I'm looking for suggestions on the best way to model peeled paint. The Boston & Maine didn't spend much money on repainting locomotives, so by the early '70s a lot of the maroon and gold ones were starting to look pretty bad. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2606649 and http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2616279 for example. This happened because of how the locomotives were originally painted at the factory. They were painted gold all over, then maroon on top. I recently dug out my RS-3 that I had custom painted. I'd like to achieve this effect on it. One thing i thought of was to brush on gold paint, but which color? Thanks Gareth
I don't think you'd have much luck making an already nicely painted locomotive look like that.The best way would be to start with a locomotive painted the color of the stripes,then randomly paint the red in blotches with a good airbrush,[and a good eye,LOL!!]then decal it.you can do a really good rusty peeling effect by painting the base color,then dabbing on a rusty brown here and there.after the brown dries,put little dabs of liquid latex over the brown.Let that dry,then do your blotchy red.When dry,you peel off the latex,and you get nice,flaky rust spots.Those ocomotives look more just worn and faded to me though,not peeled..
I model On30 as well as N, and one popular way to model peeling paint in On30 is by painting the first layer. In this case, you would want gold. Then, after it fully dries, you moisten parts of the model where you want the paint to 'peel' and sprinkle salt on it. Let the water dry and the salt will kind of adhere to the model. Then, paint your last coat, and when you're done, brush off all the salt. The other color will show through where the salt was, appearing as if the other paint had peeled off. For N Scale, you're going to want some very fine grains of salt, though. Here's an example of a locomotive with the effect: Alex
INGENIOUS! In reference to the original question: If you paint using an airbrush then you would want paint that matches your decals exactly. Spray to your liking then weather. I do the opposite. A light spray of the main color of the loco makes the logos and numbers seem to fade.
Ok thanks. I may repaint it, I'm not entirely satisfied with the paint job anyway. But which gold? It's Deluxe gold, I know that. Model flex has two, Soo Line and B&O, does anyone have any opinions on either of these?
In my model building experience, I've found that using the "hairspray technique" works quite well. Here is a link to get you started, you can also find demonstrations of how it's done on YouTube.com: http://migjimenez.blogspot.com/2009/11/hairspray-technique-vol1.html Hopefully that is helpful. Once you are able to get the hang of it, by experimenting on things other than really nice locos you can decide if it works for you.
I don't see why you can't just paint it twice (two full paint jobs/stripes), then buff off (with a very mild paint thinner) the areas you want the old paint to show through. I find that if you just want to remove lettering or excess paint, some Scalecoat II Wash-Away on a Q-tip will do the trick nicely. I cannot see why this wouldn't be an ideal job for that stuff, as it needs 10-30 minutes to strip paint fully. Work fast so as not to cut through your lower layer! Between paint jobs, use a different (non-scalecoat) clear/satin finish because the Wash-Away takes longer to eat through that. You could easily practice on some scrap styrene or a dummy loco, to get the desired effect!
Great post on the hairspray technique; I have never heard of that before. Amazing results. For a less distressed peeling paint effect, I plan on using a technique Pelle Soeborg presents in his book Done in a Day. Here is a Santa Fe "crudbonnet" he weathered in the book: I can't wait to get enough guts to try this out on some of my CSX beaters. Jamie
Here are a couple of products that simulate chipped and worn paint. I think they're similar to the hairspray technique. You paint a base color, dab on the product, and paint your top color. http://www.ak-interactive-usa.com/product-ak088.html http://www.ak-interactive-usa.com/product-ak089.html Here's their Youtube video. Skip ahead to 2:50. [video=youtube;mJH6LqczUK0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJH6LqczUK0[/video] ETA: Here's another video... [video=youtube;GNjm32YTwAw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNjm32YTwAw[/video] Steve S
I have found a paint. Model Color Goldbrown. It is a virtually perfect match for the Microscale decals. I tested a bit on a piece of styrene, I think the only reason that the stripes can be seen is that I didn't do a very good job with the brush. The stripes are center left, right near the edge of the gold. I'll go strip the shell now. (Gives me the excuse to add details I left off before. )
