1st Attempt at Weathering

Ah yea... I'm a nit picker and this gets my two thumbs up.

Nice job! 

Show us some pics when you get it on the layout

Looks very nice to me.

Thanx guys - my question is should the structure be sprayed with something to protect the powders from wiping off???  I tried Matte Finish but it dulled the colors quite a bit.

Paul,

i was taught to give it a coat of matt medium to protect the powders.  As you have found it does dull the look.  That is why I was told to weather it a bit heavier than you normally would, knowing that the finish coat will dull it some.

However no one has ever accused me of being an expert at weathering so hopefully you'll hear from some of the true experts.

Ed 

Thanx Ed - I'll give it a coat today.  Thanx for your help.

silly question but who made this kit? IS this a Lionel kit?

Great Job on the weathering!

Paul....WOW.....and this is your first attempt???  Think you are already an expert!

Alan

I built this kit many years ago - I believe it to be a Korber or AmeriTowne kit.

Nice first attempt on the bricks however the weathering part doesn’t make any sense to me.

It seems like more emphasis should have been placed on the shingles.

It's good for the first time. A suggestion... take some pictures of actual buildings that are weathered by real weather and use that as a guide. I too need to follow my own advice.

Looks pretty good. I might suggest dry-brushing the shingle edges with an off-white or light grey paint in lieu of using powders. Gives the shingles a nice weathered look. I tend to use powders more on tarpaper, but that's just my personal preference.

Yes, I find powders most useful to rub into porous materials like wood in order to produce subtle variations in color and texture.  Using them as you did to define patterns of rain-spread stains I have always found challenging. It can certainly be done, but it is definitely an "expert" skill.  I much prefer using multiple drizzles of extremely dilute ink/alcohol washes. That way, gravity does the work and you automatically get realistic patterns.

Paul GREAT start. Weathering is only part of the process.  One thing to consider is to open up one or both the doors that face the loading dock. Details like crates and factory people will seal the deal. Also when you places the building into a detailed section of the layout the weathering will blend in much better.

Steve

Leon - please explain "dry-brushing".  I'd like to try any suggestions that are offered to me but I'm not sure of what dry brushing is.

Thanx for your advice -

Paul

It is applying paint from a brush that has very little paint left on it. You wet the brush and then you stroke it on a piece of paper or paper towel to remove almost all of the wet paint. This very "dry" brush is then used to apply very little paint with a lot of texture. I used to use it more, but with the purchase of weathering powders, I'm happier with the results since sometimes the dry brush isn't as "dry" as it was supposed to be and I get some blotches of more paint.

Thanx, Trainman - I'll try it and see what results I get -

As always OGR members are the best!

Paul,

There are plenty of tutorial videos on YouTube explaining this process. Just type "dry brushing" in the search option and you should find all you need. The trick is to keep as little paint as possible on the brush...this takes a little practice. It can be a tedious process, but well worth the effort.

GREAT job IMHO......I weather all my rolling stock, locos and buildings......Nice work!

Really outstanding work IMO. In painting a home they have the "2 foot rule". If you can't see the flaw from 2 ft away then don't worry about it. What rule do we use for O gauge? Is there a 2 inch rule?

2ft = .5in in O scale ...

I personally do not want anyone looking at my work from 1/2" away. I think 2 feet is perfect.