Am currently working on a plastic kit that has a dark brown sprue and some much lighter yellow/brown parts for an outdoor wooden platform. Any suggestions for a base color that will cover the plastic colors and lend itself to some weathering that will turn out to look like a worn wooden platform.
Thank you,
Well, I’m no expert but what I’d do is first hit it with a similar colored primer, say brown or tan. I’d use a flat textured paint as the next step will give it some surface texture. Make sure the primer is sprayed on lightly so as not to cover up the “boards” that are moulded into the plastic. use two very light coats if necessary. The next step is to weather it (after the primer dries, of course), using a paint wash, or pastel chalks or powders or all of them depending on how delapidated and weathered you want the wood to look. The weathering colors you choose will depend on whether the weathered wood is peeling paint, weathered creosote timbers or bare wood. Someone on here will probably have better ideas than me but that’s how I’d approach it. Have fun!
The best method I’ve found for making plastic look like wood is as follows:
Add / simulate the wood grain by drawing a fine tooth razor saw across the surface.
Paint detail using Floquils Earth
Allow to dry several hours
Apply / brush on an alcohol and India ink stain (2 table spoons to 1 pint of 70% alcohol)
Allow to dry
Highlight to bring out the wood grain using the dry brush method. For those unfamiliar with dry-brushing, here are a few tips to follow. Take a 1/4 inch stiff bristle brush, and dip the tip of the brush into full strength white (or color you wish) Wipe off the brush onto a clean paper towel until only a trace of paint is left on the brush. Take brush and wipe it over part. This will allow you to hit only the high spots thus highlighting the details to bring them out.
I have had good luck with the Krylon line of camouflage spray paints which I can buy readily at my local Ace hardware store. The camouflage olive drab is very similar to Flouquil grimy black and captures the very dark damp unpainted wood look of some platforms. A bit of dry brushing with a dark gray or dark brown might give the slightly varied appearance you want. The Krylon camouflage Khaki has more of an unpainted wood look to it which you can darken with applications of misting an alchohol/india ink mix. With some masking you could even replicate a wood platform where they have had to replace a board or two over the years.
Dave Nelson