Best Of Fading fast...

[ednadolski]

I think Tom has a section on dark colors in his book.   Basically one of the gray-black tones, thinned out and applied in light coats.   For a bit of gloss, a light overspray of a clear satin is what I would probably try.

Ed

[mark.hinds]

His book?

[DKS]

His book?

http://www.weatheringfactory.com/?page_id=185

You can support the Railwire by ordering it through the link here; it should be second from the right at the top of this page: http://therailwire.net/forum/index.php/board,1.0.html

[Philip H]

Hey Gary,
Now that you are unpacked out there in the great white Northwest, I have to ask a favor.
We're up to 9 plus pages of posts, and with Allen's PDF we can get a "permanent" record of your evolving process.  My problem is I am too lazy to navigate back and forth between pages to see your various mixing formulas, and the cars/finishes they work best with.  ANy chance of getting you to do a summary post with some sort of table?

I'd buy you a beverage at Franklin's in payment, but you'd have a LONG stumble home these days.

[Bendtracker1]

..... to see your various mixing formulas, and the cars/finishes they work best with.  ANy chance of getting you to do a summary post with some sort of table?

I'd buy you a beverage at Franklin's in payment, but you'd have a LONG stumble home these days.

Philp, that a great idea!
You can always send him a gift card. 

Gary,
If this pans out, keep me informed.  It would be an easy job to add it to add it to the existing PDF. Would be happy to help out if I can.
It might be a chance to get your work published as well.

Allen...

[GaryHinshaw]

Hi guys.  Sure, probably a good idea so I can remember what I did too...  Maybe I can do some typing while I'm listing to the Canucks/Bruins game 3 this evening.    I'd be happy to have this included in Allen's PDF too.

-gfh

P.S. Since I've lived in both Boston and Vancouver now, I can't lose, but I think this is Vancouver's year.  If they win, the beer is on me.

[James Costello]

P.S. Since I've lived in both Boston and Vancouver now, I can't lose, but I think this is Vancouver's year.  If they win, the beer is on me.

Careful, some of us will travel to collect....  ;D

[Philip H]

Since I'm a bit Type A, and can't wait until Gary does his mixing table - which will be a huge step forward in our hobby IMHO - I started working on my own fading projects this past week.  I dug out a Roundhouse 50" KCS boxcar (from the four car set) and started looking around for a suitable fading mix.

Rummaging thorough the paints, I came across this bottle of craft acrylics:



I'm not really sure what I intended to use it for, but I have had it for years, and used vary little.  Going back over this thread, and your discussions on white not really being white when we do a fade, I decided this might be a good option.  Plus it feeds my Lee Weldon inspired Cheapskate side.  So off to the spray booth I went.

After taking 3 or 4 drops of the paint and diluting it to one full airbrush side jar (1 oz I think) of window washer fluid, I started on this Roudhouse KCS boxcar:



9 coats later, I stopped at this:



The fade is a tad grainey (suggesting either not a complete dilution, or a bad compressor setting), but I love the color change.  Seems to work well too over the reddish brown.  Th really good news is that, with about 7.5 oz left in the craft paints, if I do 3 drops to a jar at a time I can fade with this stuff for decades.

So gurus, what's my next step on the path to learning?

[Bendtracker1]

Looking good Philp!

Two things that might have caused the grain, Did you dull the surface first?  This will reduce the surface tension on the slick surface.

I've tried some of those acrylics, and while they worked good, I don't think they have as much pigment as the "Artist" tube paints do.  The more pigment, the better it flows and sticks to the surface without beading and giving the grainey effect.

These work good for washes and even in this case, once you add some rust [a little or a lot], or even a good coat of grime, things will start to blend together a little bit.  The "Grainey" look will tend to "FADE" away a bit.

In this postings, the pics are smaller than in the Weekend update, and you don't notice the grain as much in these photos.

A couple of other things I've found is, when you're working on one car, you tend to notice more details, when you add it to the rest of your herd, the imperfections that you see on this car, isn't as noticeable among the collective.
Your right, a little goes a long way!  But the other thing is, if you don't use the entire jar up right away, you will REALLY need to stir it before the next usage. 
I'm finishing a caboose right now and it's been a few months since I played with the fades.  The tube paints that Gary talks about and uses will really settle tight if not used for awhile.  After trying to shake the mix and not getting it all, I made a little stirring propeller for my Dremel and went after it that way.  It made a big difference in the application appearance, once I got the stuff off the bottom of the jar.

