Date
1 - 15 of 15
New question on an old technique
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asychis@...
Hi Folks,
I have used a technique in the past ( I am sure described here) to
weather boxcars using post-it notes and spraying at an angle. It really
made the individual panels pop out. Can someone recount the technique or
post a reference? It has been years since I use the
technique (actually years since I weathered a boxcar/reefer) and I am doing
something wrong because when I try it now it looks horrible.
Thanks!
Jerry Michels
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Benjamin Hom
Jerry Michels asked:
"I have used a technique in the past ( I am sure described here) to weather boxcars using post-it notes and spraying at an angle. It really made the individual panels pop out. Can someone recount the technique or post a reference? It has been years since I use the technique (actually years since I weathered a boxcar/reefer) and I am doing something wrong because when I try it now it looks horrible." This is one of Greg Martin's tricks. Check his past freight car articles in RMC or Mainline Modeler; I'm sure he'll be along later with more details. Ben Hom |
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Jerry maybe you've forgotten to spray the note, not the car?? I just hold a 4x6 or other stiff piece of cardboard and shoot at the card -- the overspray or "bounce" from the card is light and diffuse, and that's how I simulate wind-blown dirt. Another way is to cut a slit into the card and mask the whole car with it -- only a small amount of color gets through the slit -- really good for doing vertical or horizontal streaks. Tim O'Connor I have used a technique in the past ( I am sure described here) to weather boxcars using post-it notes and spraying at an angle. It really made the individual panels pop out. Can someone recount the technique or post a reference? It has been years since I use the technique (actually years since I weathered a boxcar/reefer) and I am doing something wrong because when I try it now it looks horrible. |
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Jerry,
Here are two applications of the techniques, as taught to me by Greg Martin.
For an oxide red car, take the base color and make 2 new colors, + red (redder) and + orange (more orange). I'll call these +R and +O from here on.Load your airbrush with
+R. Place post-it note with the adhesive with the edge along the panel line and the note to the left of the panel line at the RIGHTMOST panel seam. Spray the NOTE, not the panel with +R. The idea is that the overspray should form a gradient from heaviest
at the edge to lighest by the center of the panel. Working left, spray all the panel line the same way (eg. with the note on the left of the panel line). When dry, repeat the process with the +O, but with the note to the RIGHT of the panel line. What you
end up with is a gradient going right to left, starting at the panel line of +O - base color - +R - panel seam - +O - base color - +R etc... This makes the panel lines pop.
A second technique using the note is to simulate the heavy drips that line up with the roof seams. Use the post-it the same way as above, but align it just slightly to the
note side of the roof seam. Hit the NOTE with grimy black, with just a little overspray onto the car. In this case, you probably want the overspray heavier up high, and lighter or non-existent down below.
Good Luck!
Bruce Smith Auburn, AL From: STMFC@... [STMFC@...]
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2014 10:02 PM To: STMFC@... Subject: [STMFC] New question on an old technique Hi Folks,
I have used a technique in the past ( I am sure described here) to weather boxcars using post-it notes and spraying at an angle. It really made the individual panels pop out. Can someone recount the technique or post a reference? It has been years since
I use the technique (actually years since I weathered a boxcar/reefer) and I am doing something wrong because when I try it now it looks horrible.
Thanks!
Jerry Michels
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Scott H. Haycock
Greg's article about this technique appeared in the Feb. 1992 issue of RMC. Scott Haycock Modeling Tarheel country in the Land of Enchantment
Jerry,
Here are two applications of the techniques, as taught to me by Greg Martin.
For an oxide red car, take the base color and make 2 new colors, + red (redder) and + orange (more orange). I'll call these +R and +O from here on.Load your airbrush with
+R. Place post-it note with the adhesive with the edge along the panel line and the note to the left of the panel line at the RIGHTMOST panel seam. Spray the NOTE, not the panel with +R. The idea is that the overspray should form a gradient from heaviest
at the edge to lighest by the center of the panel. Working left, spray all the panel line the same way (eg. with the note on the left of the panel line). When dry, repeat the process with the +O, but with the note to the RIGHT of the panel line. What you
end up with is a gradient going right to left, starting at the panel line of +O - base color - +R - panel seam - +O - base color - +R etc... This makes the panel lines pop.
A second technique using the note is to simulate the heavy drips that line up with the roof seams. Use the post-it the same way as above, but align it just slightly to the
note side of the roof seam. Hit the NOTE with grimy black, with just a little overspray onto the car. In this case, you probably want the overspray heavier up high, and lighter or non-existent down below.
Good Luck!
Bruce Smith Auburn, AL
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riverman_vt@...
Hi folks,
For weathering the side panel seams in house cars several of us at the MIT Model R.R. Club have used a similar method for nearly fifty years now. At that time we used IBM punch cards; anyone remember those? In any case, using a sharp single sided razor blade and a metal rule we would cut various sizes of very narrow "V"'s in one edge of the punch card and use them as masks to spray rust along seams or drip marks from the roof onto the sides of cars. I'm sure folks can find something better than punch cards today, perhaps even a more permanent thin sheet brass template with several such narrow "V" cuts in it. I'm sure one could even do it with sheet styrene stock but not as well as it could be done with thin brass sheet, which is infinitely more cleanable.
