While constucting a trestle for the Ajax & Imperial, I have been experimenting with weathering the bents using an alcohol/ink solution. In this endeavour, we have failed because none of the stain is " taking." I used 1 ml of India Ink in about 100 ml of 99% alcohol (that's all Costco had in stock). The ink simply curdled in the alcohol. I'm using Winsor & Newton 'Black India ink. I also have a few bottles of Koh-In-Noor ink that I could tryin my art studio but I'm considering trying to mix acrylic paint (black) with the al ohol and see how that works out. Any better ideas out there?
You should be able to get 70% or 80% alcohol at any drug store and try your mix with it. I've never used 99%.
The 99% alcohol might be too pure. I've only ever used 70%. Use a paintbrush to really stir it up, and try actually mashing up the clumped up ink. It might just need some encouragement.
The 70-80 percent is what you want for these purposes, the 90+ is usually used as a paint stripper. Another way to consider going - use tea or coffee as a stain. There is also a commercial product called WeatherIt (check hobby stores) that does a decent job for the grayish old wood look.
Yeah,you gotta watch the percentage on alcohol.I don't use water based paint on trains,but I do use it on RC car bodies.I like using alcohol in the paint,because it dries faster,and I'm doing all kinds of color overlays & effects,if I use pure water,it takes forever..I feel the alcohol makes it adhere a little better,too..You can't use high percentage alcohol in paint,I use regular 43%,even then,I put in a little water before the alcohol.If you were lucky enough to get it to mix,it would probably dry white & dusty looking..
I usually "eyeball" my measurements based up on container size. I use 70% alcohol and add India ink until I'm comfortable with the mix (by testing on a scrap piece. Always better to be a little weak than too strong. Can always reapply until your satisfied with outcome. 1:100 sounds reasonable, I'd try 70% alcohol and a 2:100 mix. Sent from my LG-P930 using Tapatalk 2
Thank you, guys, for all your help with this! I'll have an opportunity to pick up some weaker alcohol today. I have a fairly decent airbrush setup that I want to put to use soon, and I'll use the weakest alcohol I can find as a thinner for my acrylic craft paints. Bill.
I hadn't heard of or considered using coffee as a weathering stain so I tried it last night with pretty favouable results Bill
I doubt you need to get different alcohol, as all you need to do is add some water to thin it. Try that first.
+1 on add water to make whatever percentage alcohol you need. 99% cleans air brushes real well. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Mix 3 parts 99% alcohol with 1 part water. That will give you an alcohol concentration of just under 75%. Then add your India ink to the 75% alcohol. - Jeff
