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Mick Bonwick

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Blog Entries posted by Mick Bonwick

  1. Mick Bonwick
    Diecast models in 1/76th scale do not have very finely detailed surfaces, mainly because of the depth of paint on them. This means that capillary action does not work as well as it does on plastic models or larger scale diecast ones. The purpose of the wash in this case is to highlight what detail is visible and also to introduce some false shadows to give a little apparent depth to panels.
     
    Using a rigger brush to apply the wash, even though capillary action is not going to work all that well, will still allow a measure of precision to be employed. The rigger brush is dipped into the white spirit first, and then the tip is dipped into the wash jar. The resut is an even thinner version of the wash that can then be applied to the model. I have used capillary action around the windscreen areas but just sloshed it on around the panel edges. The wheels do have a little bit of detail around the hub centres and the wash highlights that rather well. The whole thing is set aside for an hour or two so that the wash can dry a little.
     

     
    Note that the tilt has not been touched at all. The dirt on that will be represented with the use of the pigment because, in my eyes, the wash would make it far too dark.
     
     
  2. Mick Bonwick
    A dampened cotton swab is used to gently rub away the Dullcote from the glazing. The dampening is not achieved by dipping the swab into the white spirit, but by adding a drop from a brush or pipette to the end of the swab. If you're not careful, though, you'll take the Dullcote off the surrounds, as well!
     
     

     
    I've achieved my aim with this model at this point, but I did go on to add another colour of pigment before adding a photograph to my flickr photostream.
     
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/laughinglobster/51164744775/in/dateposted/
     
     
  3. Mick Bonwick
    The remainder of the vehicle is now treated to a complete cover layer of pigment. The bodywork receives just a thin layer, but the underparts have two layers and the wheel hubs even more. If the matt finish won't accept any more pigment then I apply another layer of Dullcote and repeat the exercise. Areas to receive more varnish can be easily masked with a couple of strategically placed pieces of card.
     
     

     

     
     
     
     
  4. Mick Bonwick
    A wash as used in this example is a very thin enamel paint and thus has a lower concentration of pigment versus carrier. This results in a less dense coverage and means that manipulation is easy. I use this to advantage by wiping off what I consider to be excess or just moving it around the surface at various stages during its drying out. In this case I have waited a couple of hours for the carrier to evaporate and it has left a very soft pigment layer on the shiny paint finish. A soft coton swab has then been used to gently wipe away the excess in such a way as to leave residue around panel edges. It is all then left alone for another few hours for the remaining wash to dry completely. Easier to show than tell . . . . . . .
     

     

  5. Mick Bonwick
    Now for the pigment application. Gloss paint and shiny plastic will not take pigment, it just slides off. My approach is to apply a layer of something that will give a matt surface for the pigment to 'grip'. My preference is Testor's Dullcote, and that is because it works, it is consistent in its form and application, and I have plenty of it. There are many matt varnishes that will do the job, though, so if you have a favourite there is no reason not to use it.
     
    The Land Rover has had a layer of Testor's Dullcote applied and the sharp-eyed amongst you may notice that the windows are covered as well. I have found that wet, damp or dried Dullcote can be removed from the glazing of many models by wiping and rubbing gently with white spirit. I therefore don't mask glazing before applying the matt covering, just wipe it off after I am happy with the rest of the finish. If you use other varnishes to obtain your matt finish this may not be feasible, of course.
     
    My favoured method of applying pigments is covered elsewhere in this blog, so I won't repeat it here. The canvas tilt is my first objective on this model, and the first layer has been applied:
     

     
     

     
    By only applying thin layers at a time, the effect that you require can be gradually built up. It is much easier to add more than to take away excess.
     
     
  6. Mick Bonwick
    Another Land Rover.
     
    This time it's one that will ultimately appear somewhere in the scenery of Easton, Isle of Portland. The idea of this entry is to show what methods can be used to produce a facsimile of a working vehicle without covering up all the detail yet still make it look rather grubby. In keeping with previous examples there will not be very much used of any of the materials utilised.
     
