Rattlecans – spraypainting your buildings

Making my cardboard terrain (and, actually, taking care of some terrain made earlier by another group member) I tried to paint it with rattlecan spray paints.

Sure, it is not perfect – but it gets the job done. There are also several flaws to the method, I’m afraid.

The paints I used were Montana 94, Montana Hardcore and Belton Molotov Premium. These are heavy-duty acrylic paints, marketed primarily to graffiti artists. On my local market, they are way cheaper than wargaming-specific brands like Citadel or Army Painter (roughly 40% of an Army Painter rattlecan), which was a major advantage in my eyes. Note – of these three types (and two brands), I liked Belton most, and Montana Hardcore least.

Also, the palette is pretty extensive, with various extra effects and accessories (like different sized can nozzles) available.

They are also different in use – lower pressure, and different solvent – than wargame-specific paints.

However, every rose has its thorns. And this particular one has quite a few.

1. The solvents used are pretty nasty. Definitely, this stuff should be used (and left to dry!) in well-ventilated areas only. Preferably outside – but keep in mind that wind will be playing merry hell with your job if the place isn’t screened well enough…
2. Drying time can be pretty long. In summer, I got various results, from about 15 minutes (Belton) to 4-6 hours (Montana Hardcore) before I was able to apply next layer. Haven’t tried it under winter conditions, though the paints are theoretically good for all-year-round outdoor use.
3. Breath protection is strongly recommended. A simple safety mask (as much as I hate wearing this stuff) should do, though if you have access to a fully-blown respirator, that’s way better.
4. Definitely not a clean job. Expect that you’ll have some spray paint on everything near your object (including your hand holding the can!). So make sure it won’t run you into trouble with your family / landlord / anyone interested in keeping surrounding area neat and clean. Using a big box as a painting station helps a bit, but doesn’t solve the problem completely.

So – use a glove, and put your painting station box into a large plastic bag (trash bags work fine here). Still not perfect, and the trash bag limits your ability to see what’s going on inside, as well as adjust the angle of paint application.

In case of – the paints react acceptably to standard solvents,for example denatured alcohol.

So, you’ve decided to give it a try, readied a paint station, gloves, mask, some place to use all the stuff and then left it over to dry. What now?

If you work on cardboard terrain, I’d suggest sealing all the edges (with putty or PVA glue) first. Otherwise they are going to absorb far too much paint. MDF / HDF should not behave like that, resin / PVC definitely won’t.

Then, you should apply a base coat of paint – I tend to use grey, which will be representing concrete under the chipping off main paint.

Exact distance between the nozzle and model depends on specific paint brand and nozzle used (as I said, there are variants available). The stream of paint should be kept as perpendicular to the surface as possible.

Expect to not receive a perfect coverage in the first layer, and don’t try to apply more paint to counter it. The spray paints quite universally work much better with several thin layers than with a single thick one (which tends to become running and destroy all the effect :(). Yes, I know, it affects your timetable – bear with it.

Once it is dry – check the surface for raised fibers. It is an effect typical for natural wood, but some kinds of MDF, HDF and plywood (all being materials used for laser-cut terrain) show it too, and so does cardboard (though, as i found, the older it is, the more raised fibers do happen).

These should be sanded down (not only to make the surface smooth, but primarily because otherwise they will be breaking off during use, and ruin your job) – I used a steel wire mesh (the kind you normally use for scrubbing really dirty cooking pots) for this task.

Then apply another layer of basecoat (and rinse, repeat if necessary). Keep in mind that every part sticking out is going to cast a “shadow” your paint will have trouble to get into, so for the second layer it might be wise to change the angle / turn the piece upside down.

Generally, the darker the color, the better coverage it gets.

Now, it is the time to apply weathering, if you want to use some.

We’ll need some rock salt (the more coarse, the better – you may consider using a sieve to filter out all the fine grains), a brush and some water. Apply water on where you want the chipped paint effect (usually near the corners of a building), then get a pinch of salt and get it onto the droplets of water (if the terrain was primed well, the water should not soak in the cardboard too quickly). Leave it to dry.

Generally, the less salt you apply, the better. Large, thick cover isn’t going to look good at all.

Now lay down your top colour. This time, sanding off the fibers won’t be necessary, but still it is pretty likely to require more than one coat.

When dry, carefully remove the salt (I usually rub it off with my fingers).

You can use multiple colours on different parts of the building (for example different rooms inside, and still a different colour for the outside) – just apply painter’s tape / masking tape to all surfaces you don’t want painted in a new colour.

Keep in mind it is not an ideal solution though. The tape doesn’t provide perfect protection along its edges, and I found the type I used doesn’t hold to the painted surface really well.

Also, the masking tape can rip off small fragments of paint when you will be removing it.

Well, that would be it, basically. Painting the terrain with rattlecans is definitely cheaper than going for an airbrush (at least in the short run), looks like it would be quick (actually isn’t, if you want half-decent looking terrain) but due to time / space constraints I’m not really going to follow this method.