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Question for all you hyper-realistic weatherers out there - how best do I weather white armour for a desert theme?

I've got some pristine white Clone Troopers I just finished, but I feel they could do with a little something to make them feel less perfect. I've done a little research, and I gather at least two pigments are needed for a realistic variation. So my basic idea is a light yellowish brown pigment for a main brush over, followed by a darker, less yellow pigment on the extremes. I've (perhaps) settled on AMMO by Mig pigments - specifically the Israel pigment set (Seems appropriate). Any thoughts?

My main concern however, is other types of weathering. I've never been confident in messing up pristine armour, but I feel that the works I admire the most always include some for of wear marks - so considering the theme, how best could I approach chipping or abrasion on white armour? Would I sponge on black or dark grey, or would I go the route of a brown to tie it to the base?
I'm not at all experienced, so any pointers would be most appreciated. For context, the scale of weathering I'm wanting is just a sense of battle-worn - dusty, abrasion on the extremities, maybe a few scorch marks here and there. But not totally beaten to hell.

All help would be most appreciated.

weathering dry powder from FW or another source should be used at the last stage just before spraying your matte varnish; I recommend using a dry soft brush, like from make up to apply them to desired areas, FW black soot is great for around gun barrels to make them dirtier; orange rust around vents or martian base; browns of various and yellow are great around the feet and bike wheels.

Ooh I love pigments!

I'd use a sponge to add chips to the edges of your armour. Use a dark brown, or mix a messy batch of black brown for realistic tones. I disagree with the above. Powders should be applied absolutely last. Nothing afterwards.. Nada. Nichts! There are a billion fixative options people will suggest, but anything applied over the top will affect the powder look of the pigment.. Just be careful when handling. It's easy enough.

Mig pigments are the top of the line in my opinion, but fw make some, as do other brands, and they all work the same way.

Depending on the color you're using the Mr. Weathering "sundy wash" from GSI Creos does a nice job. It's basically a tan wash so it looks like fine dust in crevices instead of dark shadows.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Ooh I love pigments!

I'd use a sponge to add chips to the edges of your armour. Use a dark brown, or mix a messy batch of black brown for realistic tones. I disagree with the above. Powders should be applied absolutely last. Nothing afterwards.. Nada. Nichts! There are a billion fixative options people will suggest, but anything applied over the top will affect the powder look of the pigment.. Just be careful when handling. It's easy enough.

Mig pigments are the top of the line in my opinion, but fw make some, as do other brands, and they all work the same way.

I tried pigments, but everytime I seal them all the colours fade to one messy colour. Tried several sealers and all the work went to nothing after 'fixing' options. I thought not sealing them wasn't an option.

Any other people wanting to write down their experiences not sealing them? Would like to know, might try it myself again.

That's because there is nothing that will seal powders while not affecting the final look of the powder. I never seal mine. Granted,handling is not as big a concern for me as I don't play, but it shouldn't be too much of an issue. Powders are generally designed to sit in the recessed areas of models, so just be careful. If you need to touch it up touch it up.

From my own gallery, this is a Tarantula Sentry Gun bunker that FW did. The trick with pigment weathering is to use hairspray.

It won't affect the pigment but it will hold it in place.

If you want something easy, nightshift models or whatever on youtube uses acrylic weathering pigment washs.

you can make it with tamya paints and soapy water.

It creates a really subtle dry dirt look with less hassle than affixing pigments.

I have used Mig pigments with the Mig pigment fixer. I like the Mig pigment fixer because it doesnt affect the glossiness of the surfaces (I'm really fussy wrt glossiness - if it aint matte it aint no good for me). Works OK. I've also used Tamiya weathering stick to some good effect. For grimy metallic fx I like to use pencil lead (the softer *B ones are easier to work with).I never use varnish on my models (IME varnish always dulls down the colours and can create gloss! yuck), so YMMV.

But there's also another way of achieving a realistic worn, dusty look: leaving your models outside during plant pollination. This happened to me once by accident, and the yellowish pigment effect that the pollen outside caused looks pretty badass! ok only being half serious here (allergies anyone?), but my point is that you don't necessarily need to use weathering products to achieving good results. All you need is your eye and your taste to determine what works for you.

If you are feeling really precious with your models, perhaps apply varnish before weathering, so if you mess up / overdo it, you can just wash off the powders and pigments and start again?

Whatever you do when weathering, JUST DONT SNEEZE. It will end in tears. Any air pressure based treatments are also going to mess things up, so no rattlecans or airbrushes after you've weathered.

Look at the storm troopers on tatooine for reference.

https://www.wallpaperflare.com/black-and-gray-paintball-gun-star-wars-movies-stormtrooper-tatooine-wallpaper-282228

After you paint your mini I would do a gloss varnish. once that drys do a sepia or ochre (or even mix) oil wash. This will get in all the recess. Let that dry, hit with matt varnish.

Then put you pigments on. Put pigment fixiant (or 91 iso alcohol) and then use a dry brush to "paint the" pigments where you want them. Look at where you want them, sometimes less is more. More weathering should be on the legs and along any crevices recess. You can wipe away large panels with clean wet brush.

