I need advice on how to weather a V2 rocket (photos added in post 2)

I've got no photos here, but I can upload them when I arrive home.

I've been building the Revell model of the V2 rocket in 1:35. It is a little pain becase parts don't fit very well. I re-scribed panel lines to give them more depth, and also used a hammer and a little nail on the rivets. You have to add new rivets too to lateral panels because this kit is pre-slide-mold injection and detail in the sides vanishes like smoke in a windy day. Also added some missing detail in the jet vains

I've been using this site as reference for the painting and some detail http://v2rocket.com/

There I found a nice color reference and rocket camo patterns that I've tried to reproduce.



I painted the portable launch stand in RAL 7028, as seem to be the color that matches the camo pattern.

And now for the weathering part:

I've painted big paint chips in the launch stand as I supposed that those will be reused time and time again; not very rusty, just a burnt iron color with some red primer here and there. Also added oil stains of melt grease, some rust, dust, etc...

The rocket is finished in satin, no dust nor chipping, just pin whashes to mark rivets and panel lines, as supposed that the rocket had a short life from factory to use. And there I stopped.

Do you think I should have done something more or less than what I've already done? Would had you chipped the rocket somewere?

I'll try to upload some photos in a couple hours, as I suppose It'll be easier to give an opinion after you see what I've alrady done.

As promised. Sorry for the quality and the dust all over the model.

Hi Oscar
Superb build! The V2 is very nice but my favourite part is the rust and burnt steel on the stand.

I don't imagine there would be much weathering on the V2, perhaps a little chipping left by the handling equipment? Looks pretty good as is though.

Cheers
JT

Thank you Jhon, that's a great idea. I'll search for photos of the rocket transportation and preparation and i'll try to figure out where the chipping would had happened. I think this chipping should show very little if any rusting, as the rockets were stored very little time.

I've seen photos of one of this v2 that ended in Australia after the war, and it seems have been built in steel; it's almost destroyed by the rust now and it is brown iron rust everywere. So I think that if I put some rust in the rocket it should be the lighter one, shouldn't it?

Edit: Here it is, at Point Cook RAAF Museum

Excellent work! Just like John, I love the stand! Perfect!
Now adding some weathering to the V2 isn't something easy, but I do agree once again with John... Handling scratches and weathering!
Keep up the good work! The camo is clean and faithful to your picture!
Alex!

Thank you Alex, first time with Tamiya masking tape and I LOVE IT...

I'll try to find some time this weekend to do the research and the chipping and will post more photos when it's done.

I have to do a base too and that site has nice photos of the concrete slabs used. Those and some from a Hermes, Redstone, Jupiter-c, Mercury or any other V2 derivate launch pad (there are better photos than those from the V2 and in color) to reproduce the damage of the rocket blast to the concrete will help alot.

Well... after viewing lots of photos, I started chipping the rocket. As I said, did a little damage to the paintwork, and all fresh metal.

The main camo was done with Tamiya XF-58 Olive Green for the green part, Vallejo 70821 German Camo Beige for the brown one and Vallejo 70918 Ivory for the off white stripes. Then, after a coat of Bosque Verde (a sort of local substitute for the Future, wich gives a nice satin finish), decals were set and in the end it was pin-washed with AK-066 Wash for DAK vehicles.

The chipping started with lighter shades of the camo, so I added Vallejo 70821 to lighten the XF-58, Vallejo 70918 to the 70821 and Vallejo 70951 White to the 70918. After that, I used Vallejo 70864 Natural Steel over the lightened chips. Maybe it needs anothed Bosque Verde coat, but it looks nice to me just how it is...

And now some photos... I know... I need a light difusser and more watts... And a bigger white background if I continue making so tall models...











































And now it is almost finished. I've never made a proper base, so fingers crossed...

A little trick I sometimes use (not this time): On flat surfaces you can hand paint as preparation some Bosque Verde (B.V.) and set the decals over it being the B.V. still wet; then you can remove the water and excess B.V. with a cotton swab. The B.V. is trapped in the microscopic holes that make a surface matt untder the decal, so no glazing effect happens.

Maybe this also works with Future wax, never tried (as far it is not available here in Spain)

Getting better and better!!! Keep going!
Alex!

Thank you, Alex. I really appreciate your encouragement.

Very nice!!

JohnTolcher wrote:Very nice!!

You're very kind, I just dream on making models as nice as yours someday... Your King Tiger is awesome!

1. big table, small place to work
2. nice built!
3. nice chipping BUT i think chipping on a V2 is not real. they had a short transport and a shorter life. do u have pictures with chipps on the rocket?
4. the base looks great

Yeah found very few... but found some. Here this one shows lots of paint damage where the middle tie was during transport. That tie was put always because it was needed to move the rocket horizontally with a crane.



It is not clear if there is damage in the top tie, but you also can see paint damage on the botton one, the one at the height of the slotted part of the rocket, just over the fins.



Also, one of the upper hatches was oppened once the rocket was standing to setup the gyroscopes, connect the earths... but most of the work was done in the botton of the rocket.



So I imagined that the parts where they had to open hatches to connect the control cables, earth for static discharge, filling tanks... those may be scratched, hit by tools, bent... etc...

I tried to put most of the damage in these areas, not much of it so in a general view it looked almost undamaged like the real ones. Maybe I overdid it in the upper hatch, I must admit.

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