January 1, 2012

Here’s my next weathering victim, a Micro-trains MT 027 00 000 undecorated 50′ boxcar, that will receive a non prototypical treatment. The general goal is to loosely follow an SLR boxcar of the same style, giving it a heavier dose of wear, striving for what it might look like a few thousand miles from now. The starting point:

I recently picked up this helpful technique. Hot gluing a 1/4″ x 4″ dowel to the inside roof allows you to work without gloves, and still keep the model fingerprint free:

Next is the base coat, using Behr water based enamels available at Home Depot for about $3 per 8 ounces. This base purple is matched from a color swatch, “Weathervane”. A quick word about these water based enamels, as I just started airbrushing with them. Not only do they appear to be very durable, they will also breakdown (as needed) when massaged with 90% isopropyl alcohol. The better news is they will do so without producing the bleached result that’s associated with alcohol washes and acrylics, thus reducing the need for dusting it with Dullcote between each wash. This is key in smaller scales, because repeated  layers of Dullcote lessens the detail with each application:

Next is the salt masking technique, using kosher or sea salt instead of table salt. Standard iodized table salt is not usable because it’s cubed shape will mask unwanted squares instead of random circular patterns needed for rust pits. I crushed the salt to a finer grain, and picked off the unwanted larger grains and shapes for a more realistic look. The salt was locked into place by sharing time with the shell and a small humidifier inside my spray booth for about 5 minutes per side. The ends were moistened with a sponge and gently mashed into the salt, then manicure further when the salt was set:

The horizontal scratches are masked using a rubber latex “Colourless Art Masking Fluid” by Winsor & Newton. The nice feature of this product is it’s instant removability if you don’t like how it’s applied. You can also remove it without disturbing the surrounding scratches that you’re keeping. This is an enormous advantage, IMHO. It was applied using fine steel wool strands twisted to a point and held by clamp tweezers. You have to work quickly, and clean the wool applicator often, but the scratches you produce can be very  refined:

Final airbrushing for the body was a Behr waterbase enamel, matching Lowe’s swatch “Redstone Western Red”, with a drop of gray mixed in. The gray was a store returned custom enamel I picked up for $0.50. For this photo, I placed the lighting on a downward angle to better highlight the masking that has been applied:

I was going to salt mask the roof also, but decided to stipple instead. The same gray as above was used for the base roof color:

A warm water wash with a toothbrush and an eraser removes all the masking. The enamel really holds up well here, not scratching or flaking excessively when roughed up:

I examined the high res photos, found masking that I missed, and removed it after this photo was snapped…but this was very close to what I was trying to achieve, and I’m happy with the result:

The first layer of streaking was achieved by using two types of brushes, a fine point round sable brush and a 3/4″ soft flat brush. I dabbed burnt umber oil color on most of the individual rust pits, and streaked them with the 3/4″ soft flat brush by dipping it in mineral spirits, wiping the excess on a paper towel, and then pulling gently and slowly down the body. The ribs are helpful in keeping the brush steady and straight, and I was able to streak 3 panels with each pass. I’m using a bleeding technique for the door, which is achieved by applying the paint, then pooling the mineral spirits around each spot so that the pigment leaks mildly into the surrounding pool. Here’s the first of a handful of goes:

More to come as progress is made…

January 7, 2012 Update:

Some graffiti I’ve been working on: