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Hey guys

I'm looking for tips on painting rust. Green verdigris I'm really confident with, but red oxidised iron is proving to be a struggle!

So for I've tried:
Doombull brown & squig orange (the former applied first either liberally or sparsely over a dark metal basecoat, the latter always sparsely either thinned & washed into recesses or drybrushed onto higher edges)
As above, except after applying liquid greenstuff (stippled to make the previously smooth metal surface rough)
Forgeworld powders dusted on then sealed
Forgeworld powders mixed with spirits and carefully painted on (seeps into cracks & stuff where water would pool & rust would appear)

All the above have issues though. If you don't seal the powders they rub off, if you seal them they disappear. The paint options look ok but rudimentary. Powder mixed with spirits is difficult to apply without looking like paint & again loses the effect when sealed.

Modelmates' liquid rust effects looks to be awesome but I cannot find it anywhere (seems to be out of production). Anyone know where I can buy some?!

Does anyone have any other suggestions (& ideally pictures / tutorials to accompany it)?

Typhus corrosion with citadel dry rust over top works pretty well. Then gently sponge on tiny bits of dark brown then the smallest amount of silver metal then sponged over to make it look like where the rust flaked off showing bare metal.

For a pure rusted surface, like an exhaust, I give it a base color of a ruddy-brown. Then I take slightly thinned matte medium and paint it over the surface. Before the medium is dry, I stipple on various brown and rust colored pigments. Once the matte medium is dry, the pigments are held firmly in place and have a crunchy texture to them.

Here's an example:

Ooh that's interesting! I really like the effect!

I might do it a little more sparsely (well... not always haha) but it's a great approach.

Are you using acrylic matte medium or solvent-based?

 Aryllon wrote:
Are you using acrylic matte medium or solvent-based?

Acrylic matte medium, Vallejo to be precise.

Sweet, I have a few pots of Lahmian, will try that

Thanks very much!

I start with a base of VGC "Tinny Tin" over black undercoat.

A coat of W&N "Raw Sienna" ink.

Then I use several very thinned washes of red-brown (VJ Panzer Aces "Shadows Flesh") and bright-orange colours (VJ "Bright Orange"). Push that into corners, make sure it collects in recesses, that sort of stuff. Layer those washes to get tonal variation.

And finally in some cases a very light drybrush with a brilliant silver (VGC, I think) and a very fine brush to add scratches and edge chips.

I invite you to take a look at my gallery. I've done rust effects with both paint & powders. If there's any you like the look of I'll try to remember how I did it.

I also have a section with pics of construction vehicles to use as reference.

I almost always do rust with VGC heavy sienna and VMC red leather these days. Pigments I'll use if I want something very heavily corroded or if I want to give it some actual texture (which is not that often needed).

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
For a pure rusted surface, like an exhaust, I give it a base color of a ruddy-brown. Then I take slightly thinned matte medium and paint it over the surface. Before the medium is dry, I stipple on various brown and rust colored pigments. Once the matte medium is dry, the pigments are held firmly in place and have a crunchy texture to them.

Here's an example:

Spoiler:

That looks amazing.