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Author Topic: weathering  (Read 5249 times)

Turbulent

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weathering
« on: December 26, 2006, 09:30:13 am »

Airbrush or Paint brush, which do you prefer, i combine the two but think Airbrush gives a better finish & reduces the in your face effect some weathering can give off.

I've also recently started using pastels for a more subtle finish on my subs

tigertiger

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Re: weathering
« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2006, 02:12:10 am »

Can anybody give advice on the 'how to' of weathering? ???
Or does anybody have any links to 'how to' articles. ???

I know nothing about weathering, and I wish to weather a wooden boat. So not much call for rust ::)

I have seen Tamiya weahering kits so I can get materials, but are there cheaper/better alternatives.

I am sure any advice would greatley recieved by others appart from 'moi'.
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White Ensign

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Re: weathering
« Reply #2 on: December 27, 2006, 10:46:19 am »

Weathering itself is an endless theme....- how to make is not easy to describe as it is something made by experience and how "weathered" you would get your boat. There are some basics which should not be ignored- I try to catch them for you.
First of all we have to imagine the following scene:

A ship just had a general refit and leaves now port for service. The weather is not too bad, but after some days there had been some rough seas and spray was coming over. The former glossing colour turned blind from the silverwhite "dust" of the salt- though it became matt with a little white/silver shadow. (This is the reason why I never paint my boats in gloss-colours, just matt or satin).

Due to the manoevres in the port it had some scratches on the hull and the seawater now starts to harm the steel under the scratched colours. It will start to rust. But depending on the ever streaming masses of water the rust will be washed away- though small dots of rust on the hull need to be "washed away" with a piece of a paper-towel.

Do you have open, unvovered whinches (i.e. at an old steamer), cover them under a film of "grease". In that case I use different black colours mixed up with brown. Also something very helpfull is the glass with the thinner where I use to wash out my brushes. After a whil there will be a  dark grey/brown/black mud- a colour which is undefinated. This is very good for having dirt on fittings, funnels, whinches- running down (washed away from sea and rain).

Important is, don´t use your colours straight- always thin them. Better too much thinner than a heavy colour.
Grab an old car from the toyshop or an old unwanted kit and make some tries before you go on your first boat.
Explanation is easier sad than done- experience educates.

And allways get some cotton buds beside you. Attached an sample of a steam whinch- hope it will be out of any help for you. If you have some questions- don`t hesitate and get in touch.

Jörg
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Colin Bishop

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Re: weathering
« Reply #3 on: December 27, 2006, 11:27:20 am »

That's definitely one greasy looking winch Jörg - very realistic!
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malcolmfrary

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Re: weathering
« Reply #4 on: December 27, 2006, 01:38:03 pm »

I'm with Jörg on this - the best basic materiel is your used thinners/brush cleaner.  I find the best way is to brush on generously, the wipe off, leaving a residue in the hard to get at places.  If it doesn't look weathered enough, you can always have another go, but it is almost impossible to remove when dry, so practice on something that doesn't matter, and take it a bit at a time.
When looking at the recent "WW!! in Colour" I noticed that very recent rust on submarine gun mounts was about lifeboat orange.  Applying very small whiskery streaks where fresh rust would be brings it all to life.
Going back to the original question, I am in favour of the brush - the airbrush is much more suited to producing a good "original" finish - the nature of weathering is more easily got by the hairy brush route.
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White Ensign

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Re: weathering
« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2006, 12:05:27 pm »

Airbrush is just good for areas which are "covered" (i.e.) with exhaust (like funnels, exhaust pipes) or spray. For the rest I use an set of old brushes an cotton.
If you want to make (i.e.) the rust around the anchor-hose, the often said steel chips are to big and corny. We have a grinding maschine in the workshop of my company. In it`s bed you will find a mixture of sand and very fine steel particles. I take them in a jaw with water and mix it up- then seperate the steel-particles with a magnet and dry them. On the next painting I spread them in the wet paint and let it dry. Once in the water you will find them "rusting out" of the paint and run down. Looks brilliant!

