Simple but effective Action Figure Weathering

A simple, but effective, weathering technique to use on action figures.
This tutorial is primarily designed for people who are new to customizing action figures, and uses inexpensive and easily obtained tools & materials.
Feel free to check out my Instagram @whale.david and ask any questions you may have.

[@craighauenstein1139]

Great job and thanks for the info

[@LuisCastillo-tg6xw]

A touch of paint here and there an looks amazing. Thanks for such an informative tutorial

[@mofigs]

Underwear is the key of all this process, really inspire me. Thankyou bro 😄

[@fidel0666]

Thank you. I was wondering about using acrylic versus enamel on action figures. I'm excited to spruce up my stuff.

[@jawsts]

Plot twist the underwear doesn't have paint 😳

[@md11x6]

Awesome video. Thanks. I want to dirty up a Hot Toys Scout Trooper, and I think this will work great for his armor. Now I just need a technique to fade his pants and undersuit.

[@davidwhale8146]

Tamiya makes some weathering powders that are perfect for weathering fabrics. I use them a lot on soft goods.

[@diagorasofmelos4345]

I bought a McFarlane Intercessor not too long ago, so I'm scouring KZbin for tips and tricks to overhaul the very simplistic paint job. I was worried that I needed to repaint the whole figure by ways of priming it for weathering, but I see you haven't done that and still got amazing results. Thanks!

[@davidwhale8146]

Glad you found it helpful!

[@gabrieljuarez2029]

thanks man the clear coating base tip was awesome ,

[@captainhomie6156]

im a 14 year old collector and this was badass, brother! thanks a lot

[@soxfourtyfive7582]

This trooper looks a 1000% better, great video

[@dgbphil6522]

Just starting out customing my troopers and your technique is bad arse!

[@MrCros1970]

I love your work Brother, thank you.

[@the-primered-thumb]

You got a sub from me buddy, shoretrooper looks ace mate 😁👍

[@fnl4eva269]

Most paints fine i agree few a must have for my tamiyra x11 a must for great silver and i like folkart metallic black for black wash. I do seal krylon matte first so easy glide off excess black but full cracks. I dry brush the rest very fun stuff.

[@AINexusLab99]

Super video for every Star Wars fan.I gonna try it too !

[@darthjoc]

Awesome video. Been wanting to try weathering but always been intimidated n scared since the toys are expensive lol. Do you know if the same technique would work on the model kit troopers?

[@davidwhale8146]

It will, but you'll want to be a little more gentle when rubbing off the paint to make sure you don't pull any pieces loose.

[@JoeyCeballos]

Great video! Subscribed!

[@commanderphilbo1471]

That bly is fn dope asf

[@NA-lz3rb]

Another good tool to use are q tips named in America,cotton buds in the UK or similar in other countries.

[@namelessjedi2242]

Being stationed on Dagobah is no joke!

[@annawhite1591]

i actually used the black widow head to make mara jade, might upgrade it to shea head, but picked widow becuz she is who i picked to be mara, in my "head canon" if you will

[@EduardoMartinez-hx9yu]

Badass weather tech, would love to see more videos , That mandalorian figure you showed looks badass .

[@davidwhale8146]

Actually just finished shooting a tutorial about the chipped armour look from that Mando. Just need to find the time to edit it.

[@warrenrohr]

@@davidwhale8146 Dude love this its exactly what I needed to know to customize my Clone Trooper just happily subscribed.

[@RyanByrne999]

I agree to a certain extent about different ways of weathering. Some come outbway better than othere, so technically theres is a wrong and right way.

[@proxicat123]

Comes down to preference and the look you're going for. One might prefer having a clearer pattern and so they might have a more careful approach in applying paint whereas someone else might prefer to be more generous with weathering.

[@gregoryarmenta6403]

Amazing video thank you so much I love my troopers new look can't wait to look at more of your stuff if you haven't done something for making blaster marks could you

[@davidwhale8146]

Thanks, glad you found it helpful! I haven't done any blast marks for a while, so I'll have to give it a try and see if I remember how I did it 😆

[@Stormnorman15]

Thanks for the tutorial! Have you used nuln oil on your figures at all? I just picked up some republic commandos and wrapping my head on how to make them look better!

[@davidwhale8146]

@Stormnorman15 I use Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade on smaller things, not on a full figure. I find they darken light colours a little too much (and they're four times the cost of the paints I used in this video).

[@stephenlay9580]

Great job buddy thanks for the lesson 👍

[@benquirobiequiratman4646]

BobRoss is the man

[@TGH_gang]

This is so good thanks I did my first one today but it was with master chief

[@inkamums71]

So to seal the paint (Because I imagine acrylics would chip and scratch off over time; Also not water resistant) do you use the matte spray shown in the video?

[@davidwhale8146]

Yes, that's usually what I use -- two coats. Any matte spray sealer will do the trick, as long as it's acrylic. Solvent based sealers won't cure properly, so the softer plastic parts of your figure (which is most parts of a Black Series figure) will stay sticky forever.

[@grimmspectre9660]

This was what I was looking for. Thanks for asking this question and answering!

[@annawhite1591]

the sealant do you just spray whole fig??even when paintin certain area's??

[@michaelcaboose.4839]

Wow, thanks, this helped a lot. I used this on my 3 inch figures. But I was wondering, should I use water color paint to get paint into the crevices that the cloth can’t get into?

[@davidwhale8146]

Glad you found it helpful. If you're trying to remove excess paint from crevices, you can use a clean, damp brush (not too wet). There are also things you can get in the makeup aisle of Walmart -- I don't know what they're called but they look like Q-Tips with pointy ends. They can be useful to have around.

[@michaelcaboose.4839]

@@davidwhale8146 Thanks!

[@FamineStudios]

I liked and subscribed. I'm counter culture that way.

