Painting and Weathering the Zaku Head

06.21.2007 » Head Rust

After the primer on the head had cured I began the painting and weathering process. The process of weathering and painting the head to look rusty and damaged will be a little more complex than what I do for normal vehicle weathering. First the parts were primed/textured with a dark gray Krylon primer. After that cured I sprayed it unevenly with a rust colored mix of Tamiya Acrylics.

When that dried enough (a few hours) I applied mapping and drybrushing with Tamiya XF-12 J.N. Grey. What is mapping? It's creating larger areas of paint and stains to give a multi-dimensional look to the weathering. Imagine that you're basically painting small islands on a map. Below you can see wone of these spots/islands. Later when I apply more effects, washes, discoloration/fading, etc... they won't be so pronounced. You begin blending these in by drybrushing around and on them with the same color.

After the XF-12 mapping I applied another coat of mapping, but this time with Tamiya XF-71 Cockpit Green (IJN). This has a great Zaku-esque color to it and contrasts the rust nicely. This time the mapping and drybrushing was applied with bits of sponge where the prior coat was applied with a few different brushes. After the XF-71 green had dried I drybrushed some more XF-12 over it to dull the look and help blend it in. Then small brighter spots of XF 12 were applied much like negative paint chips here and there. These greens will basically be whatever paint is left on the Zaku after the initial damage and sitting in the rising/falling water for a few years.

And lastly for this update I applied a gloss then satin coat of Future to seal it, an earth colored wash, and a flat coat of Future. Next up is more washes and staining to bring out the rusty effects and blend in the leftover green paint.

07.02.2007 » Head Progress

The head is pretty much done. After applying some oil paint rust streaking, a wash or 2, and a flat coat, I applied the pigment powders. I still think it needs some more, but I wanted to get it affixed to the base first. Here's some pics:

07.04.2007 » Busted and Rusted

The head rusting is pretty much done. I tweaked it a bit and added more light rust streaks. I also added some waterline dirt-marks. They're not showing up well in the pics however. Next up is the scary part... pouring the water and potentially ruining the head. Scary scary scary.

More Progress

Concepts & Construction | Zaku Head Paint & Weathering | Hovertruck Paint & Weathering | Base, Figures, and Final Touches