Painting White/Pot Metal.

[JohnB40]

Greetings to all,

I'm in the process of sorting out the cast parts like the figurehead. I need advise on how to paint the castings to look like a reasonable facsimile to wood.  I have started with a  coat of Tamiya primer,followed by a base coat of Tamiya (spray can) of deck tan. I have tubes of artists acrylic in colours like raw sienna,brown and yellow ochre etc.  Any help with techniques and colour mixes to achieve the "wood look" I'm looking for would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

John

[Jaager]

I may well be totally wrong here, but:

Acrylics have looked to me like they have a sandy/dusty, pastel look to them.

Oil based paint seems to be more crisp with a more pure color look.

 

"fat over lean" means that oils can be used over the primer that you have.

I am not sure just how color alone can change a casting into a wood carving.

I wonder if the difference is that a casting is more rounded and smoother where two planes meet.

Perhaps actual carving with very sharp chisels done very lightly will produce a more angular look?

 

You would have to touch up the primer and the oil can be a bit transparent - and - for scale effect not at all glossy - a flatting agent.  Last month, Amazon was $10-15 less expensive than West Marine for their own flattening product.

[Bob Cleek]

Use artist's oil paints, not acrylics. These can be thinned and applied as a wash to get the effects you are looking for. Check out YouTube for instructions on painting miniatures with artist's oil paints. The guys who paint war-gaming figures have the technique down pat. You'll find out how to do it there.

 

However, the fact is that figureheads were always painted. Earlier periods in colors and later all white. The wood used for carving them would not have survived long in the marine environment without a protective coating.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Bob Cleek

[goetzi73]

Using Tamiya's Primer is a good way to start.  For Painting a figure head using oil paints are the most common way, as mentionend in the previous posts. However my experience is, that a layer of the correct Acrylic Model Paint after the Tamiya Primer will avoid nasty surprises, as white spirit may dissolve parts of the primer.

For painting realistic wood effects: Have a look at all that plastic modeller forums.

[wefalck]

As previous contributors already noted, figureheads on real ships were always painted and at some times at rather garish colours - sea-folks were not necessarily aethetically refined

 

For wood effects I begin with a light tan (e.g. Vallejo 'wood') sprayed on. This gives a good key for the following washes applied by brush. These washes depend on the wood species I try to simulate. Colours may include other tans/beiges, burnt umber and sepia/caput mortuum. Vallejo also has mahagony in their range. The Vallejo 'wood' and 'mahagony' also come in 'transparent' versions that facilitate washes. Another useful colour is their 'transparent orange'. I use their 'model air' range a lot because I don't need to bother too much with diluting, but just put a drop onto my glass palette and further dilute with water as needed.

 

These days I prefer acrylics over oils for this as one can work much faster. Building up layers of oil washes can take days or even weeks, as each wash has to properly oxidise ('dry') or you risk to wash it off with your next wash of heavily diluted oil-paint. Acrylics dry within in minutes and after 10 to 15 mins the latest it is safe to apply the next wash. 

 

Depending on the effect I try to achieve, I may be using round or flat hair-brushes or bristle brushes for a more streaky appearance to simulate wood-grain.

 

'Wood-graining' used to be a craft in itself and some artisanal painters used to specialise in it. It was popular from around the middle of the 19th century to the 1920s or so, when many metal artefacts were decorated to look like wood. Sometimes also cheap woods were made to look like more expensive ones. Today, hobbyist still use the technique and there are guidebooks for it on the DIY book market. I myself and I gather other (plastic) modellers learned from such books.

[Jaager]

John,

 

It looks like I completely missed what you were asking.  It did not occur to me that you wished to paint a metal casting to look like it was raw wood.   The only practical reason for a figurehead on a model to be raw wood at all, is if the builder had actually carved it from a block of wood - and wished to show that off.  As others have pointed out, in your situation pigmented covering layers should be used.    The other factors - water based paint vs oil based paint  - bright and garish vs subtle, subdued, and scale sensitive - is a matter of personal taste and you are the final arbiter of that.

 

To be glib,  I think the only way to get a convincing raw wood figurehead is to start with a block of wood and carve it yourself, using the casting as a guide.  For this sort of part,  there is a wide number of choices for wood, since among other sources pen turning stock can be used.   That stuff has a high cost per BF,  but fraction of a BF is small.

[John Allen]

Thanks for the response all.

[JohnB40]

Thank you for your replies gentlemen. With multiple layers of raw sienna wash over the base coat,I got a result I am happy with.

Jaager,I'm afraid my carving skills are too rudimentary for the figurehead and transom figures. I wish Syren's resin example was still available. I'm sure everyone who is constructing (or has) the Confederacy would have liked to throw "Marvin the martian" overboard and replace him with Chuck's.

Edited November 9, 2021 by JohnB40

[wefalck]

On simulating wood: it is actually quite possible to apply a coat of shellac on a part that has been painted with acrylics. Just make sure that the acrylics have had time to thoroughly dry, say a week or so. Otherwise, there is a risk that the alcohol in the shellac solution damages the acrylics. The idea is got a surface sheen similar to a 'French polish'.

 

It is also possible to slightly matt the polish to a satin sheen by lightly rubbing the surface with pumice powder. This has to be done very cautiously e.g. with a humid cotton-stick or a finger tip in order not rub through to the paint, which happens very easily at corners or raised parts.

Edited November 9, 2021 by wefalck

[Jaager]

11 hours ago, JohnB40 said:

my carving skills are too rudimentary for the figurehead and transom figures.

You have something now, so if your carving never produces a satisfactory product, you can always use what you have.

As it is, you have a no lose opportunity to develop a new skill.  Buy several blocks of wood that are the appropriate species and carve.

It would be an inspiring way to begin scratch building - should that be your ultimate ambition.

 

[mtaylor]

There is a "carving group" in the Group Projects area.   PM Chuck and check that the carving wood kit is still available.  The turtorials are still there and that should be a help.  

 

I also have this one:   http://carvingbook.weebly.com/english-pdf-version.html which is also here:  https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/bill-short-rotary-carving-1835949979

 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

When I paint a wood part for a war gaming miniature, I prime it black.

 

I then base coat it with a dark brown and dry brush with consecutively lighter browns, with consecutively less paint.

 

The last coat is more of a tan and is more of a highlight coat.

 

Then I put down a highlight coat.

And it ends up looking like:

 

 

 

That’s one of the bombed out buildings from the Bolt Action Band Of Brothers set by Warlord Games.

 

I personally like acrylics.

 

I also learned to paint, and many of my model making skills, playing Warhammer and Warhammer 40000, many years ago.

 

For acrylic brands, Vallejo is hands down the best.  Citadel and Army Painter are also very good.  I use a lot of Delta Ceramcoat paint.  It works well for me.

 

Also, that carving group is most excellent.  That’s how I learned how to carve.  I really recommend it.

 

After I carved the pieces from the example sheet, I had to go on a business trip.  So while there, I bought an Excel brand knife, with some extra blades, and a sheet of basswood, and sat in my hotel room carving figures off the stern of the Triton and the Winchelsea for extra practice.
 

I got decent at carving from that (not good by any stretch of the imagination), but decent enough to carve somewhat passably.

Edited November 15, 2021 by GrandpaPhil