Category Archives: Custom

THE WORKSHOP – Weathering by Paul Benson

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In this humble web dude’s opinion, if there is one thing regular “The Workshop” contributor Paul Benson is amazing at.. it’s creating realistic weathering on just about anything.  In today’s workshop Paul’s going to walk you down the beach of learning and show you step by step how he achieves such believable results.

Enjoy!

– Knives

Weathering 
As we know weathering tends to be a geographical term referring to and I quote “Any of the chemical or mechanical processes by which rocks exposed to the weather undergo changes in character and break down”.  In the modelling world (not the one involving catwalks!) weathering is a whole variety of techniques used to simulate dirt, fading, spills, paint wear and tear, rusting, etc.

In this article I wanted to show how a 1/6 scale “heavily used” item might be weathered using various paint and weathering pigment techniques. A simple shovel seemed to fit the bill just right!  While the techniques I use here work well for me, they are not the only way to achieve good results.  Sometimes it can simply depend upon the paints and weathering powders you have at your disposal and how they work together. Try different things out and see what works for you!
It important to have a starting point. A good idea is to look at real world 1:1 scale objects to see how actual weathering affects them e.g. equipment, machinery, tools, fencing etc.  You need to have some idea of how dirt and mud end up on objects, what dirt and oil stains look like, how rusting might occur and leave it marks etc. I have found the workshop articles in military modelling magazines very informative. Tank and armoured vehicle modellers seem to be the masters at weathering so your sure to pick a thing or two up from them if you look at their work.

To start this project off, I got three plastic 1/6 scale shovels courtesy of E__y.

pic x Paul Benson

The article will deal with how I painted three shovels, each with a different base colour to show weathering.
In other Workshop articles I have described the paints and materials I use.  Generally I put on a base coat first with Humbrol acrylic aerosol paint, then I use Citadel acrylic paints (obtained from Games Workshop or hobby stores) and MIG weathering pigments.  MIG weathering pigments come in a range of colours for soil/mud/dirt staining and for rust/oil stains.  A substitute can easily be made by using artist pastels as they work in the same way.  Take a suitably coloured pastel and rub it back and forth on fairly fine sandpaper or a nail file.  They can be stored individually and used as such or combined.The first thing to tackle with the shovels was to remove the cast lines with sandpaper and a file.  The shovels were then washed in warm water with a bit of detergent, this was to remove any factory grease marks.  Then I sprayed one was sprayed with Humbrol Desert Yellow, the next Dark Green and the third with Tank Grey.

pic x Paul Benson

The shovels were then left overnight for the paint to dry.  To add a little wear to where paint may have thinned, each shovel was dry brushed with as near a colour to the base coat as possible mixed with a little white.  So for the desert camo shovel this meant using GW Desert Yellow mixed with Skull White. It’s subtle, but effective.

pic x Paul Benson

Next to chip the base paint back to the undercoat. A darkish grey was made up with GW Chaos Black and Skull White, this was then dabbed onto the shovel where paint chips would occur using small pieces of cut sponge. I have found that by dabbing on a piece of paper first several times, removes paint until just enough is left to leave clear dots and specks on the piece you are working on.  Small scratches were painted in with a fine paint brush.  Shovel 3 was going to be the most rusted of the three, so small rust marks were applied with a sponge using GW Dark Flesh.

pic x Paul Benson

Now general rust and rust staining were applied.  I used MIG weathering pigments New and Old Rust.  Weathering pigments can be applied in several different ways.  They can be mixed with water or a binding agent and washed over a piece or they can be applied dry.  For these shovels it would be more appropriate to apply them dry.  Using a stiff brush or a cotton bud (never thought that I would end up using these, but I happened to try one of my wife’s supply and found them very useful) I used the two pigments individually or blended to rub across the shovels.  To put on a thicker layer the pigments can be dabbed on with a sufficient amount of water to make a paste and then rubbed in.  A stiff brush, kitchen paper or a finger, dry or damp, can be used to blend the pigment across flat surfaces and will tend to leave pigment in depressions.

pic x Paul Benson

pic x Paul Benson

The next step was to pick out areas worn through to bare metal.  For all three shovels GW Boltgun Metal was dry brushed onto areas where wear had occurred because of knocks and general erosion to the blade caused by digging.

