Zvezda Mercedes L4500A (Weathering the chassis)

Moving onto the running gear, with the intention of displaying both the L4500 and trailer abandoned in a ditch at the side of the road, the height of the truck will mean the underside of one side will remain highly visible. With this in mind, I needed to create a well worn and mucky chassis. 

The fact that only the one side would be visible meant the next process could first be experimented on the dark side.

To start proceedings, a selection of dark coloured Abteilung oils were chosen,  squeezed out onto a piece of card and left for an hour to ensure they would leave a nice matt finish. These included grease, raw umber, brown wash and light mud. So as not to end up with a splodgy mess selected areas were applied dry and left for a few hours.  These included all the moving parts like the propshaft universal joints, steering linkages and differentials with grease. Raw umber and brown wash colours were, much like a pin wash, but added dry, to recessed areas that would capture dirt and debris. Finaly light mud was added to areas where the tyres would rotate.

Step two involves a selection of pigments  I used MIG colours, including dry mud, rubble dust, light dust and European dust. Working in small areas and with small amounts on the tip of a stubby brush the pigments were applied dry over the oils. Combining different combinations of oils and pigment colours creates a unique effect which replicates ground in dust and dirt.

A stippling motion with the brush works best and serves to ensure a nice mix of both mediums. It is a rewarding process and if the effect doesn't come immediately you only need try a different coloured pigment. I generally went from dark to light colours.

I spent around four hours in total going back and forth until I was happy with the overall appearance.

The last step is to dry brush some of the darker oil colours over lighter dusty areas, which serves to highlight nuts and bolts and raised metalwork etc. This has a burnishing effect and contrasts well with the overall matt finish.

I did use a pigment fixer misted down on a low setting with the airbrush just to secure some areas that had a larger mix of pigments. These areas such as around the wheel wells required a little more texture.