Best Of Fading fast...

[GaryHinshaw]

Daniel - I gave up on the matte medium too.  It's a bit thick, though it can still work fine if its thinned enough with the WW fluid.  But a regular acrylic flat seems better suited to this application, and it makes a great base coat for later washes.

Josh - I've never used gouache (rhymes with 'squash' according to Wikipedia) myself though I know many swear by it.  For washes, I have had very good luck with regular acrylic colors thinned with windshield washer fluid, as I learned from Rich Yourstone's article.  On a matte surface this wash flows like oil - a real pleasure to work with! 

-Gary

[DKS]

Gouache is a n oil type paint that can be thinned with water, and it works better for rust streaking, then plain water acrylics...

Gouache is most definitely not oil-based. It is a water-based artists paint that has very rich, vibrant color and a dead flat finish. It differs from watercolor or acrylic in that it is very dense and opaque. It may not be suitable for airbrushing because of its relatively coarse pigments.

[James Costello]

P.S. James - it must now be after 11/4 Down Under.  Hope the exams went well and that you can now get back to some real (i.e. train) work! 

Indeed Gary! Exam is all done and went as well as can be expected, so I'm not expecting any problems there.

Starting to clear the desk and set up the study/train room in the new house and get back into the real work  ;D

Won't be able to do much this weekend though, off to a wedding in Bundaberg.... but already thinking about containers to detail, boxcars to fade and where I'm going to be able to get some of this paint from in Oz.

[jbaakko]

Gouache is a n oil type paint that can be thinned with water, and it works better for rust streaking, then plain water acrylics...

Gouache is most definitely not oil-based. It is a water-based artists paint that has very rich, vibrant color and a dead flat finish. It differs from watercolor or acrylic in that it is very dense and opaque. It may not be suitable for airbrushing because of its relatively coarse pigments.

Never had anyone tell me it was very dense & opaque!  It most certainly is not.  In any case, I'll stick to the gouache for brush only, and buy a few tubes of the stuff mentioned here.

[ednadolski]

OK I've ordered some M. Graham paints from dickblick.com, I'm looking forward to trying them!   

Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

Here's a quickie.  I was never happy with the mustard yellow color on the latest release of Deluxe's MSC containers, since most of the prototypes are much more beige, so I thought I would see of I could tweak the color in that direction.  Here is a proto shot of one of the more yellow cans I could find:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=482534

and the models (finished one on top, stock on the bottom):



For this one I added some transparent red to the fade coat, then hit it with a wash of raw sienna lightened with some titanium (opaque) white.  Definitely more believable than the stock color at least -- especially in person...

[James Costello]

Nicely done Gary - I agree it is a more believable MSC colour than the original.

[jbaakko]

So, I'm back re-reading this article.  I think I'll try it out after next weekend.  I'll see what I can accomplish on some boxcars.

[ednadolski]

Here is my attempt using the M. Grahams on a couple of HO containers.  Instead of matte medium or Micro-Flat, I used a thinned (50%) mix of Model Master Clear Flat with the acrylics.   It probably doesn't matter too much which clear coat you use, but you want to use enough so that the fade layers won't rub off to easily over time (since artist acrylics don't really bond to plastic too well, they tend to wear off, at least in my experience).

The fading is really more evident in-person than thru the camera lens (I'm still figuring the right exposure  :-[).  I was trying for a moderate level of fade.  Next time I'll use more of the acrylics, I was afraid of overdoing it so I made the mixes really thin -- so thin that it took a lot of coats to build up to what you see here.

Thanks Gary, for all your efforts in documenting and presenting your techniques! 

[GaryHinshaw]

Those look great Ed!  I agree that pretty much any clear flat finish is probably fine for mixing with these acrylics, but I definitely use more thinned clear coat than acrylic, by volume.  And I also use lots of thin coats but it is worth experimenting with a richer mix.  I also agree that the effect is hard to photograph -- but your results show up clearly.

It looks like you have some nicely discolored lettering on these cans.  Did you use some of the transparent oxides in the mix, or was that a subsequent wash?

Cheers,
Gary

P.S. You're making me want to get back down to the paint booth.  The good news is, I now have almost 2 weeks off.   Happy Holidays!
 

[railbuilderdave]

These look great Gary, thanks for posting.
Dave

[Mike_M]

Hi Gary,
I'm new to this forum. Thanks for posting your method. Here is my first try using similar products (Liquitex Soft Body Transparent White  15%, Liquitex Matte Medium 40%, WW Fluid 45%). Sorry for the blurry pics, I should have used a tripod.

Mike




After a little Bragdon powder.

[GaryHinshaw]

Just noticed this post Mike. Thanks for sharing your work, and welcome to Railwire!  Looks like you have a good brew with the Liquitex.  How many coats did you use to get that effect?  It looks like there might be a very slight gradient in the fade near the top, but overall a great improvement.   

Cheers,
Gary

[John]

what is liquidex?

[GaryHinshaw]

John - it's a brand of art supplies, including acrylic tube paints.  Funny you should ask because it reminded me that I started my fade tests with Liquitex transparent white (see my initial post - how soon I forget...) but stopped because the fine print said it contains lead.

Mike - you should check the label on yours.  I can't remember if I used the "soft body" line or another grade, and I don't know if they all contain lead.

-Gary