I’ve read numerous articles creating the paint fading effect by spraying alcohol over Dullcoat. I’ve always airbrushed my dullcoat thinning it with laquer thinners for a dead flat appearance. For the “alcohol fade” effect to work the best, is it better to airbru***he Dullcoat or use a spray-bomb. IF it were to be airbrushed, would the type of reducer used affect the outcome. I haven’t had much success thus far and was wondering if there were any variables to consider.
Mark.
Spray your dullcoat on, let it dry, and then brush on the alcohol (mine has india ink in it to dirty things up)… What you will get is a sort of milky haze. I wouldn’t suggest turning alcohol into a mist, especially inddoors… It’s bad enough we do it with laquer (the dullcoat)… To reverse the effect, spray with dullcoat again.
Jeff
Along the same lines, when you hear the term “dullcoat” used in a weathering reference, are people literally talking about the brand name product called Dullcoat made by Testors. Or is the word dullcoat simply referring to any clear, flat finish product?
Mark:
I would think Dullcoat is, for the most part, referred to as the Testers product.
I use it to seal any transfers, decals and a finish coat to weathering/re-numbering/re-painting…except when I’m looking for that milky, faded look.
As Jeff has already said, a mix of alcohol and India ink works great ( faded grim look). Rust-All also has an alcohol base, giving that faded look, along with some rust, when applied over Dullcoat.
By all means, don’t spray it on, use a brush and make the streaking effects we see on older rolling stock.
Alcohol will also strip paint (usually the 90% or better) so be careful. When any alcohol, or alcohol base is used on Dullcoat, it will always give a milky look…Alcohol on a paint (Acrylic for sure) will most often just do some fading, still a whitening but not as milky.
http://www.mrhobby.com and scroll down to “Fading Freight Cars”.
I sat in on a Mike Rose weathering clinic. Mike invented the Dullcoat/Alcohol weathering technique, and it works. Here’s how:
Add a thin, even layer of rattlecan Dullcote to the entire area you want faded. Let dry for around one hour in a low-humidity environment.
Add an even layer of 90% rubbing alcohol to the entire area with a spray mister. Let the cars sit for 2-5 hours (overnight is better).
If the car isn’t as faded as you’d like, repeat step two.
Finally, undo the effects of the fade where you don’t want it by adding a new layer of Dullcote to the area, either with a brush or by masking nd spraying.
The technique works great, and is really simple. Once the car has been faded, add your other weathering effects.
Keep in mind that this sort of fading is only seen on cars that haven’t been painted in over 20 years. If you want a more subtle fade, add a light overspray of the car’s base color, lightened slightly with white.
Ummmm… Sorry but I stumbled onto this technique MANY years ago quite by accident. I’m sure Mr. Rose gave a great clinic but invent??
Jeff
I just watched rehab my railroad a few weeks ago and it was the episode where MR staff was putting in that building over in Old mukwonago on the MRT.
Dullcote and weathering power don’t mix neither does water-based paint.
Here is the reason why dullcote contains solvent and solvent and water-based paint and chalk don’t mix. If you spray dullcote on anything that has wet water-based paint or if you placed chalk weathering on it the dullcote is going to destroy it. It will evaporate the chalk and it will evaporate the water inside of the paint and make it run.
If you do not want to lose your weathering go acrylic do not use water-based paint or chalk with dullcote or you will lose it.
Alcohol tended to create a milky appearance when applied to Dullcote. When this happened, another coat of Dullcote would eliminate those marks.