Weathered decking

[MD11pilot]

I've seen some beautiful weathered decks in these forums.  I love the sun-bleached, holy-stoned look and would like to give it a try.  I've got a bottle of "Weather-It" on order and am hoping to get some input.  Any forums that I may have missed?  Anybody have suggestions on dilution, time, etc.? 

[Larry Van Es]

I used holly for the deck of my Syren and didn't think that the pristine look of the deck matched the weathered look of the rest of the model. I tried to stain it lightly to give it some character but holly didn't seem to take stain easily, After looking at a lot of the decks on MSW, I settled on the look that you describe so I used the weather-it to create the look. It worked well but because of the previous stain it was a combination of tan and grey. I'd tell you to look at my build but I haven't reposted it yet. I'm hoping that most of my photos are on my old computer

Edited March 27, 2013 by Larry Van Es

[steamschooner]

I have used spalted english walnut and spalted holly for the weathered look. The walnut I scribed and the holly was individual planks.

[Garward]

I've seen some beautiful weathered decks in these forums.  I love the sun-bleached, holy-stoned look and would like to give it a try.  I've got a bottle of "Weather-It" on order and am hoping to get some input.  Any forums that I may have missed?  Anybody have suggestions on dilution, time, etc.? 

 

It is quite whimsical preparation in use. Try at first its action on samples from that wood which you want to process on model.

[Larry Van Es]

I found a test that I did using a scrap of basswood. The bottom is straight Weather-It. This is not the results that I got with the holly however.

[steamschooner]

Here is a shot of my steamschooner deck. The black streaks are from fuel oil spills when refueling tank on left This is spalted English Walnut.

[Garward]

Here is a shot of my steamschooner deck. The black streaks are from fuel oil spills when refueling tank on left This is spalted English Walnut.

 

Interesting drawing turned out on the deck, similar to structure of wood of a nut.

[MD11pilot]

Larry, looking at your test. The wood has a gray tone which matches what I've seen on the Weather-it web site. But I've seen builds here where the wood ends up with a more whiteish, sun bleached look. I'll experiment with various dilutions and see if it makes a difference. Maybe it depends more on the wood you start with.

[ross]

hi guys,i am wanting to weather the deck on my second build ,hms bounty,unfortunately i can not get weather it in the uk, would appreciate any ideas,info,ect on how i may get the look,thanks,Ross.

[Rich_engr]

Try Weathered Oak by Minwax- it comes out sort of greyish.  Lightly wipe on, or let a bit sit in an area for a varied appearance.

[ross]

i will certainely give it a go,(on a test piece) will let you know what i think,cheers rich.

[wthilgen]

Bring present build outside, secure it someplace safe, leaving it to the elements. Start second build, when finished planking, switch and finish the one outside. Repeat as often as necessary. (LOL)

[captainbob]

I found this on the web a couple years ago.  Be sure to test it first.

 

Bob

 

Tannic acid does not produce a blue black color - that is a combination of tannic and ferrous acetate. Ferrous sulfate

I have being toying with either painting or staining the oar because I didn't care for the finish. Then I saw a pin titled "how to make new wood look old" from Frugal Farm House Design blog and I thought I'd give that a try. She gives an awesome step by step with photos to see it go here. I will just tell ya the basics.

Step one: take some steel wool and put in a jar and cover with vinegar. Let it sit at least 24 hours, the longer the better. (I expected the vinegar mixture to turn black or something but it didn't.)

after 24 hours

Step two: make a strong cup of tea. I used Chai. brush the tea on the wood and let dry.

Step three: brush on the vinegar mixture.

 

 

The before pic above is after the tea was brushed on & it was still wet.

I expected it to happen instantly and it didn't. I walked away and came back an hour later and it had worked.
 

 

 

[ross]

now thats got to be worth a try, good on ya bob.

[Jean-Pierre]

This is a text that was published by Gerald Spalgo on the former forum.  He is one of the very best "weatherers" I know, next to an excellent model builder.

