REVIEW: Modelmates Rust Effect

If you've been a longtime reader of Tale of Painters, you may have seen Garfy's review of this stuff on his Necron warriors.  It just seemed too good to be true (not that I don't trust the guy, but dude's got skills- it couldn't be that easy, right?), so after months of searching for someone who would actually ship it out of the UK, I finally got my hands on a bottle to test for myself.

I decided to try this stuff out on two different models.  First up is my Crisis Commander.  You may remember the groovy bit of kit bashing parts I found to pimp out his base.  I painted it a rusty color and did a bit of drybrushing and some weathering powders to finish it off.  Thought it looked OK.  Not bad for a noob.  Let's see if this stuff is any better?

The bottle claims pretty easy application. Just slather it on with a brush. Wipe with a damp cotton swab if you want it to streak.  Here goes...

Before                                       After

Before                                       After

Before                                       After

After applying the rust effect, you can see it was OK here but nothing to write home about (especially with my poor after photography). But this wasn't really a fair test, was it?  After all, rust forms on top of formerly clean metallic parts so for me to give this a proper test, it needed to be painted on something...not rust colored to begin with.  Ideally paint on top of metal.  I don't envision Tau metal rusting, or even being metal- I think it's supposed to be some crystalline material in the fluff, so that's out.  If only I had something big and metal...and old...

OH YEAH!

My long-neglected Grey Knights Forgeworld Dreadnought.  This thing's been sitting around the house 80% done for months and needs a little love. Oh, screw love.  Let's rust him up!  He's ancient!

Before                                       After 

Before                                       After

Now you can see the rust effect really shine- especially on that back view where I let loose.  Holy crap on a cracker, is this stuff easy to use.  Too easy.  I think the real trick with it is going to be restraint.  I went a little overboard, but it still looks fantastic. You may be able to spot a few streaks where I tried the cotton swab technique.  The photos really don't show how great that nice gritty texture is.  Simply awesome, and crazy realistic.  It's going to take a little more practice, but I can already tell Mr. Modelmates and I, we're going to be good friends.  Oh, and it comes in multiple colors.  I tried the "copper" which is the darkest tone.  The other two get progressively more orange. I do like orange, in case you hadn't noticed. They also make some really nice verdigris effect I may have to try out.  Now if only I could find a consistent source willing to ship to the States, I'd be in business. 

OK, so first try: meh (user error), second one: great.  I'm going to give this product an 8/10.  Really the only mark down comes from the bottle.  I got the one you see on the left in that header pic. It's the same kind of lid that comes on weathering powders, and I just don't feel confident in its ability to hold liquid if it gets jostled or dropped.  If you can manage to find it with the other top (and in the US, beggars can't be choosers here) get a bottle! Get 3 and sell them to your friends at a high markup. You know, after they get insanely jealous of your amazing painting talent and you let them believe you're just that good for a week or two.

GO!

~Deet