Silver felt tip markers, applied to styrene "metal siding", does a very credible job of representing unpainted, galvanized corrugated sheet metal; particularly if you're careful to NOT apply it too evenly. You do want to use a lot; it's pretty shiny if applied in a very thin coat but gets less shiny where you apply more. Add appropriate weathering (grime, mud splatter near the ground, and maybe some rust where fasteners have rusted) to complete the job.
WARNING: Do not use India Ink in alcohol to weather your siding. The alcohol will remove the silver marker "paint".
ChuckAllen, TX
Hi Chuck,
do you have photos that you can share?
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
If you rat tail file/Dremel tool the lower inside edge in a ragged/uneven fashion, (thinning the lower edge from the inside), the corrugated sheet metal will look like the bottom edge is rusting away at ground level.
Oh and add a Ground Hog at a rotted out spot for effect.
The fastners as Chuck mentioned above could be nails or screws going through the sheet metal (causing a rusty hole in time) and would be fasten back in to the studs/bracing behind the sheet metal.
Also "Ok, who backed the grain truck into the side of the building and tore a gash in the metal sheeting?"
I don't have too many clapped-out structures on my layout, but recently added a service facility for my diesel-electric doodlebug. Both the pumphouse for the fuel and the combination office/lunchroom/workshop/parts storage buildings have corrugated steel roofs...
I used a combination of brushed-on paint and oil-based pastels to add some rust to the Campbell corrugated sheets, but no damaged or rusted-out areas.
Wayne
Nice Buildings Doctorwayne. There was something I used on ''PCBs, I do not remember if it was called ''Photo Etchant" or what from Radio Shack that would eat the metal on PCBs away?
At Train shows I look for the, IIRC, the Campbell Mine Building kits at a good price. The ones that have a lot of Corrugated metal in it.
Edit: Now I remember, It was Campbell sheets in flat wrapping (red and black). Campbell kits in red and black boxs and IIRC the corrugated metal was aluminum. The other one to look for was in a yellow box, "E. Suydam & Co.". In those kits, the sheet metal was steel. Thanks for clearing my head doctorwayne.
Thanks for your kind comment, PC101.
I've used the Campbell sheets on several structures - it was offered in a variety of lengths, from at least 6'(HO) to 12'. I have some 6' and 8' sheets, but quite a few of the 12' ones.
I use contact cement to install it, either on sheet styrene or styrene framing. I'd offer some more photos, but photobucket is currently down for maintenance.
If you want to severely weather corrugated siding, that etchant would probably do the trick.. another option might be acid flux, or even some Draino, although it might be wise to work outdoors and use some safety equipment, too.
Circuit board Etchtant has been a common method for extreme weathering of corrugated for many years.
I has a few drawbacks however: It is messy, the fumes are toxic, you must protect your skin and eyes and you can totally dissolve the metal pieces if they are left in the solution too long. The etching solution is nasty stuff.
The process does yield nice results but I prefer other methods similar to Dr. Waynes photos...
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
Hi Wayne,
I like your corrugated roofs. They look very realistic!
Too often corrugated roofs are modelled with the panels all out of alignment and with huge gaps and spaces. Many 'craftsman' kits are designed this way. I'm sorry, but that is just not realistic. Really old abandoned structures may have some material torn off, but the panels on the rest of the roof are still alligned properly just like when they were installed.
Another thing that gets my shorts in a knot is slapping a patch of corrugated panelling right over the existing roof without fitting it under the higher panels. It just doesn't work! The water will flow right underneath it. Roof panels overlap with the higher panel on top for a reason.
End of rant!
Chuck,
Thanks for the tip about the silver markers.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Northeastern makes some decent corrugated siding/roofing. I used a bunch of it on my Silverton Northern enginehouse.
I think I dry-brushed it with some gray, but mainly it was lots of Dullcote. I didn't want it akll rusty like it was more recently.
I've tended to use paper-imaged corrugated more recently, but still use Northeastern for smaller or more special projects. The roofing here is imaged shingles.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I built one of the grain elevator kits from Walther's Cornerstone.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
PC101 At Train shows I look for the, IIRC, the Campbell Mine Building kit at a good price. That one has a lot of Corrugated metal in it.
At Train shows I look for the, IIRC, the Campbell Mine Building kit at a good price. That one has a lot of Corrugated metal in it.
I was lucky enough to find a Campbell Silver Spur Mine on eBay ten years ago. It turned out pretty good both buildings are corrugated, lots and lots of corrugated metal in that kit.I built it up on a removable section along with a scratch built Mabry Mill. Both are animated, the elevator cable between the generator equipment building moves back and fourth over the pulleys at the mine and the water wheel turns at about 8 RPM on the mill.
Without the trees, I make the trees removable so I don’t ding stuff working around my structures.
These pictures were taken during construction ten years ago, they have weathered on their own since then. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I was finally able to get back into photobucket, so here are a few more examples of corrugated siding and roofing.
This coal dealer's business is named for a friend, and is one of my early forays into using the Campbell siding...
Here's a photo with the roof removed....
...and a look at the roof's framing...
This one dates back to the early '70s, with corrugated "metal" rendered in basswood...
...this is the real one...
It was an attempt at building a blast furnace, using blueprints of the real one, but I ran out of both money and space. The furnace and casthouse occupied almost 16 square feet, and the stock house, stoves, and precipitators/ baghouses, etc. would have more than doubled the space requirement.Over time, I dismantled it and scrapped most of it.
Later, I used some of the left-over basswood sheet to create the electrical equipment room and stairway to the overhead crane at the Lowbanks shop...
...also based on a very similar prototype.
This is the stockyard at Lowbanks, with the covered portion intended mostly for hogs...
The roof sheathing, on both the coal dealer and the hog pens, now looks a little too "loose" for my tastes, but chances of them being re-done are slim. The small structures which I posted earlier used the Campbell sheets as single pieces right across the roof (they're 55'(HO) long in the package, with various vertical lengths, and I used paint to "suggest" that those were individual panels, with some rusting along the exposed edges. The "rust" at the lower edges of each course is a combination of paint and oil-based pastels, both applied with a brush (not the same brush, of course).
The shorter Campbell sheets are also useful for fences, especially around small industries, and all of the Hoffentoth Bros. coal & ice dealers' locations have such fences...
The lettering was done with an airbrush, and a hand-cut stencil, which will be used when the next dealership opens on the partial upper level of the layout.