How much is "too much" weathering?

[jcf]

Corsair?
So that'd be engine oil presumably.

I think it's just mud, Okinawa has a stone base and, like most of the Ryukyu chain, was formed
by a combination of tectonic folding and sedimentary deposition, resulting in lots of limestone.
The South has the majority of the coral buildup. There's a lot of sticky red clay and rainy season
runoff from the mountains and hills has been a major problem.

[Old Wombat]

Agree with Jon, plus most of the dirt is on the wings, past the landing gear, not a lot of engine oil out there but can be a lot of blow-back of dirt, mud & dust from other aircraft on the flight line or airstrip.

B-25 is mostly soot & engine oil.

[The Rat]

I'm wondering how many knots they dropped with that crud. 

[NARSES2]

Degradation of the finish on the F-35s is interesting. Wonder how stealth performance suffers.

I doubt if it makes much of a difference so far, plus it's only on the topsides. 

Just wondering if that F-35 is after they fished it out of the South China Sea ? 

As for weathering on models. I'm afraid I build all mine clean as if ready for a very senior officer's inspection of the unit.

[DogfighterZen]

IMHO, weathering in scale models can be a plus if done properly, according to the context of the build. It also is quite a bit of extra work and it requires skill to do well. Personally, i prefer my planes and helos with some signs of use but not very degraded, like they've been in use for just a few months in peacetime conditions where normally they'd be fairly well maintained and cleaned up regularly but ai suck at weathering so i just keep it simple and light.

[Old Wombat]

Whereas I prefer mine to look "lived in".

Prop planes are dirty;








Jets are cleaner;








AFV's are messy;

[NARSES2]

IMHO, weathering in scale models can be a plus if done properly, according to the context of the build. It also is quite a bit of extra work and it requires skill to do well.

Absolutely and I'm afraid I just don't have the ability to do it "right". Tried in the past and I've just overdone it, so I've settled with my way of doing things. I do admire people who can do it "right" though 

I must admit a lot of builds in some magazines appear completely over done in 1/72 scale nowadays and people seem to spend more time weathering than building. Just an opinion, but can you actually see many panel lines if you stand 72 foot (22 metres) away ?

[DogfighterZen]

IMHO, weathering in scale models can be a plus if done properly, according to the context of the build. It also is quite a bit of extra work and it requires skill to do well.

Absolutely and I'm afraid I just don't have the ability to do it "right". Tried in the past and I've just overdone it, so I've settled with my way of doing things. I do admire people who can do it "right" though 

I must admit a lot of builds in some magazines appear completely over done in 1/72 scale nowadays and people seem to spend more time weathering than building. Just an opinion, but can you actually see many panel lines if you stand 72 foot (22 metres) away ?

My thoughts exactly.  I don't like to see heavy pre-shading and panel line wash, especially on 1/72 models. And from my experience, even when panel lines are visible, they're not all in the same tone, not every join has dirt in it, some have more than others but again, i guess it depends on the context of what you want to replicate on a model.
Still, everyone's free to do what they want and how they like it so, i think it all comes down to personal preference.

[NARSES2]

Still, everyone's free to do what they want and how they like it so, i think it all comes down to personal preference.

Couldn't of put it better 

[rickshaw]

Still, everyone's free to do what they want and how they like it so, i think it all comes down to personal preference.

Couldn't of put it better 

Gets my vote...   

[perttime]

No pics of Japanese WW2 aircraft yet?   

[NARSES2]

No pics of Japanese WW2 aircraft yet?   

As a youngster I thought that some of the photos of aircraft with all the paint flaking off were deliberate attempts at camouflage. Couldn't believe an Air Force would let it's aircraft get into such a state. Ah the innocence of youth 

[zenrat]

Is this too much?
Hasegawa Me 109 E 02 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[DogfighterZen]

I'd say it is... very well done! That's what i see as done with intention and there's a story behind all that wear and tear.

[zenrat]

Some nice weathering of the invasion stripes on this Typhoon (pic from wikipedia Typhoon page).