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Weathering

What tips can you give me when weathering with chalks?

About "fixing" the chalk in place. I use Testor's Dullcote in the small spray can. I have heard several people say that they tried different brands and settled on Dullcote -- I've never used anything else.

About chalks disappearing when sprayed: I use a paintbrush loaded with chalk and lightly drop the chalk onto the model where I want the weathering. Then I go back and rub it into the paint. Usually, it's stuck so well that it won't come off even if I wipe my finger over it. When I spray it with Dullcote, I make sure to spray a light coat -- just enough to seal the chalk. I have noticed that the weathering is minimized slightly, but it definitely doesn't disappear. My guess is that if you don't rub the chalks in, the aerosol spray blows the chalk off before the Dullcote can fix it to the model. I have noticed that dark colored boxcars tend to swallow up the chalk (make it invisible) more than light colored cars. That's probably because of the smaller contrast between the car color and the chalk color.

By the way, the chalks I use are "Sanford" brand and I use the set called "Earth Tones". They are commonly available at art and craft stores and cost $5-$6 (in Boise anyway). Another set that I know people use is the set of gray shades.

Unless you're using very high pressure for spraying, it's unlikely that the chalk weathering is being blown off. However, you are changing the reflective properties of the surface.

You need a rough surface to hold the chalk. You might try a light spray of Dullcote, delivered from farther away than normal, so the spray is almost dry as it hits. You'll also want to apply a normal coat of Dullcote after you're done, to seal in the chalk. Otherwise, it'll rub off with handling. This final coat will also change the appearance of your weathering. The effect of chalk weathering is in large part due to the micro-roughness of the chalk itself. (This has nothing to do with the roughness of the surface previously mentioned. That was just to get the chalk to stick.) When you seal in the micro-roughness, even with a "flat" spray, you completely change the reflective nature of the surface, and a lot of the weathering effect disappears. This is very pronounced for light-colored weathering on dark cars, and much less so for dark weathering on light cars. When weathering boxcar red cars, I have to make them look garish, almost cartoonist, with lots of "extra" weathering so they look right after the seal coat.

Hint: eastern cars weather due to rain, soot, and corrosion. Western cars due to sun bleaching and abrasion. Thus, eastern cars tend to weather dark, and western cars light.

I have experimented, with some success, using ladies' cosmetic blushes, which seem to be a caked powder. They come in a wide variety of colors [caution: some look somewhat metallic] and can be easily applied with the applicator supplied or a Q-tip. This method is great for moderate and subtle weathering.

If real heavy weathering is desired, I use weathering paints or lacquers.

The beauty of powders or chalks is the ease of removing what you have done if dissatisfied. However, the blushes, like most powders/chalks, can seem to disappear if too heavily oversprayed with a clear "fixative".

Any thoughts on how to simulate 3-D clumps of mud and dirt in HO scale?

I'm building the Walthers (Kibri, actually, I think) front end loader, and I've never seen any such construction equipment without very large clumps of dirt and mud on it, especially on the tires and scoop. Looking at the numbers, realistic dirt should be noticeable, so I'd like to simulate it.

Consider combinations of dry pastel (chalk-type) and paint. For example, scrape the pastel with a knife to get lumpy stuff, then drop it on wet paint.

This is just a quick idea; I've never used this one on anything but scenery, but what about borrowing from the "bonded ballast" idea? If you were to thin down some white glue, then spray? eye-drop? it onto the equipment, then lightly sprinkle real dirt, let dry, maybe enough would adhere to fit your purposes. Of course, this method might well be too crude, but I have to put in the disclaimer that it's just off the top of my head!

I just started experimenting with chalks and I'm really impressed. I just bought an F7 A-B set and wanted to lightly weather them (that recently washed look). I used black and brown chalks on the roof and black, brown, and mustard colors on the sides (Union Pacific F7 with gray roof and yellow sides). What I really like about chalk is that it creates a subtle, road grime sort of look but has more variety and brings out details better than a wash or a light overspray of paint.

It seems like darker chalks work better on light-colored paint and medium or lighter-colored chalks for dark paint. If you look at prototype boxcars, they all look about the same color - lighter colors darken and dark colors lighten until they all have that medium-dark grime look.

I still use paints to touch up the fans and exhaust stacks, and to weather the trucks, fuel tank, etc.

The old "zip texturing" method makes *excellent* dirt, clumps and all.