    Preparation consists of checking that the tyres are on the wheels concentricly and that the cab area sits square on the chassis and trailing bonnet edge. I have several examples of Oxford Diecast 1/76th Land Rovers that were bypassed when it came to quality control checks. If something can be easily fixed I usually do just that rather than send it back to the supplier. A personal thing. On this particular example one of the rear tyres was poorly formed, so I removed it, turned it round and replaced it.
     
    Tools to be used are a rigger brush for the wash, a filbert brush for the pigment and a couple of cotton swabs for cleaning up and manipulating. Materials to be used are MIG Productions Dark Wash, Testor's Dullcote and AK Interactive Asphalt Road Dirt pigment. That's it.
     
    Apart from the white spirit.
     
    For a change, you can see what the end result looks like before we start:
     

     
     
  7. Mick Bonwick
    The roof.
     
    In its pure, unadulterated, white and irregular/asymmetric form the roof will be loved by some and not by others. The markings are really strange and on my sample really can be seen from three feet away. Once covered with my favourite very light airbrushed wash for white roofs it takes on a life of its own:
     

     
    There is nothing for it but to completely repaint it, so I've chosen Railmatch Roof Dirt. If I eventually want to vary the shade sightly, I'll use some dark grey pigment.
     
    My second example has arrived and is no different overall than my first. There are some minor differences in the print finish but nothing that will make me want to pursue this method of production any further. It has been (for me) an interesting exercise in trying to work out what will or won't work from a weathering perspective. I'm sure that those who have their own will have reached their own conclusions about this technology and the products it produces.
     
    To finalise this topic, I have put my weathered sample next to my pristine sample for comparison purposes:
     

     

     
    A final word (or several) about this model - be very careful when weathering the sides. The door handles are very easily removed by wide flat shaders and lost in the carpet!
     
  8. Mick Bonwick
    The sides of this van are similar on texture to the ends, although I have to say that the vertical striations on the plank surfaces are not as noticable. The use of a wash was rejected because of the reaction when doing the ends, so the plan was to use pigment(s) on one side and thinned wash applied like paint to the other.
     
    The starting point:
     

     
     
    A thinned wash (MIG Productions Dark Wash) applied with a damp (as opposed to wet) wide flat shader diagonally across the side:
     

     
     
    The opposite side, with MIG Productions Dark Mud pigment applied using a filbert:
     

     
    In retrospect I should probably have used Dark Umber for the second side. There is too much of a yellow tinge to this result for my liking. I still can't 'unsee' the diagonal striations on the underframe.
     
     
  9. Mick Bonwick
    Attacking one end with my standard wash on a rigger method produced this:
     

     
    Just as I expected, capillary action has taken the wash into wrong places as well as right ones. The striations are at right angles to the detail that I want to highlight, so all may not be lost. I may still be able to remove the unwanted material by dragging the wash downwards with a damp brush. I tried it but met with limited success:
     

     
    The edge of the roof at this end has obvious layers, but I expect that the effect will reduce once it's painted.
     
    I continued with the application of MIG Dark Wash on the remainder of this end, but applied it with a wide flat shader and removed the excess, rather than using a rigger and capillary action.
     

     
     
    Once it had all dried it looked like this:

     
    I still can't 'unsee' those vertical stripes.
     
     
     
  10. Mick Bonwick
    When tackling weathering subjects I usually start with the underparts and this is no exception, as you have already seen.
     
    The Dullcote application has given a good matt finish for the pigment to be applied. I have used MIG Productions (now Abteilung 502) Dark Mud in this instance and although it has produced a very slightly textured finish it has not hidden the striations completely, which is pretty much as I expected.
     

     
     
     
    On the other side of the van I have airbrushed Railmatch Frame Dirt and that has produced a better finish, making a better job of hiding the problem. Precisely what @Gilbert mentioned in the previous entry and, once again, just what I expected.
     

     
     
    Looking at the model from a distance changes the perception somewhat and, if I look from 3 feet away as suggested by @57xx in the previous entry, the striations blend into the surface better but not completely. I can still see them from 6 feet away as well, but that might be because I know they're there.
     
