First attempt at weathering

Decided to take a break from the regular grind of building kits, so I pulled and oldie off the shelf and tried my hand at some serious weathering for the first time. My only other attempt was some dry brushing on a military vehicle.
I may have gone heavy, but that was the original intent. Definitley need to smooth out some areas, the photos i took are very revealing...in a bad way : )
Anyway, here are the pictures and critiques (the friendly type) are welcome and encouraged!

More pics of my first weathering attempt. Some are the same perspective with different lighting - heres to hping the darker one hide my mistakes.

Looks really good.

Thoughtful weathering!

Do you have a 'before' pic to direct my untrained eye to your recent modifications?

I am just starting weathering too, definitely still on training wheels...

I like what you've done though; you must be relieved you got through it pretty successfully!

What i like is that it looks like you thought about the stories behind the scuffs and rust, and didn't just apply a formulaic, cookie cutter treatment.

Does it help to work on a vehicle that is closer to every day experience than a tank? Or maybe it makes it even more difficult because everyone can relate!

Hope you'll continue with more weathering on your next models...

It helps to remember that drawing and painting are more about how well you see and observe then how you hold the brush. You can always improve your technique, but much harder to learn how to really see and understand what is in front of you!

Cheers!

Thank you for the comment.

It was a vison, so to speak, of a future diorama with the theme being that of the truck living out its last days in a salvage yard. Just being used on the daily with no considerations for maintenance or upkeep other than pouring gas in the tank and oil in the engine.

I bashed the spare parts in the bed from a partially completed and damaged Ebay kit that I got for next to nothing. The future diorama will need at least one more kit to bash. But as it is a rare kit, I am looking for another built or partially built kit.

For me, there was little difference in weathering the Kubelwagen than weathering the truck. It really comes down to, as you noted, what the builder wants to portray - normal day to day use or complete lack of care other than it starts and moves. This concept works well for most vehicles. Special consideration, though, has to be applied to weathering aircraft; even those abandoned on some side field, as aircraft have an iherent dignity that wheeled vehicles dont have.

And of course, inspiration is only a click away, either looking at other builds or pics of the real thing in the setting you desire to represent.

As for the original, I didnt do a before and after of mine - still learning to photo document this hobby - but I did attach a link to another forum showing a documented build of what mine looked like before the weathering.
Link
https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/141380-1926-mack-ac-dump-truck/

TimM63 said:

Looks really good.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the upvote!

Oh, one more thing, sorry to belabor the reply, if you decide to weather a build, make the decison up front.
Because, as you can see in my build. all the panels are straight with no bends, dents, etc. as would be expected for this type of use.
The problem is that bending plastic usually requires heat and by the time I decided to weather the kit, it was already painted with decals. I didn't want to chance destroying it, so I chose to leave it intact, although that leaves a gaping in hole in how it should look.
Again, thanks for the reply!

Thanks to you for the reply, the story, the link and the great advice!

Cheers!