There is a huge range of pigments around these days, and they are extremely versatile. Many different types include, rust, mud, soot, earth, and snow. They give a great deal of realism to any model or diorama. Used dry they can create great flat effects for rust, soot, and dust. They can be added to an acrylic thinner to create streaking, stains and splatters and to enamel thinner to make loose earth and grit. When mixed into acrylic resin it can create excellent fresh wet mud and grime. In essence, they bring a lot of texture to surfaces with various techniques or can be made into washes to give an overall dusty coating. A little goes a long way!, I have had some 10 ml bottles for many years. Pigments are in their most concentrated form, so they can be diluted quite a lot and still retain their color richness.
It is that time for my Marder to have all of these effects applied, to give it character and build on it's back story. Bringing it from the fields of Normandy 1944 to my work bench in 2021.
I like to leave the pigment stages until the end of the painting process. In my experience they react badly with clear coats, usually turning whitish and powdery. So by leaving them until after the clear coat avoids that problem altogether. Also, it has a more natural look, especially with mud and dust layers.
I started with the rusty parts first. The exhaust was chipped with a rust texture paint from Vallejo, then I applied a rusty looking oil wash. Once dry I took some rust, light rust and black pigments mixed in thinner and then began flicking them on to the exhaust. The more thinner I added the bigger the spots and stains became to give various sizes. The result was spotty, gritty and random just like real rust. The spring suspension, tracks and spare tracks were all treated with a random pattern of rust and light rust pigments mixed with some acrylic thinner. I then added an enamel dark wash to tone it down and blend it all together. The tracks then got a further light dust wash, this time using acrylic thinner.
Next was time to add the mud, which is where I had the most fun!. It is very easy to get carried away here but I tried to keep it to the lower hull where most of it would be covered by wheels and tracks anyway. To begin I used dry earth acrylic resin from Ammo by Mig. I like this product because it is premixed paint, resin and texture. You can get some really nice volume with it as well to hide mistakes and gaps. When it is dry it is rock solid and slightly opaque in appearance. I wasn't worried about the color as I would cover it with other pigments. I spread it along the under side of the fenders and built it up in the corners and dabbed it randomly on the wheels. Then using a clean wet brush I began streaking it downward and blending it against the side of the tank. I did this in stages as this product starts to dry fairly quickly. I let it fully cure for 24 hours before moving ahead.
I made a light wash of white, dust and beach sand pigments to form a base of color and applied it to most of the lower hull.Next I used 3 different pigments as a concentrated wash. Starting with the lightest one, Europe Dust from Mig Productions I applied it over where I had been with the resin and making a few streaks, then went back with a clean brush and blended it slightly. I used the next shade, Burnt Umber from Vallejo over the same areas as before but pulling it back slightly as though the wet mud was receding. Again blended it with a clean brush. The last and darkest pigment, Dark Earth from Humbrol was applied to the very corners and recessed areas and I added some more streaks. This was also applied to the wheels, mainly keeping to around the cap and the outer bolts. The look I wanted was a dirty side hull in various stages of drying dirt and mud. I then added some speckled dirt spots mixing a couple of different pigments with some white spirits. Flicking it on both the lower hull and wheels with a medium brush and a tooth pick.
Finally I mixed a little black pigment wash and concentrated it to around the running gear and bolts to act as grease/oil mixing with the dirt. I am quite happy with the whole result and it makes a nice back drop for the wheels.
With that all done there are a few small details to add and then it will be ready for final assembly and the final video will be coming soon!