While looking for some realistic concrete color spray paint for a project, I bought a can of Krylon textured paint, Desert Bisque color, on speculation that if the cap was a close match to the contents it would be acceptable.
I was pleasantly surprised when it not only looked like concrete when it was dry, but it felt like it too. The color is really close to cured ‘‘tan’’ concrete and the texture in the paint makes it look more like concrete than just the flat tan paint I usually use. It has depth and the minute color differences make it reflect light just like the real thing.
At $4 a can it’s not the cheapest, but the results were worth it. So next time you’re looking for some spray paint to simulate concrete color…take a look at Krylon’s textured paints.
I agree. I’ve got a can of that too. Looks good and the texture is great. The spray nozzle clogs real EZ from the texture though.
Two other good craft paint colors I found are Apple Barrel brand Country Grey and Sandstone. The Sandstone is a perfect match for the WS concrete road stain.(that aged yellowish color)
This is a wall of my theater building. I painted it with a Rustoleum speckled product from a rattle-can.
I used the same can to color the rock wall castings in the turntable pit:
For the pit, I weathered the walls with an India Ink wash to get them a bit darker and bring out the highlights of the casting. The theater is just the straight color of the paint.
Real rock and concrete isn’t flat and smooth like styrene. It’s got a lot of fine texture to it. So, these textured paint products give a more realistic look, because they respond more naturally to light. Both the non-uniform color and the uneven surface contribute to the optical behavior of model. (Dul-Cote, by the way, has a bit of “grittiness” to it, which “scrambles” the incident light and gets rid of those mirror-like “specular” reflections.)
I am looking forward in trying this out on my next project. Now if I can just find the right pain for the timbers of my trestle to simulate the color of creosote all would be right in the world. Okay that is a bit much but things would be better.
There’s two things I’ve tried to simulate creosote ties\wood parts, RIT black dye and cheap WallyMart flat black spray paint.
The dye works well for ties because no two pieces of wood ever look the same, I use matchsticks from the craft store,[pretty close to HO scale ties in size], Michaels or A.C. Moore, and just soak them in the dye mix overnight. They end up looking very much like sun weathered, used ties. The longer they soak the darker they get so soaking some for longer or shorter periods will yield a more diverse color range.
For new ties, like you might see in a stack at a maintenance area, I just glue them together and paint them flat black with a brush.
The cheap spray paint from WallyMart looks good on wooden trestles. I built several wooden trestle pieces [N scale] and then painted them with the spray can. They look pretty good. They are all uniform in color though, and if you wanted to make it super realistic you’d need to weather each one seperately, but all in all I was pleased with the results.
Wooden trestles that I’ve seen have ranged from a glossy black ‘‘newly built’’ look,to a gray\brown ‘‘been there for 100 years’’ look. So there’s probably not a ‘‘prototype’’ color for trestles, whatever looks good to you is the right color!
Loathar…if you ever discover that ‘‘new board’’ color absolutely let us know immediately!! [(-D] I’ve tried light tan, almond and even mixed up some colors trying to get the p
I used PollyScale Reefer White, with a bit of Reefer Yellow and Depot Buff mixed in to simulate spruce lumber. Reefer Yellow and Reefer orange mixed in varying proportions for knots and sap stains. Different species will be different colours, so it helps to look at the real wood which you’re trying to simulate.
A very diluted wash of yellow and orange mixed together can be useful on basswood, to give it a less-white appearance. Apply successive coats to simulate different species. (in the photo, this looks lighter than it does in person)
For creosote, I use a very dark oil-based stain, then randomly streak it with thinned Floquil black, using a brush:
You should spray a test panel and see how it looks under your layout lighting before spraying a new product on something big or important. The same Floquil Concrete that looks OK on my layout with fluroescent lighting looks unacceptable grey-green at our club layout under incandescent or halogen lighting, i.e been there and had to repaint it
“Concrete” (color) in a can - Wonderful, but WHICH concrete color - new, old, or weathered??
Concrete when fresh is gray, turns to white when dry, and creamy yellow when aged in the sun. It also deveops CRACKS. I mix white and Floquil’s ‘MUD’, and draw cracks to get the ‘age’ I want.
Creosote impregnated wood (ties) are BLACK-BROWN when new and fade toward GRAY. Since water is the culprit, ties drain differently and colors vary widely. Go look.
I used 1/8 inch square balsa wood to make this retaining wall.
