Weathering the tan deck any easy way of doing this

[scottpchooch]

Is there any way to weathering the tan deck with out going crazy just short and sweet read.manual about wood spray paint over black and sanding it down

Any idea would be greatly appreciated

[mtaylor]

Plastic or wood?

[scottpchooch]

It's the revell plastic kit

[scottpchooch]

Plastic ,1/96 scale kit

[wefalck]

What do you mean by 'weathering' ?

[scottpchooch]

Trying to make the original tan deck look like wood or some resemblance of it

Thanks for your response

Scott

 

[ccoyle]

Scott, one thing to keep in mind if all you're trying to do is make the plastic 'wood' look more like real wood (as opposed to weathering the model) is that on real sailing ships the wooden decks do have a very uniform color to them, usually a light tan. If I recall correctly (haven't seen one for years), plastic kits sometimes have a simulated grain molded into them. Such a grain wouldn't be visible at scale viewing distances. Does your deck have molded plank seams? If so, I'd probably give the deck a coat of an appropriate tan or beige paint followed by a darker wash to highlight the seams, unless someone with more experience in plastic pipes up and totally contradicts me -- which is not unlikely!

[scottpchooch]

Yes the deck has the plank lines like you mentioned, I was thinking of a dark wash to bring out the wood plank details

Thanks for your help

Scott

[wefalck]

Actually, we had this topic several times here. You may want to flick through the various threads here.

 

In a nutshell:

- Get rid of all molded-on wood-grain, i.e. scrap it off. It is grossly overscale and neither appropriate for decks nor outside planking - a ship is not an old garden-shed.

- Depending on the manufacturer, the plank seems are either grooves or raised - neither is really correct. Normally the pitch filling the seams is more or less flush with the planks. When the wood is dry, the seams may be bit sunk in, when it is wet or hot, the seams may be couple of millimetres raised above the planks. You can more or less live with the grooves, but raised seams need to be scraped down - which probably happens already, when you scrape off the wood-grain.

- Even though the deck planks would be all the same wood, except for coamings etc., each plank varies a bit in colour.

- There are various procedures now to simulate the wood and its caulking. Actually, there are some tutorials on the WWW, I believe.

- I would paint the whole deck in a suitable wood colour, e.g. Vallejo Wood. I then would line out the seams with a very thin (0.1 mm) pigmented ink pen and seal this with light coat of flat clear varnish. In the next step you mix the primary wood colour with a minute drop of white and paint individual planks at random with this mixture; then you make another mixture with two drops of white etc., in the next round you mix the primary colour with a tiny drop of burnt umber and paint a random selection of other planks; then the same with two drops of burnt umber, etc. Once everything is dry and you are happy with the effect, you can seal everything with a light coat of flat varnish. In the next step you can blend in everything with a very dilute wash of white. This also has the effect of making the deck look a bit 'weathered'. Further weathering, accumulation of grime etc., can be applied with light washes of black in areas where water would accumulate. On a normal working ship, the decks would be scrubbed regularly, so do not overdo the weathering. This procedures sounds a bit complex, but really is fast and simple - you will literally see the deck coming to 'life' as you are working on it.

[scottpchooch]

Thanks so much for your response I will give it a try sounds very promising

Scott

[tarbrush]

Hi Scott,

I am attaching a  picture of the plastic Black Pearl kit that I did.  If it is the look that you are after I will be happy to tell you how I did it.  I wouldn't say that it's quick, it probably took about at least two or three days full days to paint that deck.  

[scottpchooch]

I love the way it looks please send any info on how to reproduce your fine work

Thanks for your important response

Scott

[wefalck]

Apologies to those, who have seen this picture before. Below is an example that shows a 'resin' model painted to resemble wood and being 'weathered' as described above. The prototype would have been given a coat of wood tar all over during its work-days, hence the the brownish appearance. The lower picture shows the model after applying the primary 'wood' colour.

 

 

[scottpchooch]

Looks great can you send particulars to

scottpchooch@gmail.com

 

Thanks so much for the inciteful information

Scott

 

[wefalck]

Scott, not sure what you mean by 'particulars'. The technique(s) used I described in an earlier post. I should add that the base colour was applied by airbrush and the detail work was done with brushes. Acrylics readily diluted for the airbrush were used throughout.

 

There is a building log for the model, a Zuiderzee-Botter, on this forum: https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/68-zuiderzee-botter-by-wefalck-finished-artitec-resin/ and it can alo be found on my own Web-site: http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/models/botter/botter.html

[tarbrush]

Hi Scott,

The kit I did this painting on was the Zevzda kit of Black Pearl.  the plastic molding for the grain of the planks is quite restrained and the deck seams are recessed not raised.  This might make a big difference, I have an old Revell kit somewhere in my stash that I will dig out and experiment on this weekend to make sure this will work for you.  I didn't remove the molded grain.  I just primed it with Vallejo Desert Tan primer.  I will give you links for the materials I used from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/primer-Surface-Desert-Tan-oz/dp/B07D3YWP8C/ref=sr_1_5?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1538053906&sr=1-5&keywords=Vallejo+desert+tan+primer

 

