Rust in Pieces

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With my recent builds for EMF camp I had an opportunity to try some new weathering techniques. My skills are a bit lacking and there is lots of conflicting advice/techniques online and my time was short so I went straight to Eldritch and Simon gave me some definitive answers on the subject of rust. I thought I'd write the info down here so that it can hopefully benefit someone else.


You will need.
  • White vinegar and salt, available from any supermarket and you probably already have them
  • Hydrogen Peroxide, available online or I got mine from the Boots chemist. They were unsure they even stocked it so it may pay to be a bit persistent and ask them to actually check the drawers. You'll be asked why you want it but when you have a legitimate reason like this the conversations are always fun.
  • Iron Powder, this is pre rust and not the same as Iron Oxide Powder (post rust). I bought 500g on ebay and now have about 450g left over. 
  • Super glue, I opted for a large bottle of high viscosity glue so build up the ridge effects. Always handy to have excess glue spare for other projects. 


Mix the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide together, I used a 50:50 mix and add a sprinkle of salt into the liquid. I decanted the mix into a spray bottle and filled a second spray bottle with water, this will be used for the super glue.


  • Apply a healthy does of super glue to the area you want to be rusty.
  • Spritz the super glue with water, this will cause it to dry with a texture effect.
  • When the glue is dry, sprinkle the area with some Iron Powder, it helps if the area is flat. When working at an angle I found that spray the glue with some acrylic lacquer helped the iron powder stay in place.
  • Finally spritz the iron powder with the chemical mix, this will start the rusting process. Once the area was sufficiently tarnished I sprayed the whole thing again with another coat of lacquer.


That was how I did my rust effects on the Aircon units and the Semiotic signs. I'm sure things could be done better and with a bit more experimenting it could be much more rust like but I was happy to find a quick process that covered large areas and looked great.

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