     
  11. Mick Bonwick
    This model will present several challenges to my approach to weathering. It is 3D printed, so there will be print layer striations to deal with, and the capillary action that I rely upon to highlight detail will, I am sure, not work very well if at all.
     
    When Rails announced the first run of this type of model, I hummed and hahed for too long. They sold out before I decided to do anything positive about it and when the second run was announced I plumped for a pair of SR liveried ones.
     
    A recent post by Tony Teague in his Churminster and Stowe Magna thread showed how the striations presented themsilves, so I decided to tackle the model now rather than leave it for a while. This topic will be an account of how I progress and will, therefore, contain all of the mistakes I make along the way!
     
    The header picture shows how obvious the striations are when seen close up and untouched. My first thoughts are that a layer of matt something might serve to hide them a little and, since I have some Dullcote handy, that's what will be used. The following three shots show the naked starting point, the drying Dullcote and the end result.
     

     

     

     
    Not a big difference, but some of the shine has been reduced and at normal viewing distance the striations are slightly less obvious. Bear in mind that I am looking specifically for them rather than looking at the model as a whole.
     
     
  12. Mick Bonwick

    Brushes and their uses

    By Mick Bonwick,

    Nearly all of the items weathered in this blog have been attacked by one or more of the following brushes:
     
    Comb 1/2" flat shader Rigger Filbert  
    The use of these brushes is detailed below, in the sequence they appear in the accompanying photograph.
     
    The comb brush is used to work on paint that has already been applied in order to create uneven streaking. The combination of long and short bristles, when dampened with or dipped in thinners, will unevenly remove or displace more or less paint with each stroke, depending on the pressure applied.  Strokes are usually vertical from the top to the bottom of the subject to replicate the runs and streaks created by falling precipitation taking some of the accumulated grime with it on its journey rail-wards. Used mostly on boilers and tender sides.
     
    The 1/2" flat shader is used to manipulate areas of paint into corners, remove excess should it have been inadvertently applied, applying an overall wash for subsequent partial removal and creating regular vertical streaking where relevant.
     
    The rigger has long bristles but a thin point, and this configuration helps with the application of pin-washes, the so-called process of applying a wash to corners and edges of panels and detail to replicate built-up grime or to highlight detail. Capillary action will take a suitably thinned wash into all the detailed areas that are connected to the contact point.
     
    The filbert brush has soft but firm bristles with a rounded end and is used for the application and manipulation of pigments, applied in small quantities at a time.
     
    With the possible exception of the comb brush, the use of these brushes has been mentioned in many of the topics in this blog.

  13. Mick Bonwick
    I have created a YouTube channel in an attempt to illustrate methods of weathering rolling stock and other model railway related items.
     
    The first entry is available for viewing, created in the form of a playlist so that one step at a time can be selected.
     
     
  15. Mick Bonwick

    White Coach Roof Weathering

    By Mick Bonwick,


    Weathering
    I have been asked, and sometimes see questions, about weathering colouring of white coach roofs. I have ploughed through books and looked at photographs and decided that in the days when such roofs were in mainline service they discoloured fairly evenly and quite quickly. I have seen many references to such roofs in preserved service and it seems to me that they do not weather in the same way because their use differs.
     
    This is a personal view!
     
    I have attempted to replicate this process using Railmatch Roof Dirt, the tone of which has been randomly altered by adding Weathered Black at times, thinned a lot with white spirit, and applied in very thin layers from about 30cm away. The results:
     

  16. Mick Bonwick

    Dapol Mogul 6324

    By Mick Bonwick,


    Weathering
    No blow-by-blow account for this subject, just a photograph of the end result.
     
    Airbrushed Railmatch Frame Dirt for the underparts, with Weathered Black addded for the sides and ends. Weathered Black for the tops of smokebox, boiler and cab, with Mig Productions Black Smoke pigment on the smokebox and cab roof. Small quantities of Mig Productions Industrial City Dirt, Dark Mud and Track Brown in appropriate places around and about and some AMMO by Mig Fresh Engine Oil on the coupling/connecting rods. Wet paint was manipulated with a white sprit dampened wide flat shader brush and a couple of areas were tackled with a soft cotton bud to impart a vague sheen. A hint of Weathered Black was added to wheel centres and axle box covers.
     
