I have three of the Walthers stock pens that are made of plastic (styrene) but that represent wood fencing/corrals. I am looking for good suggestions of what paints to use and how to apply it/them to make the plastic look like weathered wood.
Roger,
Harold Minky has a pretty good page of such techniques here: http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/weathered_plastic/
I had trouble getting a primer that would stick well to plastic when I tried some of them, so didn’t get good results for the effort. Since then I’ve come across Zinsser Bullseye 123 primer and found it sticks really well on plastic, so may give them another try with it sometime.
I have several of the stockyards and pretty much left them alone. But something with a lot of gray should help. For other, “fresher” looking wood, I’ve been using Krylon Satin “Brown Boots” as a base coat, then weathering it some.
For weathered wood start with a base of grey and add washes of black and brown. Look at old fences or cedar shake shingle roofs. They weather to a greyish color.
I put a base coat of PollyScale earth and then a wash of india ink/alcohol. If the plastic doesn’t have a grain to it, use sandpaper or a burnishing brush first. These photos are of a Life Like coal tower finished that way. I also use a spray can of Rustoleum Camaflouge as the base coat.
-Bob
Bob!
Excellent job on the coaling tower!!! The details are amazing and the paint work is superb!
Dave
Thanks Dave. I have built and sold over 30 of these on Ebay, each one just a little different in the details. This is one of the ways I support my hobby. This is the same coal tower that Cody Grivno built for the latest MR Rice Harbor layout, except he painted his a red/brown. It does make a nice model on the layout.
-Bob
A coat of light gray auto primer from a rattle can is a good start. In fact, might be good enough just as is. If you want, some dry brushing with brown on top of the gray might help. Be sure to wash the plastic with hot soapy water, rinse well, and dry well (overnight) to be sure the primer will stick. The primer forms a fine base for any sort of paint applied atop it. And it’s the driftwood gray color of wood left out in the weather. And it’s dead flat. You don’t see any gloss in real life wood fences.
I agree , the automotive primer will give the best adhesion, cover w/ thin coat (not hiding details) and will take most paints for weathering. Metiomed above, the Zinzeer 123, good primer, but does have a slight sheen. Kilz is flat and has quite a “bite”, but never tried it on plastic.
Used to use original Floequil primer airbrushed, but we know how that product went! Real shame, had the best results using that product, excellent adhesion, finest pigment and best overall coverage w/ just one quite thin coat!
Scoring by dragging razor saw and sanding can prep smooth styrene to show varying amouts of graining and wear before painting.
Can’t go wrong with the Wallmart primer for adherance & price. They also have Flat Black & White.