How to make your own RUST for weathering scale models 

I've always made my own iron oxide (rust) for over 15 years now. I put about 3 or 4 rolls of 0000 steel wool into a quart jar and fill it up with vinegar and put in the window for a couple months. When it's all turned into a big mess, I pour it out into a flat pan (11x14 photo processing stainless steel pan) and wait for a couple of weeks for it to dry. Then I use a single edge razor blade to pulverize it into a fine powder and store it in little (snuff) tins. Every batch I've done comes out a little different color. Works great 'cause it's real rust. To use it on models, you can mix the powdered rust with some lacquer thinner and apply as much as you want and adds a lot of texture to the surface. Cheers from eastern TN

Been doing this for decades! I. Leave the jar open to dry to a powder. Use as a pigment. Its an old woodworkers trick for ebonizing wood. The liquid is great for aging wood for dioramas.

Ah, that is exactly the bright orange color I needed, and I get to play mad chemistry! Excellent !

Moment you said how to make rust at home I was running to my kitchen and then down to basement preparing jar of steel wool, lol.

Daleko od oduševljen... Veliko poštovanje za ideju. Za nekoliko meseci idem u penziju i ovo bih radio. Hvala puno.

Wonderful weathering jobs, looks so realsitic!

Just getting into modelling and this rust effect is by far the best I have seen. Thanks Dave, I’ll try it out

Fantastic crafting tip! Thank you very much! This will definitely help with what I needed it for. Cheers!

WOW! That looks really great and so cheap too, well done Dave. I might just give this a try and see how I get on with it. Many thanks for sharing this top tip with us today. Have fun, Joe

Great idea Dave. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks so much... I tried your rust technique, and it works, saves my money too. Natural is power

Works superb! Thanks Dave!

WOW thanks for all these "make your own" its amazing i'm new at this (1year and 1/2) and i still make ugly effects with pigments i buy but after this video my scale models are so good. Huge thanks from me :) Keep it up

Love the technique! Long ago I used to thin out flat/matte enamel paints to use as a fixative for clay dust "mud" and "bearing grease ooze" on AFVs. These days I am more fascinated by STEAMPUNK and your Steel Wool Rust is Perfect for that kind of Nitty Gritty... Once dried overnight, the rust could potentially be tinted and/or moved around with a fine brush, using the thinned enamal fixer I mentioned above. Your vids are Aces Dave.

Fantastic idea and presentation. I love it. Thank you.

Love it. Never seen this technique before. Will certainly give it a try. Thanks for the video.

This is a great technique! I mixed up some and it is fantastic! Your caution about the lid is right on. After letting mine sit for a week, tried it, great outcome but I pulled a dumb ass and when I put it on the shelf above my work bench next morning the stuff was all over my bench! Dummy here tighten the lid. So yes do not tighten the lid when your done. I have started a new batch that I intend to use on Panzer II I'm working on.

Excellent video! I actually have a jar of this sitting right here - I mix it up tho, for the liquid. If you paint actual wood (like popsickle sticks, matchsticks whatever) it chemically reacts with the wood and turns it dark in various shades, great for a worn look in dioramas etc. I'd not thought to use the solid left over bits as well! Definitely going to try it out. Thanks very much!

Good stuff bro' thanks again for all your help... I'm looking forward to trying this and other tricks I've been learning from yourself and others on YT!!!

Absolutely fantastic, Dave. Thank you so much for sharing this tip. Cheers, tony

Is there a way to make it stay on for good , like glue or a top coat?

U must be a man of meny women with techniques like this thank u for your honor and wisdom 🙏

There are some many ways to do rust, and this is a very good one to do. Nice video my friend :)

Staff car looks bloody awesome Dave 👍🏻🇦🇺

That's a genius technique, using real rust to make rust on a model. There isn't much better than the real thing! Just like using real mud on a model too. I really like the actual texture that you get with it, like you said it does look like how metal gets when rusty when it kind of bubbles up and the primer or whatnot starts to peel off when the rust gets underneath. That's something that's hard to get with pigments since the powders are so fine, which of course has its own benefits. I'll shoot you an email about another idea I've been having.

