Sunday, July 7, 2013

Now With Added Grime

As I mentioned in the previous post, while I'm happy with how the factory has come together it was way too clean to represent a dark satanic mill, even if it is owned by S.A.Tan and Sons! This photo shows the current build up of grime that I've added to make the model a lot more realistic. I've used three different things to add the necessary muck.

Firstly I used an aerosol can of soot black from Modelmates to really darken down the roof and to take the shine off all the side walls. I've previously used their mud brown weathering spray to good effect and the soot black was equally useful. The only problem with using an aerosol can is that it can be difficult to direct accurately, so I applied it as a mist above the model allowing it to fall like rain. To make this a little more realistic I did this mostly from the position of the chimney so the directionality would be right.

Once I was happy with the soot, I then set about touching up small areas using a dark brown chalk. I've had a box of chalks for as long as I can remember (I have a feeling they might have belonged to my Dad) and I lightly scraped a little of chalk onto a piece of paper, from where I applied it with a paintbrush. I mostly focused on the sides of the roof which were still too clean until I was fairly happy with how it looked, although a few areas were still a little too clean. Fortunately at this point the post arrived. I've recently subscribed to the British Railway Modelling magazine and whilst the magazine hasn't arrived yet, my free gift has. The free gift was a set of Humbrol weathering powders so I attacked the building with some smoke and dark earth to give the final result you can see here, which I think looks a lot more realistic. Now I just have to get on with some landscaping to give it a proper home.

6 comments:

  1. Now that has iced the cake or grimed the mill beautifully.

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  2. Mark, I've been practising with graffiti fonts. If you ever decide to do a modern layout then let me know I ought to be able to write on the stone/brick work.

    When this one is finished you could make another layer above it....like a before and after.

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    Replies
    1. I do have a long term plan for a modern layout which, being set just outside Liverpool, would require an awful lot of graffiti! If I ever get to it I'll let you know; the graffiti on the van side was exceptionally well done!

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    2. I can do better. I'm just learning to forget the work arounds I had to do in Elements.
      I can make displacement maps but make them wrong. It is the least intuitive of filters in PS is distort. That is giving it high praise! The problem I have is that I have to rastorise type layers and then can't edit. It's why I'm spending an hour a day learning 3D. It is always editable. Even after it's rendered. I just give it a couple of minutes render and start all over. 3D will let one use 2D. Brilliant it is.
      There is a wee box that let's me customise blend modes...Blend IF! They call it. Makes sense to a graphics person. I hope! I found it, tried it and wasn't happy but I assume if I'm ever going to get my head around it I have to keep trying.
      I'm getting quicker if not better the truck took five minutes, ten if you include finding a free font and installing it. The Font is Zit. from Dafont.

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    3. Just in case anyone who is unfamiliar with fonts is reading this it comes as a solid colour. Or if one presses Caps Lock it just gives an outline. Pretty cool. A genius he was who designed it. Then one has to use layer styles to fill it in.

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  3. I'm getting better Adrian. I understood about 97% of the words and about 70% of the order they were in.

    Mark your attention to detail - the soot being directed from the chimney for example is just amazing. I always thought of myself as a detail person given the way I earned my crust but I'm coming to the conclusion that I was just a novice.

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