Weathering Maschinen Krieger models is great fun, and this Wave 1/20 scale Küster is certainly no exception. Created by artist Kow Yokayama, the Ma. K universe is full of strange yet familiar shapes.
The Küster is an autonomous combat vehicle – basically a stompy war robot. Thus, it is a great candidate for a wide range of weathering. It’s easy to imagine that after a long patrol cycle, the abuse of combat and environment would be quite substantial.
Weathering Maschinen Krieger – Making The Küster Grimy
For this build, I wanted the Küster to look well worn, but not war weary. This can be a tricky combination for me, as I love heavy chipping and rust effects.
But pulling from my own military experience, I felt that the weathering should be focused more on fluid stains and leaks, smaller scratches and abrasions, and very restrained areas of heavy chips or rust.
As I worked through the build, keeping each successive layer on the lighter side helped keep that goal in focus. And it did double duty too. That lighter touch for each layer really helped build up depth of finish.
I combined the use of oils and acrylics also, as each offers various looks for the final finish. The use of gloss or matte coats was avoided too, so that a variety of finishes would be present in the final result.
In the end, the payoff of weathering made the build issues I encountered in Part 1 worthwhile. I was very happy with the look of the model in the final analysis. And best of all – I had fun in the journey.
Maschinen Krieger kits offer a great variety of unique designs, ranging from smaller man-sized armor suits, all the way up through very large flyers, mechas, and tank-like vehicles. If you’re looking to build a Küster, be sure and check out USAGundamStore.com.
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