Then I used Dahler & Rowney Artists Acrylic Ink for painting with. https://www.amazon.com/Daler-Rowney-Acrylic-Artists-Cool-160029053/dp/B00522XJ8Q/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1538054038&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=artists+acrylic+ink&psc=1&smid=A3G2RBEZBLAJ53

 

I used a palette of Cool Grey, Raw Sienna, Red Earth, Burnt Umber, and Sepia

 

you will need a small palette for mixing the colors https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N3O44PB/ref=sxts_kp_lp_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=8778bc68-27e7-403f-8460-de48b6e788fb&pd_rd_wg=JFagP&pf_rd_r=E2QX55ZFNXWJFXS5XE17&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-top-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B01N3O44PB&pd_rd_w=Yox8u&pf_rd_i=plastic+palette&pd_rd_r=b6d4a919-d9bc-45b7-b9b9-7ec76ed1db53&ie=UTF8&qid=1538054264&sr=2

 

The inks are nice to work with in that they each have an eyedropper so you can measure how much of each color you are putting in the palette.

you will mix the colors in your palette to get a range of color.  for instance, in the first holder you might put 10 drops of Cool Grey in the next holder mix the cool grey say 7 drops with 3 drops of raw sienna.  (It's been a few years since I did this, I don't remember the ratios I used but that's the idea.)  go around the pallet making a range of color. 

 

With a small brush paint each plank individually and vary the color just slightly.  

 

with the inks you can get whatever tone you want, from a weathered grey to more of a wood brown,  It's helpful to have a photo of a real deck to refer to.

I don't have a picture of when I started painting the deck but have included one of the hull which has been primed and I am beginning to paint the first of the planks.

 

I will dig out one of my old Revell kits and experiment with those decks to see how it works with a coarser molded grain and raised seam lines.  it may well be very different but I think there are things you could do to adjust for it.  

 

Painting the deck in this way is labor intensive but it's not difficult and kind of fun.

 

hope this helps you!

[scottpchooch]

Thanks guys for all your suggestions, they are steering me in the right direction. Since this being my first scale shipping project in 39 year feels good back in the saddle again. Speaking of decks any ideas on getting rid of those ugly seam lines between deck pieces

Thanks again to everyone who helped

Scott

 

[Emmet]

On 9/27/2018 at 9:41 AM, tarbrush said:

Hi Scott,

The kit I did this painting on was the Zevzda kit of Black Pearl.  the plastic molding for the grain of the planks is quite restrained and the deck seams are recessed not raised.  This might make a big difference, I have an old Revell kit somewhere in my stash that I will dig out and experiment on this weekend to make sure this will work for you.  I didn't remove the molded grain.  I just primed it with Vallejo Desert Tan primer.  I will give you links for the materials I used from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/primer-Surface-Desert-Tan-oz/dp/B07D3YWP8C/ref=sr_1_5?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1538053906&sr=1-5&keywords=Vallejo+desert+tan+primer

 

Then I used Dahler & Rowney Artists Acrylic Ink for painting with. https://www.amazon.com/Daler-Rowney-Acrylic-Artists-Cool-160029053/dp/B00522XJ8Q/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1538054038&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=artists+acrylic+ink&psc=1&smid=A3G2RBEZBLAJ53

 

I used a palette of Cool Grey, Raw Sienna, Red Earth, Burnt Umber, and Sepia

 

you will need a small palette for mixing the colors https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N3O44PB/ref=sxts_kp_lp_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=8778bc68-27e7-403f-8460-de48b6e788fb&pd_rd_wg=JFagP&pf_rd_r=E2QX55ZFNXWJFXS5XE17&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-top-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B01N3O44PB&pd_rd_w=Yox8u&pf_rd_i=plastic+palette&pd_rd_r=b6d4a919-d9bc-45b7-b9b9-7ec76ed1db53&ie=UTF8&qid=1538054264&sr=2

 

The inks are nice to work with in that they each have an eyedropper so you can measure how much of each color you are putting in the palette.

you will mix the colors in your palette to get a range of color.  for instance, in the first holder you might put 10 drops of Cool Grey in the next holder mix the cool grey say 7 drops with 3 drops of raw sienna.  (It's been a few years since I did this, I don't remember the ratios I used but that's the idea.)  go around the pallet making a range of color. 

 

With a small brush paint each plank individually and vary the color just slightly.  

 

with the inks you can get whatever tone you want, from a weathered grey to more of a wood brown,  It's helpful to have a photo of a real deck to refer to.

I don't have a picture of when I started painting the deck but have included one of the hull which has been primed and I am beginning to paint the first of the planks.

 

I will dig out one of my old Revell kits and experiment with those decks to see how it works with a coarser molded grain and raised seam lines.  it may well be very different but I think there are things you could do to adjust for it.  

 

Painting the deck in this way is labor intensive but it's not difficult and kind of fun.

 

hope this helps you!

I have been thinking about this very topic and I find it amazing how each shipyard has a clever approach to many different topics.

[Kevin]

some useful advice, i never help myself, by taking the relief off and putting thin veneer down

[cfwheeler]

Useful info. Thanks.