For That Aged Copper Look

Transcript*

Intro

Hello there. Paul here. Another happy landing.

Hey, quick question. You ever wonder what the green stuff is in the Statue of Liberty? If you answered verdigree, then you, my friend, are correct. Um, but to the others, you’re like, “What the heck is verdigree?” Well, don’t worry. That’s this is what the video is all about. So, we’ll quickly discuss what verdigree even is. Then I’ll show you how to paint it on the simplest method possible. And then finally, before we end the video, we’ll discuss other ways and applications that we can use verdigree.

Because if you think about it from a real world sort of perspective, you’re like, well, there’s really only one way then, right? But people over the course of the years have found a way to use verdigree on other things. So, let’s get right to it.

Primer & Base Coat

Today’s miniature will be this horse miniature, which is actually the DND WizKids Nightmare miniature, which I then primed with black primer from Vallejo, which is around satin. So, I enhanced the glossiness of it with AlClad 600 clear gloss, which when the two of them are combined, enhances any sort of metallic paints that you put on top. Uh, covered in the previous video, of course. Uh, and then we applied Hammerhead Copper, which is a metallic game color paint on top. And finally, you see those little blue marks that’s still drying? That’s a final layer of aqua gloss, which will protect it and shield it from what we’re about to do.

What is Verdigris?

The star of the show, Dirty Down verdigree. Paul, enough’s enough. Explain verdigree. Oh, yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll get to it. It’s the green stuff in the Statue of Liberty, as previously mentioned in the beginning. That’s it. But there’s a difference. So fundamentally they’re both corrosion or a product that’s comes out out of corrosion. But rust destroys verdigree protects. Yes, verdigree is like natural armor. Um as far as I’m aware, the original copper skin of the Lady Liberty is still there to this day. Just it’s encased by this bluish green verdigree that it’s built up over the course of I believe 20 years. Uh, so it finished forming around 1920 if I I could be wrong on that.

Hopefully I’m correct. Whereas rust just destroys. So you can actually poke something that’s heavily rusted uh and you can probably destroy it. You can flake it off at the very least. So what we’re going to be doing is going to be covering this layer by layer uh uh to build up sort of uh the effect. And finally, we will transform this into a green oxidized statue. Or does it oxidize? I think it carbonates or whatever. I don’t think it oxidizes. I don’t think that’s the proper term for verdigree. Again, correct me if I’m
wrong.

Dirty Down Instructions

There is a genuine caveat, a single one for all goblin hut or dirty down paints. Sorry. And that is you have to shake it really well. 30 seconds if you have a vortex mixer or up to 2 minutes and maybe longer if you don’t. Yes, there is actually a very drastic difference from something that is unshaken, poorly shaken, and well shaken. starting now. Like I’m a bartender or something.

[music]

Two minutes later. There we go. Hopefully that’s somewhat well shaken.

Layer 1

For step one, we will be using a paint tray. This is specifically the Mr. Hobby paint tray that comes in the 10 pack. Um, and it’s just better than a dry palette because this, while water soluble, is quite a strong paint and it might eat through the paper. It really won’t. But uh I don’t want to take the risk and it’s also why we protected the uh the horse with the clear coat as well. Using Vallejo’s synthetic brush number one, we’ll just take a little bit of the verdigree.

Put it in the paint tray here. Uh and then I’ll just mix in a tiny bit of water from my clean water reserve. Yes, despite the crustiness of the outside of the cup there, it is clean water. Not anymore, but and just feather it in. Now, we’re being conservative here to start off, but once we’re comfortable, you can apply as much as you want. We will build up the layers. That’s why it’s really thin. Right now, let’s apply a bit more. So, we’ll keep it here in the hind areas of the horse and let it go on the recesses as much as possible.

A neat thing with Dirty Down effects paints is that they’re extremely water soluble. So, what you can do is uh take a brush that has nothing on it but water or paper towel, funnily enough, and just dab. By doing this, you can remove whatever is on the surface while keeping the rest in the recesses. And then whatever is on the surface, you can spread it around with just the water, propagate it. And that’s basically the steps. You apply it whether strong or light uh and then you take either a paper towel or a wet brush and you remove the excesses while propagating it along the rest of the miniature. Rinse and repeat. You just keep building up this effect.

Layer 2

Going in for layer number two. Same spot just to build up the effect. Again, this is thinned. And then again, we go in with our water
brush, remove the excess, and propagate it wherever.

