The ultimate: use polishing cloths or pads, as directed in the instructions (each succeeding grade is used at 90 degrees to the previous one), then Future over it. Better than new!

To get a real rusty look for the underside, I paint the underside with a rust colour paint and put on a thick coat. I put it on by brush so only do a small amount as the next step must be done with the paint still wet. Then  liberally sprinkle on a coating of baking soda onto the wet paint. Then let it sit until the paint has dried.

You can go on and do the next section, painting and applying baking soda until all areas are covered. When all is dry, you can shake off any loose baking soda. This leaves you with a textured finish that looks like flaky heavy rust. Dry brush on a light coat of more rust colour paint to cover the white baking soda coating. Don't make this cover coat too wet or you will dissolve the baking soda. After this is fully dried, you can add a black, oily wash over the rust.

This gives you a dirty, greasy looking rusted finish typical of that under an old car. It also works great for suspensions or mufflers and tailpipes. I picked this tip up from the tank modellers as they use it to show realistic rusted tracks and mufflers.

Just remember that clear styrene is NOT as strong as coloured styrene!!! Handle it with a bit more care, as it IS brittle!!! I've spent hours sanding windshields just to snap them later!!! (of course, this was NOT my intention!!!)

There are many ways to bring out or add detail, and chalks, dry pigment and various powders can work wonders! I use 150 grit sandpaper -- glued to a small piece of wood 2"x4" -- to grind the pastel and other chalks.  This includes charcoal sticks, NOT BBQ briquettes! The use of finer-grit papers will yield somewhat finer dust, and usually, dust is what we are looking for.  I like to apply them with a variety of makeup brushes, donated to the cause by my wife.

Of course, the braver members of the list can buy these at any chain or specialty store.  There is a store dealing exclusively with makeup here, and it's a gold mine for powders.  Try a big assortment of eye shadow colors! I apply the powders and chalks with the brush, going sparingly.  As stated before, you can saw a board shorter, but not longer! A quick aside: it is really easy to overdo highlighting and weathering!  Go easy, take a break and look againlater at your results. I use just a dab of powder to start with, and add more layers, if necessary.

Use differing colors, and you canuse charcoal and white to darken and lighten colors.  Just mix them VERY well first! I let iron sit outside for a while -- months, actually, and then use a file to make real rust powder. Plaster of Paris, with some silica mixed in, can be used for snow or salt (as in Bonneville). Dry pigments are agents used to tint paints. WARNING: USE A RESPIRATOR OR AT LEAST A REALLY GOOD DUST MASK!!!! These are highly undesirable to breathe!!! Model Railroad stores sell these in the scenery department.  They can be mixed with plaster, chalks, and powders to produce a variety of effects.

Drybrushing highlights the raised areas on a part.  Although it is normally best to always paint lighter shadesfirst, then darker shades, drybrushing works exactly the opposite.  In this example, the fuel tank cover was painted first with Krylon Ultra Flat Black and allowed to dry.  I like to use paints with very aggressive solvents as the base coat because the subsequent enamel washes and drybrushings don't affect them very much. With the Krylon, the Model Master enamels don't even come close to mixing with the base, so I get a lot of control of the drybrush color.

The first drybrushing "coat" on this tank was a very dark mix of Model Master Flat Black and FS 6622 Camouflage Grey (more on Federal Standard paint numbers in my next post).  On the first drybrush coat, I applied a very heavy layer of paint (as far as drybrushing goes) to all the corners and projections on the tankcover.  Then, I added in more of the Camouflage Grey to lighten the mix considerably.  I applied this "coat"much more lightly, covering only the most outstanding projections and sharpest corners.  Notice I used only shades of grey.  To mix in a metallic color would have destroyed the illusion that this is a molded plastic cover. (Well, actually, it really is, on both the real car and the model).

