Reproducing LNER varnished teak: painting and graining with oil paints.

[MikeTrice]

A number of my threads in the past have covered my technique for reproducing a varnished teak livery on coaches. I have recently painted a coach model and have taken the liberty of making a number of videos to illustrate the process and uploaded them to YouTube. Hope they prove useful.

 

Part 1

 

Part 2:

 

OK, I admit that the two previous videos could have been better. In a number of cases it is not easy to see what  I am doing. With that in mind I have videoed a follow up in an attempt to cover the topic a bit better. Not certain I succeeded:

 

Feel free to ask any questions.

Edited April 27, 2020 by MikeTrice

[teaky]

Excellent.  They should prove very useful.  Thanks Mike.

[EHertsGER]

Well, I seem to have the hang of this, but what of the roofs? I know they started as white lead, but what shades did they go through and what patterns of sooting developed until they became all-over dirty? I have tried roof dirt overall, but they seem just to be BR grey colour. I’m going to start again...

a nice gentle teak finish, but a little bland, so...

Another coat - in bad light and with a darker roof. Still not there yet...

 

Comments/guidance - especially on the subject of roofs, most welcome.

 

best,
Marcus

Edited April 19, 2020 by EHertsGER

[MikeTrice]

It might be too late now but it looks as if you could do with a greater proportion of Vandyke Brown to Liquin. That would make the graining more noticable although your finish might look different under other lighting conditions. My build to date is covered on Western Thunder: https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/index.php?threads/mike-trices-4mm-workbench.8537/

 

I have not go around to painting the roof of my model yet. Have a look at the colour photos on Steve Bank's web site https://www.steve-banks.org/prototype-and-traffic/133-teak-coaches

 

For other carriages I have painted the roof white then turned it grey/black with sprayed on oil washes giving a slightly translucent finish:

 

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by MikeTrice

[EHertsGER]

Mike, thanks for the comments. My feeling is the brush is too soft, depriving me of a ‘grain’ in the application. Otherwise, happy with the second coat. Now, I went off to Western Thunderer and had a lovely time - until I got to the bit about printed seats and tables and so on. The solution to my seating needs! Are you planning to add them to your Shapeways catalogue? I was planning on casting them in resin...
 

best,

Marcus

Edited April 19, 2020 by EHertsGER

[MikeTrice]

On 19/04/2020 at 15:46, EHertsGER said:

Mike, thanks for the comments. My feeling is the brush is too soft, depriving me of a ‘grain’ in the application. Otherwise, happy with the second coat. Now, I went off to Western Thunderer and had a lovely time - until I got to the bit about printed seats and tables and so on. The solution to my seating needs! Are you planning to add them to your Shapeways catalogue? I was planning on casting them in resin...
 

best,

Marcus

Sorry, missed this post. Have a word in Graeme King's ear.

 

The brush I use is also soft. Try increasing ratio of oil paint to Liquin. I show result of this in the "addendum" video.

Edited April 22, 2020 by MikeTrice

[MikeTrice]

This topic has been completely revamped. Hopefully it will make more sense.

Edited April 27, 2020 by MikeTrice

[MrSimon]

Hi Mike, thanks for sharing your method!

 

I’ve been doing some testers which have turned out well.  Do you know if the LNER painted in panel variation in the steel/ply sided coaches/BGs?  I’ve seen pictures of the coaches being lined out as if they’re teak (so I’m assuming we’d paint the grains as if the coach was teak) but would that extend to the paint shops making ‘panels’ darker?

 

Also, do you know if they steel/ply coaches turned from the umber to the van-dyke in the same way as the teak coaches?

 

Many thanks in advance

Simon

[MikeTrice]

From what I can see panel variation did occur for non-teak coaches however this seems far less marked with Thompson coaches.

 

Simulated teak was subject to several coats of varnish as part of its application so would suffer similar aging effects to the varnish over time. Unlike teak, water would not soak into the metal and discolour it.

[asmay2002]

On 19/04/2020 at 03:40, EHertsGER said:

Well, I seem to have the hang of this, but what of the roofs? I know they started as white lead, but what shades did they go through and what patterns of sooting developed until they became all-over dirty? I have tried roof dirt overall, but they seem just to be BR grey colour. I’m going to start again...

a nice gentle teak finish, but a little bland, so...

Another coat - in bad light and with a darker roof. Still not there yet...

 

Comments/guidance - especially on the subject of roofs, most welcome.

 

best,
Marcus

The problem with white lead was not just dirt.  Sulphurous fumes from coal burning react with white lead to form Lead Suphide (which is black) so that even if the roof had been washed clean of dirt it would not be white.   Eventually it goes all the way to black with a bit of a brownish tinge to it.  This problem also affects works of art.  For a model, any shade between white and black is more or less plausible and every vehicle would be different unless they were outshopped at the same time.  They didn't stay white very long but it was mostly the colour of the paint that changed.

 

[Michael Hodgson]

The Klear product mentioned in the video is discontinued.

I understand it has been replaced by a differently formulated product called  "Pledge Multi Surface Wax with Klear"

 

[MrSimon]

Thanks Mike,

 

It’s turning out quite well (although I’m not looking forward to doing the lining) - as it’s N I added Vallejo ‘sunny skin’ in place of some of the orange to tone the intensity down:

 

I’m looking forward to trying it on a panelled coach!

 

Many thanks

Simon