Bottom Red: Eternal search for that perfect weathered look.

[Harvey Golden]

I'm in the ongoing process of getting the bottom paint looking right-- at least to my eyes and intention.  Red right out of the can works fine, of course, but after years of poking around the big ships at anchor while in a kayak, there is a lot more going on with a weathered boat.  I haven't got any fancy equipment, and just use brushes and liquid acrylics onto paper-sheathed strip hulls.  Anyhow, I arrived at the results below and am pretty happy so far. I'll finish it up with some greenish wash and some sponged-on barnacles (and a flat clear-coat).  I may sponge some thinned pink on as well-- we'll see. 

 

For any interested, the process has been a coral pink opaque primer, and then several washes of heavily watered down red-oxide, followed by a similar wash of brown, and followed by a black wash which I rubbed off by hand. (I also used the black wash above the waterline and also rubbed it off-- the paper and thicker paints really pick it up nicely).  I like the been-around-the-block look on models, and I suppose I see a model ship as also being a painting of a ship.  Anyhow, would love to see others' methods for this, and I'll eventually post a pic once I've got the floral schmutz and arthropods in place. 

Best, 

Harvey

[mtaylor]

Your work from here looks darn good.  If you haven't done so, look up RGL's builds in the kit area 1901 to Present.  He does some serious weathering with paints and chipping which should give some ideas.

[Harvey Golden]

1 hour ago, mtaylor said:

Your work from here looks darn good.  If you haven't done so, look up RGL's builds in the kit area 1901 to Present.  He does some serious weathering with paints and chipping which should give some ideas.

Thank you Mark!  His weathering is outstanding-- much the same look I'm after.

H-

[Dr PR]

Something I do not see often in weathered ship model hulls is salt at the waterline. It does build up at sea. Look at this picture.

 

[Harvey Golden]

I think it's done-- after the above photo I added some sponged-on pink wash (below), then ran a bit of green over it all with my fingers and sponged a bit of white along the waterline (bottom).  It's got one coat of satin clear finish, but could use another.  I'm happy with the results, and I may have to give similar treatment to the other ships I've built over the years. The rust was made from thinned-down Golden brand Acrylic Transparent Iron Oxide-- dabbed on by brush, then dragged with my fingers. Never thought those days spent finger painting in pre-school would pay off. 

Best, 

H-

[Roger Pellett]

Before the development of corrosion resistant “paint systems,” two industrial paints were commonly used to prime steel structures; red oxide and red lead.    As the pigments were derived from commonly available compounds, iron oxide and lead oxide, they were cheap.  We used barrels of red iron oxide paint as a temporary coating for fabricated piping assemblies.  As late as the early 2000’s a gallon cost $14.00 less than a third the cost of a high tech inorganic zinc primer.  These were manufactured and sold by small local paint companies and there was little uniformity of color.  The primer that we used in Ohio was a dull brown red, that in Duluth, MN was a much brighter color, closer to a true red.

 

The Steamship companies appear to have used these colors in the past for the same reasons as steel fabricators- the pigments were cheap.  Here on the Great Lakes, ships are drydocked every five years for Coast Guard Inspection and bottoms blast cleaned and painted.  In times past, topsides were painted each spring by deckhands standing on the harbor ice with long handled rollers. Like the paint that I am familiar with, I would expect little color uniformity, and trying to match a color for a model is futile.  Pick out something that looks good to you and use It.

 

Roger

[Chuck Seiler]

While in the Navy, I got to see the underside of my destroyer while in drydock.  I think red primer would be a good color.  I know it is not acrylic, but....