pic x Paul Benson

pic x Paul Benson

Time to add the dirt.
For desert camo shovel I used MIG Gulf War sand.  I mixed this pigment with a little white acrylic to act as a binding agent.  This was painted onto the end of the spade blade and then gradually wiped away with kitchen paper and my finger until I got the effect I wanted.  With the green shovel I just used MIG Dried Mud mixed with a lot of water. This was then painted onto the blade end of the shovel and then allowed to dry.  The same technique was used on the reverse.  For the grey shovel I just added more rust with MIG Old and New Rust!
At this point because of handling the bare metal effect had dulled and so therefore I re-applied GW Boltgun Metal were needed.  As a final addition I dry brushed GW Mithril Silver to the bottom edge of the shovel blade and to where a boot had been placed during digging to represent metal that had been polished by wear.

pic x Paul Benson

pic x Paul Benson

There were several stops and starts on this project where I had done a little too much or too little weathering.   Occasionally too much paint or pigment had been applied. To fix this, vigorous rubbing with kitchen paper is usually sufficient to tone down the paint effect.  Unfortunately this can also polish the base coat and give it a shiny effect.  I usually correct this by spraying the piece with Humbrol acrylic aerosol Matt Varnish.
Sometimes errors need to happen and it gives you a chance to assess what you are doing and ask yourself “Does this look realistic?”, “Does this shovel look like it has been used a lot in a natural way? “Does this shovel look like it has been left out in all weathers?” etc.
We hope you enjoyed the latest Workshop. Thanks to Paul for once again putting this together for us. We hope it helps take  your weathering skills to another level!
 We’d love to hear from you and check out what kind of customs you’re working on! Send us a shot of your latest custom work with a brief description to radtoyreview@gmail.com. 

Hit us up on Facebook or Twitter pages to stay updated whenever we post new Workshops and epic toy reviews!

Until next time!


THE WORKSHOP – DIY Square Mule by Paul Benson

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Paul Benson stopped by to show off his custom Desert Mule Square. Much of the gear shown was hand made and painted by Paul. He took some time out of his day to give an overview of his process of putting all the bits together to create a truly cohesive look.

Enjoy!

– Knives

The Square Mule

pic x Paul Benson

One of my favourite ThreeA figures is the Desert Grunt. I thought he could do with a ‘mule’ to carry his equipment and what better than the MK2 Square! With this “tutorial” I’ill go through each equipment item and try to explain how I painted it and if I made it, how I did so.  Some of the equipment might seem random, but I hope it looks like the kind of gear a Grunt would find useful when scouting or on maneuvers.

The main paints I used are shown below.

pic x Paul Benson

 The aerosol sprays are used to provide a base colour onto which other painting including paint chips and weathering is added with Games Workshop acrylic paints.  Games Workshop paints are very good and are easy to get hold of, either at a local store or online. They come in a range of both basic and very useful blended colours. The names of the paints, I might as well use them, are referred to below. Bits of sponge and old paint brushes were mainly what I used to do this piece. I use MIG weathering powders to apply further weathering, such as rust staining and accumulated dust and sand on equipment. Yes, those are cotton buds laying there. They are ideal for rubbing on the weathering powders.

pic x Paul Benson

1.  The webbing net was made from 10mm and 5mm Grosgrain and 1/6 side releases.  I used a green plastic cutting board with a square grid for spacing the webbing out accurately.  I sellotaped it down and then gluing with super glue as it went together.  The webbing was painted with desert sand acrylic paint.  To dirty-it up I used a wash of scorched brown and hint of chaos black.  I then drybrushed (a technique of wetting a brush with paint and then almost drying it and then wiping it across the area you are working on) with desert sand mixed with a little skull white.  Then finally to bring out the texture of the webbing weave, I lightly drybrushed with white again.  The pouches are swiped from my Desert grunt.  They were just drybrushed slightly with a desert sand/white mix to help them blend a little better.
pic x Paul Benson
2. No idea where the camo netting came from, I have had it for years. It seemed ideal for the task and already had a camo pattern, which I think of as the American chocolate chip. The netting was folded over to the correct length and then rolled and then tied with bits of thread. The strap was made from Grosgrain again. The net is plastic and has a slight sheen to it, so I sprayed it with matt varnish to kill it.  It was then dirtied up with a wash of scorched brown/black mix.  To finish, I lightly drybrushed with a desert sand/white mix. The strap was treated in the same way as the webbing net.
3. I needed a couple of bits of equipment that would appear to have some weight and when put into the webbing net pockets would pull the webbing net across and down over the MK2 square to give it a realistic lay and hang. I set about finding something made of metal. This bit of equipment is possibly an empty water or fuel tank. It actually an old a car touch up paint container I found in the garage. It even still contains some dried up old paint!  I cut off the end with the screw thread on.  To break up the length I thought a black band would be good idea.  So the container was sprayed with matt black first.  A thin strip of masking tape was applied and then sprayed again with desert yellow.  Using bits of sponge, paint chips were applied with grey made from chaos black and skull white.   Some of these would be left to represent chips through to the undercoat and then using boltgun metal and a brush some of the grey chips are gone over to represent chips through to the base metal.  Edges were drybrushed with boltgun metal.  Bits of rust here and there was painted in with dark flesh. Old and new rust staining was applied with a cotton bud in various places using the two rust weathering powders.
 

