I’ve been playing around with a brad nailer I recently purchased with the idea of making some trackwork and trestles. So far I’m just trying different designs based on things I’ve seen posted here on MLS.
I’ve built a few test pieces from ripped fence boards 5/8"x5/8", some of the 1/2"x1/2" redwood stakes that come 9 pieces to a bag (36inches long) from Lowes, and some very plain and uninteresting basswood from Michaels Crafts.
Here are some pieces of the basic materials I was working with (untreated and before nailing together).
After nailing and gluing I considered how to stain the wood to get a dark weather-beaten look and so searched the forums and Google.
Seems a log of old hands use various stain concoctions using roofing tar mixed with diesel fuel and all sorts of stuff I don’t have any of. One tip was “used motor oil”. And they have nifty dipping troughs and the like.
Well I didn’t have any used motor oil either but I did have a bottle of new 10-40 and a paint brush. So I started by “painting” the trackwork with oil which brought out the grain (such as there was) but of course made it look shiny and new. But I figured that the oil would act as a preservative of sorts and the wood readily absorbed it. I let it sit in the sun for a couple of days with this result.
To weather it I wondered what would happen if I just let the oil bake in for a day or two (it’s summer in Fresno CA which means triple digits during the day) then scrub it with a white vinegar and steel wool solution.
I’ve been playing around with various mixes of vinegar and steel wool and had a bottle that had been stewing for some months. Started with that, dropped in another steel wool pad and topped it off with
The vinegar/steel wool (acetic acid) solution reacts differently with different woods, so try on some scrap lumber first to see what color it will eventually turn. (Typically, anywhere from tannish orange to brown.) It’s also (as TJ alluded) a great weathering medium. I use it frequently for locos and rolling stock.
You can paint it with a fine brush as you would any model paint. It takes a few minutes to “develop,” but the effects are quite pleasing. The solution needs a somewhat porous surface to adhere to, or a carrier of some sort. When I find it’s not spreading evenly over a surface, I’ll mix in a small amount of powdered tempra paint as a carrier. This creates a very dilute paint that adheres much better to the surface.
Here, the solution has been painted on the ashpan and brake cylinder of the locomotive.
This shot shows the solution used in a variety of ways: The wood bits and pieces are spruce brushed with the solution. The water hatch and tender deck were washed with the solution. The toolbox lids were painted with a mixture of the solution and a slightly heavier concentration of black tempra paint. One word of advice–the solution has a limited shelf life. When I know I’m going to be doing some weathering in the next week or two, I’ll mix up a jar of the stuff. (Baby-food jars are great!) That way, I know I’ve got a fresh batch of the stuff that will give me good results.
Later,
K
(Post edited on a PC to get my images do display properly)
a small amount of powdered tempra paint as a carrier
Great tip about the tempura paint as a medium… it will make painting this on plastic much easier!
reacts differently with different woods
Yes, I’ve noticed that the basswood just goes to grey/brown depending on the number of applications. But the oil base causes it to have this great blotchy-ness to it that looks really weathered and dilapidated which is very nice. The cheap redwood from Lowes I’m using for the ties get anywhere from little effect (again, probably due to the oil base) to a nice creasote blackness that it really remarkable.
the solution has a limited shelf life
I’m using stuff I mixed up more than 5 months ago and stored in a mason jar. It get’s pretty funky looking and develops a milky color but works just the same and produces a darker color. When I decided to “top if off” I added another full steel wool pad and more fresh vinegar. The pad disolved completely in a day so I’d say it gets more acidic with time.
Your pics are excellent and really how off how well this technique works on plastic as well as wood. Thanks for posting them!
