I’m building the Kibri Roman Catholic Church and have decided to model it as a stone rather than a brick building. What are some ways to achieve a non-uniform / realistic coloration for the stone walls of the structure? My standard approach has been to use 4-5 different colors of gray and paint each brick a different color. However, this approach just isn’t feasible for a large structure made entirely of stone so I’m hoping someone can suggest an approach that uses washes, etc. Any and all ideas are much appreciated. Thanks.
You could also paint a few individual stones before the washes and other weathering techniques. I have found that, like drawing a cartoon, features of a model that need to be “brought out” can be exaggerated. You’ve seen a cartoon of Nixon. The nose and eyebrows are greatly exaggerated. That’s what makes it a cartoon, and that’s what makes it look like Nixon.
So, IMHO, we can do the same thing with models. Yes, we could paint every stone in subtle shade variations. But I think the effort would be lost. I’d paint a few really dark ones, and a few really light ones, and maybe a few really colorful ones before the final steps.
Look in the open door of my Gaines Cannery (lower left) and you will see a bit of a stone wall. I used quite a variety of contrasting colors on it.
You could also “ruff it up” a bit with some ultra-fine sandpaper as a final step. The high stones would reveal some underlying colors. That’s what I did on the oven in this structure interior.
Also, try hitting some of the stones with gloss. Exaggerating variety is one thing that brings a model to life.
On my last stone wall, I tried a can of Rustoleum speckled paint. I used one that was light brown with dark speckles. Then I brushed it with a light wash of India Ink in water to bring out the highlights.
This is a turntable pit, but it’s just a hydrocal casting.
