SUPER PACK WEATHERING FOR ENGINES

An engine that looks like a thousand hours of service

Eleven items together cover the single task on which the level of a model shows: the inside of the engine bay. A freshly built engine out of the box is always too clean and too uniform in color, whereas a real unit is covered with layers that built up one at a time. The lowest is discolored metal, on it sits grime baked on by heat, over that run fresh oil traces and finally light stains from refueling are added.

The set keeps that build-up in order. Metallic acrylic shades give a base to the blocks, the pipework and the exhausts, a dark wash brings out the edges and the bolts, oil sticks serve to lighten and darken individual spots and the pigment in a larger container imitates the slag and scale around the hot parts. Three liquid effects are divided by the kind of dirt into baked-on grime, fresh lubricant and fuel traces, so a spot that has been dripping for years can be told apart from one where something was spilled recently.

How to proceed

It pays off to work from the dry layers to the wet ones. First the metal shades and the difference between cast iron, steel and brass, then the dark wash into the gaps, after it has dried the pigment into the corners where it would really collect, and only at the end the liquid effects. Those are applied with a brush in the direction of the run and blended with clean thinner until they dry. Layering is not a delay; it is the only route to depth. Working on a small area and comparing the result with a photograph of a real machine as you go works well.