Rolled Steel Texture

[grim_marmazet]

Hi Guys,

I didn't like the fact the hull sides on my Tiger were so smooth, so i've been experimenting with techniques to mimic the texture of rolled steel. I did a bit of research, and found many types of texture, from fairly smooth, to highly textured impure steel. It has taken a fair amount of testing to perfect this, but i've come up with something im happy with.

First, I used a dremel with a spherical burr on low speed, and gently bounced it across the surface, applying more pressure in some spots to make deeper pits. Thinner steel plates like upper hull roofs and purer steel tend to have less pits. Later war German steel and thicker plates tend to have more. This step is very easy to over do. Go slowly and sparingly. Always remember that it can be repeated to add more even after finishing the whole process.



Next using a plastic glue i covered the surface in a thin layer. I've tried it with Humbrol Liquid Poly and Revel Contacta Professional, and they both worked great.



Then I used a cut down thick brush to stipple the surface. This is an important step, as the size of the brush and how stiff it is affects the texture. Softer brushes produce a lighter texture, sutible for turret roofs. When stippling, vary your pressure over the surface to vary the effect, and try to randomise it to prevent an even pattern.



I let the glue dry for about an hour, then lightly sanded the surface to reduce the stippling.




At this point the surface does look a mess, but don't lose nerve, it looks better when painted. If the effect is too faint, you can repeat the process.
This is what you end up with. Sorry about the photos, but my camera phone is the only camera I have and its not great.






In test i've done, it worked on bare plastic, plastic that had been painted with Halford's Acrylic Primer, Vallejo Acrylics, and a combination of both. It worked fine on all surfaces, though I do recommend doing tests on a spare piece, or the inside before going the whole hog. This is on Tamiya plastic as well, I don't know how well it'll work on HL Plastic, but i'd love to see someone try it.

I hope this helps anyone who wants to improve the look of that pristine injection moulded plastic.
Cheers,
Rik

[mcevoyi]

nice one grim

lotts of nice test work ....

i use the dremmel methord ... but the glue methord looks great !

[grim_marmazet]

I found a mixture of the two works best. The glue slightly melts the plastic, and softens the dremel marks. The beauty is this technique can be repeated a few times if you dont like the effect at first. Just my humble effort to add even more detail to my Tiger, lol.
Cheers,
Rik

[littletankman]

Hi Rik . Thats very good I like it . Im going to give that a go mate defently. Thanks for posting this.

All the best Andy

[xrad]

great tip!

[swathdiver]

Tigers were pretty smooth. The mud guards were smooth. American Armor such as the cast turrets and cast hulls of the Sherman and Pershing tanks had a fair amount of rough cast texturing.

For one of my Pershings a paintbrushed was sacrificed to brush on testor's glue and apply with a stippling motion. Since then Mr. Surfacer 500 came to our attention and is now the preferred method.

[grim_marmazet]

The mud guard was just a test piece, they'be been replaced with PE ones on my Tiger. The quality of German rolled steel varied through the war, and lower quality late war steel had more impurities, and more pitting on the surface. It also had less smoothing time, to produce quicker. The Tigers were fairly smooth, and at 1/16 scale you have to exaggerate the texture a little to make it visible at all, but I didn't like the perfectly smooth side of the Tamiya kit, so wanted to improve them.
I was looking for a texture that would be different to the sand casted texture of American tanks, as they were produced by a different process to german ones. I have seen Mr Surfacer 500, and It would be great for small areas of sand casted parts, such as the Tiger mantlet, to use it over a whole 1/16 tank would get expensive, I was mearly looking for a cheaper alternative.

Cheers,
Rik

[mt 1]

nice tip will try it on the next tank model i build.

[wibblywobbly]

I have just started work on a Stug, I will give this a go when I get to the final stage, it looks excellent. I love the textured look.

[grim_marmazet]

Im glad you guys like it. The effect is a bit exaggeratted, but at this scale if it was perfectly realistic, you'd barely be able to see it! The tough bit is after you sand it the first time, you look at it and think "what the hell have I done!?!". You don't really see the effect until the paint is on. As I said before though, i've only tried it on Tamiya plastic, i'm not sure how well it'll work on HL plastic. It all depends on the glue slightly melting the plastic.

I did one side of my Tigers main hull, and unfortunately put too many pitts on the surface and the effect didn't look right. I found Squadron's green putty is perfect for filling the pitts in, and still maintaining the surface texture, especially with a light layer of stippled glue on top.

Once you add some scratches, chips and weathering, it'll look like rought steel armour, instead of smooth injection moulded plastic.

Cheers,
Rik