How to get this weathered look? (tar paper)

jkristia

Member
Inspired by this thread
http://www.the-gauge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7542&highlight=freight+house

I decided to try my hands on an HO building (instead of as usual N). So before Christmas I bought the kit and spend whatever spare time I had during the holidays painting it.
Yesterday I finally got around to do the roof and here is my question.

How do you get that weathered look to the tar paper?

For the tar paper, I cut black construction paper into 4' x 30' strips and used a glue stick to glue it to the styrene. Then I weathered it with pastel chalk, and when I had the right look, I sprayed it with dull coat. Big was my surprise when I saw that it was as black as before I applied the chalk. Hmmm, maybe I had been spraying too close, so I added more chalk, sprayed from further away, and... yep, almost as black as before.

So what am I doing wrong ?

Also, are the door handles on the freight some commercial handles?

Any help is appreciated.
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
I have heard that DullCoat v almost completely eliminates the effect of weathering with chalk. Now you have provided the proof ;) !

Repeated applications (many, many, many times) is apparently the key, that or over-application of the chalks in one big session.

Alternatively, you could try dry-brushing before DullCoat. I have had success with this. Just be aware of the alcohol-india ink wash. Applied over DullCoat, it will make things turn whitish. On second thought, maybe you could use this effect to your advantage in this case... ?

Andrew
 

shamus

Registered Member
I tend to weather all my buildings with chalks, but I use water as well. Scrape some of the desired colours needed onto a piece of hardboard, and get an old eggcup. Dip the brush into the water and dry it off a little with a tissue. Next, with the brush, pickup some chalk and brush it one way only along or down the structure. Keep doing this until you are happy with it. You won’t need anything over it when it dries out as it won’t come off. Should you be not happy with what you have done and before it dries out, wash it off and start again.

shamus
 

jkristia

Member
Here is what I have so far. Obviously I still have a lot to learn. Next I will try and weather the dock, lets see how that turn out.
 

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billk

Active Member
Hey Jesper - you might try experimenting with a mixture of a few drops of India ink in alcohol. It produces some neat weathering effects on bare wood.
 
F

Fred_M

I paint everthing with watered down acrylic paints. I never use dull coat. Chalk will stick to acrylic paints without dullcoat. I always think dullcoat makes things a bit glossy and reflective. IMHO DASH
 

RailRon

Active Member
Another roofing material

Jesper, for this tarpaper roof I glued strips of a Kleenex hanky to the roof. Then I painted it with a wash of diluted flat black - in this case it was Humbrol enamel color. (Acrylic colors should work just as well - take care of warping however, when the subroof is cardboard or wood!)

When it was dry (!) I got myself some plain, dry dirt from the road gully in front of my house. I dipped my finger into that stuff and then I rubbed the powdery dust into the tissue in more or less vertical strokes (like water would wash down the dust from the roof).

Finally I moisted a brush slightly with water. Do not load the bristles with too much water - do as if you would drybrush on a color! Then I went over the whole roof again. The water settles the dirt particles definitely into the pores of the Kleenex tissue - and there they stay! No need for Dullcote or such a stuff, and the color is and remains dead flat.

As usual for new methods, you might try it on a piece of scrap material first. Perhaps you like it? :)

Ron
 

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Hi, Jesper,

I just saw your PM and question. Sorry I didn't respond sooner.:eek:ops: I never remember to scroll to the bottom of the homepage to see if I have messages. :rolleyes: :eek:ops:

First off, I used two different materials for the tarpaper on my freight houses in the thread you cited above.

For the DPM brick freight house, I used black construction paper. Before cutting the paper to scale width/length, I painted it with Americana's "Celery Green" acrylic craft paint. I made no attempt to paint the paper evenly or thoroughly. After cutting and gluing the strips to the subroof, I dusted the entire roof with a couple of different shades of Rembrandt raw umber chalk. I may also have used some Rembrandt gold ochre also, but I'm not certain about that at this point in time. (BTW: I never use any sort of fixative with chalk weathering. If some gets smudged off, I just reapply the chalk later.) The final step was to "distress" and tear the tarpaper with a wire scratchpen in a few "strategic" spots.

For the scratchbuilt wood structure, it was a much simpler process. I simply spraypainted a piece of newspaper (probably from the Want Ads :D ) with Floquil's Roof Brown. After it dried for several days, I cut it to length/width, applied a glue stick to the upper half of each strip, and pressed it down. The final step was a dusting of the raw umber chalks and some tearing with the scratchpen.

All in all, it was fairly simple. I hope I've been able to answer your questions.
 
Here is a photo of another structure I built with a tarpaper roof. I used essentially the same procedures I outlined above except I did not paint the paper first. It's just dusted with raw umber and gray chalks.
 

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jkristia

Member
paint it first, paint it first, paint it first :eek:ops: :eek:ops: :eek:ops:

Why didn't I think of that...

Thanks for the info.
 
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