FAIR WEATHERING

WALKTHROUGH

Although I don't consider myself an expert, I got a lot of positive responses on my first Weathered build. I've written a breakdown of my process for my Relic looking WING ZERO here for you to follow along with if you fancy having a go at your own.

A few things before you start to bear in mind:

• 1. Choose a build you're not too attatched too or spent a decent amount of money on- a cheap 1/114 HG or one of your old pre-built ones you're not too precious about, maybe!


• 2. Borrow tools and equipment where possible from kind, willing and enthusiastic gunpla friends. Gunpla gets expensive and it's nice to be able to test-run our hobbies before we burn holes in our wallets!


• 3. Have fun! :)

TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

Here's a list of what I used for the build, but by no means are they strict must-haves.

• Clippers (cheap amazon ones will do)
• Tamiya Paint (black and silver)
• Tamiya Matte spray
• gunpla markers - black, grey and brown
• Gunpla Weathering paint pallete
• You can go nuts with the different sets of sanders and levels, but I just stole my gfs nail file :)
• Stick on diorama flowers
• diorama vines (optional.)

These are incredible but expensive especially with the shipping. (Don't make money decisions when you are ill with covid)

• XACT-0 Knife
• cocktail sticks
• a base

PLANNING YOUR SCENE

Once you've picked your Gunpla, the first thing you want to do is plan your scene. You don't need to be an artist of any kind, just something you have to reference back to if you get a bit lost along the way- you can just jot down notes if you like.

Have a think about what story you want to tell with your Gunpla when people lay eyes on them. How many battles have they been fighting? What damage can you see that might have ended their last fight? What kind of damage (beam sabre, canon, etc)? What angle and how far away had their opponents attacked from? Maybe most of their damage was from a crash?

You don't need to ask yourself all these questions, but hopefully there's enough there to get you inspired in your planning. Let me share my attempt:

For WING ZERO, I wanted a heavy battle-worn look, like they'd barely escaped from a busy war zone. First thing that came to mind was signs of many bullet holes and a decent amount of scratches and scrapes from close encounters.

The next stage- if you haven't already- is to build your chosen Gunpla!

Going against my own advice here, but if you have chosen a gunpla you haven't built yet, I'd highly recommend building each limb at a time before assembling the entire unit together. It just makes it slightly easier for weathering places like under arms and hips behind the metal flaps. Saying that, my first attempt was pre built when I started weathering and unless you're entering any competitions then you can hardly notice the difference. It's up to you :)

Getting your Gunpla Dirty

Time for the fun bit! There are two options i've tried for this:

- Tamiya black paint
- Gunpla Weathering Pallette

Personally, The black paint didn't work for me. You have to be incredibly delicate with the sponge and I think it looks better with certain coloured Gunplas- like this tutorial here where the builder had previously given it a bright red paint job. I applied this first before discovering Weathering Pallette, which I much preferred. You dap the provided cotton bud into the colour you want and apply sparingly, working your way up depending on how heavily weathered you want your gunpla to be! I like to apply the rust colour to where this would likely appear IRL. Creases in between the leg and elbow joints, etc. Start sparingly and you can always add more if need be.

Aluminium paint

Dab a dry brush into the tiniest bit of aluminium paint and then wipe off the excess onto some kitchen roll. Then, very carefully make some light strokes across select pieces of your gunpla. Personally, I feel coloured sections such as the Wing Zeros blue torso edges work very well. If you make a mistake, you can wipe off the paint with some kitchen roll if you're quick enough.

scratches and battle fx

Here are some tools and tips for adding wounds to your gunpla:

- XACT0 blade: you can make some clean long cuts and slices here. I used one for my attempt in making a shattered glass effect on the green centre of the Wing Zeros torso.

- cocktail sticks and lighter/ a match: use at your own risk :') I lit the edge of a cocktail stick and screwed it into the shield. it burns a hole in the plastic to create a bullet hole effect- mixed with the burnt wood from the stick as well is just 👌💋 For the love of god do this outside and at your own risk. Embrace the weird look your neighbours will give you.

Tamiya Matte spray

Take your gunpla outside and apply layers of matt spray. I find this takes away the slight plastic shine the gunpla has and replaces it with a matte finish, which not only holds your weathering application in place but it also adds to that weathered effect (and makes it look less toy-like!).
Read the instructions on the spray very carefully. Do it outside on a dry day, and leave some time between coats. Also- as the instructions state on the can- wear a mask!

EXTRAS

Base

Once dry, you can now of course place your gunpla wherever you like! These guys will of course be slightly more delicate now, so you might consider using a base. I happened to have an old concrete tea coaster which worked perfectly for a HG to chill on.

Diorama decoration

- stick on flowers: I used these adhesive heather flowers for my build and I love them. they're incredibly easy to apply and they all seem to puzzle-piece together so naturally. - Vines: admittedly, I didn't have to spend quite so much on the vines. They look great, but my smooth covid brain at the time didn't seem to care about the postage from Italy. I'm sure there are smarter ways of applying these, but I just hung them where I could, wrapping them around the legs and up over the arms in an attempt to create a scene that looked like nature was claiming this gunpla from the ground.