Paint chip weathering - Making a perfectly painted model look like it took a hit

Okay, painting paint chips.  There are tons of tutorials online that are great.  I really like the one from HandCannon.  However, the use of the sponge is a bit fidgety to me.

To here is what I do.  First, you have to look at what you are chipping.  I am working on a Sicaran, so that is what this tutorial is going to cover.  Think about how that thing moves.  I have seen fantastic looking tanks, weathered up really nice, except the chips didn't make sense around the tracks.

I guess an understanding of how tracks works are in order. 

The red arrows show the direction that the tracks are moving when a tank moves forward.  As this is a main battle tank, and the rear armor is normally weaker, most, if not all, of the chipping caused by fighting will be concentrated in the directions that the green arrows are pointing.  So, when I add my paint chips, they will be mostly concentrated towards the front, and then on the sides.

Okay, remember less is more.  I have done this before, so know how much I want to beat up my tank.

I took regular old black, and painted areas that I wanted to have chipped, keeping in mind track movement and that I wanted more scarring towards the front of the tank.

On the back, I also put chips.  If you have ever walked behind a track, you know that those things churn the crap out of the ground, pitching up rocks, etc, all over the place.  So be sure you don't neglect the back, especially around the track guards, and down low where stuff that was run over may jump up and knock some paint off.

Once you have settled on the amount of chipping you want done, grab your highlight color, and then go one step higher (unless you highlighted with white).  Apply a very fine highlight to the BOTTOM of the black marks you applied, and always between the base color and the black.



Should end up looking like this.  Remember, you can always add more if you are not happy with the saturation of the chipping.  Also, keep in mind, when paint chipping infantry, less is ALWAYS more.

Anywhoo - happy chipping!