I’ve not been happy with any of my concrete, I’ve used both styrene and plaster and although he plaster looks better as far as texture, it just doesn’t look right. Then as I was comparing an overhead photo of actual concrete with mine, it hit me it’s the color. I’ve been using light primer gray and that might be what it looks like as your mixing it, but its NOT what it looks like when its dry and been in use for years. I’ve painted my concrete lock 3 times and I just can’t get the right mix. So I’ve been searching Google for information on concrete color and there is many, many posts on this very subject. Everybody recommends an alcohol & india ink wash and I’m wary about using it the India ink. Anybody have photos of it on concrete? I found a lot of photos of weathering box cars, but I’m looking for concrete slaps or sidewalks using the inda ink wash. I’m not convinced to use it and I don’t want to ruin what I’ve done so far. This is what its supposed to look like:
I use a number of different types of washes for my weathering....depends on the item I'm weathering as to which i'll use...an india ink and isopropyl alcohol wash works great on most paint finishes and won't harm the surface...however it will bring out any imperfections in the surface texture...if you're modelling in plaster, and bubbles and pits that aren't to scale will be magnified with the wash... as for color...mix a little light earth or tan in to your gray primer mix...concrete has a little tan color to it...it's not a pure gray tone... the formula that Pollyscale uses for concrete is a good representation...they also have an 'aged' concrete color that has a little more earth tone to it... also, airbrushed streaks go a long way to helping age your 'concrete'. sincerely, Bruce
I agree, concrete is hard to get 'spot on'. I've found that Floquil Grime straight out of the bottle is a better color for concrete than either polyscale 'concrete' or 'aged concrete' - both of them are too dark for my eye anyway. Bruce is right, concrete has more brown tones in it, and is lighter than it seems especially as it ages. The sidewalks and driveways here are Floquil grime, with some light drybrushed weathering (i used the crud at the bottom of my paint thinner bottle with some success). Of course it's all subjective . . . .
For my concrete loading docks I painted them Floquil SP Lettering Grey (because that's what I got) and then stained it from my "Big Jug O' Stain" (70% rubbing alcohol, india ink, with some blacks, greys and browns thrown in over the years): Brushed on some brown & grimy weathering powders, too. The concrete should be a little browner / tanner, but there it is
Thanks guys, those are great photos. I tried mixing Apple barrel country tan and some light gray, but the gray was granite gray which had a tint of green. The aerial photo from Google Maps almost looks yellow instead of gray. One thing I'm worried about is the number of coats I got on so far. it starting to show and I might have to sand it again. I guess I'm going to have to use a test piece
I used styrene with Aircraft Light grey on the road and sidewalks and washed them AIM Products Black weathering ( which is some kind of ink wash). I do a really light wash for concrete, and thick multiple washes for asphalt.
That lock looks like Lock #3 at Acmetonia, PA on the Allegheny River. In any event concrete will take its color from the aggregate in it unless, of course, some coloring or dye has not been added to it. If that is Lock #3 on the Allegheny as I suspect then the color should be more of a brown color. The Allegheny river is famous for its glacial sand and gravel beds which when dredged become aggregate for the manufacture of concrete. The sand and gravel is really sandstone pulverized by the prehistoric glaciers. In any event there is an acryllic paint made by Delta Creative under their Ceramcoat line that to me was spot on for aged concrete made from Allegheny river sand. I think it was called Mudstone and the product # is 2488. These paints are available in any craft store like Michael's or Pat Cattans. Walmart may have it too. Another product which has been mentioned is Rustoleum Camo in a spray can. Also, another paint mentioned was Rustoleum Sandstone. It is product # 7223. I have not tried or seen the Rustoleum paints and I will have to check on the Ceramcoat paint to verify.
Yes it is Lock #3. I do have some cream color from Wal-Mart and actually I about 30 different colors that I picked up on a clearance sale. I have not tried the cream, but that sounds like it might work from the Google photo.
Ok I misunderstood about the Ceramcoat. I thought you were talking about Cream color, but when I looked in my paints I discovered that I have 5 different colors of Ceramcoat and none a cream color :membarrassed:
The paint is not a cream color but rather a warm brown. Someone posted this on the Atlas board under the thread title of SNFF [Sunday Night Foto Fun] The problem is there is a thread every week with thiks title and finding the correct one inthe archives is darn difficult. I'm thinking it was in 2010 sometime. I got a bottle but where it may be is beyond me. We mloved in May and I am still looking for things that I packed and 'carefully marked'. So much for that idea.
I just got back from Michaels and they didn’t have anything. The only thing that I might have considered was Martha Stewards "Wedding Cake" except that they were sold out. The stock girl said they can’t keep that one in stock. Hmm, I wonder why? baffled: Anyway I also wonder if anybody has ever taken a clump of concrete into someplace like Home Depot and had the computer mix up a pint of concrete colored paint. biggrin:
Hey, that's not a bad idea. I've got one of those chips of the Berlin wall that's a good concrete color (seeing as how it's concrete and all). If they've got a good densitometer, they might be able to make a perfect match. I would suggest maybe calling around to some of the paint specific stores though as they seem to me to be more likely to be able to match it (like Sherwin Williams or Duron).
Although it probably is a yellow-grey, overhead shots can have a serious color shift depnding on the time of day and sun/camera angle. Commercial sats also tend to produce pictures that are slightly bleached.
This may be the thread Inkaneer refered to: http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=63754&SearchTerms=concrete The paint Inkaneer also mentioned (Rustoleum 7223) is what the original poster of the Atlas thread used. I bought it at Home Depot. At any rate, I recommend it for the base coat at least. The textured finish looks quite good, and you could paint another color over it and preserve the texture.
I did a lot of studying of older concrete in this area (western NY and northwestern PA) and our concrete becomes more grey as it ages. The is virtually no yellow in it after a while. It's not the same grey that aged asphalt resembles but it's not far different. Here's an older image of one of my roads with the accompaning sidewalk. They're close in color but not the same. The road is Testor's Dark Aircraft Grey. And the sidewalk? Sherwin Williams Stamped Concrete. I purchased a quart of it and the color is super. The best concrete color I've found to represent aged concrete in this area. As you can see there's a nice contrast between the road and the sidewalk. They're similar but certainly not the same.
You bring up a good point and I originally wondered if maybe the yellow was actually the sun reflecting toward the satellite. Thanks David I wish the photo was still available from that old Atlas post. I have to look through my paints, but that Rustoleum Sandstone sounds really familiar and I might even have that. And thanks Michael, I only see one photo but that looks a lot like the second paint job I had before I started adding light brown
Brown's a tough color when considering how much if any to add for concrete. Again much of the aged concrete I see is an offshoot of gray. Maybe a little tan in there rather than brown.
As suggested by Inkaneer, the Ceramcoat color is "Mudstone." I also use the color "Twill" with a little "Raw Sienna." The Testors Acryl color "Aged Concrete" is good, too.
Oh I saw the testers "Aged Concrete" on line, but I didn’t know that it was Acrylic. Whenever I hear Testers, I immediately think of enamel and I didn’t want to go that route.
