I'm struggling to come up with the right color for concrete. I'm not that pleased with Polyscales aged concrete, it looks too something (I can't put my finger on it) and I'm not crazy about the 'regular' concrete offerings from companies. I know the color probably varies from section to section of the country, I'm in the southeast and most of the concrete I see is a light greyish but on the warm side more than a cool color.
Do you have a favorite, one you buy ready made or that you mix yourself? If so what's the brand/recipe and a photo would help also.
Thanks,
Jarrell
Jarrell,
I use Polyscale Concrete which looks about right, at least for the Midwest.
In my opinion, the Aged Concrete looks like wet concrete, before it has dried and cured.
Rich
Alton Junction
I take white acrylic, Jarrell, add a smidgen of black (1 part black to 10 parts white), and add a half-smidgen of 'tan' to it. Mix well, and paint your surface that hopefully has some detail on it...raises and depressions, expansion gaps as you would see in poured concrete...that type of thing, maybe some wood form lines.
It won't look right, especially under some lighting. From there, thin white or grey washes, or spritz with some light India Ink weathering wash. Also, some older concrete has that dark streaking on it, sort of from oxidized leaves rotting in the spring after the snow melts and the stains run over abutments or steps. Eventually it leaves blackish smudges that run down like rust stains do on girders.
I didn't weather this abutment, but here is is in direct sunlight two summers ago. The plastic abutments were kitbashed from parts of an unused Modern Coaling Tower from Walthers. I cut them to shape, glued them, and painted with with the mix described above. The only weathering in this case was some acrylic paint 'rust' streaks from runoff from the bridge shoes.
Crandell
Jarrell ... For building kits molded in gray plastic, I spray for a rattle can with Rust-oleum Camouflage 1917 Khaki. That is the color on my Union Station and some of my downtown buildings. I also used it on my plastic models of concrete bridges. If you look at my city thread, you can see what I did.
For streets, I use latex paint mixed by the hardware store guy for me, and it is gray color. I weather with acrylic paint.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
When I was building the cat house, I had a similar problem. I broke off a piece of concrete and brought it to the hardware store and said "here, match this."
Well, even that is not a perfect match, but if you look more closely, you will see that there are many colors in the concrete, while there is only one in the paint. Anyway, the cat did not object to the color that I used.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Lion (and a few others) are absolutely correct. Concrete is not a color, and therefore no concrete color paint will look right. concrete is a group of different colors all right next to each other... I find it to be one of the hardest things to get right in the hobby.
I generally use a light gray as a starting color and then lightly mist two or three darker greys from a distance onto the model. The key here is lightly, as you want small specs of the other colors. I have also started with dark grey and then used lighter greys as contrast. A small amount of weathering powders in appropriate colors can also help. Another point is that I have never seen two batches of concrete that look exactly alike. Contrast is a good thing.
I tried to find some photos I know I have somewhere of the concrete I have done, but the best I could come up with are the concrete steps at the Bed and Breakfast.
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Thank you all for the help and the pictures. I know what you mean when you say concrete is not one color, and that is the problem. I was looking closely at my driveway just today in bright sun and I saw at least 3 or 4 major colors and a host of smaller ones What I'm currently working on is Walther's Cornerstone Concrete Street system and it is right up front on the layout and about chest high. I spray painted it a color that looks very similar to aged concrete but I'm not happy with it because it just doesn't look right to me. I found one of those plastic bottles of, I think the name is SmoothCoat at Hobby Lobby and while it looked to be just the right shade of light gray in the store when I tried it on a spare piece it's just too much on the blue side.
I'm beginning to think the secret is in getting as close as you can with a base color and the weathering makes the final difference.
This has been the hardest color for me to come up with in all my model painting.
Hi Jarrell
Like you I also had trouble finding a concrete paint color I liked. I found a Testor's Model Master that I liked, Flat Gull Grey. Testors paint number FS 36440. Its sold both in the bottle and in the rattle can.
In the pic, if you look past the substation and at the power plant itself you will see the Testors. Take a close look at the lentils on the structure. Oh and the concrete pads in the substation are Flat Gull Grey as well.
Good Luck, Derek
Concrete like asphalt varies in color based on a number of factors. Fresh, modern day concrete is mostly gray. Older and weathered concrete tends to show more of the color of the sand/aggregate that was used in the mix. I look at many of the sidewalks and bridges I knew as a kid in St. Louis and the coarse orangish/brown sand on the surface is hardly concrete colored at all. Likewise, concrete made with a red aggregate has a redish hew as it weathers. So, I guess the answer to the post is depends on location, era, new or old concrete, and how it was finished (aggregate at surface or covered with a thin layer of cement cream.
Given that it's so variable, I doubt there's any one colour that would keep everyone happy.
I like to use Jo Sonja's acrylic colour 'Linen' as my base colour. Here's some neat, alongside a bit of white foamboard to give you an idea of the colour, and also mixed with black.
In some places I've added a speck of raw sienna or red or even blue to it. For my purposes, it's a great starting point, and can look good straight from the bottle as well.
Mike
Modelling the UK in 00, and New England - MEC, B&M, D&H and Guilford - in H0
When I was in my teens in the late '70s, I used to build a lot of airplane models (and some armor.) I'd often build dioramas for them. For concrete I tried painting it a light grayish/tan color. Then I laid some newspaper on the floor and placed the concrete parts on it. I held a can of reddish/brown spray paint about 3 or 4 feet above the parts and gave a couple of quick bursts, letting the paint particles float down onto the parts and giving it a speckled look. It looked pretty good.
Steve S
Most concrete paint color is too gray. Look at sidewalks around where you live. You'll see that they are not gray. What happens is that the sun bleaches it much lighter, and the sand in the mix starts to wear through the top. What you need to do is paint a light gray color and than apply a highly thinned wash of a tan/beige paint on top of the gray.
