I've read a few articles, and tried a few things, but I can't seem to get my trucks to look like.. NOT plastic. I've tried painting with weathered black, and powders, but that ends up looking too grey. I'm kind of going for this color: black, but dirty.. How's about some tips from the masses?
Here is what I would do...or try. Paint what ever color you like, the spray with flat. I use Testor's Acryl for flat as I think it is better than Dullcote. Then add Rustall to taste. Less is better as after the Acryl flat, the Rustall can eventually make it appear solid rust if you use enough. I think this "shiny truck looking like plastic" issue is even more pronounced on H0 scale. I am now disassembling all trucks and painting the frames just like I paint an engine part. I used not to do that on N scale, but maybe I am getting more fussy. I now paint all in both N and H0 scale. I think it definitely helps appearance, but I am not sure about the slight rust effect.
I recently did this one: The trucks were black to begin with. I sprayed with Dul-Cote, let them dry and then brushed with rust powder (AIM.) Then I sprayed with Dul-Cote again. I've found that the second spraying tends to significantly reduce the rust effect, so I put on more powder than I really want, and let the Dul-Cote tone it down.
I do wheels and trucks as part of my weathering. Basically I use a mix of dark grey and mid/dark brown matt paints (I use paints from the Tamiya military colours as that is what my LHS has) diluted with about six times as much thinner, so it's very thin. I separate the wheels, trucks and body (for cars) though engines are a bit trickier, and then spray with an airbrush until the colour/weathering looks about right. Trucks and wheels get a fairly heavy coating, carbodies get anything from a light dusting to seriously dirty. eg. this car was basically black all over before weathering: A fairly light coat on the trucks will still take the plastic looks off, but without changing the colour so much as above. I have found however that the shiny plastic used for many trucks doesn't hold paint that well, and heavy handling results in shiny black high spots. But maybe I should just clean them better before spraying
True. That may be mold release residue. BNSF7173 soaked his Delrin items in 91 percent alcohol before painting to clean them. That might help. Good suggestion on the highly diluted color sprayed onto the model. :thumbs_up:
great tips guys.. and nice quality to strive for I'm playing with washes mainly. I need to get my booth set up again so I can use the airbrush..
I have had a bit of success using Floquil Railroad Tie Brown on my locos sideframes and rolling stock trucks as a base colour. It gives me a nice dirty brown that looks about right based on most proto pics I refer to. http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/album.php?albumid=441
I played around a bit last night. First dullcoat, then a wash of rail brown, then more dullcoat, then some red chalk powder.. I also did the same on the pilots.. waddya think?
I have a Badger Grit Blaster that is kind of like an air brush on steroids. I shoot my Delrin truck parts with baking soda to kind of give them a flat surface. Any left over residue washes off with water. Paint sticks to the surface with a little "tooth" a whole lot better than shiny.