Candy's first wood kit

[DaKra]

Bragdon powders are useful but very aggressive, its very easy to overdo them and difficult to fix if you do. I only use them for rusty, grime crusted junk. And keep the bags safely away from your model, if you grab an open one, or drop one, they're liable to create an HO scale environmental disaster when they blow pigment everywhere. I know because it happened to me. I don't like alcohol and india ink for anything other than heavily weathering bare wood.

For subtle weathering effects, such as you'd want for a well maintained grocery store, I would use artists oils in a thin wash. The 1/35 scale armor modelers have oil washes down to an art form. The results look natural and very convincing. Consult the relevant forums like Armorama.com for how-to details.

One nice thing about this method is you can apply it in thin, barely perceptible layers or "filters" as they call them, so you minimize the risk overdoing it. Anyway, practice on scrap first. Its cool to save your scrap test pieces in a file, with notes on what you applied. Something that didn't work for the current project might work for another.

Dave

[Zephyrus52246]

Very nice work, Candy. The interior looks great. It is a bit too "clean", the awnings especially. A little bit of chalks, added in layers should work well. I'm glad I'm not the only one to spill the Bragdon's, Dave.

Jeff

[Candy_Streeter]

Very nice work, Candy. The interior looks great. It is a bit too "clean", the awnings especially. A little bit of chalks, added in layers should work well. I'm glad I'm not the only one to spill the Bragdon's, Dave.

Jeff

Thanks for all the good info, guys. I keep my Bragdon in the plastic box with a heavy rubber band around it. I try to handle it with care. Been okay so far. Well I've got some research to do. Thanks again !!!!

[DarkTerritory]

I agree with Dave, I use artists oils a lot for weathering in a similar way to what he described and they work well. Like A&I they will collect in corners and under clapboards and provide a fine, subtle weathering / shading effect. They are also somewhat reversible in that you can brush on more mineral spirits and blot off the paint and remove most of it if you don't like it. they are also great for rain streaking and for doing the grout / mortar around bricks - flood on a light wash of the mortar color and it will collect in the grooves. Then you can wipe off a lot of the paint that sticks to the brick face with a paper towel dampened with a bit of mineral spirits.

I'd give them a try, bot Scott and Mike Rose use them to great effect.

[rebel]

Personally if you want to weather it but not take too much of a chance then I would go with a very light mixture of AI. It is best if you make up a practice board. Also for the awnings, make up some of those and weather them, they need a bit more grime than the other stuff at least on the tops and front where the grime of the streets washes down.

[bparrish]

Candy...

If you want to learn chalks without the permanence.... Go to an art supply house and get a set of assorted earth tone pastels. Then shave the sticks into separate containers with the sharp edge of an Xacto blade. The stuff just flies off of the stick. Then dust them on the way you want. If you want to change it or lighten it most will come off with a stiff camel hair brush. If you don't handle it and leave it on there for about a month, the expanding and contracting of the paint will pull the chalks into the pores of the paint and it will be pretty permanent. Don't use any sealer. It just washes the stuff out.

The building is great. Don't apologize about the time it took..... If you can crank out stuff like that.......... who cares.

very cool......thanx
Bob

[deemery]

Another trick is to get wallboard sanding screen, hold the screen over a jar (I use a shot glass and then rub chalks/pastels over the sanding screen.

dave

[bparrish]

But Dave...

That means I have to go find another tool ? ? ? I always have a blade nearby..... I cleaned the garage and now I can't find anything.

see ya
Bob

[Zephyrus52246]

I use the wallboard sanding screen like Dave mentions placing it over these little tins and it powders the pastels very quickly into an easy to use form.

Jeff

[deemery]

I use the wallboard sanding screen like Dave mentions placing it over these little tins and it powders the pastels very quickly into an easy to use form.

Jeff

I have a couple of tins with the wallboard screen 'built in'. If I were in the business, I'd think about marketing them, they work that good...

dave