As some of you may know from my other posts, I'm building my first helicopter model now (Alouette II with Nord SS.11 anti-tank missiles) and I'm wondering how to weather this sucker. I am not ready for it now, but I just want to get some ideas early on. Where do helicopters see the most weathering? What easy techniques are there to make a helicopter model look really nice? Thanks in advance!

Most weathering occurs around and behind the engine. You will have oil and dirt stains in those area. The rett gets general dust and wear and tear in the form of paint rubs and worn areas. The best techniques I find are thin washes of color for the oil and dirt stains and drybrushing of lighter colors and aluminum for the paint rubs and wear.

You can see this pretty well on my HH-60G model.

You did a great job on that! I think I can do the stains and metal scratches okay but how did you do the dust? It really adds a lot!

I did the dust with an overall wash of a sandy-brown color and then drybrushes with another sandy color.