Obtain some dry paint pigments at your favorite art store or find some commercial zip texture kits at a train store. It's a little expensive, but goes a long way. Get earth colors, of course.

Mix the paint pigment into some dry plaster - Hydrocal works very nicely for this. Use the pigment sparingly; it's easy to add more but kind of hard to get it out. Mix thoroughly.

Paint some water on the area to be made dirty and sift the plaster mix over it. The plaster will absorb water and bond with the surface yet will still maintain its fine texture. Put a little in a spoon, hold the spoon over the dirt area, and tap the side of the spoon - little clumps will fall off the spoon. Maybe spritz a little water over the area and add some more. Repeat until you like the looks.

If you want to make a nice dirt road, mix up some "water putty" to a heavy cream consistency and gently pour it over the road area. It has enough surface tension to form a raised area, yet stays nice, smooth, and flat. If you pre-wet the area, it will flow into smoother edges. Sift some of the plaster mix over it for color and texture. When it dries, lightly rub it with a Bright Boy to make smooth areas where it was worn by tires.

Sometimes the old ideas and techniques are worth trying

Any hints on wood weathering techniques?

I mostly use the Letraset felt pens. They come in a bunch of Pantone colors. The M series are wide and work great. I have the warm gray colors and most of the 40X, 41X, 42X,and 46X ones. My favorite one is 451. They dry fast so you can as you construct. They do smell like marker pens though. In the latest NG&SL Gazette, someone aged his wood by toasting it. By pulling it out at different times, you get board-to-board variation. Makes the wood brittle though. They also once had an article on the Letraset pen method but I don't remember the issue.

I use the same India ink and alcohol mixture to stain wood, and I accidentally found a good way to make water stains when using this mixture. I used some cyanoacrilate (sp?) glue to attach some small parts to a water tank I was making and it unknowingly wicked into the wood. I didn't see this until I applied the ink and alcohol and it caused the area of glue to simulate a water stain.

Reference weathering, will use chalk (safer) but read about mixing black paint and water to achieve a worn weathered look. I don't have an airbrush of any type, so can I do this? Any other suggestions?

i don't weather my cars, but my daughter came up with this idea of using "blush" makeup for weathering the stuff's cheap at, like Wallymart (so let'em look at you funny.tell'em you're girlfriend need HELP fast)the good thing i noticed about the blush stuff is that you can remove it if you don't like itand some of the "shades". DO look like tank car spillage and corrosion.ever see some of the chicks in the mall on their way to trick-or-treat (i guess that's where they're going). :))
.big john.

Or pick up 'last years' make-up type stuff at garage sales, etc. Many shades available very cheap. I have used green eye shadow for the 'mossy' side of foreground trees.
Jack "The trolley nut" Priller

With a brush method, could somebody recommend the paint(s) and technique to give the proper aged color to exhaust system parts? Would a wash of a reddish-brown over steel do the trick? Thanks so much.
Bernie

If you look at a used automobile exhaust system, you will note that it rapidly begins to rust, from the heat combined with water thrown up from the road surfaces.

A brand-new exhaust system will "blue" at the head pipe (the hottest portion of the pipe", and then begin to rust. As the system ages, the rust will extend further back to the catalytic converter, and onward to the muffler. As most mufflers are either aluminuzed or galvanized, they tend to "gray out" from new, and develop patches of rust at the endplates and seams. Finally, the tail pipe will rust, beginning first at the muffler, and finally extending most of the way back to the end.

I'd "rust" a used exhaust system in this manner: Modelmaster "mahogany" (more accurate-looking than their "rust", with a dry-brushing of "rubber", or their new "burnt umber" from the Modelmaster Acryl line of paints. I'd do the catalytic converter in a dull silver, with a bit of weathering to represent road grime, and the same with the muffler, adding a bit of rust along the seams of the muffler "can". The rest of the tailpipe, I'd do in a dull silver, with some rust beginning just behind the muffler, and fading away further back. A little bit of rust at the end of the tailpipe would be realistic, as this is where the water vapor will collect each time the car is started, until the pipe heats up enough to evaporate it away.
Art Anderson

I've been using acrylics for my washes, but they never look good after they dry. I'm ready to try out artist oil paints for washes. I've read suggestions using naphtha (lighter fluid) as the thinner. I use enamels for most of my painting and am afraid this will eat the paint. Any comforting words or advice will be greatly appreciated.

