Just Rust: Take 2

On reflection, and given the very helpful and constructive criticism from Paul and Iain, I've gone back and had a second go at rusting a bit of rail and girder. While the powder based approach might work well for rail dumped in a bog for a few years I admit that it wasn't so good at representing rusting surfaces which tend to discolour without such serious pitting.

On this second attempt I again started with red oxide primer and then started to add shading using the same paints as before. At this stage I wasn't entirely convinced that I was getting anywhere but the addition of some weathering powders (rust and dark earth) seems to have pulled things together nicely. Not only does the texture look more convincing but I think the colour is better as well. Hopefully you all agree?

This episode reinforces the main reason I enjoy blogging and getting comments; without Paul and Iain's feedback I may well have just continued with my first approach and the final model would have suffered as a result.

Just Rust

I grabbed a few minutes today (spread out a bit) to have a crack at another experiment which I'll need for the bridge I'm planning for ExpoNG. I'm reasonably happy with adding rust as a detail to a model but I've never tried to paint an entire item completely rusty. There are plenty of rust coloured paints and washes available but the problem is you need texture as well as colour variation as a well rusted surface tends to be pitted. On the bridge I'm modelling there is quite a lot of rusty girders and flat-bottomed rail so I needed to experiment a little.

What you are looking at here is a piece of girder at the back (which is just 3.2mm tall) and a piece of code 60 rail at the front. Both have been treated in the same way. To get the pitted effect I first sprayed on a layer of red oxide primer before gently sprinkling on some light weight hydrocal casting powder (it was the finest stuff I had to hand that didn't want to clump) to the wet paint. I then knocked off most of the powder, allowed the paint to dry for a second or so and then sprayed a second layer of primer. This seems to give a really nice texture although I might have added a bit too much powder to the rail sides. Once this was all dry I liberally dabbed on some MIG Productions Standard Rust Effects which provided some nice variation in colouring and shading. I then dry-brushed on a small amount of RailMatch Light Rust (#2404), before some final dabs of a rust wash from Flory Models.

The photo is very unforgiving and from a normal viewing distance the texture is less pronounced and I'm fairly happy with how they look.

A Well Used Wagon

You may remember that my first attempt at designing and 3D printing an OO9 gauge wagon back in May was for a freelance 8ft flat wagon which I painted as if it was fresh from the workshop. While the wagon runs well a number of you suggested that in reality they wouldn't look new for very long. My solution to this was to print multiple wagons so I could have sets representing them at different ages and amounts of abuse. I even got as far as experimenting with how I would paint older looking wood but I never got around to actually painting another set of models.

Well I still haven't painted a set, but I have painted one which you can see here alongside one of the original freshly built versions. My approach followed the second of the two approaches I experimented with for the wooden sections. The metalwork was painted black then dry brushed with a little Model Color London Grey (#70.836) and Rail Match Dark Rust. The final touch was a little bit of Flory Models rust weathering wash before a waft of matt varnish was applied to seal everything in place. I'll add the couplings at some point but even without them I'm really happy with how this all turned out. It definitely looks older and more well used without looking badly abused.

If you fancy painting one of these yourself then head on over to Penistone Railway Works and I'll happily sell you some.

Distressing

So having assembled the Baguley-Drewry locomotive the next step was to paint it. My plan was to give it a well looked after finish, unfortunately that didn't happen.

The first step was to give it a coat of primer (Humbrol prime grey from an aerosol) which went on easily and didn't show up any areas that needed attention before the next layer of paint. According to the prototype information the loco would have originally been painted "hazard" yellow, with black side skirts and buffer blocks, so for want of any better ideas I'd picked up an aerosol can of Humbrol yellow gloss (I tend to prefer matt but gloss was all I could get). I masked off the side skirts and bufers and sprayed the model and left it to dry. This seemed to work well, and I had a wonderful smooth finish, so I then masked off the upper body so I could spray on the black paint (Humbrol again, this time black satin). Again this seemed to all go well, until I went to remove the masking tape.

When I removed the masking tape, not only did I find that in some places the black paint had run under the tape, but removing the tape had caused the yellow paint to bubble and lift. To say I was distressed was an understatement. My lovely smooth paint job was ruined. In fact I was so distressed that I couldn't bring myself to photograph the disaster before me. My initial plan to rescue the situation was to try and sand back the damaged areas and repaint, but I quickly decided that wasn't going to work well. I could have tried to strip the paint, but I didn't want to risk the metal parts coming loose. So in the end I decided to switch and finish the model in a run down and distressed state.

I used a combination of a small file, T-cut and a a blunted cocktail stick to remove the black paint that had leaked onto the upper body, as well as the badly bubbled yellow paint, and some areas that were actually okay but where I thought rust was likely to form. I then painted these areas using RailMatch dark rust. Once this had dried I then gently painted some water on to the rusted areas before sprinkling on some fine table salt. Once the water had dried the salt was well attached to the model. At this point I again masked off the black side skirts and buffers, before respraying the rest of the body yellow. This was then allowed to sit and dry thoroughly.

Once the yellow was dry I used a cocktail stick (the pointy end this time) to remove the salt grains which allowed the rust colour to show through, although in some places this also removed some of the the rust colour as well. Once all the salt was removed I dabbed small amounts of a rust weathering wash from Flory Models, onto the rusted areas, wiping most of it off with my finger in a downwards direction to simulate water having run across the surface -- I also brushed some of this wash across the black areas as well. The next step was then to use some of the Humbrol rust weathering powder (which was the free gift when I subscribed to one of the model railway magazines) to tone down the rest of the yellow paint so it didn't look like some areas where pristine while others were badly rusted. Final details, such as the window frames and door handles etc. were then picked out, and the makers name badge attached (with a drop of varnish rather than glue as it gives more time to position it accurately), before a light layer of satin varnish was applied to seal the paint to the model. Once the varnish was dry, the windows were glazed (in the same way as I glazed the windows of the lorry on Jerusalem), and then finally the windscreen wipers were fitted. It took me about 45 minutes to fit these, mostly as it took me about 30 minutes to find the one I dropped on the floor!

While this wasn't at all the way I had set out to paint the model, I am really happy with how it has turned out.

There are two things missing before it can be considered fully complete; couplings and a driver. The roof is only a push fit so once I find a driver model I can easily add one, and I'm not going to add couplings until I've decided on the track layout. The reason for this is that if I decided that the track plan is such that the loco will never run around a set of wagons, then I'll only need couplings at one end, at which point I wouldn't bother to fit both couplings, especially as I doubt they will improve the look of the model.

So while the process was distressing (in both senses of the word) I now have a model I'm really quite proud of.