pic x Paul Benson

4. and 5. To add weight to the other side of the webbing net I used a little brass collar. Sprayed it black and then drybrushed it with boltgun metal, as I did with item 5 which is a spare metal fastening from a piece of Ikea furniture.
6.  Not sure a Grunt would have a laptop but closed, it looks like it could be a bit of general equipment!  It was already painted matt back, so I just dirtied it up with Gulf War Sand weathering powder.  I did this using a large brush and just applied it all over, rubbing it in, not that evenly, as I went along.  It stays in the depressions as dust and sand would.
7.  The air filter is from a WWII 1/6 gas mask.  Painted in the same way as item 3.
8. and 9.  I made this ‘grunt-portable antirobot weapon’ [(GRAW) which is a play on typical army descriptions used to describe anti tank weapons e.g. the bazooka etc.] some while ago. I will not go through how I made it in detail here.  It may be appropriate to do so in another article.  Essentially it is a WWII bazooka tweaked with styrene strips including tubing and other cross sections.  Again, it is painted in the same way as item 3.
10, 11 and 14. These are bits from 1/6 small arms, possibly a M4 which I had stripped down to make some 3A themed small arms. Items 10 and 11 are just sprayed black and then drybrushed with boltgun metal.  They are then dirtied up in the same way as item 6. Item is painted in the same way as item 3 again.
12.  The shovel is painted in the same way as item 3 again, although more weathering is applied to give the idea of heavy wear and tear.
13.  Ammunition magazines painted in the same way as items 10 and 11.

pic x Paul Benson

15.  The map is made using the magic of a Google search and Photoshop.  It is an old map of a desert area. I simply printed it out and cut it to size. I gave it a bit of ‘usage’ by wadding it into a small ball and then flattening it back out. Then I gave it realistic tight map folds. After that desert sand weathering powder was rubbed onto the map, both sides, with a brush.
16.  The tool case was a clear plastic box for screws.  It was painted in the same way as item 3.  To personalise it, I painted a skull and initials by hand.
17.  The rope is a 1/6 scale WWII climbing rope that came with a different figure.  Tied off with thread it was then light drybrushed with a desert sand/ white mix.

pic x Paul Benson

We hope you enjoyed the latest Workshop. Thanks to Paul for once again putting this together for us. Now get out there and customize something!
 We’d love to hear from you and check out what kind of customs you’re working on! Send us a shot of your latest custom work with a brief discription to radtoyreview@gmail.com. 

Hit us up on Facebook or Twitter pages to stay updated whenever we post new Workshops and epic toy reviews!

Until next time!


THE WORKSHOP – DIY 1/6 machete by Paul Benson

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Today you’re going to learn from my main man Paul Benson how to fashion a made from scratch machete for your wee plastic army. Break out your tiny tools and follow along!

– Knives

THAT’S NOT A KNIFE, THIS IS A KNIFE.
Missed out on the ThreeA Jungler Ranger Grunt and then regretted having done so ever since, so I have kitbashed my own.  Although the camouflaged kit I have used tends to suggest temperature forest rather than tropical jungle.  I thought he still needed a machete to aid  movement through heavy vegetation, ground clearance, cutting wood for fires etc.

