Hi;
I have recently started using more spray can colors for models rather than going through the trouble of airbrushing etc. Any suggestions for spray colors good for concrete and/or wood as in crates and pallets?? I’m thinking Rustoleum Fossil will be a good concrete coloer and Valspar Pebble for wood. I’d like to hear other suggestions, as I’m not real good with color selection/matching.
Thank you in advance.
My suggestion would be to pick up several of the color sample cards in the paint section next time your near a Home Depot, Lowe’s or other such place. As you wander around you can hold them up to wood, pallets, concrete, etc., then use your selected colors to match up against the lids on spray paint cans (normally the lids represent the color). Hope that helps!
Happy RR’ing!
Duane
As much as possible I use spray can paint by Tamiya. It produces a much finer spray than spray can paint designed for furniture etc., or even other hobby paints. It makes primarily military colors, and has colors you could probably use (I think they make a “deck tan” for ship models, their “sand” is pretty close to new wood.)
I have a few cans of gray primer spray paint from Rustoleum and Krylon. They are very cheap. The Rustoleum one is labeled “automobile primer.”
Rustoleum also makes textured and “textured & speckled” paints. These are more expensive, but you can get some nice results with them. I used a tan “textured & speckled” paint for the foundations of these buildings:
This is the black speckled paint, which I use for roofs:
This is one of the “textured” paints, without the speckles:
The texture in the last one is like very fine sand. It breaks up the “specular” reflection of light off the surface, like real concrete or stone.
I do use model spary paints for special projects, but 90% of my paint comes out of the big box rattlecan. Best I’ve found for model uses is Krylon, as it dries fast and has really fine pigment. The Leather color is good for wood and other stuff. I do use some Rustoleum, but find some of it rather thick. That can a good property when painting bumpy chenille trees, but a problem in other cases.
But rather than recommend specific colors, I suggest getting multiple cans with similar colors. For instance, there’s good ol’ “boxcar red” – which could be any number of shades after the effects of different formulas, exposure to light and the elements, etc. Then there are things like the Rio Grande’s depot colors, which showed similar effects, but with variations on pale yellow and brown (in laterr years, as the D&RGW went through several paint standards.) Things look more realistic because of the shade variations, rather than trying to get everything the exact same color.
Speaking of brownish reds and grays, these often comes as primers. Try to get ones designated for auto use, as they tend to be finer. Sandable primers vary, some work OK, some are the pits, so be cautious. But the variations in red-brown primer between and within brands is very useful for our purposes.
Mr. B notes the textured paints. I’ve found them useful, but be careful about getting them on too thick, as he has clearly been careful in painting those really nice looking structures.
I second what Stix suggests. The Tamiya spray can paints have a fine texture and an interesting variety of colors. Their deck tan is one I use a lot both for wood and in combination with another more grayish tan for fresh concrete. Some of their colors are close to true railroad shades, and I particularly like their whites.
That said I also use some of the Krylon paints particularly in their camoflage series. The Tamiya cans are pricey. As with any spray paints however, it is crucial to thoroughly shake the can – by which I mean no less than a full minute, and often for two full minutes - and to clean out the nozzle by spraying upside down after use. Yeah that “wastes” paint but so does throwing the can away because the nozzle is plugged.
My observation is that most folks who use spray cans don’t shake them anywhere nearly enough.
Dave Nelson
I like Testors Model Master “Camouflage Gray” for concrete. It’s one of the few spray paints I purchase from the hobby shop instead of the home center.
I use Krylon Pebble for concrete. I can’t make a suggestion for wood.
For brick, I use Krylon Red Primer for the typical red brick color. The colors Brown Boots and Pimento make nice change ups.
New wood, such as stacks in a lumberyard, is a very light tan, almost white. There are a variety of bieges, off-whites, and ivories that make a good new wood. Old weathered wood goes driftwood gray. Light gray auto primer is good for this, dries dead flat, and is most convincing for things like the wood decks of flat cars, which weather out pretty quick. Concrete is harder. Real unpainted concrete has some green and some yellow in it, the only paint I’ve ever seen that did concrete convincingly was the Floquil and Polyscale “concrete” paints, now out of production.
