Years ago I read an article somewhere about weathering plastic using multiple layers of paint ( wood color, then greay, then the final color) then you scrub the top layers with a fiberglas brush to simulate weathering. Does anyone remember this method, and what were the layers?
Second question - I have been out of the hobby for years and am trying to start over. The floquil/polly S paint issue is confusing. Can I paint enamel and acrylic coats on the same surface, assuming that it dries between coats?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
There are lots of methods. I like to paint and then over spray with dull-coat or a flat, clear spray. Then I use weathering powders, and finally another coat of dull-coat to seal it.
You can combine paint types as long as you let them dry.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/weathered_plastic/
RickriYears ago I read an article somewhere about weathering plastic using multiple layers of paint ( wood color, then greay, then the final color) then you scrub the top layers with a fiberglas brush to simulate weathering.
Don't know the article, but I scratch styrene first with a steel or brass brush (available at Harbor Freight) then paint. Usually I prime it and paint it the final color. Then I dry brush parts of it...a gray...a wood color.....a white if the final color isn't white.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
HO-Velo http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/weathered_plastic/
Thanks for visiting
Harold
Forgot to say: to the forum.
Coming back to MR after a couple of decades, I too found that Floquil and Poly S where not readily available. I think it was a mistake that I bought a hodge podge assortment of sovent and acrylic paints of various brands: Scale coat, Tru Scale, Model Master Acrylic and enamel, Valejo.
I wrote up something along those lines in my Frugal Modeler column in the NMRA Midwest Region "Waybill."
http://www.mwr-nmra.org/mwr2016/mwr-images/waybillfiles/waybill2017spring.pdf
I did paint a flatcar deck a tan, followed by a gray, and then wore away at the edges with a drywall screw and wore away at the top, with a stiff wire brush. At the end an alcohol/india ink mix was brushed on. What I wanted to capture was the silvery gray -- almost like driftwood - of a wood deck, but with some hint that deep gouges also dug into a bit of "fresh" wood. I also experimented with reversing the order of paint - gray first, THEN tan. And then the wear and india ink/alcohol. At best I guess it suggested a deck of a different age.
And on the prototype not all deck boards are the same age.
The main point is that wood flatcar decks really take a beating. And they are not painted the same color as the car, Athearn blue box kits to the contrary.
Dave Nelson
Oh, forgot my technique also works on wood.
A mix of wood and plastic:
Just plain wood:
One thing you may find helpful is to look on YouTube. Some of the videos show some really good techniques for weathering. It appears a lot of the guys are just using acrilic craft paint available anywhere for a very reasonable price. Earlier when Floquil and Scalcoat were readily avilable I used those products. These days if I'm just painting an engine black or coal cars or even boxcars I tend to use the big "rattle cans" available at any department store or hardware store.