I’ve got a small can of white wood stain. For a weathered fence, I add a little bit of India Ink. For creosote, I add more India Ink. I like to do the staining before assembly, because any exposed glue will not take stain afterwards.
The “timbers” are not separate pieces, by the way. I notched the long strips on the exposed sides to give that appearance.
Real concrete can be many different shades depending on its age. Early on, it will tend to be a medium gray. In short time, it will bleach out and become very light, like an off white. Over time, old concrete will yellow and become a beige color. Also, some of the surface might erode, exposing some of the aggregate. And we haven’t even discussed the effects of weathering or traffic.
In short, concrete can be a variety of shades and textures so the modeler has a lot of license to color his concrete as he sees fit. Most of the concrete I see are in structures like bridge abudments or sidewalks. Most roadways and parking lots eventually get resurfaced with ashpalt, which also changes color over time. I find it fun to experiment with a number of different colors and textures for my paved surfaces. Usually I start with a gray primer and go from there. Sometimes I’ll use cheap acrylics to change the color. Then I’ll weather it with powders, using white, gray, and/or black depending on the effect I’m going for. After applying the powders, I’ll blend them together with dry paper towel. I have been amazed at how easy it is to achieve good results. It’s really hard to do it wrong.
Fresh concrete color can also depend on what kind of cure was sprayed(if any). Some gives it spotted and speckled white washed look while another makes it glossy. Usually after a few days the glossy look will fade. BTW, often a slab will not have a consistent color, especially the further back in history it is. Some batch plants aren’t as accurate as others and sometimes the mix would vary throughout they day or pour on a multi-batch job (a little more/less water, weather conditions, too much slump, etc.) I usually use a Floquil concrete or aged concrete color with black ink washes.
As for the color black, I try not to use straight true black on any model unless I want to depict some obscured shadow area (like grill definition on a diesel loco or cracks in rocks). If you look at the prototype of something painted black (in real life or a picture), it will most likely look to be an off-black color, especially the older it gets. The realistic color of black on models has been discussed at length many many times before so I won’t go on.
Just wanted to give this thread a bounce, and hope the OP LD357 sees it…I was in Wal*Mart the other day, and was looking for the Krylon Textured Desert Bisque mentioned (for some reason Krylon is not available at neither the Lowes nor the Home Depot home centers in my area). I did NOT see Krylon Textured Desert Bisque, but Rustoleum had a similar paint…except that Desert Bisque looked like no concert color I have ever seen (indeed, it seemed more like dark brown stucco) - so I was wondering if there really is such a difference of color and texture (the texture was very rough and out of scale - HO that is) between Krylon & Rustoleum?
[oops][:-^] I made a mistake, the Desert Bisque color IS in fact, Rustoleum brand…I got it and some dark tan paint at WalMart and the dark tan was Krylon, sorry!
The Desert Bisque color I have is a nice tan very similar to cured concrete, I don’t know what colors of concrete you may see Chutton, but tan is a very common color for aged, cured concrete.
As for it being ‘‘scale’’…well there’s not going to be any such thing as ‘‘scale concrete color paint’’, the best you can do is try to get the color as close as possible. The rough texture of the paint makes it more ‘‘scale’’ than a simple covering of tan, gray or brown paint. Concrete has texture and depth and just painting a piece of styrene tan or gray isn’t going to yield anything but a flat, monochrome painted piece of plastic.
I am very satisfied with the Desert Bisque color and will continue to recommend that others try it.
Concrete texture also varies. It can be smooth, like a floor in a building to rough like exposed aggregate. It all depends on how it was finished or ground out. If the idea of concrete texture is like that of a sidewalk or street then in HO scale it would be the equivalent to 400’ grit sandpaper. You can get that texture with nearly any spray paint or paint with an airbrush. You just have to spray it in a way that most people try not to. To do this try painting with the nozzle a little further away than normal so some of the paint particles partially dry by the time they reach the surface you are paining. A realistic exposed aggregate may be the hardest to replicate because of all the different colors of the individual rocks.
BTW, concrete can be custom colored by mixing in concrete color dyes.
[:D] Good tip!! I’ve been looking for something to simulate concrete sidewalks and tan paint ain’t makin’ it. I never thought of that texture spray paint, I tried spraying sand that I glued to a piece of cardboard with tan paint and it looked horrible, that rustoleum stuff is almost perfect.
Thanks for the heads up, got any other tips and secrets??[;)]
