Weather and detail

Kits and minis

Start with a wash or panel line colour. A thin, dark paint run into recesses and panel lines gives a flat paint job depth. Tamiya sells its Panel Line Accent Color, an enamel wash in a brush-cap bottle, for this job and states it is for use over its lacquer or acrylic paints. Using an enamel wash over acrylic or lacquer paint means you can clean up the excess with enamel thinner without lifting the colour underneath.

For chipped paint, the hairspray method is a cheap, well-tested route. FineScale Modeler describes it as: a tough primer or base colour, left 24 hours; a couple of light coats of hairspray; a water-soluble acrylic top coat; then, once the top coat is touch-dry, wetting small areas with a brush and lifting the top coat with a toothbrush, toothpick or non-metal scouring pad so the colour underneath shows through.

Common bench practice: keep chipping random and concentrated where wear really happens: edges, hatches, steps and anywhere crew or hands would touch. Seal the finished chipping with a clear coat, as the hairspray layer underneath stays water-soluble.

Dust and mud go on last. Weathering powders and pastes, such as Tamiya's Weathering Master sets with Sand, Light Sand and Mud shades, are rubbed or brushed onto lower hulls, tracks and wheels, where real vehicles collect dirt first.

Bench tip. Common bench practice: do less than you think. Weathering is easy to add and hard to take off, so build it up in light passes and step back from the model between each one.

Brick builds

Detail on a brick build comes from parts rather than paint. In common builder usage, adding small surface parts such as grilles, clips, levers and tiles is called "greebling": it breaks up large flat areas and adds visual texture.

Building sideways, with studs facing out rather than up (known as SNOT, studs not on top), lets you put detail on walls and vehicle sides that a stack of bricks cannot show. Brackets and bricks with studs on the side are the standard parts for this.

Common bench practice: pose minifigures as if they are doing something: turning a head, raising an arm or placing a figure mid-task makes a scene read as a moment rather than a parts display.

Bench tip. Following the stressed-connection point above, some of the tightest detail tricks stress parts, for example plates wedged between studs. Use them for decoration, not for anything that holds the model together.