More Weathering Examples

 Work continues on my weathering experiments.  Here are some of my latest efforts.  This really takes some practice but even with very little experience you can get some nice results.

This car is the first where I made use of oil paints.  I only have Windsor & Newton Burnt Umber but there is a lot you can do with just this one color.  Before using the oil paint, however, I did some work using acrylic paints.  The rust spots are all done with acrylics and allowed to dry.  I then used the oil paint to do a wash.  Once that was allowed to cure, I went back and applied the rust streaking with the same oil paint. This has become one of my favorite techniques. It is VERY easy.  This car was finished with a dull coat.

These two covered hoppers were done in very similar fashion.  Both started with some stippling of rust colored acrylic paint. I used a very coarse packaging foam as the applicator as this had very wide bubbles to give a good texture.  The UP car got much more of the stippling, and an additional color, than the Rock car got.  After the stippling they both got acrylic washes of very thinned acrylic paint.  The UP car got a more brown wash an the Rock car got grey.  For the final details I did the oil rust streaking on the UP car and the Rock car got some thicker grey acrylic spill marks.  Both these cars were finished with a dull coat.

This hopper got almost the exact same treatment as the box car above.  I always use acrylic paint on the wheels and trucks but I do vary the colors from car to car.  This car was finished with a dull coat.  This is an important step when using the oil paints but you need to wait several days to ensure the paint thoroughly dries.

This car has a lot of techniques going on.  The first step was a thorough dry-brush of light blue over the entire body.  This is particularly important on the roof to give a nice faded look.  Next is stippling of rust colored acrylic paint with a focus, again, on the roof.  Next are some rust scrapes and spots with different rust colored acylics.  The car then got an acrylic wash followed by and alcohol wash.  Each of these washes were dried with the aid of a blow-dryer.  Finally oil based rust streaks were added.  This car did not get a dull coat.

This car is an extreme example of what you can do with mostly alcohol and ink. I started with a dry-brush of an appropriate reddish color to lighten things up.  I then used my Lance Mindhiem India in and alcohol wash. With is applied with a dropper and then allowed to run over the model. It is then QUICKLY dried with a blow-dryer.  As the alcohol dries it will produce this extremely faded effect.  You could leave it just this way but I went back and added an acrylic wash of a light brown over the top.  DO NOT varnish or dull coat this as the effect of the fade will be ruined.

This car was painted like the Santa Fe car above but I added in more acrylic rust work and some rust streaking.  I then dull coated it and the alcohol fade was basically removed.  Fortunately it still looks good so no need for re-work on this one.

I am really starting to fall into a groove with my weathering so it is time to change things up.  I need to add more oil colors to the line-up and I still need to try some pastels and pigments.  I have seen some interesting results on YouTube of using some rattle can spray paint to produce some airbrush-like effects.  So much more to try!