Chaperon by Blighty - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Weathered and aged - My first build log

[Rossi46]

You're painting the decking though aren't you, so its the painted surface that needs aging, not the wood.

[Canute]

Len, the staining is pretty safe; vinegar is a weak acid. I use a similar mix on wood structures; although I've not used baking soda in the mix. Vinegar and very fine steel wool take a few days to make the mixture. Wait longer for darker coloring. The stain is a little more red, since it's iron oxidizing.

 

I'd age the wood somewhat (light stain) and then weather the paint, like Rossi45 says. That's the surface that's worn away. Wouldn't get too crazy with weathering, except on the outsides of the boat. That would have been the hardest part to maintain. Most equipment was fairly well maintained; the engineers and firemen(coal/wood heavers) took great pride in maintaining their engines and related equipment. Think about railroad equipment. Railroad steam locomotives were pretty shiny and well cared for, until the 1950s when they were phased out. The engine crews oiled and polished anything they could reach.

[Blighty]

Hi Em, Yes I will paint the deck but I plan to put a very thin coat on it and sand areas back to bare wood, I've seen this on staircases many times. I will add more aging wash after painting also.

[Blighty]

Hi Ken, thx for comments. It's good to know you have some history on vinegar solution, I will try it out on the deck and post progress pics as I go. Depending on how that works out I may apply to side walls also.

 

Right now, I'm just about to add the last coat of matt BLACK paint to the hull, should start the weathering process tomorrow.  I'll put some pics later today. The hull planking was not to difficult, with knowledge that it is to be fully covered with paint a little licence was allowed for filler, how much filler, I forget .

 

 No vinegar treatment on the hull, just washes and detailing.

 

Servicing, maintaining, lubricating, polishing, I'm sure you are right, the engineers applied plenty of all these activities in abundance on their gals but my Imgineering needs satisfying more than my desire for historic accuracy on this model. Right from the decision to build a steamboat I had a  desire to build it a little distressed, after looking at pics on line they looked tired and dirty, the sag in the cabins evoked a vision of being worked to hard like us.

 

This ship's paint job will be a little left of center, but I will back off some of the rust patches on mechanical parts to keep it somewhat real, thx for keeping me honest.

 

Len

[Canute]

No problem, Len. Like most of us say, it's your boat. Do it the way you like. You're having fun! :D

[Cathead]

I tend to like models with a used feel; I think it helps trick the eye into perceiving the model as more realistic. Sometimes an "accurately" crisp and clean model can look too shiny to the eye even if it's right, whereas a slightly over-weathered model can end up looking right even if it isn't right. And as Ken says, do it the way you'll want to look at it!

[Blighty]

Hi,

   I'm at a bit of a loss today, the Admiral has gone for the day, baby sitting the Grandkids, it's cold and raining outside so I'm stuck in the house with nothing to do................ I know! a bit of modelling today.

If I extend one arm to reach the hull I can extend the other to reach the Keurig coffee maker. Does life get any better?

 

Here's a couple of shots showing status to date.

 

First pic shows the access cover just behind the capstan. All I did was cut a couple of shallow divots to load the cross planks, if it didn't work out right it would have been an easy fix to repair the deck.

 

Second pic shows all I've done to date, hull painted black, deck currently in 2 pieces to store safely on top of fridge, I'll glue it up on the flat work top before asm'g to hull, as mentioned previously. 

 

Third pic shows the top of the boiler insulator box divided up to smaller sections. 8' x 24' single sheet is huge! an easy fix to show probable real world detail. Is this a good assumption?

 

Final pic shows the detailing on front face of boiler, more suggestive tan accurate but I think it looks ok.

 

Gages and valves to be added later.

 

I have to find out how to associate text with each pic, sorry about this.

 

Aging the hull today, I'll take plenty of pics as I go, but right now charging the camera battery.

 

Thx to all who are following my log and a special thx to those with opinions to share, Ihope there are others reading this that will also benefit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rossi46]

Lets get a look at the hull.

[Blighty]

Just waiting for the camera to charge, shouldn't be long, nothing to see though just a black hull right now.

[Blighty]

Stage 1 of painting the hull, next step will be adding a white stripe to the side, stick on, not painted on.

 

 

 

[Rossi46]

That looks like quality work dad. Gonna pop by and look this weekend.

[Blighty]

Thx Em, I want to see your 'new' room too, pics looked good, plenty of room for models!!

[Blighty]

.............and the white stripe.

[Blighty]

Hi again,

            The hull has 2 coats of wash on it now, white & green, I have also added some detail rust deposits and a little dry brush work.

I'm not over pleased with the results, it's not what I was hoping for but still fairly easy to repaint if this aging process does not work out.

I have some more detail to add with a brush and I will decide at that point what paint job the Chap gets.

