painting burn marks

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 9:50 pm

For larger burn marks on starships that had recieved hits or the hull exploded), I thought I had read that you really don't use black, but more of a dark brown or grey?

What do you all use???

Lt. Z0mBe · Post by **Lt. Z0mBe** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 11:20 pm

Artists pastels. Applied with cotton swabs or makeup sponges.

Kenny

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:28 am

Thanks, but I guess my question was, do you use more brown than black? I figure there would be grey, but I guess that you are not to really use the color black, for that is not a real representation?

Falcon5768 · Post by **Falcon5768** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:42 am

well your going to use more than one color. Burns are not one color. I personally would use black towards the actual hole with a greyish brown trailing off, or even just a brown trailing off.

DX-SFX · Post by **DX-SFX** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 11:25 am

I've found the opposite looks quite good, black on the outer edges and a light ash grey near the centre. Looks not unlike barbecue coals and makes the centre look really fried.

Jagdson · Post by **Jagdson** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:55 pm

Make your own determination by modeling actual blast marks on a scrap model or sheet plastic. Hold one of those capgun 6 or 8 shot rings next to the surface and apply heat. It's fairly safe and quite realistic. It's also a real pain to repair, so don't try it on anything you'd want to restore later.

futch · Post by **futch** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 1:02 pm

in the old days (on smaller kits), to achieve realistic laser hit, i'd use a magnifying glass/sun to create the damage then hold the kit above a candle and "streak" the area with soot. a wash of clear and you're laser burns rock.

clearly not as precise as an airbrush, but good for giggles on the cheap kits.

Lt. Z0mBe · Post by **Lt. Z0mBe** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 11:13 pm

starmanmm wrote:Thanks, but I guess my question was, do you use more brown than black? I figure there would be grey, but I guess that you are not to really use the color black, for that is not a real representation?

Ohh sorry. I didn't read very well as I was at work.

I generally use greys, sometimes with a hint of rusty browns Sometimes, to convey metallics, I'll use ground pencil lead too. Also, I'll very lightly dust a coat with a dull coat of some type to fix pastels if I need more than one color.

Say I need a dark grey area with a metallic and lighter grey center. I would apply the dark grey arey. Lightly fix. Apply the light grey area. Apply an even lighter fix. Then, apply the ground pencil lead.

I hope this helps.

Kenny

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 7:45 pm

What I also found to be interesting is that I took photos of a car I was taking apart with a torch (specifically, the rear quarters). Where I made the cut was white (and I do mean white) along the cut line, with the various shades of blacks/greys stretching away from my cut.

I guess this got me to thinking that for making blast marks, should they be white where the penetration is, with the darker colors dusted away from the blast area?

This is all great info.

I just believed that straight black was not necessarlily the right thing to do.

Jagdson · Post by **Jagdson** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:45 pm

The white, or light grey, strikes me as being a fast & dirty oxidation effect. Methinks that starship armor ought to have layers, such as a highly refractive exterior and an interior designed to spread any thermal penetration quickly (so as to minimize burn-throughs).
Molten metals would harden fairly quickly, but not before some chemical recombination took place in presence of the high energies and vaporized debris. The stereotypical silvery look of a fresh metal surface would be pretty unlikely.

Any metallurgists out there, correct the assumptions if need be. I'm just going by layman's logic and the odd bit of fun with explosives and oxyacetaline torches.

kosherbacon · Post by **kosherbacon** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:09 pm

what i think looks good is when you have the metal spots
thats jus the way i think
heres an example on the light switch in my room
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/ ... tplate.jpg

MillenniumFalsehood · Post by **MillenniumFalsehood** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:12 pm

Fuse makes really good phaser burns for Trek kits.

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:22 pm

MillenniumFalsehood wrote:

Fuse makes really good phaser burns for Trek kits.

Please explain?

Post by **TER-OR** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:16 pm

And if there's a way you can replicate bubbled/delaminated metal that's a great idea. Even some grit glued in place, then painted over can look good. Of course, you have scale to think about so these would be places where hull material lifted from bulkheads etc...

d_jedi1 · Post by **d_jedi1** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 5:15 am

I tend to use a veeeeerrrrrryyy thin black that barely shows up at all and I add it in layers (sometimes adding darker layers or brownish layers) until I think it looks good. I have also used pencils and a cigarette lighter held a bit away (I don't smoke but I have found several good uses for lighters

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 12:31 pm

Good info.

robiwon · Post by **robiwon** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 4:54 pm

Ha, when I was younger I used to use snap 'n pops on my models for burn marks.

robgmun · Post by **robgmun** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:08 am

Way not use a trick done by the SFX guys on Star Trek? I saw a photo of one guy holding a sparkler to a model and allowing the sparks to hit the model, making burn marks.