The design I went for is similar in design and size to the British Army Bushcraft machete.
The materials I used were 3mm sheet balsa, 1mm sheet styrene and 3mm Grosgrain and linen cloth.  The paints were a Humbrol acrylic aerosol spray, Games Workshop acrylic paints and a MIG weathering powder.
To make the machete the outline was drawn on a piece of sheet balsa and cut out with a sharp scalpel.  It was then shaped with a scalpel and then with sandpaper.  An edge to the blade was made with fine emery paper.  The blade was then painted with super glue to harden the surface several times.  Sand it down again to get a very smooth surface. The hand end of the machete was then used as a stencil to draw two grips onto 1mm styrene sheet.  Cut them out and glue in place.  “Screw” holes were drilled with a scalpel blade.  To give the impression of wood grain I scratched the styrene handles with a scalpel blade point.
To make a sheath of the correct shape and size, I used the machete as a stencil to draw out the form on styrene sheet. The shape was then cut out with scissors.  I’d never suggest that I’m very good at sewing.  Buttons tend to be my limit. So assembly of the sheath was not done with finely sewn lines, I used super glue!! Use what you’re comfortable with.
The first step was to cover the styrene shape I had made.  The fine linen material I used was wrapped round completely with a slight overlap and then cut.  A few dabs of glue here to hold it fast.  Where straight lines were needed, the linen was painted with super glue which hardened it and made it very easy to cut clean.  Games Workshop super glue is superb for this job, as the pot it is in comes with a small brush.  The back of the sheath won’t be very neat, but no one should see it anyway. A second piece of linen was used as the front of the sheath and again glued around the back as neatly as possible.  To create an edge to the sheath where the machete would go in, the linen was folded over and glued inside. The top part of the sheath was painted with super glue and cut neatly.  A short loop of Grosgrain was looped through one half of a 1/6 side release and glued behind. At this point you can clean it up by cutting any loose threads.
The webbing body strap was 3mm Grosgrain cut generously (it would be cut to the correct length later once on the figure) and looped through the other half of the side release.  The sheath could just have easily been attached to the loop webbing on the figure.
The machete was then sprayed with Humbrol matt black acrylic aerosol paint.  When dry the blade was dry brushed with Games Workshop boltgun metal acrylic paint. Unfortunately I was too vigorous and knocked of a little of the blade at the end. The handle was painted with GW scorched brown and when dry further dry brushed with scorched brown mixed GW skull white. The webbing strap and sheath were painted with GW catachan green acrylic paint mixed with a little GW chaos black. It was then dry brushed with catachan green mixed with skull white.  To highlight the weave on the webbing and sheath, they were both finally dry brushed very lightly with skull white by itself.  To dirty up the sheath dry mud MIG weathering powder was mixed with a little GW skull white and dabbed onto the sheath, this would match what I had done to the clothing of the kitbashed grunt I had made the machete for.  To add a little bit of rust to the machete I used GW dark flesh lightly dabbed on with a small piece of natural sponge.  The technique is all about trial and error, for example I dabbed the piece of sponge (around 4cm by 4cm cut from a bigger sponge) into the paint and then dabbed it onto paper.  When I got a random pattern of small randomly shaped marks I was happy with, I applied the sponge to machete blade.  Where I need more marks I rotated the sponge and dabbed again.  I did the same technique on the sheath to add a little visual interest, although rust from the machete blade may well have got onto the sheath anyway.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of The Workshop. Thanks Paul putting together for us. Now get out there and customize something!

We’d love to hear from you and check out what kind of customs you’re working on! Send us a shot of your latest custom work with a brief discription to radtoyreview@gmail.com. 

Hit us up on Facebook or Twitter pages to stay updated whenever we post new Workshops and epic toy reviews!

Until next time!


THE WORKSHOP – DIY 1/6 shotgun by Paul Benson

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Well this is a first. As I worked on getting the Paul Benson penned (Mouse9090 on many-a-forum) MK2 Square workshop together for today, to my pleasant surprise I received a SECOND tutorial from him without warning a few moments ago. As the 2nd was practically ready to post, I decided to go ahead and toss it up! I’ll post Pauls 1st(now 2nd) tutorial early next week! 

Thanks Paul for going above and beyond, I really appreciate it! 

