Entry posted by Buckjumper
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Over the weekend I was hunting down some photos on my computer and found a few of the tar tub tank wagon that I decorated about 18 months or so ago, but which haven't been posted on here. If memory recalls correctly, this was one of the last models I completed before having to drop model making for a while. The model was built by Graham and Peter Beare and briefly described by Graham in a thread at the time, and I gave a rather full description of my process of decorating it with a couple of photos posted alongside to illustrate. Having found the other photos I thought it would be of interest to post the whole set here for completeness, and as a lead-in for a future tar tank article that will appear on Basilica Fields which Graham has kindly offered to build. Don't hold your breath for the next tub though as Graham is very busy working though vast swathes of of track construction at the moment, but in the future I will be referencing back to this post. In a nutshell the wagon is a Slater's kit married to Exactoscale sprung axleboxes units and has replacement brake gear from both Ambis and Exactoscale plus a lot of extra detail. Graham is making a detailed photo-journal of the construction of the next tank as he builds it, showing all the areas he modifies. It will be a terrific read and should raise the bar of modelled tar-tubbery! In the meantime, here is a précis of the weathering process.
The top coat is Precision enamel Red Oxide airbrushed over Games Workshop white acrylic primer which is perfect for translucent colours such as reds and blues as the primer adds depth to the finish which is emphasised when T-Cut is applied.
Rather than go for a perfectly smooth finish which is the usual goal of painters, I increased the air-to-paint ratio and sprayed from an extra couple of inches away causing the paint to land in a semi-dry state and giving the finish a slightly gritty texture. After a couple of days I knocked this back with some 2000 grit wet & dry, working in between the rows of rivets on the tank sides and ends, but I wasn't too fastidious about it. I then applied T-cut using a cotton bud, polishing these areas to a shine. The remaining gritty texture around the rivets helps facilitate the appearance of erupting rust, but the sides need to represent sheet metal, and an underlying sheen with plenty of depth helps to trick the brain into thinking it's looking at just that, not injection moulded plastic. This surface also helps to bed transfers in, so it's a two-birds-with-one-stone process. Later on the shine can be knocked back by weathering - not matt varnish which is a sure-fire way of obliterating all of the nuances I've worked hard at creating. The tank top was left alone with the rough texture in place.
The transfers supplied are for No.9 in the fleet, which is a slightly longer wagon than No.2 (Graham wanted a red tank, not a black one, hence the change), so I had an interesting morning chopping the numbers and letters up and re-spacing them until they matched the photograph. All the ironwork was then brush painted with Humbrol satin black.
The model was then weathered with my base palette - a 70/30 mix of Humbrol 33 and 133 with the tiniest drop of 62 for brake dust accumulation on underframes and ends. This is applied very thinly with the merest of hazes wafted gently on and the patina slowly built up. Subtlety is the key to all weathering, even for those dirty great filthy WDs clanking around the country in the 60s; build up the weathering textures and colours slowly, just like the real thing. The tank sides and ends received a gentle dust of muck which was wiped away in a vertical motion with a moistened cotton bud, the grime remaining trapped in the textured patches around the rivets accentuating the texture of erupting rust, gunk and spillages. The tank top was given a waft of the sooty mixture and left alone.
Graham didn't want too much tar spillage represented as he supposed that in the Edwardian period there might have been a little more care taken over getting the stuff into the tank compared to the laissez-faire state attitude apparent in later periods. The limited spillage was represented by a Metalcote gunmetal and grey 64 mix drybrushed on. The tank top was then scrubbed with a stiff brush to simulate scuffing and rubbing from boots, sleeves, hands and trouser knees from the men who scrambled all over it to fill 'er up. I used the same mix to simulate spills and seepage from the oil axleboxes.
At this stage the amount of grime looks fine, and I see so many models weathered to this stage, but to my eye it's all a little flat, so time for some sleight of hand.
I mixed 33, 62 and 64 in a ratio of about 4-1-1 and with a flat bush, and almost all of the mix wiped off, I brushed in an upward direction across all the rivets, along every edge on the tank, the frames, the ironwork, the running gear to give the impression of shadows. This takes some time and requires a lot of patience. I then mixed the same colours in a 4-1-1 mix in favour of the light grey, drybrushing all the same areas but in a downward motion which simulates light bouncing off these raised areas. it has to be done with extreme subtly or you get a caricature seen so often in some areas of military and fantasy painting - it sometimes works in those arenas, but not in ours. If you bodge it up, simply wipe away with thinners or knock it back with a mist of the general weathering mix. The highlights and shadows lift the murky running gear, the grittier areas and especially the tank rivets and the ownership plate which was one I had etched specially for the wagon.
To finish it all off I added oily water runs on the tyre faces where the tank had been standing, and pushed tiny grains of rust weathering powders into the springs and axle guards. That's about it, except for the frippery, so here's an early colour photograph...
...and how we're used to seeing them in the old orthochromatic emulsions. Well, sort of...
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