I have several Walthers Cornerstone kits as well as some from DPM. It's time to start assembling them. Naturally I'd like them to look better than as they are right out of the box. I am not a skilled modeler and I don't see myself investing in an air brush and learning that skill. I am seeking suggestions on what other options I may have. Would it be best to paint everything with different canned sprays? What about Dullcote? I have read a bit regarding brushing away the sheen with chalks. Any and all advice is welcomed and appreciated.
I use flat matte finish spray paint from Krylon. Krylon Misty Gray Chalky Finish Spray Paint is a good color for cement tilt up buildings. It is a nice light gray and has a very slight texture to it. I used it on this scratch build warehouse (which has been converted into a church). For a good off white color I use Krylon Modern White ColorMaster Paint. I used it on this turn of the century Victorian farm house. For smaller areas like the rooftop I brush on a flat finish acrylic paint. I use Tamiya. Their paint sticks to styrene pretty well as it is designed for models. This color is called Deck Tan.
The Cornerstone kits are best painted before some of the assembly steps, although it depends on the particular kit.
For this station, I assembled the walls, then painted them (airbrush, but a spray can would work, too) and also airbrushed the doors, windows and some of the trim, before even cutting the parts from the sprues....
For this, it works well to mask the gluing surfaces before painting, as shown here for parts from another kit. This is primer on very dark green parts...
...and, after giving the same sprue a coat of white and removing the masking, which leaves the gluing surface free of paint...
The basic structure of the station, shown in the first photo, was rubbed with pre-mixed drywall mud to simulate mortar. After it dries (a few minutes) the excess is wiped off using a clean rag (work outdoors if you do this step, as it makes a lot of dust). The doors and windows can then be added and the balance of the kit assembled. Use liquid solvent-type cement for assembly, and touch-up any flaws using a brush.
Here's an example of the drywall mud process, Walther's Greatland Sugar re-done as a larger three-sided Tuckett's Tobacco Ltd. I assembled the main structure, then airbrushed it with Floquil Reefer orange...
...the drywall mud is applied with a rag over my fingertips...simply rub it on, working it into any details such as window sills, etc....
Here's the look after the excess has been wiped off...
After painting the foundation (masked and airbrushed) and window sills (brushwork) and adding the pre-painted windows and doors, the orange is toned-down considerably, and the structure needs only signs and a few details...
DPM buildings are handled somewhat differently. Some of them, especially the modular ones, have separate windows and doors, and they can be treated as the Cornerstone kits: assemble and paint the walls/roof, etc., and paint the doors and windows before installation. If you're doing mortar, add that before the doors and windows.This is DPM modular parts used to create National Grocers...
Most of the DPM structure kits represent smaller buildings, and consist of very few parts, as doors, windows, and trim are cast as one piece with the walls. Do take the time to prepare the walls, as outlined in the instructions, in order to get a good fit at the corners. Assemble the walls and add the roof, then paint in the desired colours (brick comes in many colours, and adding the drywall mortar or washes of thinned water-based paints can vary those colours even further). If you're airbrushing or using spray cans, mask where necessary, but not the doors and windows - it's even more work than later doing the doors and windows with a brush. You can add details like eavestrough and downspouts, chimneys, plumbing vents and roof access hatches, etc.Here are a couple of simple DPM structures done as described (many of mine are done as background structures, with the unseen sides replace with plain .060" sheet styrene. On my around-the-room layout, this allows me to represent the backs of structures on the near side of the street, and the fronts of those on the far side of the street using parts from the same one kit.).
The steps are from Central Valley, the porch railings and upstairs back door from either Tichy or Grandt Line, and the rest is strip styrene from Evergreen. It's seen below in it's intended, although as-yet unfinished, location...
All of the doors and trim were done using a brush, and most of the stair and porch detail done with an airbrush, before adding to the structure. As shown on the brick structure below, you can do multiple colours on the door and window trim, too - take your time, this isn't a race, and you'll become more proficient with practice....
Wayne
I think you have to paint all the kits, otherwise your buidling looks like everyone elses, and it looks like it just came out of the box.
I've used both an airbrush and spray cans. On this one I masked and used an airbrush for both colors.
I will just use a rattle can, Krylon or Rustoleum for a brick building. I use a dilute white acrylic wash for the motar. That kills the shine too. I am just starting to use pan pastels. It's not really clear to me how these are different than chalks.
Definitely more than one color of chalk or weathering (airbrush for me, at least in the past) is more realistic.
Here is a link to some excellent DPM kit bashing to give you inspiration.
div8.ncr-nmra.org/nav/files/dpm.pdf
Be aware that Dulkote will frost your window glazing.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I have used rattle cans, untill the wife started having issues with the smell.I still use some but must be at least 50ft from the house .
I now usr craft paints from wally world, 50cents each. I have brushed and used those make up sponges
I did get an air brush,still learning. But the sponges do most of the painting.