– Knives

SHOTGUN BANG, WHAT’S UP WITH THAT THANG?
I like the shotgun that comes with the ThreeA Grunt, but I wanted to make something a bit more compact, something for close contact, maneuvering in tight spaces, ‘breaching’ etc.  I went for the ubiquitous side-by-side doubled barrelled shotgun.
For equipment I’ve made for figures before, they tend not to be completely scratch built and I tend to use bits from my 1/6 kitbash ‘bits box’ where possible.  For this shotgun I would need a trigger with guard as they are a pain to make as I’ve learned before.  I know it is a double barrelled shotgun, but a single trigger will suite just fine for firing both barrels.
 
The main tools I used are shown below.
The little saw is the best thing I ever bought for this kind of work.  Nail files are really useful, they give you a flat surface to work on.  I also use various grades of sand paper and emery paper.  The glue, as shown, is a thin super glue that can be obtained from Games Workshop vendors. The great thing about it is, it comes with a little brush inside which gives you loads of control.  Over balsa wood it can be painted with the brush to give you a really hard surface to work with further.  Super glue is also a really good filler for narrow gaps.  Rather than craft knives I use scalpels. Blades can be changed very easily and come in lots of shapes.  Although I have fine drills, very often I use a small pointed scalpel blade to made small holes by simply rotating the blade.
STAGE 1
In the planning stage I looked at a bunch of shotguns online for reference and to get a feel for the variety of design and the detail in the engineering.  What I end up with sometimes turns out a little different to how it started in my mind. Which is fine, it’s often just a bit of trail and error.
I did find a section of a rifle with trigger and guard in my bits box and a shoulder stock (which I ended up not using!).  Got together the ‘strip styrene’ (it is called this by the firm that make it, ‘Evergreen Scale Models) which I thought I might use.  I also used some sheet styrene not shown.
STAGE 2
Some in progress pieces are shown below.
The two barrels were made from 5mm styrene tube.  They were glued together and thin strip of 3mm semi circular styrene, turned over and glued along the top.  As shotguns often break to load, I cut off a 4 mm section of the barrels to make the housing for the firing pin mechanism. The two short tubes making this section were then filled with 3mm styrene rod.
The part of the rifle from the bits box, that included trigger and guard, was cut to receive the first part of the barrels as a first fit.  I did not set out to make an engineered masterpiece and therefore it will not actually hinge, but as you can see in the next picture, further shaping of this section and the front stock has shown where the barrel could pivot.
The back stock is 10mm by 6mm rectangular hollow section styrene to which I have glued small pieces of sheet styrene to block it in.  An alternative stock could easily have been made of balsa wood.
The front stock is two pieces of 6mm by 2.5mm rectangular solid section styrene glue together and cut into the stock shape.  Along the bottom edge a strip of 3mm semi circular styrene was glued. I added a front sight and strikers, using 1mm sheet, cut and shaped with scissors.  Further sanding down and filling was done to complete the model and scratches were added to the front and back stock to give the impression of wear and tear.
STAGE 3
The shotgun was then washed in detergent to remove any grease marks and then sprayed with matt black acrylic paint.  I have never seen the need to buy an air brush and always use Humbrol acrylic aerosol paints to a give a base colour.
I tend to use Games Workshop acrylic paints which are very good and are easy to get hold of, either at a local store or online. They come in a range of both basic and very useful blended colours. They are kind to brushes as there is no need to use solvents for cleaning.  The names of the paints, I might as well use them, are referred to below.
The next stage was to paint the stocks.   I did this by dry brushing, a technique that would hopefully leave the wear and tear scratches darker. Dry brushing is a technique of wetting a brush with paint and then almost drying it with paper towel, then wiping it across the area you are working on. Keep going until you get the effect you need.
Firstly, I used Games Workshop Scorched Brown, then GW Dark Flesh, then GW Desert Yellow and finally GW Desert Yellow mixed with a little bit of GW Skull White.  The metal parts are dry brushed with GW Boltgun Metal.  Where surfaces might be more worn than others, more drybrushing can be applied.
A tether added for good measure and you’re good to go!
We hope you enjoyed this episode of The Workshop. Thanks Paul putting together for us. Now get out there and customize something!

We’d love to hear from you and check out what kind of customs you’re working on! Send us a shot of your latest custom work with a brief discription to radtoyreview@gmail.com. 

Hit us up on Facebook or Twitter pages to stay updated whenever we post new Workshops and epic toy reviews!

Until next time!