Problems with first efforts at weathering

[petnik]

In my first attempts at weathering, on a few wagons, I can't seem to get a truly near-matt finish. I should say I'm brushing by hand. I'm experimenting with mixtures of Humbrol 98 Chocolate and Precision Paints Dull Black, occasionally with Railmatch GWR and BR Freight Greys, and using varying proportions of paint and white spirit. But that dusty matt finish always seems to elude me, with the shine particularly stark on roofs. Any ideas about what I might be doing wrong?

 

Another novice question: can anyone recommend a clean, simple way of repeatedly transferring small quantities of different paints from pots to mixing surface till you get the colour you want?

 

 

[Old Time Workshop]

Are you sure the paint is fully mixed? For a long time I found the top half of a tinlet of paint was far glossier than the remainder. Mixing for much longer and making sure ALL the sediment is lifted from the base of the tin improved my results dramatically.

 

Simon.

[Guest stuartp]

I find that anything heavily thinned tends to dry shiny, I put it down to there not being enough of the matting agent left in the diluted mix. With enamals I just get on with it and give it a light dusting with matt varnish afterwards.

 

If you want to try acryllics Tamiya sell the matting agent separately - look for 'Flat Base'. Use it sparingly though (very sparingly) or your wagon will look like it's been frosted.

[JZ]

Another novice question: can anyone recommend a clean, simple way of repeatedly transferring small quantities of different paints from pots to mixing surface till you get the colour you want?

 

I have an old Tamiya jar which I pour the colours for the mix into. I don't worry about repeatability of shade and vary the amount of thinners to get different effects. Most good model shops sell jars of various sizes.

[Roddy Angus]

You could always try giving the finished model a final light coat of matt varnish from an aerosol can to finish it off. That is what I normally do anyway as it is preferable to have a gloss finish for putting on the transfers and then seal and matt down the colours with a light final coat of varnish.

 

Roddy

[James]

Most good model shops sell jars of various sizes.

Due to my circumstances I have now discovered that the jars which baby food comes in are veryuseful indeed!

 

 

You could always try giving the finished model a final light coat of matt varnish from an aerosol can to finish it off. That is what I normally do anyway as it is preferable to have a gloss finish for putting on the transfers and then seal and matt down the colours with a light final coat of varnish.

Be careful though - a dead matt finish on a lot of things such as diesels and steel bodied/sided coaches can be terribly unrealistic. If you follow this link -

 

 

...you'll see the sheen coming through the weathering despite the loco being quite dirty.

 

With reagrds the OP, I think you probably aren't mixing the paint thoroughly. In the case of Humbrol matt colours, I wouldn't bother either! Just take the thick pigment out from the bottom of the tin and use that. By doing this I very, very rarely have any problems with matt paint turning shiny when it dries. I use either a generic enamel thinners or just white spirit depending on what is to hand.

[Hollar]

In my first attempts at weathering, on a few wagons, I can't seem to get a truly near-matt finish. I should say I'm brushing by hand. I'm experimenting with mixtures of Humbrol 98 Chocolate and Precision Paints Dull Black, occasionally with Railmatch GWR and BR Freight Greys, and using varying proportions of paint and white spirit. But that dusty matt finish always seems to elude me, with the shine particularly stark on roofs. Any ideas about what I might be doing wrong?

 

Another novice question: can anyone recommend a clean, simple way of repeatedly transferring small quantities of different paints from pots to mixing surface till you get the colour you want?

 

 

You could try one of the little ceramic paint palettes available from art shops. They cost very little and I have a couple of four-compartment ones that I have been using for nearly 40 years. I keep the colours separate and mix them on brush or model which provides the slight but continuous variation in colour that you see in real life.

 

Tony McSean

[michaelp]

I have had the same problems mixing/thinning paints and never getting the desired result, that was until I tried weathering powders and what a difference!! virtually instant success.

 

Michael

[Adam]

From my memory of the last jar of Railmatch GW wagon grey* I bought I seem to recall that is had a satin finish (as was intended). From experimentation, I've done some of the following things wrong:

 

1. Failing to clean brushes properly - while cleaning them out with thinners/turps gets rid of the paint, a thorough wash in warm soapy water afterwards makes a difference. You can get away without for a while, but I find that shiny tide marks in the paint finish are the result. This is really annoying.

 

2. Stirring paint. Essential; shaking simply isn't enough. NB, Humbrol 98 seems somewhat temperamental in this regard unless it's mixed thoroughly in the tin (or as James suggests) and can also take longer than other Humbrol enamels to go off fully. Once it has, however, it's just as durable as any other. For this reason I tend only to use it as a base layer for weathering rather than part of the weathering mix itself.

 

* Railmatch tends to spray better when it comes to drying flat.

 

HTH

 

Adam