I always thought it was good for your modeling skills to transition to another scale, even though it might be temporary.
In late summer 2007, I bought some On30 equipment since it looked like something fun to try to play around with (Micro Mark also had a great deal on it.
). Moving from N to On30 was like discovering another world. The forums (Railroad Line On30 board) and web sites were so different. On30 even has a "Whimsy" quality to it that further distinguished it from N. Remember Verne Niner? Well, he was caught up in the On30 vortex (he still is). Chris333 also did some modeling in On30, and I talked to those guys a lot that August and September.
In On30, I started using the salt weathering technique for the first time (on a little yellow Davenport switcher), and came across Harold Minkwitz's techniques for painting wood to look like plastic. It was all neat stuff and much different than N. It wasn't until that fall when I tried the salt weathering technique in HO scale and received all the nice feedback that I started work on the weathering book.
So getting into On30 is what probably was the catalyst that started me on the book. I thought I had a good outline for content that MR wouldn't be interested in and was too varied for any other publication.
I wanted to include a chapter on weathering plastic to make it look like old wood, but the technique I was using was too much like Harold's so I didn't feel comfortable using it. This is what I came up with at the time (this is almost 5 years ago
):
This past Saturday, I thought I would take a stock car that I bought a few years back and try the technique out.
I brushed the plastic sides with the "Distresser" Tool from Micro Mark. This is a wire brush that is in a retractable pen-like case. The goal is to get a wood-like grain texture, although I'll be honest that is is really tough to notice when complete. At the very least, it provides some tooth for the paint. I also drilled some holes to represent knot holes and ran a file along some of the wood edges.
The next step is to paint the model with Killz. I used the oil-based spray paint. At this point, you really wonder how this will ever resemble old wood!
Next, use some Ivory Black oil paint and create a thick wash. This is where the stock car will prove to be more work than the boxcar: The "wood grain" is lost, due to the care that I took in distressing as to not mess up the iron braces. We'll have to add more wood grain in and apply another wash. We'll also add a little raw umber into the mix to get some color back into the wood.
That's it till next time.
