Building Mecha Kits: Weathering and Battle Damage

Fadila Soehedi
Mecha Model Guide for Beginners, Derick Siu

Throughout my years of building gunpla, I've always been conflicted with how I showcased my figures. After building them and throwing on all the stickers, I would always try to pose the figure to try and tell a story. Of course, these robots were found as fighting machines, so I had to make it look as if it just finished a battle or is in the middle of one. But, no matter how much depth I tried to put into the gunpla, something always felt off...

Now, these were MASSIVE fighting machines about 20 meters tall fighting on Earth or in space. They had monster swords, guns, lasers and more, the robots could really cause some damage! How could small, shiny plastic figures be seen as battling robots? Thinking about this, I realized what I was missing; battle damage and weathering. These are small indentations in the armor or frame to represent scratches, bullet holes, and such. Weathering made a gundam look as if it's old or has been used, showing rust and dust on the mecha. These small details in the surface and color of the model could really say something! I wanted to make them look like they were giant defenders shrunken down into a small figure, not some plastic toy.

Fitting a giant robot into a small form factor is already difficult enough, but fitting in all the details is worse. Gunpla, or mechas, tend to range in size and detail (smallest having the least amount of detail and functions). When I put signs of damage on the gunpla, I have to keep in mind the scale I'm working with. I can't exactly have a shield with a scratch that's really the size of the Hollywood sign, right? As you chip and scratch the model, Derick Siu advises that "chipping occurs mostly on the edges. Keep in mind that chips should be inconsistent" (Siu 64). These two factors give a more realistic look to the battle damage done.

Tamiya weathering kit that I utilized

"Weathering, on the other hand, requires little to no damage done to your model." (Siu 63). Some people prefer to do weathering only since they don't have to risk making any unintentional marks on the kit. The method I used for weathering is a simple, fast, and a somewhat affordable one. I bought a Tamiya Weathering Master Type C to highlight the parts I wanted to weather on my gunpla. It has about 3 colors on it, that being gunmetal, silver, and orange rust. The weathering kit came with a small sponge and brush to apply the effects of the weathering. I felt the sponge was a little flimsy so I used some eye shadow sponge applicators instead. 

A slightly weathered MG Gundam Exia
(the camera doesn't pick up the details well due to the lighting)

When weathering, you mostly apply the effects on the edges (same as battle damage). This will make the edges stand out more, giving the model a more detailed look. I mostly used the gunmetal and silver colors on my kit for weathering since I don't have any exposed areas that would show possible signs of rusting or just orange dust collecting.

With my kit, I decided to only weather a bit since I think my kit looks better off without the damage (and because I didn't want to risk anything). This was maybe my sixth time weathering a model kit so I was still fairly inexperienced. Although I only used a single weathering kit, my gunpla turned out alright! If I continue this hobby, I doubt I'll be solely depending on this method and will maybe move on to using paint.

This pretty much concludes this post. To any other model kit builders, how do you apply weathering effects on your models? Please share! I'm willing to try other methods to get better results. As for those who don't build, do you think weathering makes any difference? It didn't have a large effect on my kit, but I personally like it a little better.



Siu, Derick, Mecha Model Guide for Beginners (Volume 1), CreateSpace Independent Publishing             Platform; 1st edition, 2013