Six Leg Robot / Walker Step – by – step (Installment
6)
A Bit More Weathering
I
treated all the legs and feet with the sea sponge chips. In places that I imagined continuous rubbing
or wear I added a little pencil lead / graphite. This imparts a metallic sheen of freshly
rubbed metal. I concentrated these
details on the feet. My logic was that
bushes, low buildings, etc. would constantly be scraping and wearing at the
lower surfaces. The crew access hatches
and surrounding areas were also given a bit of graphite to show their activity
“topside”. Other scratches were treated
to streaking rust and rust stains. I
especially like this effect on the turquoise canisters on the legs. I used the Mig Ammo Rust Streak line of
enamels. I laid the paint down on and
around exposed metal chipped areas, waited until they dried a bit, then used a
clean brush moistened with odorless thinner to pull the paint down in streaks,
moving the brush in a light but vigorous fashion vertically. The effect is very pleasing and realistic as
each streak starts from a logical place.
fig.23: Rusty and chipped. Note the
graphite sheen on the exposed edges of the feet.
Finishing Up
My final steps were to glue copper
wire into the holes I drilled for the antenna masts. These were painted a dark grey. I also tried my hand at painting a jewel-like
eye for the front dome. I looked up “how
to paint jewels” on-line and basically followed the suggestions to paint a
solid resin dome into a red transparent dome.
The jury is out on how successful this was. I have, oddly, pictures that look better than
what it looks like in person. You can
decide for yourself how effective it was.
fig.24: All done. I painted the red
jewel dome with Vallejo acrylics
I really appreciate Miguel giving me
the opportunity to paint up this fun and unique piece. I
hope this project didn’t run on too long and that you all were able to get
something from my experience with this kit. Happy modeling and enjoy the kit!
