Progress report

[Jeff Young]

Just to prove that all the able assistance you have all been providing me has not gone into a black hole....


"Are coal car interiors painted?"








"How do you model Elliot switch stands?"






"What are 'wood boxes', as mentioned on the ICC maps?"




Thanks again, everyone.

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Doug Heitkamp]

Nice work Jeff!

Doug

[Jim Courtney]

Inspiring work, Jeff!

Since I'm currently building some Sn3 1898 St Charles and 1902 ASF coal cars, and will soon face the age old problem of finishing white styrene interiors to look like weathered wood, could you please share your techniques??

Don't want to hijack Jeff's thread, but if any of you other modelers of the C&S, regardless of scale, have a favorite technique for styrene to weathered wood finishing, please post them as well.  And photos would be nice.

Jim

[Jeff Young]

Hi Jim,

I scratched the styrene well with one of MicroMark’s “scratchers”.  It won’t get completely in to corners, so a bit more work was done there with the back of a #11 blade.

I then painted the surface with Humbrol RC417 (coach roof off-white) acrylic.  One coat won’t give an opaque cover, but if the colour you’re painting over is red, brown or yellow it adds nice variation to the final result.

After dry, I stained with a 2:1 mix of ebony and oak Rustins wood stain.  Again, putting this on unevenly gives more character.

Note: the truck in the background started off light grey, so I thought I’d skip the off-white-paint step.  Mistake.  The white spirit in the wood stain makes the styrene bubble up where it’s been scored.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Jim Courtney]

Hmmm.  A similar but different technique.  I've always used a base coat of Floquil "concrete" or "aged concrete", sometimes 1:1 "Earth" and "Primer Grey".  Then multiple thin washes of black or brown shoe leather dye in absolute alcohol.  Sometimes it works well, other times not so convincing.  

I've never had any luck with the multiple light paint coats and scratching with a fiberglass eraser technique.  I always end up getting the fiberglass down into the score lines and into the white styrene.

What is the solvent for the wood stains?

Jim

[Darel Leedy]

Agreed! Very nice work Jeff. Looking forward to seeing more

[Jeff Young]

> What is the solvent for the wood stains?

It’s called "white spirits" over here.  I think that translates into "mineral spirits" (or just "paint thinner") over there.  

You can get the wood stains on a bit thicker than india ink / alcohol, so if the shoe dye / alcohol is similar than you might want to give a wood stain a try….

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Jeff Young]

Here's a close-up:

[Jim Courtney]

Do you spray the Humbrol base coat on with an airbrush?

BTW where is "over here"?

Again, great work!  Track work, coal car, truck and scenery. I especially like the rusted bullet holes in the white target of the switch stand.

Jim

[Bill Uffelman]

Excellent!

Bill Uffelman 

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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From:"Jeff Young [via C&Sn3 Discussion Forum]" <[hidden email]>
Date:Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 6:03 PM
Subject:Re: Progress report

Here's a close-up:

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[Chris Walker]

It would be rude of me not to blow smoke in your direction as well.  Exceptionally nice groundcover Jeff.

[Jeff Young]

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

> Do you spray the Humbrol base coat on with an airbrush?

No, because I want variation in coverage so a brush works better.  (If I were covering a non-woody colour, then I’d probably spray.)

> BTW where is “over here”?

Ireland.  (Although I grew up in Knoxville TN and Glenwood Springs CO.)

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Jim Courtney]

Ireland, huh?  That explains why you always seem to be posting at odd times, between 01:00 and 03:00 Pacific Standard Time.

Between you and Chris, this truely is an interhemispheric fellowship of C&S fans.

When I get home from the hospital tonight, I'll have a Guinness and toast your excellent model building.

Jim