I have now glued the deck together and I need to mount that before continuing the paint job on the hull, so it's off to the garage to spray the deck with auto undercoat Red Oxide spray can from Krylon.

Here's a couple of pics showing the latest.

Thx for reading...

[Cathead]

If you're going to weather her that heavily, you might consider adding a "mud stripe" such that the bottom 1/2-2/3 of the hull are consistently stained darker, to mimic the effects of river water. It would be a more realistic look than random weathered spots.Just a thought, you can certainly decide what looks best to you!

[Blighty]

Hi Cathead,

                  Sounds good idea, I'll try it out, I have some more detailing to do first but should see it on the model tomorrow or Monday, I assume it would represent the waterline, is that right? I'll see if I can find a sample pic of a mud line. Thx for the tip, I having a problem making it look real, but this might help.

[Blighty]

Deck went on last night, before I glued it down I tucked a message sealed in a zip lock bag between the bulk heads, I hope it is a distant future descendant of mine who finds it. (It has to survive the current batch first, that will be a challenge with 6 Grandkids). ;)

 

The other pic might be useful, prior to planking the hull I taped the deck on and ran a fine line felt tip roughly round the bulkheads, these locations were then easily transferred to top surface so I knew where to put pins and land on timber below.

 

 

[Blighty]

Started to add detail to the deck, cool times ahead!!!

[Rossi46]

Are you adding lighting?

[Blighty]

Morning Em,

                  Yep, I will add lighting.

[Cathead]

Here's an example of a mudline, from the large-scale model at the Steamboat Bertrand museum near Omaha, Nebraska. The image is from the US Fish & Wildlife Service, which runs the museum. Good progress on Chaperon!

 

[Blighty]

Thx Cathead,

                    I'll have to air brush that mud line, but I like it and will definitely add it to the model, thx for digging this pic up, explains a lot.

[Blighty]

I felt terrible running the edge of  a folded 220 sandpaper sheet through that lettering  :(

[Cathead]

You're welcome. I thought I had a comparable photo in my own collection from my last visit there, so the delay related to me hunting through photo archives, but none of mine showed that detail as clearly as the F&WS photo, so I used the latter instead.

 

As a big fan of weathering models, I'm enjoying the approach you're taking and want to see how it all comes together.

[Blighty]

Cathead, that's awesome you following the weathering I'm doing, I hope you find something of use. I don't really have a plan except  I want it to look a little unloved. Based on the photos of the Chap I've looked at I think it possibly was.

 

I will post individual panels as I do them, however I have made changes as I go so you may see them differ from time to time. ie. I have changed the deck already and I plan to distress the finish on that a fair bit more.

 

Anyway, if you see any issues, shout it out, if it works with my theme I'll change things up anytime, your input is most welcome, as is anyone elses, I hope you continue to enjoy the log.

 

Couple more pics.

 

I am adding coal bunkers both sides of the stairs.

 

The rear panel I painted white, being in perpetual water saturation I figured rust stains would be a good bet and show up better than on a red surface.

 

Len..

[Blighty]

Hi, a couple of updates, I am working my along the SB side, have the first wash applied, then a thin coat of white that still shows the wash. In the inside corner I applied a heavy coat of white because I figured there would be little ware in the corner.

Pics 1 and 2 show the panels at the back, just detail to add and a final wash to make it match the Chaperon panel.

Last pic shows status of frt of cabins and the stairrail. Non of these panels are glued to deck.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Blighty

[Canute]

Len, looking good.

 

You might want to look at doing some chalking of the white stripe and red lettering. This happens as rain washes the upper level of paint down over the underlying paint. Starts from the full color and then tapers and fades as it runs down the vertical.

 

 

Look at the white chalking under the lettering and boxes on the black tank body. There is a little brown (maybe rust)under the red generator box, but that color may be from an earlier piece of equipment. I doubt the tank it self is rusting.

 

Look at everything in your environment to see all the weathering that occurs. And take pictures to give you actual examples to work from.

[Blighty]

Ken,

      What a great pic you sent, that is the exact look I'm looking for, been round the block a few times. I will definitely attempt to add the chalking details, I think it looks great. That will be quite a bit later as I plan to go round the bottom deck to the level I have then add more detail on another lap and likely finish it off with one more go round. Most of the weathering will be on the lower level, the next deck will be in better shape as you would expect.

 Thx so much for digging the pic out.

I have a couple more updates to show. They are still incomplete but I think the intent is plain to see.

 

Coal bunkers roughed in, still looking for mini coal piles!!!

Some detail added to the wall shown earlier.

The bundles of paper (or whatever) are the remains of the boilers I was going to detail.

 

Thx to all for following.

 

Len

 

 

[Blighty]

I had a coal delivery!!!!

[Canute]

Len, coal pile looks good. After it's installed, dribble a few stray lumps in front of the pile. Your firemen aren't neat.