Sometimes a coat of dullcoat or like product and a ink wash is all you need
These two buildings are basically the same kit with different details. The one on the left was molded in gray plastic, so I sprayed it with Rustoleum red primer. The one on the right was molded in a brick color. Both were treated to a wash of off-white acrylic paint to represent mortar, then sprayed with clear flat. I'm looking to find 2 or 3 more colors to represent different shades of brick.
Don't be afraid to expand your modeling skills. You'll never grow as a modeler if you don't try new techniques.
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
Rattle can them. For windows and stuff I use painters tape doubled over and stuck on a paint stick and stick the windows to the tape and rattle can those in a contrasting color.
I don't know that I would have the patience to do this on Doc Wayne's warehouse, but on a small brick structure, you could spray it gray and dry brush the brick color.
I paint the main walls with rattle-can spray paint, before assembly. I use blue painters' tape to mask it, both the parts I don't want painted and the corner joints where the glue needs to adhere to the plastic. This is a Walthers Merchants Row kit. The front wall comes out of the box as one long piece, so I had several cycles of mask-and-spray. I finished the details with acrylic craft paint applied with a small brush.
These are nice kits. They put a lot into creating the molds, so I like to "honor" the craftsmen who made them by taking my time to enhance the model. I added interior walls and floors from foam board, and printed floor and wall textures on my computer. I put a number of lights inside as well.
The Venetian blinds and window shades are from City Classics. I added Walthers wall lamps to the face. The bicycles are from Gold Medal models. Hi-Tech Details made the parking meters.
Don't neglect the roof. This is a detail many modelers overlook. Kit's typically have no roof detail, and few have anything on the inside of the walls which show as a few scale feet of parapet above the flat roof itself.
Again, here's the Merchants Row model:
I usually replace the plastic kit roof with a piece of foam board. It's thicker and interior lighting won't glow through, and seals better with the walls around the edge. I spray it, again, before assembly, with Rustoleum Textured Speckled black paint, which gives a nice asphalt-like color and a rough surface that does not reflect light.
I also do something about those unfinished inside walls at the roof level. I cut strips of brick sheet, usually 3 brick layers high, and glue those to the insides. It makes a nice touch.
When I build a typical four-walls-and-a-roof structure kit, I spend about a month getting it the way I want. I spent a couple of weeks on the front wall of this City Classics kit. Once I had the base color sprayed on, the rest was done bit-by-bit with acrylics and a tiny brush. I could only work for half an hour or so before my eyes and fingers grew unsteady, but there's no schedule, no time limit and no deadline. Take your time and you will be rewarded.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
It is true that a simple application of DullCote (rattle can) can at least take away the "this is just colored plastic" waxy look from a Walthers structure kit, followed by a wash of india ink and isopropyl alcohol to highlight details. -- just as it can with a low level trainset freight car that isn't painted at all, just cast in colored plastic (i.e., some of the worst Tycos). Of course as noted above that still means your structure is the same color as everyone else's, but maybe you like the colors.
I advise the Dullcote approach before assembly if that is the route you elect. You do not want DullCote on your window "glass"
Dave Nelson
Great photos and great work. Thank you everyone. Now I am anxious to try these techniques.
BigDaddyI don't know that I would have the patience to do this on Doc Wayne's warehouse, but on a small brick structure, you could spray it gray and dry brush the brick color.
I actually used that method on this modified Walthers factory...
...but you're right: it can get a bit tedious with such a large area to be done.
TooTall606 I have several Walthers Cornerstone kits as well as some from DPM. It's time to start assembling them. Naturally I'd like them to look better than as they are right out of the box. I am not a skilled modeler and I don't see myself investing in an air brush and learning that skill. I am seeking suggestions on what other options I may have. Would it be best to paint everything with different canned sprays? What about Dullcote? I have read a bit regarding brushing away the sheen with chalks. Any and all advice is welcomed and appreciated.
I don't detail the brick walls with any form of weathering.
Rich
Alton Junction
I paint all structure kits with rattle can paints while the parts are still on the sprue. It helps me to paint trim other details different colors from the main body.
The problem is that the paint weakens the bond between the parts when guing them together, since the glue is sticking to the paint moreso than creating a bond between the plasitcs.
I will slightly sand the 45 degree edges of the main walls and major parts to remove the paint, but find this too tedious to do for the smaller parts. I just glue them on to the stucutre paint and all. Once in a while I'll have a few windows pop out if I mishandle the structure, but the bond is usually strong enough to not matter in most cases. If so, just re-glue it.
Kits with molded in windows and details receive rattle can paint or brush paint around the trim areas first, then I paint the brick or wood walls the main color using a chisel end brush. With brick, I always use a grey wash for the mortar details.
