Weathering Styles
One of the many things Star Wars innovated was the look of an old/used/dirty version of space. Over the years I have come up with a few ways to weather a prop or make it look old and used.
Light weathering
- Slight distressing of the metal, and use of dark colour in the crack and grooves
Medium weathering
- Distressing the metal
- sanding off exposed metal under the paint, coating, or anodizing
- Dark colour in the cracks and grooves
Heavy weathering
- Distressing of exposed metal
- nicks and damage
- sanding off exposed metal under the paint, coating, or anodizing
- Dark colour in the cracks and grooves
Faux aging
- Special chemical treatment of the metal to make it appear older and darker
- abrasion to bring out the metal edges
- Works best in combination with heavy weathering above