Jörg
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Turbulent

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Re: weathering
« Reply #6 on: December 31, 2006, 10:38:46 am »

A technique i use for Rust runs:

Pre wet the area with a mild  Screen wash solution - this will break the surface tension.

with a small brush or better an artists acrylic pencil apply colour to the top of the "run" For example an anchor housing.

the colour will run following the Plate lines etc.

But the best advice would be to buy a copy of Finescale modeller or similar, there are loads of tips on painting / weathering in this magazine every month.

White Ensign

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Re: weathering
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2007, 10:51:38 pm »

Turbulent- I am with you that there had been a pretty reports about weathering in nearly every magazine- but the weathering is depending on the type of boat and how long it was in service since the last refit. Next point: You need experience WHERE and WHAT kind of weathering is happening. This also needs some technical comprehension.
One of my shipmates, who served in the Royal Navy had made a report about that, as every commander would have serious problems if his boat was not in good condition, as the rust would harm the camouflage. Though they had been charged in their ability as commanders, depending on the appearance of their boats. So do the commanders of merchantman or passenger ships. Who wants to book in a ship which looks like a swimming scrap-yard?
On Navy-boats they always had stored white and black colour to mix up the grey for refurbishment due to leisure-times. Keeps the boat on good appearance and the seaman of from stupid activities (was his explanation).

Jörg
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gary r uk

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Re: weathering
« Reply #8 on: January 02, 2007, 08:54:10 am »

Guys
On my county class heavy cruiser HMS Cornwall 1/128 hull from fleetscale i pulled apart some wire wool and stuck it to the deck edge sprayed it with salt water and left it out over night for a week.
what fantastic results i then removed the wool from the deck taking care not to touch the rust i then spray sealed the hull with johnsons clear job done.
cheers
gary rowe
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bobdoc

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Re: weathering
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2007, 09:30:44 am »

Some real-life weathering in Macduff harbour this summer, from near to pristine to "well-done"

Bob
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polaris

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Re: weathering
« Reply #10 on: January 16, 2007, 07:21:46 pm »


Tiger, I can only state my experience, which, whilst not considerable, has at least been gained from 'experience' - albeit short!

I have a 1:96 Belfast that had lived in a loft (before I had her), for 8 or so years. This loft must have had a leaky extractor fan not far away, and there was some residue on the decks Fore of the Bridge section, and parts of the Bridge superstructure. There was only one way possible to remove same, and this was with some kind of 'thinner': however, not wanting to damage her matt paintwork, I choose Surgical Spirit as the more gentle medium, and proceeded to wash all affected areas with this, using an in turn procedure of washing off the Spirit with a warm Fairy Liquid 'wash'. This certainly worked to get rid of the 'deposits', and it did not damage the paintwork. Areas that were not affected by the deposit were washed down with the F.Liquid 'solution'.

This treatment has enhanced her look I feel, but it certainly helped with her having a matt finish (someone else has already mentioned this), and, together with her paintwork having had much time to 'settle', all in all she has a weathering that looks excellent... my only attention will be to seal everything with a satin 'varnish' - to enable a seal to the finish and to make keeping her clean in the future than much easier.

Hope this might be of use.

Regards, Bernard
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polaris

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Re: weathering
« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2007, 05:52:42 pm »


Tiger,

Just a note to add that I used a pastry brush to apply both the Surg.Spirit and the F.Liquid solution, and then 'hosed' down with fresh water between each application of both. I think what helped additionally was the 'stuff' that had to be cleaned off randomly 'stained' areas to varying degrees whilst in solution with the Surg.Spirit, and also the follow up soaping with the F.Liquid helped things along a bit as well. I am clearly lucky since what I have experienced (and the result), is by pure chance! Anyway, I hope this might be of use to someone!

Regards, Bernard
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White Ensign

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Re: weathering
« Reply #12 on: January 18, 2007, 10:10:45 am »

To me weathering is an art. Like all arts there are lots of books which explains the technics and how to use, but you need to have some tries on test-samples to get experience.
Though I think we just can give explanations about how we make it, but it won`t keep you off from having a try (how to mix the colour, which brush to use, when to wipe away, quantities of the colour a.s.o.).

Jörg
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