Simple idea, brilliant & cheap! Will definitely try it.

I finally got the rust, but just used water sparingly & ended up with a kind of powder which work great with wet brush..but I never have tried without this video so thank you sir!

Great economy tip Dave. I go a little cheaper, by useing worn out S.o.S pads. Once I have scrubbed the soap out cleaning something I put them in a container with water to dissolve what's left in a jar. Never used vinegar, but that works fast it seems. Loved the texture. My Titanic wreck model 1/ 700 will require a sea floor covered in rusty bits. I plan to blend the wet plaster with some pieces of rusty chuncks , letting the rivers of rust run to the low spots. Like the R.V. footage in the pictures. This is a perfect shmutz to spread all over the wreck! Thanx for sharing Dave.

Very cool trick. Thanks man.

Brilliant!!!! I'm doing this when I get home from work today!

That looks awesome

Super great idea, top. Thanks for showing 👍 👍 👍

Great tip, thank you for sharing!!

I’ve also tried you dirt, mud, and flat earth mixture to get mud effects. And loved it but instead of flat earth I used burnt umber Acrylic paint and also liked the effect. Cheers fro Canada

Definitely a useful technique for that crunchy look.

Very good tip. Great video. Thanks for sharing

This helped alot Dave!!

That's brilliant! Thanks a bunch

Hii great idea!! thanks, How long does it take to obtain the rust from the moment you mix them?? Regards, Horacio

These are such great videos .... on a budget and as an old beginner, thanks very much 👍

Great video, I love the texture of the rust, would love to try it myself. Either with vinegar or water as another user suggested. One question has been on my mind, what material would you use to seal this in?

The thing i like about your vids the most is that you make it the cheap way,nit thr MOST EXPENSIVE like other youtubers

Awesome information. Thank you

BRILLIANT thanks ,nice work.

Awesome 👍👍👍 Thanks buddy. I'm going to try on my old Tamiya Mountaineer

You just saved ne a lot of money , great channel ! Subscriebed !!

Great technique...thanks

Another beaut Dave. That's really clever. Best regards from England.

Top tip! Cheers mate, I always like to do stuff as cheap as poss as don't show models but looks great to me.

Amazing outcome

Awesome work, and thanks for the tips on making rust in a jar . Great video. Mike Espo . New sub to you today.

Massive thank you! This made weathing so easy!

That is awesome. Thanks 🙏🏻 for the help man

This is a great tip! Those weathering kits are pretty expensive. I just left my steel wool outside in vinegar. I have an Amtrak locomotive that has a smear in the paint. Hiding it with a rust stain will be a perfect solution.

Good video. Thanks for the tip!

I'm giving this a go. Would adding some bleach to the vinegar speed things up?

Excellent video Dave, thanks so much ! Greetings from The Philippines

This is great. I’m going to try this on my O scale trains!

Fantastic. Always learn something useful from your videos. Love how you work out cheaper ways to do things. I know it might be easier to just go & buy some of these different things from the hobby shops but to me it defeats the purpose and isn't as much fun as improvising or working things out yourself.

I really love this video! After finding a blatantly fake "restoration" video in my recommends, I was discussing with my boyfriend how we can make rust paint from vinegar and steel wool. BOOM, the perfect video to demonstrate exactly how it looks and works! Miniatures and models are an entire world of fun in and of themselves! Yet i always fantasize about creating wonderful films; using scores of minis and models to bring life and a real environment to fantastical places, relived moments of history, the seemingly impossible done in real time. I think these types of props, used properly, can be far superior to the CGI worlds most (edit: modern) movies seem to be made of... There's such a charm to a world recreated, it's something a collection of data files just isn't.

Hey, Dave, just wondering if you would recommend clear coating models after doing the rust weathering? Thanks, Mac

Awesome technique 😮

Awesome video..........

Wow ive been modeling for quite some time and i like how the first way to make real rust ! That blew my mind hahah ty very much

wow cool......never seen rusting like this before....