Layer 3

Just do this. Now, my suggestion when doing this, I’m just on camera, is per layer, wait maybe 10 minutes, just so it sort of builds up naturally. Layer three. So, let it dry for a little bit and then we remove whatever’s on the surface with our brush. Same thing. You can also take a Q-tip, which David brought a bag of it from home and just remove some of the excess. And the best part about a Q-tip compared to the brush or a makeup brush or even a paper towel is that much of the effect remains. you’re only really drying some of the surface, not even all of it. So, it’s really good if you want to keep some of the residue even on the surface. Yeah.

Heavy Layer Application

Oh no, I applied it way too purely and thickly. What do I possibly do with this? Is my paint job ruined? You basically take damp paper towel on something as large scale as that and just dab on the mini. Remove anything excess. You can even wipe a little bit to do so. Now, of course, your mileage may vary. And by that I mean if that looks good on you, you can stop removing. All going to depend on you. Weathering is something that happens organically.

So it depends on what type of terrain you’re painting and the surroundings and the area. Feel like it’s a little too much, just remove it. Even when it’s that dry already, you still have a chance to remove it. That’s about 15 minutes of drying time. And there we go. I’ve basically coated it. It’s about 10 minutes from the start there. I did not touch it with a paper towel this time. And this is around what it would look like about 15 years after receiving the gift. provided, of course, that in this alternate timeline, France gave a horse instead of lady liberty.

Too Much Verdigris Fix

But what if you’re like, “This is too much. I want a little bit of the original color poking out.” Well, not to worry. Very simple fix. It’s just dry brushing. Um, and again, it will matter basically on how much you want of the original color uh to be showing because at the end of the day, it’s all up to you. Just bring back slight a little light dry brush. Little light.

Final Product

And we’re done. You probably went a little more green than I did. I went with about 6 to 7 years worth of corrosion buildup. Uh so I added a lot more of the copper than you were probably expecting. But again, mileage may vary. This is completely up to you.

Verdigris on a Gold Base

67. And before we go really quickly, remember I mentioned there’s an alternate thing that you can use verdigree on. Yeah, it’s gold. But you’re like, Paul, do not be stupid. Gold does not get verdigree. You’re right. If it’s pure gold, but if it’s a gold alloy, yes, it will. So yeah, we’re pretending that this is a gold alloy, which really is a gold alloy. It’s not, to be fair, it’s not even real or um but that’s what the armor is. It’s definitely not pure gold. So, we’ll just apply it really thinly at first just to sort of get our bearings. But once we’re comfortable, we’ll lay it on thick. Just taking the damp brush, just damping it on. Just removing some. Let me just build up the effect from there.

I may have gone overboard. It’s okay. Just wipe out the excess. And this time you may have to actually wipe, not just dab, because there’s a lot of pointy sort of edges that’s hiding the material. And even if you can’t get in there, not to worry. We can just dry brush with gold later. It’s okay. Not the end of Oh, not the end of the world. And there we go. With a little bit of dry brushing using my Vallejo XL dry brush, I brought back the colors after removing the excess. And to be honest with you, it looks really ood. Now, would I use this on my custodes? Probably not.

Um, but it is an option that people have started doing. Let me just bring one last close look cuz it isn’t as weathered on camera as it is in person. And at least that’s not what it looks like, you know. Uh so yeah, so it is a lot more green in person. Yeah, you can see it. It’s nice. What do you guys think? Will you be using Verdigree and will you be using it on gold or at least gold alloy? Because again, it does corrode. So you do have an excuse to use it on anything painted gold. There you go.

Paul’s Conclusion

Um, that being said, everything else that we’ve used today, including the Allaris Terminator, which can be found in the Combat Patrol is linked in the description down below. Also down below is our real time inventory, sunwardhobbies.ca. Plus all our social media accounts. We’re active on all of them. So yeah, feel free to follow us on any of those accounts. Pick whichever is your favorite. And finally, we’re trying to hit 20K by end of this year.

So, we do appreciate it if you would like and subscribe, especially if you enjoyed that content, you learned something new.

Uh, thank you guys so much for watching and I’ll see you guys next time. Bye-bye.

About the Author:

Paul Catindig As someone who’s been building model kits since he was 8 years old, Paul is very knowledgeable and adept at model kit building! When he’s not building or painting kits, he spends his free time cooking, playing video games with friends, or at a restaurant patio somewhere. Hopes to make his very own movie one day.

*Video by Paul Catindig
Video Edited by Daniela Castellano
Transcript generated by youtube
Edited by Angelo Castellano