Tips From the Union: Chip It, Chip It Good

Time to tackle a question I get a lot: how do I apply chip weathering to my models?

Up front, let me be clear about this: there’s not really a right or wrong way to go about this, nor is it even necessary. My Clan ‘Mechs lack paint chipping entirely, as I play Jade Falcon Delta Galaxy almost exclusively when I field Clanners. In my head, they’re a bunch of preening perfectionists who ensure the laborer caste is working those spray guns overtime after every sortie. When I do chip, I usually keep the damage small, rarely including large gouges in the paint due to the nature of BattleMech combat.

This “in context” thinking is an important thing to consider before we get started with chipping in earnest. While we don’t live in a world where real ‘Mechs are smashing into each other on the regular on distant battlefields, there are thousands upon thousands of photos of real-world armored vehicles and aircraft that we can reference to get an idea of what actual wear and tear looks like “in the field.” A recurring theme that you’ll notice is that paint on modern armor tends to be more durable than we give it credit for; American-made armor such as the M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley is coated in CARC, a specialized paint designed to resist chemical weapons and be easily decontaminated when exposed. Most of the wear you’ll see on armored vehicles in photos tends to be dirt and grime – mud splatter, desert dust, rain streaking, diesel stains, and the like, as seen here. 

(Image: Nicolas Armer, Getty Images)

Generally, cosmetic damage on vehicles such as these is indicative of something more severe than simple wear and tear, such as small arms fire and shrapnel. One possible take away from this is that it’s actually okay to just not chip your models. It’s perfectly realistic in a lot of ways to do some dirt and grime weathering, be it from a drybrush, enamels, or pigment powders, and call it good. This is, again, how I treat my Clan ‘Mechs for the most part (maybe Clan CARC is lighter and takes up fewer crit slots too?). Of course, it’s also entirely valid to assume that not every mercenary company or Periphery power is finishing their rides in “Future CARC” or similar high-performance paints. Maybe what your force is fielding has been hastily repainted for field ops, or belongs to a group that’s a little more out-of-date, like this Iraqi Type 69-QM recovered during Operation Desert Storm.

(Image: Lance Cpl. Lanham, United States Department of Defense)

If you do choose to chip your paint, it’s important to think about the story that this damage is going to tell, as it will determine both where it goes and how heavy it is applied. Remember that not all chipping will be caused by battle damage; technicians will wear the paint down around access panels, tank crews will walk over components or drop items on the surface (ammo cans, tools, cases of Pyramid Beer, etc.), and MechWarriors might drop a chain field ladder over the side of their cockpit for a quick egress. Similarly, things like trees, rocks, and other field hazards may also cause light weathering, especially on the lower half of the ‘Mech and on hard panel corners. For ‘Mechs, physical combat will cause increased wear and tear around hands and physical weapons, while kneecaps and elbows will also be more prone to superficial damage than the rest of the machine as the machine navigates its environment or braces for shooting from “hull down” positions.

The last thing we need to think about here is scale. Remember that current-production CGL and IWM BattleTech models are in 1:265 scale, with older IWM models generally being 1:285 (IWM’s scale fluctuated over the years, however, so this is not nearly as consistent as it is with new production minis). This means that a 6-foot/1.8m tall adult would be rendered as roughly 6mm tall as a miniature. To me, this also means that the average paint chip on a BattleTech model should be no larger than 1mm-2mm across – anything bigger, and someone’s probably breaking out a paint gun or a rattlecan to touch it up next time it sees a hangar, lest the underlying steel armor begin to corrode and degrade. This is also why I don’t add highlights or shadows to most of my chipping; it’s simply too small and shallow to render at this scale in my eyes. If it’s cutting deep enough to do that, then it probably caused damage to the ablative armor that covers the ‘Mech and the entire panel would need to be replaced.

Now that we’ve covered the “when”, “where”, and “why” of my philosophy on chipping (or not chipping) a model, we can start looking at the “how.” 

First up: materials. 

