Could someone recommend a color or a mix that would give me a fairly new creasote look? I know it is nearly black, but not really. Of course as it washes off and bleaches out it gets lighter and lighter to a very light gray.
Also, does it work to add white or light gray to lighten your base color to indicate aging?
Thank you,
Here’s a start.
I use an almost black color called “Paines Gray” in acrylics. I create lighter shades with a touch of white.
It’s always best to mix light to medium grays starting with the white and adding small amounts of the darker color to them. It gives you more control of the shade.
Steam power black with some burnt umber. Black shoedye in alcohol in a very strong solution
Guy
Thank you for the color recommendations and tips. Even have most of the colors mentioned. Will do some experimenting on some scrap and see what looks like what I am thinking.
Thanks again,
It’s a lot easier and takes less paint if you do it in reverse. Start with the light color FIRST, then slowly add the darker color.
Lance
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I made my creosote with brown acrylic paint, black india ink, and alcohol. I like how it soaked into the wood like real creosote and gave off the kind of sheen you get from it as well. It can be made darker or lighter depending on what ration you mix india ink to alcohol.
Ask Crandell. He used the real stuff on his layout. So take that you rivet counters.[(-D]
Maybe he will provide a pic.
Brent
I’ll bet his layout smells very authentic. Come to think of it, I still have a pint of the real stuff sitting on a dusty shelf in my garage. [*-)]
Some time ago, I looked for an appropriate wood stain at the hardware store. I didn’t find what I wanted, so I picked up an off-white, with just a hint of gray. I mixed a small amount in an old pill bottle with a screw top, and added black India Ink until I got a medium gray. I brushed that on my “railroad tie” wall. After it dried, I used a wash of India Ink in alcohol, fairly thin, and repeated this until I got the look I wanted.
I used balsa wood strips for this. Before staining, I notched the strips at 8 scale foot intervals with a Dremel, so I still had long pieces to work with, but it looked like individual timbers.
There seems to be significant variation in how it ages. I just bought a trailer load of used ties, grade 2. They don’t look anything like new ties, but none of them is gray. All of them are various degrees of brown.
Down the road from me, a crew is replacing ties on a local short line. Stacks of new ties are here and there, and the old ones are scattered along the tracks. From the vantage point of my truck, I haven’t seen any gray there either.
Perhaps it has something to do with how much of the wood is exposed to the air coupled with the local climate. Or perhaps it has something to do with the creosote formulations. I have seen plenty of grayed out telephone poles in the past, when I lived in a different climate. I just don’t see gray ties or telephone poles in this area today.
Thanks again for all the great ideas. As I said I’ll give them a try. One thing I didn’t say was that for this project I was using real wood. There are enough ideas to cover both wood and styrene.
Great idea about using long pieces for your tie wall Mr B. I have some of those walls planned, as they were quite prevelant around here, both along rr’s and regular highways. Sure will save a lot of cutting and placing.
Yes, I know gray isn’t what things look like now when things have aged, but I think when the “real stuff” was used it did “gray out.” I remember many poles with black streaks of goo, on gray surfaces. The stuff they use today seems to bleach out to a much more brown base color. Had a fellow handle silo boards, without gloves, for a new silo that was going up. Burned his hands and anywhere he’d touched his face and arms. Nasty stuff, but it worked.
Thanks again,
Sorry, I have been away and just returned to find this discussion. Yes, my scratched trestle was stained with creosote oil. It smelled divine for about 48 hours, and then the smell weakened until by the end of the first week it was gone unless you got your nose within a foot of the trestle.
-Crandell
Testors has an enamel too that will work well for fresh creosote. Its called “rubber” and is a very dark brown almost black. You can paint your ties with it then use a WARM gray to weather it. I’ve noticed that ties in different locales weather differently and also time is a factor. Almost no set of ties or a bridge is a uniform color.Take some color photos of what you like and paint your project that color. As modelers we need to get out and observe and photograph more, rather than sit at home and wonder what “George” used for color. However start with burnt or raw umber and some white and see what you get. BILL
I agree, Burnt Umber is probably the best base to use, and then experiment from there. I would add a wee bit of black personally, and call it a job. That would be for fresh creosoted ties that have been in place for a year or more. In fact, I have seen ties that looked like they were smeared in gobs of tar, and that would be quite black.
If you want a much more aged look, you would want a fair bit of grey. The only thing is that such a look would only be found on a very seriously neglected trestle or retaining wall, and not on something used even once a week by a revenue train.
-Crandell