milocomarty

I just make a couple of mixes for every season. Work in layers and start with a bright green over earth and moss tones, another layer with short beige tones followed by the same lenght in the desired seasonal color. Young grasses are bright green, old ones beige. After that I start layers of longer fibers in the seasonal color and the deadish one. I don't mix lenghts just colors to get the tone I want. Build it up with a dotting technique. Yes, time consuming but realy worth it. I keep away from sprayglue or layering sprays as you can't control them to good and they tend to build up to heavy.. Hope this picture shows a bit what I mean..experiment and you can get good results..

I quit using PVA woodglue. The problem is the skin it build and for that the fibers boune of the surface. For a good result I prefer a acrylic binder wich is a base for paintmaking or just cheap kids glue from kindergarten. For the 2mm short fibers you can thin it almost 50/50 with water, as short fibers don't need a thick glue coat to stand. Longer fibers need a thicker glue to stand up straight..

I prefer MiniNatur or Modelscene when it comes to fibers, stay away from any pre-mixed blend wit those ugly bright red and yellow fibers in it. Best machine on the market is the RTS greenkeeper IMO. Ow, Alan, can teach it to you one day, it's not that hard.

I prefer synthetic materials after my first show layout I presented in 2012. After the first show most trees with natural materials, this supertree teloxis something material, were damaged after transportation. So I started to build trees from wire and fibers, the only thing that happens now is a bad choice of glue.. Fooled around a bit more with the novelties.

More colors, more tests

On the layout

Testing...

Standard surface primer, comes in several colors, grey, black, white and another 6 or so..

Change your spraying technique, Vallejo and others like Ammo an AK need to be build up instead of flooding the surface.

Vallejo white acrylic primer...

http://www.axminster.co.uk/proxxon-fet-table-saw-210576 way better, more expensive too..

Start on an cheap model or the most expensive you have..Rule one in weathering is observe the prototype before you start. Rule 2 and 3 are the same. I search the net for pictures or whatever I can lay my hands on to study the prototype before I start on the model. As long as you know where the dirt goes you be fine. Watch the masters at work, search the youtube for Michael Rinaldi, Mig Jiminez, Adam Wilder, they are a couple of artists out of the extraordinary and are willing to share a lot of techniques. I'm personally not a big fan of powders only. They are IMO a nice addition to the layers of paint used. That's most of the time the big trick in good weathering that you work in layers, many layers. As Michael Rinaldi once stated: You washed your car and it's nice and shiny on the driveway. After a day the first layer of dust and dirt appear. When you wash your car once a month like me there are 30 daily layers of dirt on it. Well doin demonstrations for several brands of paint I don't advice one brand. What I do advice at the moment that you as a starter work with the most forgiving medium. That are for me oil paints. Proper laid down on a piece of cardboard, used in thin layers the are a magnificent medium to work with. And they give you a long time to work them over. Not satisfied with the result, take some cotton swaps, odorless thinner and of it goes..

Well, most of the time I backfire the airbrush. In your steps with the water and cleaner. Almost never strip after a working session, just put the needle out front and clean that.

I use a Dyson..

Sorry for the lack of reply guys. Yes I work on the layout with a RTS greenkeeper, have 3 in 25, 35 and 55 kV. Best machines on the hobbymarket IMO. In my workshop I produce with a Maag Eroflock 70kV and gonna upgrade that to an even bigger 90/100kV machine from the same manufacturer. Yes I do create and sell scenery products available under my own name. Have 7 dealers worldwide at the moment and my UK dealer is the modeltreeshop. The product are limited at the moment due to several delivery problems on raw materials but I solved most of the problems and back into full production with I hope 2 employees for 2018. Grtz Martin

Me too Ross, besides that I buy Tanker from AK and Damaged..

Gravity feed Neo CN has a 0.35 needle.

There's no WS light green. https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/FineTurf A light green is available from Scenic Express http://www.sceneryexpress.com/Flock-Turf/products/1034/

Sounds like it, check the needle and seals. Otherwise there is a blockage somewhere..

Thanks ! Just try to translate militairy techniques to railroad models..

Still fooling around with just 2 colors oil paint, speckle, blend and streak...pure fun !!

The Rio Grande has a couple of colors more. As I said it's my test piece.. Underframe is done with an airbrush and just one color. I like the Ammo tracks primer a lot for that. Has this nice brown bit greyish color.

The question I asked if I could do some light car weathering with 2 colors of paint. Think thats possible. Only used W&N raw umber and burned umber oil paints in very light layers. The Rio Grande is my test piece.