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Recommended "faded" off-black?


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Any recommendations for an easily available faded black paint?

 

Painting underframes etc in pure black tends to result in a "too black" finish that then takes a lot of weathering to tone down. A slightly faded looking black, perhaps with a hint of brown, would be ideal 

 

I've tried Tamiya "NATO Black" but that has a real blue/green tinge to it. Vallejo "German Grey" looks kind of suitable in swatches, but in practice comes out as a much lighter grey - kind of granite colour. Tamiya's "German Black" looks pure black in swatches - what is it like for real?

 

Because I want to just paint individual wagon underframes and little projects like that, I'm really looking for an acrylic that I can brush paint with minimal clean up, or a RELIABLE spray can. (So that kind of rules out Precision and Railmatch, I guess).

 

Any suggestions?

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24 minutes ago, gordon s said:

 

Gordon - Looked at your 9f link and that looks fantastic, what did you use to thin the paint? 

Steve.

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Thank you for the compliment. It was a few years ago, but I’m still pleased with the result. I just thinned the paint with water and then airbrushed it.

 

Areas around the windows, numbers and tender emblem were just washed away with a wet baby bud.

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3 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

Lifecolor UA723 - Weathered Black and UA736 - Burned Black. Used on their own or mixed, they'll produce all the faded black tones you'll ever need. :)

 

These are ideal - many thanks! I don't know why I'd forgotten LifeColor.

 

After looking at their range again, I just ordered a set of "Black Rubber Shades" that looks just the ticket (although it doesn't include UA723, it has Burned Black, and several other similar shades). I also noticed they now do a "white wood" set that includes shades that much better suit wagon interiors/decks than the "weathered wood" set I bought before. 

 

The Citadel chaos black looks like it would probably be better starting point than Halfords black too. I'll pick a can up when I run out of the Halfords spray. 

 

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2 minutes ago, justin1985 said:

I also noticed they now do a "white wood" set that includes shades that much better suit wagon interiors/decks than the "weathered wood" set I bought before. 

 

 

The White Wood set can be replicated by adding a drop or two of appropriate colours to a pure white. I suppose the same could be said about the Shades of Black set and pure black, come to think of it! Note that all of the colours in both sets are available individually.

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14 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

The White Wood set can be replicated by adding a drop or two of appropriate colours to a pure white. I suppose the same could be said about the Shades of Black set and pure black, come to think of it! Note that all of the colours in both sets are available individually.

 

Well of course - most colours we use, especially in weathering, can be easily mixed up from basic colours (particularly easy with Vallejo paints in their dropper bottles).

 

Although actually, I find toning down very dark colours into something more weathered looking is much harder (and takes much more lighter paint) than working the other way - and in the process you can end up mixing way more paint than you actually need for the task in hand - especially for N \ 2mm Scale. For this sort of thing, I'm very happy to pay a bit more for the convenience of ready mixed colours that I can just pop open and use just the amount I need. 

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On 09/04/2019 at 18:35, justin1985 said:

Any recommendations for an easily available faded black paint?

 

Painting underframes etc in pure black tends to result in a "too black" finish that then takes a lot of weathering to tone down. A slightly faded looking black, perhaps with a hint of brown, would be ideal 

 

I've tried Tamiya "NATO Black" but that has a real blue/green tinge to it. Vallejo "German Grey" looks kind of suitable in swatches, but in practice comes out as a much lighter grey - kind of granite colour. Tamiya's "German Black" looks pure black in swatches - what is it like for real?

 

Because I want to just paint individual wagon underframes and little projects like that, I'm really looking for an acrylic that I can brush paint with minimal clean up, or a RELIABLE spray can. (So that kind of rules out Precision and Railmatch, I guess).

 

Any suggestions?

 

Phoenix Precision do a Dirty Black P981 quite a useful colour.........and Railmatch have a weathered Black R412  both being enamels, Railmatch R412 may also be avail in Acrylic

Edited by tractor_37260
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It's worth remembering that underframes on wagons in use tend to accumulate track dirt and brake dust so can have a very strong brownish hue. I tend to mix my own underframe paint to reflect the look I want to achieve. 

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On 15/04/2019 at 09:28, 44690 said:

It's worth remembering that underframes on wagons in use tend to accumulate track dirt and brake dust so can have a very strong brownish hue. I tend to mix my own underframe paint to reflect the look I want to achieve. 

 

IIRC, Adam of this parish, whose wagons are to be much admired, doesn’t use black at all - he paints his underframes in Humbrol chocolate (as a basis for further subsequent weathering) for exactly this reason.

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On 16/04/2019 at 21:14, Zero Gravitas said:

 

IIRC, Adam of this parish, whose wagons are to be much admired, doesn’t use black at all - he paints his underframes in Humbrol chocolate (as a basis for further subsequent weathering) for exactly this reason.

 

I rarely use black. I tend to mix it with brown or grey depending on what I'm modelling. Humbrol Mat black and 62 leather being a favourite on underframes. (Copied from Martin Welch's book 'The art of weathering).

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On 12/04/2019 at 21:08, tractor_37260 said:

 

 Railmatch have a weathered Black R412 

 

47 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Try railmatch weathered black....

 

 

I've found this a handy enamel product for quickly airbrushing O Gauge wagon underframes. I'm not sure if it is still available in acrylic form.

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2 hours ago, Barry O said:

I don't use acrylics. Some are water based but a few aren't ..the rail match one I use is enamel.

 

The original poster (justin1985) was asking for help with acrylic paints, hence my observation.

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