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Dry Brushing :

Dry brushing is a technique that is used to give added highlights to raised areas and edges of a model kit. It can be used just for highlighting purposes, but I see it as a great weathering technique that can be used a simulate worn paint. In this tutorial, I'll demonstrate how simple and easy it is to dry brush your model kit.

What you need :

  1. Paper towel (the absorbant type you would find in the kitchen is great)
  2. Flat paint brush (an ol done is preferred as it will get damaged during)
  3. Paint (in this case Tamiya Acrylic 'Sky')
  4. Your model kit (in this case the Master Grade Gp01)

Step 1 :

Making sure that the paint is well mixed, dip your brush in and coat it in a good amount of paint. Wipe away a lot of the excess on the edge of the jar to make the next step easier.

Step 2 :

Now brush the paint on to the paper towel until nearly all of it has gone from the brush and there is very little coming off onto the paper. It is essential to make sure that nearly all the paint is removed as you want next to nothing on the brush. If there is a tiny bit too much, then the next step will be ruined.

Step 3 :

Paint your kit! Well, not really paint but using your brush and a little bit of pressure, brush over the edges of everything. If there is the right amount of paint on it then the edges will get a light scuffed look - too much paint and it will look like you've painted it.

Here is what the hand looks like after I have dry brushed it :

You can see the scuffed look around the edges of the raised pieces - you'll notice that it looks like it has been used a little bit now and the paint job doesn't look like it's new out the factory any more.

Below is another example of dry brushing on the leg of the same kit. There is a noticable difference now in the raised areas and the main leg piece.

Repeat this all over the kit and then follow it up with some more weathering such as paint chips and washes and you end up with a fantastic and realisitic looking kit.

Here is the video tutorial on the topic :

Dry brushing is an easy technique to learn and yields fantastic results in making your kits look a little more realistic and worn, so grab a kit and get practising!