Red auto primer makes a fine box car red, and a fine brick red. Dark gray auto primer is good on steam locomotives, tar paper or sand and gravel roofs, and rolling stock under carriages. Light gray auto primer is good for covered hoppers and undercarriages as well as weathered wood. All the auto primers dry dead flat and take decals nicely.
Most rattle can paint is gloss. A top coat of DullCote will flatten them out nicely and tone down the color in a subtle way. For instance a bright red gloss paint will tone down to a reasonable passenger maroon after DullCoteing.
How far away does the spray need to be at least you get a good coat? Three or four feet away because I was thinking about is myself.
No, in general you want to be closer than that. It needs to wet the model surface, even if it immediately dries. Otherwise, the paint dries too much before it hits the models. About 12" to 18" is about right.
As with any “new” paint that was made for general use, you should test it on a piece of scrap styrene before using on a model. I recently bought a couple of cans of Krylon fast drying paint, and the solvent attacked the plastic - not bad, but the surface did not end up smooth. I also found they plugged up my air brush; I had to soak the tip in lacquer thinner.
Paints like the Krylon Fusion line of paints are plastic compatible
As mentioned above, the Rustoleum primers are plastic friendly, but go on thick stralght from the can. The red and tan colors are good for different types of brick.
I collect the spray can paint by spraying it through a soda straw, and collect it in an old Floquil paint bottle. Basically, you are creating a huge spray paint sag inside the straw and allowing it to run down into the bottle. It is a good idea to let it sit for a while with the cap on loose to allow the spray can propelleant to warn and eveporate out of the paint. I forgot this recently, and the next day when I went to mix the paint it fizzed like a soda can that had been shaken, I got pant all over my hands. I should have realized this when I unscrewed the bottle cap and there was a hiss of escaping gas. McDonalds and other fast food places is a good source for large diameter straws. Cut the straw into pieces 3 or 4 inches long.
I’ve found that the color of concrete is very subjective, depending on the locale etc.
I’m partial to a color Testors makes called light aircraft gray
After weathering etc. it will look very much like what I’m used to seeing.
The above photos are color corrected on a color calibrated monitor, so if your monitor is displaying colors correctly then you’re seeing exactly the right color without a color cast.
Jarrell
Krylon Ultra-Flat camouflage spray paint is another possibility. I use their brown to paint my rails.
I like the tip about using the straw. I’ve used spray can paint, for air brushing, but I’ve always tried to spray into the jar to collect the paint. Very messy. The straw idea is just what I’m looking for for an effective way of collecting spray can paint into my air brush bottles.
Thanks George!
Also, I’ve found that warming the paint can in hot water, and lots of shaking gives the best results painting right from the can.
Mike.
I like to give concrete a speckled look because it typically isn’t a single color, especially roads, since they get a lot of wear. First give the concrete an off-white color. Then I cover the floor with newspaper and lay the parts down. I hold cans of spray paint about four feet above the floor and give a few burst of each so that the particles float down and give the parts a speckled look. I use a fairly light brown (Valspar Sagebrush) and a medium brown (Krylon Brown Boots) or something similar. Afterwards, I give the parts a wash of India ink and alcohol.
Here’s some test showing various amounts of weathering.
Steve S
Thanks, but, nah. At heart, I’m a slapdash, just get it done slob. But, I know how to use blue tape to my advantage. These speckled paints are very thick, and you just can’t be “careful” with them. So, I mask off gluing surfaces and anything else I don’t want painted, and give them a blast. I plan my kit assembly carefully so that I can get all of these messy parts painted before I put the sub-assemblies together.
I use that same speckled tan paint for Hydrocal castings of stone walls, by the way. With some India Ink wash added later, it gives a really nice surface.
The idea came from someone in an AntonioFP45 discussion about Alclad paints a couple of years ago, not original with me. Did I mention to wear a latex glove on the hand holding the straw? Otherwise you sooner or later get you hand sprayed.
Oh ya! I know all about wearing the gloves. You should see the mess after trying to “gently” spray the paint into a bottle! I always do it outside! I’ll be trying the straw method this afternoon.
Mike.