You might also try turpenoid as a thinner. It's not as aggressive as turpentine. I find that with cheap oil paints it creates an unpleasantly gritty wash, but if you get the good stuff (which, unfortunately, isn't cheap, but you only need a couple tubes to last a lifetime) it works great.
Chris Douglas

I use Windsor&Newton oil paints and Humbrol thinners and I find the result most pleasing. I apply my washes directly onto the acrylic paint or varnish and never had any problem. The finish is dead flat after just a few minutes. Usually, I make all the outside wheatering AFTER decalling, varnishing, etc I also use oil paint straight from the tube to make oil stains and pastels.
HTH Henri

I assume you are modeling aircraft, but this technique works on any subject. Brush on a coat of Future Floor Wax to protect your base color then wash the panel lines with Windsor and Newton oil paint thinned with turpenoid. Gently wipe with a clean cotton cloth or cotton bud leaving the wash in the recessed areas, let dry and finish with a coat of acrylic flat or gloss depending on the subject.
Gary Zuercher

I just used regular paint thinner. I also used those clear plastic film canisters to mix it in. I would use a small screwdriver and dipped it int the mix to get a small drop on it. Then I tap the side of the canister and watched the pigments ran off the side to determined if the mixture is correct. Make sure you use those clear or white canisters and not the black plastic ones form Kodak films
Yuk Kui Ng

Weathering freight cars:
Paint washes-
To start you need a large soft brush to sweep dust and lint off the car body.
Next give the car body 3 light coats of any brand of dull or flat finish to give the weathering materials something to hang onto, and it protects the surface of the car from the weathering material, just in case your not happy with the results and wish to remove it.
A rule of thumb is its best to weather light cars with dark colors, and dark cars with light colors, also always try to work under the same type of lighting conditions as the cars will be view on the layout.

For weathering cars with a grimy wash use a wide flat brush and flow the wash onto the car starting with the roof, then ends and sides of the car brushing in a downward stroke on the car sides and ends. Once you have the wash applied keep brushing the car body with the brush (but do not dip the brush into the wash material) following the direction you began in, until the wash starts to dry. Now set the car aside to finish drying, the dark colorwill settle into recesses and seams.

Dry Brushing-
For this method you will need a good stiff brush such as a inexpensive china-bristle "bright" from any craft store. Dip the brush about half way up the bristles into the paint color to be use, then brush out most of the paint onto a paper towel. If the brush is to dry no paint will come off, to wet the paint will streak. When the mixture is right the paint will highlight just the details that stick up

Chalk weathering-
Start by grinding your chalk to dust by rubbing it across course sand paper and saving the dust into a storage container. When using chalk use more that you think you'll need, after your finished spray a coat of dull coat, or any flat finish to lock the weathering material in, and good portion of the chalk will become invisible. If to much of the chalk vanishes apply another coat of chalk and flat finish and continue this way until the car looks the way you want it to.

Wash formula 1-part paint to 6 to 10 parts thinner, the more thinner the lighter the wash color

Projects:

Roof walks-
Start by flowing a wash of grimy black across the top of the roof walk but not going over the sides, allow this to dry for half an hour then dry brush Antique White keeping the white out of the depressions.

Trucks-
Remove the wheels from their frames and spray or brush the frames with Grimy Black. Then dry brush with dust, or rust and for roller bearing trucks touch the bearing above each wheel on the frame with Tucson or Oxide Red. For the wheels paint the inside of the wheel a dark color, very few wheels are a rust color these are usually new or wheel sets that have been sitting for some time.

Couplers-
Give these a touch or two of rust to make them stand out on the model.

Rust-
Rust on the roof of cars spreads outward going from dark (old rust) to a lighter rust color along the outer edges (new rust). Then when the car is rained on the rust washes down the side of the car making streaks these streaks can be formed by dry brushing the car side (making a small guide template from a scrap piece of plastic helps with this project, cut a small slot in the plastic going from top to bottom lay this against the car body to paint the car through the slot in the plastic) to help keep your brush strokes straight. Or you can spray the stains with an airbrush.

Mud splatters-
When you think your finished, then take some earth tone Dust or Dirt color paint and give the trucks, under frame and the lower foot or two of the body a quick spray or two to show grime thrown up on the car from normal service use.

Rust Spots-
Some times rust forms under the paint on car bodies then blisters through the paint forming spots along the body of the car. To model this dip a small piece of bare wire into your rust color of paint then touch this to the side of the car leaving small dots of rust on the car, next take a small stiff bush touch it to the car body above the rust spots and drag it downward through the paint spots, this will form rust streaks that look to be runningdown the car body from the main rust spots.

