This post deals with a weathering question/opinion. A couple of months ago I found an advertisement for the so called “Rustall” system. I have a bad habit of being too spontainous when buying new products! “I’ve just got to have that stuff”!! Well I have always been looking for a good way to simulate rust and the Rustall systm seemed logical. The pictures were quite convincing. So after shelling out the twenty dollars, it arrived in the mail. I was so excited that I just had to rust something!! I was very disapointed to say the least. First of all after brushing the stuff on to a flat painted surface, allowing it to dry, it looked the same to me!! So much for the impressive pictures! So the 4 bottles that come with it sat on the shelve for quite some time. Then I did something really out of character for a man, I READ THE DIRECTIONS!! I found that the rustall has to have something to cling to. Thats what the bottle of dust is for. First I painted the surface, than while still wet dusted the surface. After drying, I THEN applied the rustall with a needless to say, great result! I now use this for rusting everything!! Any other tips/advise would be greatly appreciated.
I’ve applied Rustall without first coating the surface with anything other than the original paint. Are you keeping the rust material in suspension by continually shaking the bottle? I dip the large soft brush way down near the bottom of the bottle to get a good load of the rust material then brush it on. Works for me.
Bob Boudreau
If you don’t want a “wet” product look into the Bragdon industries weathering chalks.I swear by them and since there is an adhesive built into the chalk it dosen’t need to be “fixed” to the model. Happy rusting. Rob
A couple of tricks I have learned concerning rustall:
-
Dredge up the gunk from the bottom of the bottle and apply it thickly.
-
Don’t apply over glossy/slick surfaces or it beads up and dries funny.
-
You can change the finished appearance by painting the object first. A favorite of mine is to paint a yellow undercoat and then apply the rustall. Check out the water car in the photo below for an example of this technique (second car from the shay.
I use a simmilar product called “instant rust” it’s a two pack, a grey base coat and an activator coat, but like GUY says it beads up on smooth surfaces, i give models a dusting first and this gives it something to bite into. This product go’s on working for months and the effect gets better and better with age, look at the Atlas Bridges below and the AHM loco shell in the mud, The effect works for me