On my N Scale Landstar Elevator I used Polly Scale CSX Tan and Polly Scale Aged White.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
aged concrete as a base coat, with lots of color washes applied
jacon12 I know what you mean when you say concrete is not one color, and that is the problem. I'm beginning to think the secret is in getting as close as you can with a base color and the weathering makes the final difference. This has been the hardest color for me to come up with in all my model painting. Jarrell
I know what you mean when you say concrete is not one color, and that is the problem.
The thing is, though, when the concrete is on the layout, who really challenges its color. Everyone who looks at it knows that it is concrete.
Rich, you're right. I have smaller parking lots and work areas around buildings that are concrete. See photo below.
I did these in 'aged concrete' and weathered to taste. No visitor has ever said anything about them not looking exactly right. In fact the only comment I've heard about it at all was from a visitor (not modeler) that was a little amazed that it was painted styrene.
Hi,
This issue came up about 3 years ago when I was building the cornerstone coaling tower. I've got a number of concrete paints, from Pollyscale, Floquil, Testors, etc., and used them all alone or in combination.
The thing is, concrete is not a single color. Like dirt, rocks, grass, sky, and so on, the color can vary greatly. I find that there are two basic shades, however - grey and brown. Note that these are very faint shades of course. Some feel that concrete - ususally fresh - has a green tint, and I can't argue with that.
What it comes down to is for you to experiment and perhaps mix your own. I ended up doing that, for I just wasn't comfortable with what colors came out of the bottle. Soooo, play around with the colors and soon you will get to what works for you.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Joe Staten Island West
Jarrell, I agree with you that concrete is a hard color to model due to so many variables. I've found that Polyscale's aged concrete color varies from one batch to another. The first bottle I bought was too orange. The next one was better. I've mixed some sand color to aged concrete, and weathering it seems to help, too. DJ.
Real concrete pad or right, styrene painted on left.
Painted styrene.
Grampy, those bottom three photos show the color I'm trying to achieve. To me personally that looks like concrete. Are those painted with the sand/aged concrete mix?
You know, all this reminds me of getting dressed to go to some formal occasion with my wife. I learned long ago to, after getting every thing together, the shirt, tie, pants socks etc. to ask her if it all goes together. Invariably she'll change one of them and say something about 'you must be a little color blind'.
Thanks for the photos and information!
Jarrell, I believe I used recently purchased aged concrete with a wash of alcohol/India ink. DJ.
I use various colors for concrete. One of my favorites is Testors "Camouflage Gray" from their Model Master military paints. It has a brownish cast.
These styrene abutments were painted Testors Camouflage Gray, and have not been weathered.
The abutments and concrete piers under this steel trestle were painted the same color, but have since been weathered.
The silos at left were painted with something I picked up at Hobby Lobby or Michael's with their selection of spray cans. It was called "Stone Gray" and may have been from Design Master. It's a bit darker than the Testors color but also useful.
Scroll throuigh Lance Mindheim's site for techniques on building roads from stryrene. He uses various spray cans for asphalt and concrete and the results are quite convincing http://www.lancemindheim.com/progress_photos.htm .
Rob Spangler
Of course you can just use any color and say it is dyed concrete. Many people don't see it but many times electrical lines are buried using red concrete so if somebody digs it up they know they have found something bad.
I also remember when I was at Ohio State they placed new walks next to the old brick and died the concrete to match.
Rick J
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
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Thats correct I was walking around here (Lower Manhattan) looking at the sidewalks during lunch today, there was so much color variation that I can safely say only one rule applies vary your colors fromsection to section.
You say "potahto...." So many options, so little time!
I'm addressing the same issue as I try to optimize rock colors for my PA shortline--shades of gray which pose a similar challenge to reproducing concrete (which comes next). You might have a similar image, but here's a picture I took of a fresh concrete foundation to use as a guide for my turntable pit:
I also found this reference for reproducing gray in its many shades with artists acrylics:
http://lindacsmith.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-mix-grays-with-acrylic-paints
I just started to look through it, but my gut feel is that it'll be helpful.
Here's where I am so far in creating my rock:
I recognize this is a bit tangential, as I'm working with rocks and you're working with concrete. But it seems to me there's a lot of overlap, and hopefully this will be helpful.
Rick Krall
Had this same problem a year or so ago, got so upset I just started dabbing different colors on, got the look I was after but had to do a lot so I needed a formula. I started with a concrete color, then AI , then added some brown to the concrete color and dabbed it randomly, did the same with white and black plus concrete (not much black), AI and then random highlights dabbed of white and concrete mix with very little paint on the brush, dry brushing but with dabs. Experiment with some scrap first.
Hi Jarrell:
I'm just getting back into structures and have tried several colors for concrete.I stared with Rustoleum Camouflage tan as a base. Next I painted in streaks of Acrylic craft paint from Michaels; Craft Smart Suede. Last I went over with a large make-up brush with black power.
Wayne
Nice 'crete, Jarrell and Grampy.
I truly appreciate all the replies and pictures. I guess I wouldn't worry so much about this particular painting job except for where it's located. I mean....., this street is right UP FRONT and about chest high on a man. If it were over in the back in a hard to see area I would probably have already painted it 'close enough'
jacon12 I truly appreciate all the replies and pictures. I guess I wouldn't worry so much about this particular painting job except for where it's located. I mean....., this street is right UP FRONT and about chest high on a man. If it were over in the back in a hard to see area I would probably have already painted it 'close enough' Jarrell
Well, then, we obviously can't put your mind at ease. Your only alternative, in that case, is to experiment until you find the right color of concrete to suit your mind's eye.