Spills-
For tank cars-gloss black straight from the bottle will make good fresh looking spills around the tank domes, Flat or Grimy Black will make old looking spills. For Covered Hoppers weather the car seems with earth tone washes, for grain cars brush on some yellow tone for grain dust, and for an added touch sprinkle a little ground foam in nooks and crannies of the roofs to look like seeds that have sprouted. Last those roof hatches mix and match them, paint them different colors so they look more realistic, when hatches get damaged most shops replace them with what's handy and what ever color they have or they may be unpainted

Weathered paint-
To make new paint look old and faded over spray a car with Reefer or Antique White. If you are painting a car and want the paint to look old add 1-part Reefer White to the mixture to fade the color.
Booker

The weathering technique that I love the most for wooden structures that have aged and peeling paint is the following:

Paint or stain the wood of the structure with a light grey color. Depending upon the extent of peeling paint, dab rubber cement randomly on effected areas. Let the cement dry and continue to paint the structure with the aged color that you desire. When the structure is dry, rub the rubber treated area. This will remove the painted rubber cement exposing the grey raw wood in random irregular patterns.

Continuation of weathering using powdered chalks helps to complete the illusion. I think I remember seeing this technique used on some peeling aluminum paint of some Railbox cars.
ED

As a sort of half way step toward real weathering you can do good things with spray paint. The unpainted parts of plastic kits (underbody, trucks and wheels) have an unrealistic plastic gloss to them. I spray a coat of flat gray paint (gray auto body primer works well) on the bottoms of all my cars. Mask the coupler pockets to prevent sticky coupler action. The trucks get a light coat of flat rust red (again, red auto body primer). Do the trucks lightly, just enough to kill the gloss and let a touch of the black plastic show thru. I mask the truck insides with tape to keep the paint out of the axle holes for smoother rolling. Then I brushpaint the plastic wheels grimy black, trying to keep the paint off the axle ends.
Cars with tarred canvas roofs (old clerestory roof passengers, wood express reefers and milk cars, wood cabeese) look nice after spraying the roof with dark gray auto body primer. I just finished painting my milk car roofs and it makes the entire train look less plasticy and more realistic
David Starr

Sweet and Sour Weathering Add one pad of 0000 steel wool to one pint bottle of household vinegar (5% acidity). Allow the mixture to sit for three to seven days.
While mixture is brewing don?t screw cap on too tightly as the mixture gives off small amounts of hydrogen gas that needs to escape to avoid breaking the bottle.
Use a plastic bottle instead of a glass bottle for safety.
Use a piece of glass longer than your longest piece of stripwood.
Dip a #6 or larger brush in the mixture and moisten the glass.
Place the stripwood onto the wet glass.
Make sure the wood is placed entirely in the wet area.
The glass and solution will create an adhesion that will help to eliminate any warpage that might be caused by wetting the wood.
Dip your brush in the mixture and liberally soak the wood.
Apply an extra amount to the ends of the strips.
Let the wood dry or if you are in a hurry, use a hair dryer set on the highest setting and begin to dry the wood. Continue drying the wood until it blows off the glass.
The wood surface not touching the glass will take on a light red tone.
The side of the wood next to the glass takes on a steel-gray appearance. If you want it red repeat the process with the steel-gray side away from the glass.
If you want a darker tone repeat the process as many times as you need.
To obtain a steel-gray appearance on both sides of the wood, place the wood into the solution and bring it to a boil on top of the stove.
After the solution comes to a boil, pour the mixture through a strainer into the bottle.
Allow the wood to cool and while it is still wet, place it on the glass to dry.
Don?t force it with the hair dryer.
Alternate method.
Precut wood to its final size.
Place the wood on the moistened glass.
Cover the wood with aluminum foil.
Smooth the foil over the wood to hold it in place.
Mark the foil with a soft lead pencil with the spacing you want for nail holes.
Use a straightedge and a rivet embossing tool and lightly run the row of nails along the aluminum foil.
Wet the top of the foil with the solution and apply the hair dryer.
After the solution has evaporated, peel back the foil and there will be a row of rusty nail holes on aged gray stripwood.
Alternate method 2
Instead of using a hair dryer, moisten a brush in hydrogen peroxide and spread it over the wood.
Instantly the reddish color normally produced by the hair dryer will appear.
Use caution as too much hydrogen peroxide will cause the color to run.
Jerry