Simulating a weathered copper bottom on plastic hull.

[BETAQDAVE]

    I am now at the point of painting the plastic hull of my Wanderer, and am in a bit of a quandary of how to proceed.  I have used a technique promoted by Les Wilkins in his book How To Build Plastic Ship Models in the past with very good results.   

    The technique was to first spray paint the masked hull with Floquil Copper.  While this coat of copper paint is still fresh, you take a medium paint brush and apply Floquil Light Green paint with random vertical strokes, always brushing away from the waterline.  Then using a clean medium paint brush this process is repeated using Floquil Antique White. 

    Now with a clean brush frequently dipped in turpentine (Not lacquer thinner because it will eat right through the copper paint!) lightly brush with vertical strokes (again away from the waterline) over the green and white paints while they are still wet to make these two colors meld with the copper.  Also, don’t brush too hard or you can rub through the copper paint and the turpentine can harm the plastic.

     The next step is to use a string or wire to suspend the hull in midair to dry for 3 or 4 hours which will allow the turpentine to run down to the keel as it dries.  After the turpentine has evaporated and the paints have dried, take a piece of No. 600 sand paper and lightly sand the full length of the hull with back and forth strokes until some of the paint has been rubbed off the edges of the plates to make them somewhat more pronounced.  The last step is to take a clean damp rag and wipe off the resulting sanding residue from the hull.

    The only problem here is that Floquil paint was lacquer based and is no longer available.   I am wondering if this technique can be done with the enamel or water based paints that are available now.  I have two 3 oz. cans of Testors copper spray enamel to act as the base coat and since Testors paint is still readily available in green and white; could this technique be employed here with their enamel paint or maybe water base paint?

[wefalck]

Why would you want to have vertical streaks on the copper plating ? There is no reason unless you are making a model of a dry-docked museum ship. Normally, the copper plating would have a fairly uniform dull brownish colour, with perhaps some whitish stains between the 'wind and the water'. If there were any streaks, this would be more likely plus or minus horizontal, following broadly the flow-lines around the hull. The greenish copper patina only forms, when the copper is exposed to the atmosphere, but not when it is immersed into seawater.

[Seahawk1313]

Just an observation,  many years ago,  The boats I ran were still coppered, unless they were sitting  for a while, the copper was bright as a new penny.  The salt  water acted  like sand paper keeping it clean.  The company switched to a type of plastic sheeting which was cheaper and lasted longer then the copper.  Out of the water the copper browned  and turned green quickly. - Hal    

[BETAQDAVE]

    Actually, my intent is to show the ship in dry dock for refitting rather than as a museum ship.  The copper bottom would now be exposed for some time to the air after having returned from a long whaling voyage, thus the green and white mix to the color.   As far as the vertical streak pattern goes, I am looking at these two photos below of the Cutty Sark that does show them. 

[michaelpsutton2]

I always loved this model. It is a  plastic Revell Constitution, kit bashed by a true artist

[Captain Poison]

You can use this option, with diluted paint instead of going horizontally, go vertical and drying a little with a cloth. The process is slow but with good results.

[Jaager]

This product system may be a solution:

Modern Masters AM203-04 Metal Effects Primer , 4-Ounce
Modern Masters ME149-06 Reactive Metallic Copper
Modern Masters PA901-04 Aging Solution Green
Modern Masters PA902-04 Aging Solution Blue Patina, 4-Ounce

 

there is a comment on Amazon about it having been used on plastic.

[BETAQDAVE]

Well Jaager, I checked with the website and according to them it doesn't adhear well to plastic.  Thanks for the suggestion anyway. 

[Baker]

Years ago I found some old ammunition in the ground (this is normal in this part of the world...)
I tried to make the copper on my plastic Bounty look like this. (page 2 on the Bounty build)