Natural Iron Oxide

Natural Iron Oxide — a loose Vallejo pigment

Rust does not have just one color, and above all it does not have the same color throughout its existence. Fresh corrosion is orange and warm; in time it darkens, cools and settles into a brown-black tone. Natural iron oxide is exactly that later phase: a darker, more subdued powder with which rusty areas are brought into age and depth. On a model it is therefore most often used as the second pigment after a lighter brown base, not as the only shade of rust.

Use

• Apply it into the centers of corrosion: into recesses, by rivets, on welds and under peeling paint. The lighter rust stays at the edges and the dark in the middle — that is what creates depth.
• Blend the transitions with a dry soft brush so that the boundary between the tones is not visible.
• The powder can be worked up with mineral spirits into a paste and applied with a spatula where the corrosion is meant to be heavy and coarse.
• Fix it with a pigment binder, with mineral spirits or with a very fine spray of matte varnish. After fixing the tone darkens, so allow for that when dosing.
• It is used outside rust as well: as dark earth, coal dust on railroad models or dirt in running gear.

Who the pigment is for

For modelers who build corrosion in layers and want to set fresh rust apart from old. It is indispensable on wrecks, abandoned equipment, industrial dioramas and ship hulls. For a model in factory condition it has no use.

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.