Dark Rust MC771

Vallejo Model Color Dark Rust — dark rust

An acrylic modeling paint from the Model Color line by Vallejo. It is not a kit but a paint. Model Color is a water-thinnable acrylic with a high pigment content, developed above all for the brush: it dries fast to a flat, well covering and self-leveling film. The dropper bottle holds 18 ml. The shade is a dark rust — that is a brown-red, earthy tone at the lower end of the rust range.

Rust is not one color

The key thing convincing corrosion stands on: rust changes over time. Fresh rust is light, orange to ginger, while old and deep-set rust is dark, brown, even toward violet. This shade belongs to the old kind. Use it therefore on:

• old, deeply set corrosion and rotted-through places,
• shadows and recesses within the rust (seams, rivets, joints of plates),
• a dark base over which lighter rust tones are then applied,
• running rust streaks, runs and stains on sheet metal,
• worn edges, a scraped cargo bed, running gear and tools.

How to layer rust

Modelers almost never do rust with a single color. The proven procedure runs from dark to light: a dark base (this shade), then irregular patches of a lighter, more orange rust, and finally small accents of the lightest tone in the most exposed places. The texture can be emphasized with a sponge or a dry brush, the runs with pigments and washes. We recommend buying a lighter rust shade as well — only the contrast of two or three rusts looks genuinely convincing.

Who it is for

For modelers of military vehicles, wrecks, dioramas, ships and railways who do weathering and corrosion. For the airbrush thin the paint — Model Color is a thick acrylic for the brush (the ready-to-spray one at Vallejo is the Model Air line).

A water-based acrylic paint. Store it at room temperature out of the reach of children and close the bottle after use. Ventilate while spraying and protect your airways.