[@davidwhale8146]

Some men just want to watch the world burn 😉

[@FamineStudios]

@@davidwhale8146 it’s not about the likes, it’s about sending a message...

[@benquirobiequiratman4646]

boris Vallejos is the Frank Frazetta he knows what skin tones are painting Conan and other paintings he made Frazetta must of did little sculpting. i think he did some Star wars painting Return of the jedi & Tarzan painting John Carter Frazetta is the Man & Bob Ross

[@Djkold]

Did you weather the kama and the pants? Good tutorial video nevertheless. Thanks for sharing. Btw that Mandalorian is cool AF!

[@davidwhale8146]

Thanks, much appreciated! Yes, I did the kama and pants as well, it just doesn't show up as well on camera since they're both pretty dark to begin with. I also did a very faint dry-brushibg on the pants to highlight the wrinkles.

[@CommadoBro]

Ok I need underwear CHECK. Great vid by the way im gonna start customs. So instant sub

[@2009superjay]

Awesome

[@benquirobiequiratman4646]

have ever work with Final Faction Figurs

[@nolanchicken]

So if I weather a figure and add a matte finish will it be safe to soap and water clean? Just wondering because I don’t want the paint coming off after time

[@davidwhale8146]

It should be, just don't rub very hard and then just leave it to air dry as opposed to wiping it with anything

[@rasdenniso.alvarez4448]

The acrylic won't mess with the articulations?

[@davidwhale8146]

No, just be careful not to put the paint right into the joints and you'll be fine. You're wiping off about 90% of the paint anyway.

[@rasdenniso.alvarez4448]

@@davidwhale8146 thanks dude you're awesome.

[@codyhoney9101]

What do you do for dark colors or skin tones?

[@davidwhale8146]

For really dark colours, you'll want to do the exact opposite of this and dry brush it with a lighter colour. Skin tones are entirely different animal and I'm still working on figuring that out.

[@1972walnut]

Does anybody know what kind of glue the factory uses to glue the helmets on the new storm trooper (hot glue, super glue etc.)? What solvent works best acetone, mineral spirits, Super Solvent?

[@davidwhale8146]

Not sure what type of glue, but if you look up Kaminoan Customs here on KZbin, he has a really comprehensive tutorial for removing those heads.

[@1972walnut]

@@davidwhale8146 I used super solvent let it soak for a while and the helmet came right off.

[@christisrisen6774]

Kinda want to weather my Blitzway Voltron but I've never done this before and it was a Mega Expensive figure. Scared I'm going to ruin it.

[@benquirobiequiratman4646]

skin tones Bages & browns Flesh color Like tans box of Aqruilic s bottles to make black Tone Brown Black. blend. tiny bit of white i never do skin tones there's Aqruilic s that's set for skin tones now They Have copper tone color s

[@-Garviel_Loken-]

I’m curious, would oils like starship filth work on this type of plastic?

[@davidwhale8146]

No, never use oil based or solvent based paints on action figures. They will not cure properly due to the type of plastics used and will remain tacky forever.

[@-Garviel_Loken-]

@@davidwhale8146 thanks for the info. I’m glad I looked this video up before doing anything. I have some nuln oil lying around I’ll use that instead

[@nhatanhhoangpham700]

How do you avoid paint scratching off, especially the joints?

[@davidwhale8146]

The joints generally aren't a problem in this process, since you usually aren't weathering right in the joints. For everything else, as long as you seal it well, you should be fine.

[@nhatanhhoangpham700]

@@davidwhale8146 thanks! I mean when painting a new figure, is there any other tips cause I usually seal my figs with tamiya top coat but the paints still chip off. Thanks again! Your tutorial is really helpful!

[@davidwhale8146]

@@nhatanhhoangpham700 the only real way to avoid that is to disassemble and sand down the joints. It's tricky because if you sand too much, the joint will be loose, but if you sand too little, you'll still get paint chipping. I usually just try to use parts for the joints that are the colour I want so I don't need to paint them.

[@Shatan610]

This helped me alot, but it would be alot better if you make some edits to the video... Tyvm!

[@teeVillain]

Wonderful video, but may I suggest a heavy edit. Try to get it down to around 11-15 minutes.

[@davidwhale8146]

Yeah, it is longer than I wanted. Next one will definitely be shorter 🤣

[@diagorasofmelos4345]

@@davidwhale8146 Or split it in multiple parts for more KZbin bucks. 😁

[@davidwhale8146]

@@diagorasofmelos4345 if I made money off KZbin this would already have been a 5-video series 😆

[@seenam02]

Yeah underwear is nice tool! 😂😱

[@RyanByrne999]

You need to water down your wash dramatically.

[@davidwhale8146]

It's not a wash, so no I don't.

[@yelpbelp6176]

I want to do this on my transformer figures but I’m scared I can’t transform them

[@davidwhale8146]

As long as you don't get the paint in the joints, you should be fine. But an alternative you could look at is Gundam Markers to do panel lining. It's less "dirty" than this weathering, but still makes all the details pop.

[@annawhite1591]

"want soft underwear becuz do not want wrap...."leia said your crazy, metal is the way, or go home

[@Audrey-vd7vg]

Far Out

[@cyrussilvers6176]

So when you seal, will it mess with the figures movement any?

[@davidwhale8146]

No, the spray sealer is thin enough that even after two coats it doesn't affect the articulation. You just need to make sure you're not spraying too close.

[@benquirobiequiratman4646]

valeo u gota be ritch

[@JMECO73]

Wrap your sack in burlap 😆😆😆

[@annawhite1591]

hate the tvc female's, they makin em their own toy line pretty much, so you have the tvc 3.75 line, and the 3" line, bo katan and fennec and vel could have been awesome, but for some stupid reason made em half size