do their concrete look. I've seen a couple buildings done that are Amazing!! and of course nothing can take the place of trial and error (first building I'm working on is a great example of that, will post pics soon)

Getting that look of a light grey with the tan overlay I think would be a awesome way to go.

Was just wondering every-ones thoughts

I ve seen a les (awesome paint job) video where he created a base for a space marine that looked like concrete. He used pigments to get the "dusty" effect of worn out concrete, but when you get to do a whole building that's not the most economical solution.

Here is the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_o7eVU6Xvo.

Another idea is well real concrete... You can create a wash by diluting a small quantity of concrete in a large amount of water and go over a large surface. I think I am gonna give it a try and see how it goes .

Not 100% sure about concrete but i have managed to get a nice looking slte grey look for rocks and stuff by doing the followin:

solid coat of codex grey
heavy cry brush of fortress grey
light drybush of white

(Not sure what the new names are for these paints, sorry)


i woudl have thought this woudl work well for concrete, especially if you add patchs of green or sepia wash to show mould, dirt etc.

Textured paint will jazz up homemade 'concrete' terrain no end. Get a tester pot from a DIY store, or just mix some fine sand into leftover emulsion paint. Use as a primer/basecoat and then paint or highlight up from there.

Concrete surfaces are generally nice and smooth, so a textured paint might not be the best idea unless you're going for rubble. Because concrete is a composite material with some quite complicated chemistry involved the colour will vary from spot to spot. try varying the grey colour ever so slightly from place to place and maybe stipple on some darker grey aggregate patterns where the gravel is close to the surface.

Other things that will help make your concrete pop is to get the detailing right. Metal bits that are sticking out or which are attached (signs, handles, light fittings, etc) can leave rusty streaks. Areas that might have long term moisture exposure might leak "efflorescence" (a kind of white salt). Any broken areas should have chunks of reinforcing bars sticking out.

You have to exaggerate things on models to make them look realistic, and some surface texture helps with that.

Occasionally I use plaster cloth for buildings, reasonably cheap, easy to use, slight learning curve. Doesn't add anything over a exceptional paintjob, but can speed the process of getting there up.

Yep, exactly. It's designed to exaggerate and looks very effective. Hell, I used to use it on Epic bunkers, and it still looked better than smooth at THAT scale...

Ok, there's this company called "Dr. Ben's". You can find his stuff on eBay. He sells 4oz jars of this stuff called "worn concrete" which you use as a wash. It'll be in the model railroading section. It'll look different depending on what color it's painted over, of course, but it works great for me so far and should look fine over tans or light greys.

Ideally, you go buy some silicone rubber molding material, some mold release spray and make duplicate building tiles out of either Woodland Scenics "Smooth-On" which is colored to look like road concrete (not asphalt, but concrete) OR use some hydrocal plaster mixed with Woodland Scenics concrete coloring, put parts together, then a light to heavy wash of Dr. Ben's depending on how worn and old you want it to look. One of the challenges of GW building kits is there are plenty of "shot up" tiles, but recreating the resulting rubble pieces that should be more intact realistically means chopping up perfectly good and expensive GW building tiles.

http://fallout15mm.wordpress.com/ Ok, so there's some really bad examples with poor photography of some 15mm post-apoc road tiles I made. I've since made much better looking tiles and will post pics of them soon, but you'll get the idea. I almost hate to post the link because the new tiles look 110% better, but it'll shame me into posting new pictures of them.

I've seen guys do this with both Pegasus Gothic pieces, GW pieces and GW "still plastic original" pieces and they look...well, bad-ass. Super-realistic. If you try it, do experiment with some odd pieces so you know how much to apply and how much to stir it up to get the effect you're looking for. You have to stir it a little, but the more you stir it up the more uniform the effect and "newer" it will look.

Rustoleum sells a fine textured spray in a light tan finish. Finer than gluing sand to the surface, but enough to pick up drybushing nicely. Working the beige up with pale greys does a decent job of replicating the slightly warmer tones often seen in rougher concrete applications, like road or sidewalk sections. The texture also works well for things like cinder blocks, which are usually pretty coarse, but I'd repaint the base color in gray before drybrushing (rarely have the warmer color in them) or look for a grey version of the spray.