I would definitely recommend AK interactive pigments and streaking grime. Afrika korps dust would be perfect i think.
If you don't have oils or dont want to do that, airbrush streaking grime on to the mini. Let dry for a couple mines, then use Q tip or soft cloth (like mircrofiber) to buff all the large flat panels off leaving the grime in the recesses.

Once dry seal again with matt varnish.

Edit:

This is a titan i did, not white but still the same principal. All pigments, oils, and enamals. AK INteractive and Abetiung 502 oils. Not

https://imgur.com/gallery/1l7SWrl

Here it pre weathering. So you can see that pale grey blue went way down and muted.

https://imgur.com/CrlOXDJ

I started using Vallejo pigments last year and am delighted with them. They have a full range covering everything from dust, to rust, to oil and smoke.

I use Vallejo pigments fixer and then Vallejo Matt varnish to finally seal.

Never had a single issue. One thing I have found with pigments is 'less is more'. You don't see the effect properly till it dries when the effect becomes much more pronounced. With things like rust I went a bit overboard the first few times.

Pigments certainly are better than washes and effects paints at weathering miniatures. Some great tutorials out there for scale models that give great basic application principles. Vallejo for instance have great videos on their site to help new users.

niall78 wrote:
I started using Vallejo pigments last year and am delighted with them. They have a full range covering everything from dust, to rust, to oil and smoke.

I use Vallejo pigments fixer and then Vallejo Matt varnish to finally seal.

Never had a single issue. One thing I have found with pigments is 'less is more'. You don't see the effect properly till it dries when the effect becomes much more pronounced. With things like rust I went a bit overboard the first few times.

Pigments certainly are better than washes and effects paints at weathering miniatures. Some great tutorials out there for scale models that give great basic application principles. Vallejo for instance have great videos on their site to help new users.

pigments arent 'better at weathering' because weathering is an overarching term for a bunch or different effects and techniques to create realistic effects on models.

you cant create chipping with pigments, that requires paint or a chipping medium. you can create streaks with pigments, but I'd argue that generally specific streaking fluid works better.

you cant do an oil wash or do panel line shading with pigments.

there are tons of weathering effects and they all work in harmony with each other.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:

niall78 wrote:
I started using Vallejo pigments last year and am delighted with them. They have a full range covering everything from dust, to rust, to oil and smoke.

I use Vallejo pigments fixer and then Vallejo Matt varnish to finally seal.

Never had a single issue. One thing I have found with pigments is 'less is more'. You don't see the effect properly till it dries when the effect becomes much more pronounced. With things like rust I went a bit overboard the first few times.

Pigments certainly are better than washes and effects paints at weathering miniatures. Some great tutorials out there for scale models that give great basic application principles. Vallejo for instance have great videos on their site to help new users.

pigments arent 'better at weathering' because weathering is an overarching term for a bunch or different effects and techniques to create realistic effects on models.

you cant create chipping with pigments, that requires paint or a chipping medium. you can create streaks with pigments, but I'd argue that generally specific streaking fluid works better.

you cant do an oil wash or do panel line shading with pigments.

there are tons of weathering effects and they all work in harmony with each other.

I stand corrected. You are of course right.

Pigments are better than simple washes and effects paints I should have stated. And then that is only my opinion.

Weathering like seen in a lot of scale models is an art form that requires dozens of different techniques utilising dozens of different products of which pigments is only one tool in the chest.

Yeah I figured! Pigments certainly take your weathering game to the next level.

I'm also a big fan of the old pencil on edges technique. That's sweet.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Yeah I figured! Pigments certainly take your weathering game to the next level.

I'm also a big fan of the old pencil on edges technique. That's sweet.

I purchased a full set of AK weathering pencils last year. Still haven't used them yet apart from one or two experiments. Will have to break them back out.

Maybe I need to get into scale modelling. There's less of a need for these effects when painting miniature armies.

I'd love to get some of those, but ak products come with a price tag!

Scale modelling definitely gives you more opportunity to weather, although there are times you can use it for miniatures. It's hard to want to ruin your pristine paint jobs sometimes though!

If you want a nice inbetween, you could look at maschinen krieger. I got the falke for Christmas and it's amazing. gives you lots of chance for weathering, without having to keep to the historical accuracy, but they are a large scale.. 1/20

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
I'd love to get some of those, but ak products come with a price tag!

Scale modelling definitely gives you more opportunity to weather, although there are times you can use it for miniatures. It's hard to want to ruin your pristine paint jobs sometimes though!

If you want a nice inbetween, you could look at maschinen krieger. I got the falke for Christmas and it's amazing. gives you lots of chance for weathering, without having to keep to the historical accuracy, but they are a large scale.. 1/20

I got the AK set cheap from hobbymad.ie in Ireland. Before I snagged it I was just going to get a few of the four pencil sets. They do look funky in their boxset so I'm glad I got them.

I found a 1/35 Panther in my parents attic before Christmas. It caught my imagination enough to take it with me. It would end up being another black hole of a hobby though to go with miniature armies.

I'm also starting to get my head turned by Bolt Action so going that route might open more weathering opportunities.

Yeah ba gives you that scale option that doesn't mean massive 1/35 vehicles, but also gives better detail than buying smaller scale armour kits etc.