I have used rusty old metal from an exhaust pipe in the past. It gives you rust colour but without the texture bits. This method looks really good though.

If you wanted to keep the larger rust flakes would a couple mat clear coats protect them? I’m thinking of going really heavily on a lexan RC crawler body... Looks ace!

hi, only mix the vinegar with the metal wool in the same bottle and wait?, how much time need to be ready?. Thx for this tip, u have a new sub.

Does this rust have to be sealed to keep it from rubbing off? I love the realistic look, but is it for things that won't be handled a lot only? Thanks so much for sharing this!

Awesome. Much appreciated.

Great tip! I assume you spray a clear coat over it instead of applying that with a brush, because else you would brush the rust effect away? I am asking this because in the video you remove unwanted rust with water and a brush ..

I've found an acrylic craft paint that looks incredibly like rust. It's called Espresso and Latte which translated means coffee and milk. I use it on all my railroad wheels. Cheers from eastern TN

Interesting and very well detailed. Came across this when looking at rc scale crawler body painting and the channel linked this video as a recommendation. As water gets rid of it, I assume a form of lacquer on top (even cheap hairspray) will protect it a little from the elements when taking the rc trucks out into the wilderness through some watery splash conditions?

Hi mate does this stuff rub off easy because I want to make a rusty vw golf and I'm worried it may rub off once touched. BTW great video mate

Thanks bro I been trying to use this style on a vw bug, how do you make it look with the bumper with the silver rust

awesome tip! Thx!!

This is fantastic. It is a real rust . How do you keep it from wearing off

Before and after applying the rust, should I spray the model with anything to seal the surface? Thanks. Great video.

(Hubby here) Dave genius! Great tip for a guy like me who loves to "experiment". That's the main thing I love about the modeling community - the sharing of information.

Hi Dave if I wanted to do this to an RC car how can I protect it and stop it coming off when wet just lacquered I guess

That looks great. Got a 1/10 scale 79 ford bronco RC that I want to weather

Awesome! I have to try the steelwool. As for the pigments: How to fix them? Clear Code? PVA Glue?

Brilliant ,im away to my shed with my scourer and viniger,i think it will look good on tank exhaust s. better than the old bicarb of soda and glue technique ive been using

I'm wondering if you could strain or press out the liquid and then add in gum arabic to the liquid for a binder?

orange rust effect..new rust...thanks for sharing

Love this

Hi, looks super! 👌. 2 questions, does the rust go on over your finished paint? And do you lacquer over the rust? Thanks.

I'm not sure, but you might get more control with this by using a small amount of dish soap to break the surface tension of the liquid. But I'm not sure if that would react with vinegar as it does with water or cause any other problems.

How to you seal that wire wool rust on a model please? I shot it with some vallejo premium mat varnish through the airbrush but the rusty bits turned white n brushed off. Many thanks.

Hi dave, Same question as Michael. Do you seal/clearcoat afterwards ?

Great tip dude

WOW GOOD TRICK TANK YOU BROS FOR THAT TIP...

Awesome. Love any money saving tips. How about burnt rust on exhaust?

Hi! after the oxide effect is dry, which is put on the vehicle so that the effect does not come off? Thanks!!!

Hi This is a great video. I decided to try and make rust myself, using the steel wool and vinegar method. But how long does it take? I put a roll of steel wool in a glas jar, covered it with vinegar, but until now I can not see anything has happened at all. Its only been a few days though, but how long time (approx) before I can use it?

Just learning, great stuff, but what do you use for a top coat, or is it left as is, thanks

Although 2 years ago but great tip. My question is can i spray seal on this? Coz im guessing these rust is not permanent over long period of time? Or can get removed when your cleaning the model from dusts for example.

I love this super cheap technique though I have a question. Will it come out the same when applied to any material Is (plastic, paper, metal, etc)?

I did just as the video suggested and used steel wool and apple cider vinegar. It's been almost 2 weeks now and nothing. The steel wool still looks brand new.