Interesting mud weathering technique

[Sairou]

Saw this today and thought I'd share, seems like a good effect:

 

 

[Kingsman]

I use the Vallejo Environment Mud and Grass shown here without mixing it with anything, but I do dust it over with pigments afterwards while it's still damp.  I haven't tried making blobs like this: I tend to use it for more liberal mudding.  I haven't seen that particular Vallejo Earth stuff, but the other similar products I've looked at all seem to look more like sand in paint than anything else. 

[Sairou]

I'd be interested to try this technique, but like you said, an identical effect could probably be achieved with home-made products. It never crossed my mind to make sods of earth like this, so I'll try it on my next weathering build.

[Kingsman]

Just think about where you put the little sods (!!).  The guy in the photo hasn't.  The front one has just clattered around the sprocket yet still forms a perfect splat across the joins between 3 links.  It would have been squashed as it went round and opened up when it straightened out, probably displaying V indents where the links join.  Or fallen off.  Both blobs in his photos appear to cover the strip of track used by the outer run of road wheels, and could not have been picked up once the track had left the ground. The rest of the track is strangely devoid of mud, but may of course not be finished.  I don't think you can really make blobs separately and apply them later.  I think they need to be applied directly, taking account of how they would look in different places.  Blobs like his only really collect on horizontal static surfaces.  On sloping or vertical surfaces they will tend to sag and run or slide down

 

Jagdtigers saw active service for only about 6 months at most, during winter and spring 44-45, and didn't travel all that far.  None ventured further than the Ardennes.  Breakdowns were common and few surviving bridges could support a 69-tonne tank.  Rail movement wasn't exactly safe.  I suspect they might have got a good deal muddier in those seasons.  But I can't see that the paintwork would have gotten into that worn and battered state in such a short time, even allowing for it being the wet season.  But that winter was unusually cold and snowy: less rain than usual.

 

IMHO, too many people use too many artistic effects without actually thinking about the climate, environment and circumstances of the location or looking to see how tanks actually weathered - allowing for the difficulties with black and white photography.  That one looks like it's been parked outside for years.

[Badder]

17 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

could not have been picked up once the track had left the ground. The rest of the track is strangely devoid of mud, but may of course not be finished

Firstly, I assume that the blobs of mud in quesion are actually dry-fitted and are there purely for demonstration purposes, Whatever, I'd still question the assumption that mud can't be in certain places on a set of tracks though. Mud gets everywhere, and it can get there in a variety of ways and at various times.  An unsquashed blob of mud laying on the tracks directly behind a road wheel may have gotten there unharmed as the tank is actually reversing for example, and the blob only just fell from the track above. Possibly, the tank/vehicle has been stationary for hours, and much of the mud on it was splashed there by passing vehicles. That mud could stick wherever, in most unlikely places - places which look unlikely, only because it is assumed that the vehicle is moving, or has moved in the time since being 'muddied'.

In fact, you could have a situation where a tank drives from tarmac onto wet sticky mud and then back onto the tarmac, and once fully onto it, immediately stops. If the stretch of mud was just the right length, then the entire top run of track links would be completely plastered with mud, whilst the entire bottom run could be completely spotless. A photograph taken from the viewpoint of the muddy 'puddle' then, would show a seemingly impossible situation... a tank on a road with mud on the top run of tracks, but none on the bottom. How did the tank get there?

Ultimately though, we modellers try to produce things that LOOK pleasing to the eye and that appear to conform to the laws of physics. Some things though, just LOOK wrong. The fact that the laws of physics aren't always understood is an issue which only arises when someone accidentally or intentionally breaks them. (or appears to break them)

 

Badder

Edited November 18, 2018 by Badder

[Kingsman]

You're right that the environment is unpredictable and fickle, and that mud - in particular - can behave very differently for a variety of reasons.  And you're also right that things need to look right and, just as importantly, make sense.  I guess that's the point I was trying to make.

 

A good plan is to find a muse to work from, if not copy.  Something that looks like the effect you're trying to achieve: not necessarily the same vehicle type but something in a similar situation or environment.  But, for example, the pattern of mudding on a Jagdtiger's wheels would necessarily be different to that on a Sherman's bogies even just a few hundred yards apart from each other.  So, something not too different.

[the South African]

There is a product called texturing paste used by the guys that does scrapbooking etc it comes in various textures from fine to coarse and works a treat for mud effects. I have however not yet tried to fix it after drying in order to be removable yet but give it a try it works great. 

 

Regards :

Shaun