For chipping, I make sure to have five major components: gloss varnish (on the model, not pictured), a piece of pluck foam from a gun case, a precision cotton swab, a dry palette, and VMS Chip & Nick paint. If you’d prefer, short, stiff brushes like the Mr. Weathering brushes I covered in my Drybrushing tutorial work great too, as it’s what they were designed to do. I also have a pair of tweezers I use for more precise control of the foam, but it’s far from necessary. (As with eyeshadow brushes for drybrushing, tweezers are not something you should take from your partner’s makeup kits. Seriously, bad idea.)

The VMS paint comes in a handful of realistic colors that can be used to create high contrast with your underlying paintjob, but they’re not the only paint you can use to chip, just one of the easiest to work with. If you need to use stuff you have on-hand already, you can use pretty much any dark chocolate brown, dark grey, or off-white paint to create the chipping effect. I personally like using the VMS Chip & Nick system over all others simply because it’s very forgiving, as you’ll see shortly, but for years I used AK 3rd Gen Chipping Brown and Vallejo Mecha Color Chipping Brown to good effect.

I’m going to use two colors from the VMS Chip & Nick line to add weathering to this Devastator I’ve been working on. For the white trim, I’ll be using brown, while I’ll use white with a touch of Pro Acryl Faded Green for the green components. It’s important to get good contrast when picking your chip colors; while more realistically the armor could’ve been primed in any different number of colors that the topcoat can chip down to (or not primed at all), chipping at such a small scale almost necessitates using high contrast to ensure the effect is visible. Note that I’ve already applied decals but not any other weathering yet, so that I can chip over the decals if necessary, but any paint damage will appear underneath dirt, soot, and grime applied later.

In order to start the chipping process, I grab my pluck foam with my tweezers and then gently dab it into the chipping paint. You don’t want to load up too much paint here, as the foam itself is going to absorb more than you’d think it will, and if you press too hard on the model after doing so, suddenly you’ve got a big brown or white splotch on your mini.

Next, I take that foam and gently dab it onto a piece of paper towel to remove most of the paint on the surface of the foam. Surprise, chipping is actually just Drybrushing, But Weird!

You’ll notice there’s some paint on my thumbnail now as well. This is because I “test” the foam’s paint load on my nail surface to ensure I’m getting the level of coverage and organic patterning I want to get from the piece of foam. If you’re not eager to mark up your nails (hi ladies!), you can always use the side of your painting handle or base rim, since you’re going to paint that a solid color anyway later. 

…you are going to paint your base rims, right?

Now that I’ve pre-checked my foam to make sure it’s good to go, I apply it gently on the edges of the model that I want to add wear and tear to. This means all the areas I previously discussed – panel edges, joint covers, feet, shins, etc. I’ll do a bit of chipping on the upper half and the rear as well to emulate damage from shrapnel, stray small arms fire, and those PSRs I’m constantly failing even after paying for Piloting upgrades, but in general, most of the wear is going to be on the front of the ‘Mech and on the lower half.

As with any manual process, there’s a decent chance you’ll eventually screw something up. Here, I screwed up on the back of the Devastator’s right leg. There’s just way, way too much paint here. 

The good news is that I was prepared for this. Part of the reason I applied a gloss varnish before chipping was because, in addition to the gloss surface providing a smoother layer for the decals to apply to, the gloss will protect the paintjob underneath, in this case some of the white accents I painstakingly worked up and are now in danger. This is also why I like the VMS Chip & Nick paints: they’re specially formulated to allow for easy removal even after they dry, only fully curing after a couple of days (or when I throw a matte varnish over them, whichever comes first). 

Removing the VMS Chip & Nick paint is way easier than it has any right to be, to the point where I’m worried I’ll take more off than I want to. Of course, if that happens, it’s easy to reapply, but it’s even easier to just get it right the first time around.

Once you’re all finished with your chipping, you can either move on to other weathering, or just varnish it and call it good. Either way, be sure to seal the model when you’re happy with the effects to make sure your hard work stays where you want it.