- Douglas
Doughless I paint all structure kits with rattle can paints while the parts are still on the sprue. It helps me to separate trim pieces and other details from the main body. The problem is that the paint weakens the bond between the parts when guing them together, since the glue is sticking to the paint moreso than creating a bond between the plasitcs. I will slightly sand the 45 degree edges of the main walls and major parts to remove the paint, but find this too tedious to do for the smaller parts. I just glue them on to the stucutre paint and all. Once in a while I'll have a few windows pop out if I mishandle the structure, but the bond is usually strong enough to not matter in most cases. If so, just re-glue it. Kits with molded in windows and details receive rattle can paint or brush paint around the trim areas first, then I paint the brick or wood walls the main color using a chisel end brush. With brick, I always use a grey wash for the mortar details.
I paint all structure kits with rattle can paints while the parts are still on the sprue. It helps me to separate trim pieces and other details from the main body.
Consider building subassemblies of the parts before painting them.
DoughlessThe problem is that the paint weakens the bond between the parts when guing them together, since the glue is sticking to the paint moreso than creating a bond between the plasitcs.
I've never had much luck depending on the thin edges of a wall-to-wall corner joint to hold together with just glue, even when I mask the insides of the corners to keep paint off. Instead, I cut pieces of square balsa wood strips and glue them to the inside corners with CA.
This method provides much more surface area for the glue bond, and the balsa strips in the corners prevent light-leaks if the building is illuminated from the inside. I do the same thing for the roofline.
TooTall606 I am not a skilled modeler and I don't see myself investing in an air brush and learning that skill.
TooTall606Would it be best to paint everything with different canned sprays?
Please be aware that using the canned sprays is not as easy as some make it out to be, especially for the beginner. This is because there is very little control over how the spray comes out of the can, and you can end up with a mess if not careful. I'd suggest that you try spraying some unimportant items initially to get some practice before spraying your first finished structure.
Start spraying before you get to the item you are painting and then slowly move across the item, not stopping until you have completely passed it. Also don’t try to cover it in one stoke. Use three or four light passes instead. Let it dry for a day and if you have to touch it up do it again with light passes.
MisterBeasley Doughless The problem is that the paint weakens the bond between the parts when guing them together, since the glue is sticking to the paint moreso than creating a bond between the plasitcs. I've never had much luck depending on the thin edges of a wall-to-wall corner joint to hold together with just glue, even when I mask the insides of the corners to keep paint off. Instead, I cut pieces of square balsa wood strips and glue them to the inside corners with CA. This method provides much more surface area for the glue bond, and the balsa strips in the corners prevent light-leaks if the building is illuminated from the inside. I do the same thing for the roofline.
Doughless The problem is that the paint weakens the bond between the parts when guing them together, since the glue is sticking to the paint moreso than creating a bond between the plasitcs.
Nice building.
Keep in mind I don't purposely paint the edges of the main body, so light sanding is all that's required to knock off what paint is there. I agree with your suggestion, I just never have had many problems.
Windows tend to have excessive overspray. I could scrape them, but that's time consuming and gluing them seems to hold up fine except only on a few occasions.
Styrene models all want paint. Even if the styrene is the right color, it has a plasticy gloss that just shrieks "I AM PURE PLASTIC". Which kinda breaks the "willing suspension of disbelief" for models of red brick buildings or rail cars or just about anything. The yellow building below came from a train show, in a yellow brick color which I don't like much, red brick is much handsomer. I took the photo in sunlight on my deck just before painting it with a rattle can.
Here is same building, on the layout, after a coat of Krylon or Rustoleum red auto primer from a rattle can. I could have given the walls a wash of light gray to simulate mortar, but I didn't bother. A lot of old time masons mixed some red brick dust into the mortar to match it to the brick. The roofs are painted with dark gray auto primer, also from a rattle can. The roof flashing and water tower were brush painted with a light gray Floquil to look like galvanised iron or aluminum flashing.
I did the usual surface prep, wash in hot soapy water, followed by a rinse, and a good long dry (overnight or better). Don't touch the model with your bare hands after the rinse, it will leave fingerprints that can show thru the paint. The auto primer's dry good and flat, no need for DullCote.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
DoughlessNice building. I agree with your suggestion, I just never have had many problems. Windows tend to have excessive overspray. I could scrape them, but that's time consuming and gluing them seems to hold up fine except only on a few occasions.
Thanks. This is how it ended up. The fire escapes from Walthers add a lot to large brick walls with windows.
This is made with DPM modular sections. They match pretty well with Walthers brick sheet for more bashing possibilities. I use canopy cement to install my windows, so even if I get sloppy it dries clear, and it can be picked off easily with a wood toothpick if you're careless and have excess glue on the windows.
Yeah, those DPM modulars are great to work with. I always find a need to scrape them against flat sandpaper a few times to remove nubbies from the tops and bottoms so they'll glue flattly.
On a building that size with all of the separate little brick pilasters and cornices (sold separately), and the windows molded in, I'd assemble the walls first, rattle can it with Krylon red primer, then hand paint the windows and trim, install the glass, then put the walls together.
Different techniques for different buildings. But each almost always involves a rattle can.