For dirt, I chose two more colors.  The FS 30277 Armor Sand is a very light tan color with some grey mixedin.  It is an ideal "dirt" color for the bottoms of chassis.  To add some tonal variety, I also mixed the ArmorSand with a bit of Military Brown, making sure that I didn't overdo the darker brown streaks.  Where I was trying to highlight the shape of the tank with  the grey shades, with the tan shades, I was adding streaks of dirt.  I drybrushed the dirt in only one direction, starting from the front of the tank (when it's mounted on the car) to the rear.  I also made sure that the edges of the tank that would be closest to the ground (contest table) would be most heavily weathered.

Never drybrush straight out of the bottle.  You can see the "palette" that I normally use, a piece of cardboard covered in Saran Wrap.  Drag some of the pigment from the bottom of the paint jar onto the palette and do all your thinning and mixing there.

When drybrushing enamels over an enamel base, let the enamel base dry for a good long time.  Neverdrybrush during the same session that a wash was just added.  Doing so may lift your basecoat right off the model.

So, when you drybrush, drybrush the darker shades first, then progress to the lighter shades. Also, remember to thin the paint down a bit.  Out of the bottle, Model Master paints are too thick to drybrush without making big streaks or blobs.  Thin the paints a little thicker than you would for airbrushing (what a contradiction!),maybe to a point halfway between "straight out of the bottle" and "ready to airbrush".  This will yield a very nice coverage.  Also, right before you think you've drybrushed enough,stop right there!  A more subtle effect may not register on the brain of the viewer, but the overall effect of a subtle drybrush job will.

Hints for different colors:

Black drybrushed with dark grey, then given a light coat of clear gloss (I brush on a VERY light coat of thinned Future), gives a very nice rubber effect.  Rubber is almost never stark black; it's usually a very dark grey instead. Red turns pink when mixed with white for drybrushing.  Mix red with yellow or even tan colors to avoid turning the red pink. Yellow is one of the nicest colors to drybrush.  The effect is almost always pleasing, no matter how much you over do it.

Those ribbed air cleaners on 427 Fords, or the ribbed cast valve covers on many cars are also ideal targets for some washes.  On the valve covers, try washing the ribs with a mix of blue (any blue) and black, so that what you end up with is more black than blue.  On the bottoms of the valve covers, use a heavier wash of Testors Rubber.  If you're experimenting with a built-up engine, flow some of your wash between the valve cover and the head and between the head and the block.Flow a darker wash of flat black into the ribs of an alternator, or between the alternator and the little alternator fan.

Paint a block or block and heads with your favorite metal color and allow to dry.  When you're happy that the paint has gassed out enough, airbrush your block with Tamiya Smoke acrylic thinned 4:1 (that's pretty thin) with thinner.  The "metal" will become a LOT darker, but check out the amazing shadows around the freeze plugs and where the heads join the block.

Another method is to paint the car the base color, polish out the paint, and mask the pinstripe with Bare Metal Foil. I use a piece of foil about a third of an inch wide, and lay it down centered over where the pinstripe will go. I then use tape on the edges of the foil, to mask off the rest of the car. Then I take my X-axto knife, and fit two blades into the handle.

I like using the #2 handle, with two "11 blades in it. Depending upon the width of the pinstripe, I may put a small piece of foil, or paper in between the blades. I also may sharpen the blades at an angle to increase of decrease the gap. I then drag the knife over where the pinstripe will go. The blades make a pair of cuts, and there is a very thin ribbon of foil to pull out. I then either brush paint, or spray on the pinstripe, and remove the foil, and tape. This makes great vintage style pinstripes, and lets you use a template, or thin metal strip for a guide.

One method is to use an acrylic water cleanup flat black paint. Use a No.3 brush, load it up, and flood the paint into the area that you want it. Use the little ridges in the plastic to keep the paint dammed up. It takes some time to get the hang of it. After the paint tacks up, use a sharpened toothpick to clean up any overruns."

The other method is to use a black “Sharpie” marker.  The sharp edge and fine points allow you better control and you can get right up to the raised edges.  However you sometimes have to go back over the area couple of
times to get good coverage.