Cordially, Don Valentine |
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Tony Thompson
Bruce Smith wrote:
This technique makes a gorgeous model. Only problem I have with it, is that I have never seen a prototype photo which looks like the result of this technique. So after experimenting on a couple of cars, I quit using it. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com (510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, tony@... Publishers of books on railroad history |
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I wouldn't say it doesn't exist, but the fundamental rule of weathering seems to be that every car more than one month old is different from every other car! There's nothing worse than seeing a bunch of cars together that all have exactly the same weathering. Tim O' This technique makes a gorgeous model. Only problem I have with it, is that I have never seen a prototype photo which looks like the result of this technique. So after experimenting on a couple of cars, I quit using it. |
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Tony,
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I put it in the category of "trompe l'oeil". That is, if you look at it in a setting, it looks like a car with characteristic panel color variation. If you look closely, you may see the trick that was used to "fool the eye"
Regards Bruce
Bruce F. Smith Auburn, AL https://www5.vetmed.auburn.edu/~smithbf/
"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."
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Tony Thompson
Bruce Smith wrote:
Yes, that's a good term, and I take the point. But I believe it's fooling the eye to see something that's actually not prototypical, or at least pretty uncommon. Good looking though it is, I don't want it in my fleet. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com (510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, tony@... Publishers of books on railroad history |
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Richard Hendrickson
On May 19, 2014, at 8:52 AM, Tony Thompson tony@... [STMFC] <STMFC@...> wrote:
Richard Hendrickson |
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Greg Martin
Well I didn't want to jump in here as I don't regard this technique as a
"weathering technique" but as I have always explained it as a shading
technique.
If you note Tony never refers to this as a weathering technique, he just
doesn't like it.
As for prototype photos, well I guess it just take a trained eye to see it,
it exists on every surface. It is a technique that exhibits the way that light
falls on a subject whether flat or uneven ( I think that this is the way I
explained it in my article in Mainline Modeler and in more detail in Railroad
Model Craftsman.
You need only go to this page to see an example of it, albeit this car is
dead flat, but nonetheless:
Look closely, the shades are there on natures own painted canvas and it is
a boxcar. The weathering is there as well look around the ladders and the rust
as well. Plenty of color and its the illusion we are creating not the dirt.
The technique doesn't exclude weathering it just gives your eye a look at
all the colors on the freight car and again exhibits the way light falls on
the subject. This technique with my India Ink, colored pencil or graphite
pencil to pique the shading to create depth that your layout room lighting
is truly missing makes the technique work at least for me.
If you don't like it don't use it, but you only need to follow the
military modelers in all scales to see how it has evolved over the years.
As Tony will say YMM...
Greg Martin
Eventually all things merge into one and a river runs through
it. Norman Maclean Tim O' writes:
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Tony Thompson
Greg Martin wrote:
No, I don't "just not like it." I think it is unprototypical. I do not say it can't exist, nor that it isn't subtle, only that I do NOT see it in prototype photo after photo. When I first saw the technique described, I thought it was something I had been missing, and started looking. But I still haven't found it, and the T&P box car photo does not convince me. Whatever small effect is there is far smaller than what the technique portrays. I have the greatest respect for Greg and his modeling, and for all his contributions to the Shake 'n' Take event at Cocoa Beach. But I part ways with him on this particular point. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com (510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, tony@... Publishers of books on railroad history |
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Scott H. Haycock
I've always thought that this technique was more about artistic interpretation than actually trying to duplicate reality. I'm reminded of the various techniques we use to represent brick structures, with the mortar lines. We tend to lighten our paint so it isn't too dark under indoor lighting. We exaggerate rivet size, and the scribed siding on wood cars to make them even visible on otherwise scale models. All of these are akin to artistic techniques. I look at the T&P boxcar photo that Greg linked to, and I see his point. If you look at the 1st and 2nd panels to the left of the door, you'll see that the second panel is darker on it's left side than it's right, and the first panel is darker down it's center. I believe this is what Greg is trying to mimic with this technique. Whether this is caused by weathering, paint oxidation or lighting, it appears to be a valid observation. Another point may be: do the photos of Greg's models exaggerate the effect? Photos have been known to do that! My point here, is that, the technique on the actual models may appear far more subtle than in photos. Like Tony though, I wouldn't use this technique on very many cars, but I would try it, in a barely perceptible fashion, on a few. Another point; I doubt if this shading/weathering/paint oxidation, whatever, would show up in most freight car photos in this list's time frame , which would be largely Black and White. One Man's opinion... Scott Haycock Modeling Tarheel country in the Land of Enchantment Greg Martin wrote:
No, I don't "just not like it." I think it is unprototypical. I do not say it can't exist, nor that it isn't subtle, only that I do NOT see it in prototype photo after photo. When I first saw the technique described, I thought it was something I had been missing, and started looking. But I still haven't found it, and the T&P box car photo does not convince me. Whatever small effect is there is far smaller than what the technique portrays. I have the greatest respect for Greg and his modeling, and for all his contributions to the Shake 'n' Take event at Cocoa Beach. But I part ways with him on this particular point. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com (510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, tony@... Publishers of books on railroad history |
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mikefrommontanan
I've used Martin's technique, though sometime with only the + or - color. The Post It masking and shading does help make panels more visible, but the key to the whole thing is to try to make the whole thing virtually imperceptible.
In any instance, it beats the tar out of the general overspray of Floquil Dust that many people consider to be "weathering". Another arrow in the quiver. Michael Seitz Missoula MT --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com ____________________________________________________________ $25,000 Poker Freeroll Qualify now to win your share of $25,000 in cold, hard cash! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/537c179ac7c15179904d9st02duc |
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