Poured structural concrete is usually smooth and a somewhat darker, cooler gray, so I'd skip the texture altogether, relying on glazes (or airbrushing) to get the desired color variation over a smooth surface. Stippling drywall filler (spackle) over the surface and sanding it flat can help replicate the small voids and pitting (from bubbles) that you sometimes see in otherwise glass-smooth poured concrete slabs.

 Flinty wrote:
Concrete surfaces are generally nice and smooth, so a textured paint might not be the best idea unless you're going for rubble. Because concrete is a composite material with some quite complicated chemistry involved the colour will vary from spot to spot. try varying the grey colour ever so slightly from place to place and maybe stipple on some darker grey aggregate patterns where the gravel is close to the surface.

Other things that will help make your concrete pop is to get the detailing right. Metal bits that are sticking out or which are attached (signs, handles, light fittings, etc) can leave rusty streaks. Areas that might have long term moisture exposure might leak "efflorescence" (a kind of white salt). Any broken areas should have chunks of reinforcing bars sticking out.

Yeah, what I said about stirring the Dr. Ben's... you want a little variation in coloring to make it look realistic. I highly recommend some rust pigments (or Dr. Ben's also makes 2 kinds of rust 'washes') and watching the jillion YouTube videos on "weathering buildings", 90% of which are actually for guys into model railroading.

Note about blast marks in Concrete buildings. The temptation is to paint them darker or even black, but if you Google images of shell-shocked buildings, bullets and RPG rounds usually leave a mostly white scorch mark with a dark ...halo (?) I guess is the term?

Guitar strings make really good re-bar, by the way. Cheap too. Just drill a hole where they should go, glue a small piece in, bend it up and hit it with some rust pigments and voila, your building looks more dangerous and like it was made with reinforced steel bars.

Try using sponges to apply your basecoats over the primer layer. It will help give you that color variation and a little bit of texture as well.

 Ifurita wrote:
Try using sponges to apply your basecoats over the primer layer. It will help give you that color variation and a little bit of texture as well.

If you don't have sponges, try the foam that comes in the single-pack Minis. I save all mine for just that purpose! The plastic makes a quick and disposable paint palette too.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oadie, is that Rustoleum you're talking about...how's it compared to GW Roughcoat? It's probably cheaper and Roughcoat I'm a little disappointed with.

Maxim C. Gatling wrote:
Oadie, is that Rustoleum you're talking about...how's it compared to GW Roughcoat? It's probably cheaper and Roughcoat I'm a little disappointed with.

Couldn't tell you, honestly, as I've never used Roughcoat. Grain size is comparable to... maybe 250-300 grit sandpaper? More sparse, though, which lets you get a bit of variation with your drybrushing, even if you used perfectly fine and even strokes. If you swing by a DIY store (or section in a Wlamart or the like), look for it and check the cap - it's a decent representation of the actual finish.

Maxim C. Gatling wrote:

 Ifurita wrote:
Try using sponges to apply your basecoats over the primer layer. It will help give you that color variation and a little bit of texture as well.

If you don't have sponges, try the foam that comes in the single-pack Minis. I save all mine for just that purpose! The plastic makes a quick and disposable paint palette too.

I use the left over foam from the pluck trays. They have a nice small grain and fairly sharp edges for the details.

Those are awesome. Never throw those away. So many uses for them.

Awesome Responses Guys. Think I've got a few ideas in mind with everyone's advice. Definatly gonna have to posts some picks of the end result!!

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/455234.page

Maybe this might help ya

Testors Floquil makes concrete and aged concrete paints that work quite well.

http://www.testors.com/products/137565

http://www.testors.com/products/137567

Googling "aged concrete" gives lots of cool images and a few articles on replicating concrete:

http://rrmodelcraftsman.com/extraboard/cm_extra_gessofoundation.php

tim

That's the end-result of the concrete stuff I'm using. Note: this is in 15mm scale and those are 15cmx15cm boards. I'm incredibly happy with the results. Took a lot of trial and error.

Please check out my blog (at the bottom there) and I have more pictures of what these road tiles look like "in action".