With out Airbrushes.

[berlingo]

Hello everyone,

I'm a beginner to weather Model trains and buildings, but i still have no airbrush at this time.

First i tried with paint brushes and poster colors, it's ok, but the plastic kit's surface is quite greasy. it's hard to glaze, look unnatural,too.

Does anyone use another methods or any equipments instead of using aibrushes?

 

Thank you very much. 

[Railphotog]

You can use weathering powders - not powders and not chalk, as they work better.  Wash off the car body first and let it air dry.  Spray it with Testors Dul Cote from a can.  When dry, do the weathering with the powders.  Less is more, don't overdo.  Weathering powders come with dry adhesive built in, and is activated by rubbing on the powder.   Some might still come off on your hands, and if this is a problem, spray the car again with the Dull Cote.   Powders come in sets of four for around $10.00, the Dull Cote is around $5.00 a can.

You can also make a solution using the powders and alcohol, and apply it with a brush.  This gives a heavier weathering effect and should be tested on an old model first.  Great to take the shine off trucks and underframes.

 

 

[dknelson]

Well first of all the surfaces of any model to be painted or weathered have to be clean(ed).

Chalks and Dullcoat can be effective.  I find the chalks adhere better to a rough surface so sometimes Dullcoat thoroughly dried, THEN chalks, then more Dullcoat is good.  Be aware that the dullcoat will make some of the chalk go away so "over chalk."   Practice on an old car.  I have also used stick charcoal (from an artist supply shop) brushed with an old toothbrush and sealed with Dullcoat for weathering the oil stain in the center of a road.  However if you use sharpies to create the tar seals on your roads, Dullcoat will make the sharpie lines run.

While you are in an art supply shop, note that there are spray fixitives other than Dull Coat that might be worth exploring.  And if you use chalks or charcoal, also take a look at the stumps and tortillons -- sort of a pencil made entirely of tightly wrapped paper that can be used to scratch softly.    http://www.dickblick.com/itemgroups-t/tortillons/

I have had good luck using spray cans of Ultra-Flat Camouflage colors from Krylon -- such as 8141 Khaki, 4293 Olive (very similar to Floquil grimy black), and 8142 Brown.  Holding a color in each hand I alternate with light bursts and move them quickly around the surface.  If done right you get the feathered look possible with an airbrush but obviously with far less control.  Practice on an old car or  block of wood first to get the feel of the idea.  I have had particular good luck getting streets and sidewalks using this technique.  I also use it to weather my flex track.  I do all painting outdoors.  Also shake the cans thoroughly-- no less than a minute and a full two minutes is best -- to avoid getting blurps of paint.  And yes, hold the cans upside down and spray to clean the heads out when you are done.

Another technique using spray cans is to aim the paint at a piece of cardstock and let the paint "bounce" onto the model.  It is possible to get light weathering on freight car trucks and underbodies this way.  Again, practice makes perfect. 

You might also want to explore what is possible with the Testors/Floquil weathering sticks -- paint sticks.  They have 3 sets of three sticks: structures, earth tones, and track colors.  But no law says they have to be used for those purposes.

Nothing beats an airbrush I guess but the prep and cleanup is such a pain in the patootie that I am always looking for alternatives that come close to the results.

Dave Nelson

 

 

[Dallas Model Works]

Wash the plastic first with warm water and dish soap -- it's probably got mold release and fingerprint grease all over it.

You can use spray paint as well if you mask first.

[mikelhh]

 Yes Dave - the artists' fixative sprays are good. I've used some on my scratchbuilt station building to seal in the powdered pastel.  The spray will cloud plastic glazing though.

 All paint was applied with a brush. I don't have an airbrush. 

 

 

 Mike 

[berlingo]

Hello everyone,

Thank you very much for pointing me out that there are so many ways to manage those things, i'll be starting these all techniques and when they will be finished.

I'll coming back for the result again. 

[dr.bones]

I have done weathering in a way that maybe is a little easy;

after applying decals i seal the decals in with a floor wax, then with a dab of artist's acrylics  diluted in mineral spirits i either do a wet brushing leaving the entire amount on my paint brush, or dry brushing the areas that i think would be affected by weathering, main colors that i use are umber, burnt umber, asphalt, black, white, ocre,  or what ever color that i think would appear.  people have seen that and say that it looks good, then after i seal them with dull coat, also if i want the really dirty look i have even used sand and sprinkle it on into crevices and brush off excessive amounts. Chalks while they do a great job i don't like having all the dust that is supposed to be on my model end up everywhere but on the model as soon as i can i will post some of the work that i have done on my geeps. it's a learning process though.

[bogp40]

 Yes Dave - the artists' fixative sprays are good. I've used some on my scratchbuilt station building to seal in the powdered pastel.  The spray will cloud plastic glazing though.

 All paint was applied with a brush. I don't have an airbrush. 

 

 

 Mike 

Mike,

Great work on the brick/ morter. I especially like the added, lighter grout where repair and apparant repointing took place.

[jacon12]

Mike, this is great.  I've seen many an old brick wall that looks like this.  Thanks for posting the photo.

Jarrell

 

 Yes Dave - the artists' fixative sprays are good. I've used some on my scratchbuilt station building to seal in the powdered pastel.  The spray will cloud plastic glazing though.

 All paint was applied with a brush. I don't have an airbrush. 

 

 

 Mike 

[berlingo]

Since i've requested some suggestions about the weathering and found some post with an old brick, reminding me some old pix that have been taking for quite long.

This one was painted in many layers, an original was very shinny. So i'd been painting many times,many colors until i found myself very disappointed to what i'd done.

But, the colors i used were all water resist. I had no way out to wash it, so i used a toothbrush to rub off, then i saw a difference shade of colors,  i told myself ( at least it looked better than previous job i just had done. ) Unexpected work.

It supposed to be a new one, but it became a very old .

 

[berlingo]

I'm sorry.

I try again.

http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee67/bertaxm/ 

[AntonioFP45]

Here, this might help.  Now you can click on each link.

I'm sorry.

I try again.

http://http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee67/bertaxm/NScaleWeathering1.jpg

http://http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee67/bertaxm/NScaleWeathering2.jpg

http://http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee67/bertaxm/NScaleWeathering3.jpg