    I noticed that the Railmatch jar I opened for this model has a new lid arrangement, and it seems (so far) to be much better than the previous fragile plastic lid with paper insert.
     

  19. Mick Bonwick
    The fourth one, almost completed. Things left to do are random small rust spots, painting the tops of the strengthening ribs and removing some of the grot on the various levers to reveal the white paint.
     
    Only when looking at the photograph did I notice that this one has no footsteps at the left-hand end of the solebars.
     

     

     
    Then there was one.
     
  20. Mick Bonwick
    Two members of a set of 5 Accurascale hoppers to be finished differently. A bit of a challenge, but I thought that if I tackled each one completely separately I ought to be in with a chance of success.
     
    I selected the paints and pigments before I started and will restrict what I use to just those choices.
     
    Railmatch Sleeper Grime
    Railmatch Roof Dirt
    AMMO Dark Earth pigment
    AMMO Russian Earth pigment
    Revell Matt Enamel No. 84
    MIG Dark Mud pigment
     

     
    There is still work to be done on both, but progress is being made.
     
     
  21. Mick Bonwick
    It occurred to me that I could do something about making initial airbrushing tasks a bit easier with these models. Most of the photographs that I have been working from show much corrosion on the strengthening ribs all around the hopper body, and for the first couple of examples I airbrushed these freehand and didn't worry too much about the slight overspray that got onto the panels. For the third example I cut out a piece of 2mm greyboard to use as a mask that would allow me to airbrush just the ribs without getting overspray on the panels.
     

     
     

     
    It worked well enough on the third one, so I'll use it on the remaining two as well. They won't be done just yet, though, because the Christmas lights have to go up and that takes a couple of days . . . . . . . .
     
     
  22. Mick Bonwick

    Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

    By Mick Bonwick,


    Weathering
    Who hangs on to old tins of paint, wherein gloopy remains stick to the bottom? I have an old tin of Humbrol 27004 Metalcote Gunmetal, most of which was used for airbrushing onto wheels and smokeboxes in a black/gunmetal mixture. During a search for suitable buffer head grease I found that the otherwise unusable pigment that remained in the bottom of an improperly closed tinlet had an interesting property. A lump of this goo was attached to a buffer head, smeared about a bit and left to dry. Once dry, it was gently buffed to bring out the metallic sheen.
     
    On 1444 I have used this simple process for the buffers, after treating them to a layer of Dullcote and some MIG Dark Mud. These two final photographs show the end result.
     

     

     
    Now I'm off to work on the Golden Arrow.
     
     
  23. Mick Bonwick

    Dapol O Gauge Jinty

    By Mick Bonwick,


    Weathering
    A touch-up job this time. A friend had fitted sound, crew, coal and working lamp to this Jinty and removed paint from the coupling rods and brake gear in doing so.  A half-cupful of Railmatch sleeper grime, weathered black and matt black soon sorted out that little problem.
     

  24. Mick Bonwick

    Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

    By Mick Bonwick,


    Weathering
    Almost there now. Some MIG Dark Mud pigment has been used to indicate the beginnings of surface corrosion on the chimney, and some Gunmetal metallic pigment has been used to indicate the beginnings of shiny handrail portions in the most used areas. Small amounts are crucial to the success of this type of effect. All pigment applications were done with a filbert brush.
     
    Only one more day to go.
     

     

  25. Mick Bonwick

    Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

    By Mick Bonwick,


    Weathering
    A dark mix of Railmatch Weathered Black and Frame Dirt has been airbrushed over the top of the boiler, the cab roof and the driving wheel centres. This is to represent the soot present on the former two and the oil on the latter. The photograph that I have been using as a reference shows a much more marked contrast between the wheel rims and the wheel centres, but it does not look quite right to my eye so I have reduced the contrast by using a slightly darker shade of brown.
     
    Black Smoke pigment has been used on the smokebox and its door, with a very light application of the same to the front corner and edge of the tanks to show where water continually runs if the filling process means the tanks overflow.
     
    Not far to go now. Thanks for sticking with it!
     

     

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