First, I'm not an expert at painting, let's get that out of the way from the beginning. An expert at runs, sags, thin spots and brush marks, maybe. But I kind of stumbled onto a process that can cover a lot of mistakes, and actually doesn't look half bad (to me at least). Let me walk you through it and see if it won't possibly work for some of you as well....
Here we have the 'freshly outshopped' (painted) model. Yes, the colors are a bit bright. My "weathering" process will mute them considerably, subtler colors and differences at this point would just be lost on the final result.
Next, add your rust, lime, drips, etc.... Again, be BOLD with the colors. Now is also when you'll want to put on any decals.
Make sure to mask off everything you DON'T want weathered. Index cards are great for larger areas...
It's also much easier to mask the window openings by simply sticking tape to the inside without the 'glass' in place.
To actually do the weathering you'll need 3 basic colors of spray bombs (aerosol cans). Flat brown, flat grey, and flat black. A flat beige/almond is handy too, if you have it. I usually just use the cheapest primer colors I can find. Remember to think of what direction nature puts on the real crud from. Dust and mud is kicked up by the wheels from below. Soot and ash fall from above - heaviest closest to the stack, lighter as it gets further away....
First color on is the brown. You aren't trying to paint, all you want to do is dust everything with a bit of overspray. Standing back about two feet and moving fast with short bursts gets the best results. Go lightly, it's easier to add more than try to undo too much.
Next on is grey. Again, just dust it...
Third on is the black. Fourth (if you use it) is the almond. Go back and add more of each color if needed. If you get real close it looks speckled and ugly, but from 3 feet away everything blends together, just like black dots on white paper make up a newsprint photo. Now you can reinstall figures and windows. You'll end up with something like this.
More projects weathered with the same basic process, you can vary the proportions and order of application to get different effects.
Thanks for looking!
Here we have the 'freshly outshopped' (painted) model. Yes, the colors are a bit bright. My "weathering" process will mute them considerably, subtler colors and differences at this point would just be lost on the final result.
Next, add your rust, lime, drips, etc.... Again, be BOLD with the colors. Now is also when you'll want to put on any decals.
Make sure to mask off everything you DON'T want weathered. Index cards are great for larger areas...
It's also much easier to mask the window openings by simply sticking tape to the inside without the 'glass' in place.
To actually do the weathering you'll need 3 basic colors of spray bombs (aerosol cans). Flat brown, flat grey, and flat black. A flat beige/almond is handy too, if you have it. I usually just use the cheapest primer colors I can find. Remember to think of what direction nature puts on the real crud from. Dust and mud is kicked up by the wheels from below. Soot and ash fall from above - heaviest closest to the stack, lighter as it gets further away....
First color on is the brown. You aren't trying to paint, all you want to do is dust everything with a bit of overspray. Standing back about two feet and moving fast with short bursts gets the best results. Go lightly, it's easier to add more than try to undo too much.
Next on is grey. Again, just dust it...
Third on is the black. Fourth (if you use it) is the almond. Go back and add more of each color if needed. If you get real close it looks speckled and ugly, but from 3 feet away everything blends together, just like black dots on white paper make up a newsprint photo. Now you can reinstall figures and windows. You'll end up with something like this.
More projects weathered with the same basic process, you can vary the proportions and order of application to get different effects.
Thanks for looking!