 

Weathering With Pastels:

I still haven’t got this all figured out yet, but I thought I’d share what I have learned so far so anyone interested can have a place to start from.

I’m going to repeat something that I’ve said before, to start this out. Ship Modeling is just an ongoing learning process that one has to be persistent with. You can't learn any other way, than to just do it. You are your on best teacher, and critic. No amount of reading will give you the same type of know-how that first hand experience will give you. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you have an idea or if there is a technique that you see some one else using that you would really like to try, then try it. I know ship model kits are expensive and no one wants to miss them up, but it's just wood, its forgiving to mistakes and it can be replaced if need be. After all you had no idea, just like me, how to even build a ship model until we tried it. So know that we know or are at least learning, it's time to up the skills needed to build even better models, and failures & successes will come, but hey , that's the fun in it. If your not having fun at it anymore, then it has become a job instead of a hobby. Making mistakes is not something that I'm afraid of, cause I know for a fact that I'm going to make them, but when I put a picture on this forum or in the gallery I want it to look the best that I'm capable of doing. Once you learn this, the better you will allow yourself to be.


The pastels that I’m using right now are Earth Tone-Soft Pastels. There are many shades of colors that can be used. I do not have all of them yet, but I will later on. There are also weathering powders that could be used, but I haven’t tried them so I don’t know how well they will work yet. These powders can be bought through Micro-Mark, and are called Doc O’Brien’s Weathering Powders. I also use three old paintbrushes to apply it with. Two of the brushes are a size 3, 1 soft & 1 stiff; the other is a small 3/0 size brush. Plus a soft-bristled toothbrush and a 1/8” round deer-foot paintbrush (for spots to small for the toothbrush. As far as the clear coat that I use, it is “Krylon’s” Clear Matte Finish. It works very well for this.

First off, try to imagine what something would truly look like if you were standing right there next to it. Now keep in mind how old these ships are. Some of you will have an advantage in this, as you have actually been aboard a ship or two. The rest of us will have to rely on photos and imagination. My deck on the Charles Morgan was first stained with Drift-Wood Stain and allowed to dry, 2 light coats, and then lightly steel-wooled. I used a medium shade of brown to cover the whole deck, then brushed it out with the toothbrush until it was even through out. I then used a shade that is almost orange and applied it down the middle length of each plank; then again I used the toothbrush and lightly blended the two together. Careful, blend only enough to get a smooth contrasting flow from one color to the next, too much and it will disappear into one color. Then I used a dark shade of brown and applied it to all the edges (of everything), and blended this the same way. I then sprayed two light coats of the matte finish on the surface to keep it from smudging. Now as I add more structures and pieces to the deck I continue to add the dark brown pastel to the edges of them. When finished I will need to give everything another coat of spray. That is how I did the deck.

Metal parts I paint flat black first, then I use the dark red shades to simulate rust, blow the excess off then use black pastel to soften the rusty look. The black pastel will leave a flatter, darker black than the paint is.
The top of the workbench, and the sideboards of the tryworks were painted primer gray, then black pastel applied over the primer.

Points to remember are for one never allow the unprotected pastel to get wet, it’ll turn into a wash and soak into the wood, so be very careful especially when blowing off the excess pastel dust (you know what I mean). Secondly, I’m only weathering used and working parts right now; I think too much will end up ruining the ship instead of making it look better. So, what ever is painted is the way those will stay. This is what I know so far. One thing I am going to try, is to get that greenish-blue effect on the top few rows of copper plates, but that will come later. The tryworks was weathered differently, so I won’t put that in this post, as it is long enough as is, and I used something other than pastels to do this.

Practice, and if you achieve something that I haven’t yet then post it along with the rest of this, so we can put together our own weathering techniques.

_________________
Gerald Spargo

[Garward]

Hi, Jean-Pierre, thanks for a technology reminder!