The next day, I knew I'd made a mistake. It wasn't terrible, but the colour just wasn't the one I'd envisaged when I'd been building the model. It was far too light.
Initial panic quickly gave way to sensible thinking. I could always repaint the model, even if it meant stripping it first.
Had I used a colour too dark, I'd have dry-brushed with the lighter hue and been happy. What I did was the opposite. A coat of Humbrol 159 (Khaki Drab) went on and once each side was painted, I wiped some of it away. Around the front this needed the efforts of a cotton bud, but in the end I like the result. Nicely worn paint.
This is something I try to get across to newbies. When something goes wrong, it's not always a disaster. Older hands will just fiddle around and can often save a project with bodgery.
I tend to use Humbrol black wash unstirred as a filter to tone down too bright or too light colours has the benefit of gathering in panel lines
ReplyDeleteI've never had much luck with the Humbrol washes, a pity as I think they are a great idea. I know others have enjoyed more success though.
ReplyDeleteI've also heard of people using Indian ink (from art shops) - perhaps run into panel lines and then wiped off using part of a tissue or kitchen towel.
ReplyDeleteIn a similar vein, I'd imagine you sometimes brush paint black / dark grey enamel - perhaps for doing rail vehicle floors and chassis. As an initial stage in cleaning brushes, some people "get the worst" of this paint out of the brushes by swilling them in a small pot of thinner (which might, or might not, have previously been used for removing other paint).
Of course, these people will always give their brushes a further go with clean thinner and all the other stuff they're supposed to do. Of course they will ... .
I wonder if it might be worth using the brushes - and thinner / paint mix - after the initial swill, for a wash - and just running them along panel lines.
An overall coat of matt varnish (perhaps lightly abraded, using very fine Garryflex or sandpaper) might also help with the ageing / weathering - assuming it doesn't fade the coloured bodyshell paint too much.
At this point, I should perhaps start trying to "book" some time for some experiments - the sort of thing which might eventually yield a couple of rough photos on RMweb, showing some Replica* coach bodyshells (or sections of them) starting to look distinctly "distressed". Whether any of these experiments also involve playing around with LED lighting is another matter completely.
(*Other makes are, of course, available.)
Otherwise, I wonder if there might be some merit in looking at books on painting military and wargaming models.
(In fact, I could add that I view consideration of stuff like this as one of the big plus points in one major railway modelling magazine acquiring an editor from outside the hobby - but I digress.)
I'm just about to experiment with the specialist paints from Games Workshop in particular texture paint and washes, that is in between organising a house move.
ReplyDeleteI've used these and the work well.
ReplyDeleteI have had reasonably good results by making a dark wash from Ivory Black and Burnt Umber artists' tube oil paints diluted in white spirit -- although it does take longer to dry than a wash made from Humbrol enamels. I got the tip from a book about plastic aircraft modelling.
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