I mixed up several fades according to Gary's instructions in 1oz jars.  I think I faded about 10-12 cars when I first found his brew here on RW and I still have over 1/2oz in each one.  So yes, it does go a looooong way.  Just keep it stirred.

The color on the KCS car is similar to the color on the Rock Island car I did.  I thought the browns and maroons would be hard to fade, weather and rust, but not the case.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B2C6MXqoeXl8MjdiZWFhYjgtOTgyNy00MzU3LTk0NzMtMWFiZGExMWNiYzYw&hl=en_US&authkey=CJC9u_gN  I think I put about 6 coats on the Rock Island box, but the change was dramatic.
I used Orange, not white, but it still looks as if you touch it, the oxidized paint will rub off on your fingers.

Next, make up some washes.  Use the formula that Gary did.  I also made a second batch that was a little bit  darker for these darker colored cars.
 

[GaryHinshaw]

Nothing new here, I was just updating a bunch of stale photo links and I realized I never posted the summary that Philip had long ago requested.  Since I came across an old summary on p. 5 that is still current, I thought I would just re-post it here for reference:

Here's an executive summary:

* Spray application.  I make a batch in a 1 oz Floquil-type jar as follows: fill the jar ~20-30% with Microscale Flat or other water-based flat finish, add about 10% Polly Scale Dust, then add a dollop of Zinc White (a "dollop" is about an 1/8 of a teaspoon) and about the same amount of Transparent Oxide Yellow.  Thin with water or washer fluid to make about 3/4 of a jar.  Be sure to mix the tube paint in thoroughly.  The result should have the consistency of skim milk and the color of butter.

To apply, use several very light coats - you should barely be able to see the spray from the airbrush.  I typically give 5-10 swipes per car side, repeat on the other sides, and then repeat the whole process until I have the results I want.  With light coats I don't need to wait for them to dry.  If possible, it's handy to have a witness sample of the color you're starting with so you can see how the fade is progressing.

* Wash application.  With the airbrush, the fade is pretty uniform.  With the last woodchip car, I wanted to see if I could get some additional, less uniform, fading, so I tried making a wash using:  ~1 part raw umber, 2 parts zinc white and 3 parts transparent yellow, thinned with washer fluid to the consistency of dirty dishwater.  This was applied like any grime wash.  Since I only have one example of this wash technique, I don't really know how useful it will end up being, but I like it so far.

The proportions in these things are pretty lax. For example, if I'm fading a blue car, I'll use transparent orange instead of yellow to neutralize the blue.  With the BN car I was going for some yellowing in particular, so I used more yellow than white in the wash, but I think some yellow is always good to include. With the washes, I think you can start with any grime recipe you like then add some transparent colors as "filler".

The main thing is to be patient and build up the effect in light passes (both the airbrush and wash applications).  This will give you control and give the finish a nice depth.

Ok, this may not be the crisp summary you were hoping for, but I hope it helps.

Cheers,
Gary

P.S. Philip, that KCS car will be fine.  In the future, I would try thinning the paint more, but for this one you should move on to the grime wash.  I would be tempted to add some oxide orange to the wash to go for something like this:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=825901

Also, I would slap a few graffiti decals on there, and go for the rust streaks on the door and ribs. 

[Bendtracker1]

Gary, Philp and all,
I've got the "Executive Summery" added to the Fading article at the end, and have it converted and posted it as well.

Here's the link to the updated article:

Fading Fast...   .pdf

Gary you might want to update the original link in your posting, Reply #111,  so all links match.

Cheers...

[basementcalling]

Gold mine of a thread.  Downloaded the PDF and was off to  AC Moore to find they don't carry M Graham products. Found the transparent red oxide in the Golden line.  Others we will keep hunting.

[Scottl]

I've used the Golden liquid to good effect.  I've found zinc white and red oxide so far.

[GaryHinshaw]

I am looking forward to trying this line of high-flow Golden colours. They have a number of transparent colours, but no zinc white, specifically.  The transparent grey looks interesting though.  See also this thread.

-gfh

I can't believe this thread is 7 years old...

[Philip H]

After taking 3 or 4 drops of the paint and diluting it to one full airbrush side jar (1 oz I think) of window washer fluid, I started on this Roudhouse KCS boxcar:



9 coats later, I stopped at this:



The fade is a tad grainey (suggesting either not a complete dilution, or a bad compressor setting), but I love the color change.  Seems to work well too over the reddish brown.  Th really good news is that, with about 7.5 oz left in the craft paints, if I do 3 drops to a jar at a time I can fade with this stuff for decades.

So gurus, what's my next step on the path to learning?

I can't believe I still haven't finished this boxcar 4.5 years later!