Slimy Grime Dark

Slimy Grime Dark - a Vallejo acrylic weathering effect

This is a liquid weathering preparation, not a pigment and not a covering paint. It simulates the kind of grime that does not arise from dust but from damp: slimy coatings, algae, organic dirt running in and the dark traces of flowing water. The chemistry matters, because Vallejo builds this type of effect on a water-thinnable acrylic binder, while products of other brands with the same name tend to be solvent-based. The difference is not cosmetic: an acrylic effect can be adjusted with water and does not attack the acrylic coats beneath it the way enamel products do.

Use

• Shake the bottle properly before the work and lay the preparation on with a brush from the top down in the places water would run - under hatches, around drains, on the undersides of hulls and at the foot of walls.
• While the effect is damp it can be spread and softened with a damp brush. This step makes the difference between a convincing coating and a painted line.
• Apply in thin coats and let them dry through. Depth of color is reached by repeating, not with one thick coat.
• Leave the ground matte or semi-matte; on a gloss varnish the effect slips and draws together into drops.
• Combine it with green and brown pigments, because the best result comes when organic grime is at once liquid and grainy.

Who the effect is for

For modelers of ships and harbor dioramas, builders of abandoned and neglected equipment, industrial scenes and ruins. It comes into its own wherever it is to be seen that a surface has stood in damp a long time. On a clean, operationally maintained machine it does not suit.

Keep the preparation out of the reach of children and work in a ventilated room. The volume of the bottle and the shade are given on the label; before buying, please make sure you are not confusing this acrylic effect with solvent-based products of the same name from other makers.