i have bought some chalks and sand paper. Now I am wondering how I get started adding shadows and other little details to structures. Any help would be greatly appreciated
rub the chalk, or file it down withh a file, over a peice of paper or cardboard, or something to collect the dust on. If you use a container with a lid, you can save the dust. Then, take a paint brush, or a Q-tip, pick up some of the dust with it, and rub it on your loco, rolling stock, structure, etc. Just be sure to use a downward motion, so it looks like gravity affects the weathering, like in real life. Then, spray a clear, flat, coating (Testors “Dullcoat”, Floquill “Figure-Flat”) over it. BUT, when you do that, the weathering will disapear. There’s nothing wrong, just do it over. You may have to do it 4 or 5 times. But the spray only takes a minute to dry.
You may wi***o apply the dullcote at a distance of
18" to 22" away. The trick here is to mist it on the
body reducing the amount of chalk blown off.
Also, one method of fading is to dullcote the car, let it dry overnight, then hit it with a spray of regular isopropyl alcohol. This causes a chemical reaction. Darker cars turn out much better. I did this on the front nose of my diesels(Blistering-
peeling effect) If you don’t like the result,just re-spray with Dullcote. It’s reversible.
This maybe a good time to consider replicating graffiti. MR had a short brief in their July 2000 publication. Use MILKY type gel roller pens from office supply stores.
Here’s an idea for mortar lines in brick structures. Get a box of lime from the garden section of your local supermarket. Make a thin paste with water, and just a drop of detergent (this will help it flow). Bru***his onto a pre-painted brick structure, and let dry. When it is totally dry, (overnight) use a dry paper towel to gently rub off the “bricks”, leave plenty of the lime in the mortar lines, because the dull-coat will tend to reduce the effect. I have not tried this EXACT formula, because another hobby of mine is rock polishing. I use the spent grit from the tumbler, but I am sure that the lime will give pretty much the same effect.
Try it out, everything is water-based, so if it doesn’t look right, just wash it off.
Todd C.
I have found that the dullcoat washes off the white chalk MORE than anything. How do we go about getting the white chalk to stay on the model when using dullcoat? Thanks.
-Wolv33
There’s a difference between chalks. I’ve used only the Pastel chalks.but I would try laying the car on it’s side and misting down on the side at a fair distance.
MR did an article on weathering with chalks in 00 or 01. I will try and pull it up or perhaps someone else out there recalls it.
Paul Templar (aka Shamus) of the Badger Creek RR has an article at The Gauge about using chalks:
http://www.the-gauge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=895
Try putting the chalk on over a still-wet coat of dullcoat - if you’re fast enough, it does sort of work. I use tempera paints (black and white, mix whatever grey shade you want) for mortar - let it dry and wipe it down with a damp paper towel. It lifts off with water, too, so you can correct any overdoses easily.
Try the oranges and yellows with a small brush- streak it on to get a ‘rust’ effect…you’ll learnpretty quickly. Just TRY it. If it doesn’t look right, brush it off. I normally do NOT overcoat my chalk work - I just try not to touch the surface a lot - especially with damp or wet hands. It does still wear off, but not really that fast.
A precaution:
Wa***he items to be weathered gently, then be careful where you touch. When you apply the Dullcote, the spray will blow off some of the chalk, but uniformly because the plastic is clean.
Any fingerprints will hold on to all the chalk on them, leaving a dark thumb-shaped dot. Ask any member of CSI, they’ll back me up.
Learned it the hard way,
puzzmaster
I used to do just as has been mentioned here, leaving my chalk weathering “dry”, but then frustration with rubbing off, especially of the heavier weathering jobs, led me to do what someone else mentioned, i.e. fixing it with an overspray, which then calls for multiple layers of weathering. Too much work, so I kept on questing for the ultimate solution.
I model in N-scale, so even well-controlled airbrush work isn’t really an option for me. Well, in the last few weeks, I think I’ve finally found the solution. I use Nupastel brand chalks, which are somewhat of a cross between pastels and chalks, and I do as was suggested, scraping off a pile of dust, which I apply with a soft brush. Here’s the trick: when this is done, I then go over this with a VERY thin wash of black acrylic, applied with a small, soft brush- one which can hold a lot of water/wash, but which won’t pu***he dust around too much when applied. I float this on a panel at a time (most model surfaces have some sort of joint line, such as the ribs of a hopper or the seams of a boxcar), but trying not to let anything dry before a whole side has been covered. The Nupastel dust will “set” with the water, but with far less dulling than with an overspray, and the black will settle into crevices, popping out fine N-scale details like grab irons and ladders, adding the level of shadow that our model “suns” cannot really provide. When this is dry, I usually add one more fine dusting of “dry” chalk at the places where I really want the dirt to show, and the tooth of the dust-n-wash helps to hold this last dry layer on. It seems to work in both light and heavy applications; with a heavier application, the dust tends to collect where the water pools, though, so you have to be careful with gravity to assure a good displacement of chalks.
I once tried what you might call an “extreme” form of weathering. I had bought a few “cardstock” structures at a swap meet. They looked pretty good, but I took it up another level. With a spray bottle of water at the ready, I set these structures on fire. A controlled burn made a very realistic effect. Don’t incenerate them, just use the fire to give it some effect.
Looks just like a burned-out structure. This will only work with wood or cardstock structures. Don’t try it with plastic!
Todd C.