If you were to paint seat cushions...

[Hagar]

how would you go about making them that nice faded and worn olive drab colour? I was wondering about painting them a kahki and then dry brushing progressively whiter coats with a dusting of dirt when finished. But I'm not sure how that will turn out so am checking up on other ideas that might be better. I'm almost done my M2 and just need to paint the seats and start weathering. pics soon.
James

[David Diaz]

Hello James,

If the seats are Olive drab I would start with an olive drab base coat, and then highlight it by adding a tan color to the Olive. For this you could use Khaki, and add it in small amounts. The final Drybrushing should be with about 90% Khaki and 10% Olive.

I wouldn’t go for the option of adding white to the Khaki since it can tend to look kind of chalky. The best bet is to try and find some reference photos and see how they look.

Hope this helps

Dave

[Hagar]

I know the look I am aiming for as I've sat my rump on enough of these types of cushions. Unfortunately its all memories and most of the pictures I have found seem to have almost new cushions. I think your right though that the white would be a poor choice. So OD is is followed by kahki derivitives. Thanks for the advice.
James

[T140]

The best I've seen was by a guy who used oils. He reckoned the oils were much easier to blend and get the right look. Not tried it myself but may be worth some experimentation.

[David Diaz]

I know the look I am aiming for as I've sat my rump on enough of these types of cushions. Unfortunately its all memories and most of the pictures I have found seem to have almost new cushions. I think your right though that the white would be a poor choice. So OD is is followed by kahki derivitives. Thanks for the advice.
James

You are welcome James.
I know the feeling when the only reference is in your head. :( But if you can wait until Friday night I think I have some pictures in my comp at home of the canvas seats on a M998 that may be helpful. I can post them tomorrow night when I get home.


The best I've seen was by a guy who used oils. He reckoned the oils were much easier to blend and get the right look. Not tried it myself but may be worth some experimentation.

Yes, oils are easier to blend because they dry a lot slower than acrylics and you have time to work the color. With acrylics you have to be much faster.

Dave

[Totenhosen]

I dont know about olive drab, but when I paint worn leather seat cusions, I basecoat with semi gloss black acrylic, then dry brush burnt sienna oil paint over it. After a few hours of drying, I gently wipe off the worn areas to reveal a little of the black. After a few days (completely dry) I hit the extreme hilights with a sand color - just a hint of drybrushing.

Maybe subsituting the burnt sienna with an olive green oil color would work?

[David Diaz]

I dont know about olive drab, but when I paint worn leather seat cusions, I basecoat with semi gloss black acrylic, then dry brush burnt sienna oil paint over it. After a few hours of drying, I gently wipe off the worn areas to reveal a little of the black. After a few days (completely dry) I hit the extreme hilights with a sand color - just a hint of drybrushing.

Maybe subsituting the burnt sienna with an olive green oil color would work?

This could work. However the thing is that canvas wears out in a different way than leather, and that has to be taken into account.

The leather of AFV seats is usually very cheap and very hard. As it wears out it takes a kind of polished look until it thins out at the edges and rips.

Canvas on the other hand tends to fold and wears mostly where constant contact is made with the body. Because of this a canvas seat may not necessarily be worn out the most at its edges.

In the end is basically trial and error. If a method works for you, go for it!

Hope this helps.

Dave

[David Diaz]

James,

Here is the picture of the seats of the M998. Is not the best angle but hopefully it will give you an idea of how light is the green tone of the worn seats. You can also see how the canvas folds around the edges.

Hope it helps

Dave
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i259/Terraformingrd/Miscelaneous/M998.jpg