Brown Iron Oxide

Brown Iron Oxide — a loose Vallejo pigment

Brown iron oxide is in color exactly what makes rust rust. As a loose pigment it has one fundamental advantage over painted rust: it does not form a flat patch of color but a grainy layer that reflects light in much the same way as a real corrosion product. That is exactly why rust is built up from pigments, not from one paint — the brown oxide makes the middle, most widespread tone, onto which lighter and darker accents are then added.

Use

• Work in layers. First spread the brown tone over the whole area where the rust is to be, and only then add different shades into the centers of corrosion.
• Apply it with a dry soft brush and rub the powder into the texture. Sharp edges, welds and the area around rivets hold the pigment best, and that is where rust arises in reality too.
• If you mix the pigment with a little mineral spirits into a thin paste, you get a paste for deeply rusted areas and runs under peeling paint.
• Fix it with a pigment binder, with mineral spirits or with a very fine spray of matte varnish. Fixing darkens the tone, so it is better to apply less and repeat the layer.
• The surface beneath must be matte. On a glossy layer the pigment does not hold and after fixing it gathers into patches.

Who the pigment is for

For modelers of military equipment, ships, trains and industrial dioramas, where corrosion is the main theme of the surface. It also serves well on small things: rusty barrels, tools, chains, rusted-through body panels. To a modeler building a factory-new machine without patina it will bring little.

Do not inhale the fine powder, do not blow into the pot and do not work in a draft; for longer work use a respirator and wash your hands afterwards. The volume of the package and the shade are given on the label of the pot.