Art & Inspiration Sunday Models 5-8-2011

Guess I'll start off today. This is what I've been working on this past week.
Changed the wheels and paint on my parts box roadster and scratchbuilt a radiator shell. Still a looooooooong way to go. Not sure if I'll put on the '40 Ford hubcaps or not yet.
Then I did some more weathering on the '39 Chevy coupe and added glass.

 

I really, REALLY, like the weathering on the Chevy. Can you tell us more about how you got that oxidized blue / black color? PM me if you have to!! Gary

 

i have to admit you are an artist when it comes to rust. the view of the back of that model has to be the best finish i have ever seem in person or in a picture. that is an awsome finish.

 

i'd like to read about that myself. great job

 

Yes, please do tell us! I've never tried it and would like to!

 

OK......The weathering story. Long, long ago on a planet very close to home this was a very nice model painted with Pactra Candy Blue over a gold basecoat. The model was originally molded in kind of a maroon plastic which also helped. This has been a work in progress over several years. After trying an unsuccessful chop attempt I decided it was going to become a derelict.
I started by damaging the paint by putting it paint side down on a cinder block and tapping the inside with a nylon hammer to make lots of pits and chips. I then kept applying alternate washes of rust paint, red primer, nasty, dirty lacquer thinner from my brush cleaning bottle, Rustall and black india ink. I also did a lot of sanding between washes.
The used brush cleaner is what really did the trick. It attacked the paint and plastic causing it to to craze and get dull and mottled. As I said, this process went on and on for a long time. I'd get discouraged and put it away for awhile then pull it out and do some more applications.
Anyway, that was the basic formula. I probably couldn't recreate the same effect again if I had to.

Here are a couple of pictures of it "Sitting and Rotting" on my diorama:

 

Thanx bud... I'm going to be finishing an 1/8th Model T coupe rail car over the summer and I want to weather it that oxidized black you often saw on old cars. The black gets so sunburned that it turns a semi-gloss, faded purple / blue in the high-lights. It looks very much like what you achieved on the rear quarters of your coupe. I just might try the dark candy approach first, based on what you've said.

As we often said in the world of photography, you can't complain much about those "happy accidents" when they happen. I do a lot of weathering on model trains... same deal... you can hardly duplicate the effects on the next model unless you get cracking on it immediately. Ifn you wait... you just might have to retrain yourself. Later, Gary

 

Here's an 1/8 scale 1980 sprinter I'm building. I'll post it when it's done.

 

thats going to be really neat when done

 

Lots of great stuff today. Wojojo, thanks for the weathering explanation. Old Sprinter, what a start!

 

what he said x2

 

What he said x3.