Who doesn’t like to get down and dirty - weathering an obsession - maybe

[Jaz avalley]

I like replicating the real thing, fooling you for a split second, and clean models rarely get that wow factor….I model a real railway and getting it to look moderately real takes patience

Scripps garage real
scripps garage police car and diesel container

 

[Jaz avalley]

Weathering buildings using reference often gives better results

this won’t fool many, but practise and patience can improve

even the height, focus distance and angle you photograph improve ‘realism’

using real reference imo gets you to strive for more

the real thing over the years changes drastically, stone cleaning,and protective finishes have had a massive effect on this station, fyi Goathland on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, NYMR in England

 

[Jaz avalley]

Hornby and Bachmann have both made model versions, I have three versions and mix and match

as bought, perfectly acceptable
but once coloured more in keeping with the real thing

See previous post for reference

 

[Jaz avalley]

Then there is the bits you need but cannot buy,but you need so badly you make your own

and weather to suit

 

[Jaz avalley]

And so you improve your skill set to make the desired product

 

[Jaz avalley]

This may not be a mainstream railway for an American site, but the techniques have been pulled from every where and any where I can find them and plenty of American modellers have helped me improve my skill set. Anyone wishing to throw in theirs but does not want a thread of their own can feel free to jump in

 

[Jaz avalley]

FYI I trial on cheap kit first, as often things do not work the way I want, and I will try off the wall ideas, and make my own kit happily to achieve the desired look, some time over egging it, but that’s a story for another day

 

[TLOC]

Nicely illustrated in the photos Jaz. I belong to a international HO Scale Shelf Modelers group on Facebook. Doesn’t matter the country a modeler comes from good is good. No matter what realism is what I believe we are all trying to reflect. Thanks for sharing

 

[Jaz avalley]

I tend to be a butterfly dipping and diving into different areas and hobbies, then trying to use those skills wherever I can get away with it, my initials trials ar some of my skills took a while to improve, and sometimes ideas I think will work don’t, which rarely stops me from tweaking in order to get them to work. any aspect of modelling that can be manipulated is up for grabs.
Weathering comes in many forms and you can even weather trees, seriously I kid thee not….

I made the tree, and p,aced it near the building that i was weathering, at which point there was more greenery on the building than the tree so yep you guessed it I weathered it too

 

[Jaz avalley]

As this represented rising damp ie

left as bought right with blacking of window openings,some light weathering and some light grass texturing,greenery near ground level
the ruins

sometimes I favour foam based greenery,here i used wood based greenery

the top got the lot lol

water damage I broke my own rule flipped the building on its side saturated it with water then added black touched to the water and let it spread as it wanted and left to dry,similar with the greens, before glue and texture were added

 

[Jaz avalley]

You can argue the point but I weather my water features, i streak the colours in the direction the water runs adding colours and textures,using white to infer movement

not yet fully dry so white yet to go clear

black blues greens browns whites

I made the walk I’ll add it later
i like to achieve a texture for water movement

wet varnish then run white paint into it

imo leaving gaps that dry then you fill let’s light capture more easily inferring depth

I benefit fromma nearby window giving natural light but a good lamp or torch can approximate

Reflections without doubt add depth
i turn any poor faces away

 

[Jaz avalley]

Once you start weathering you can go totally hung ho…I personally blame the reference pictures available to tempt us….

a perfectly nice model, I wanted to turn to red
and so I searched for a nice reference piccie

…oh and I found one

poor little thing can count itself lucky I did not rip of any of its wheels…..

 

[AirbrushNo5]

Love the pastoral setting with the Rover and the ducks….!

 

[Jaz avalley]

 

[TLOC]

I needed a break and looking at my layout my thoughts were? Where are the water features? Oh, I have a couple culverts with trickles of water, a quarry partially filled with water to match an actual quarry in North Central Wisconsin USA and a pond next to a State Hwy but no rivers or lakes. Then it was where did I see the pictures on the forum of water? It was here.

JazA, this maybe a weathering thread but your water is excellent. Just wanted to let you know and thanks for sharing your weathering pictures and your water. Now start posting here again…

 

[AirbrushNo5]

I too am taking a break from weathering…trains..etc
Working on a shelf queen AFV model I started a year ago…

 

[Jaz avalley]

I needed a break and looking at my layout my thoughts were? Where are the water features? Oh, I have a couple culverts with trickles of water, a quarry partially filled with water to match an actual quarry in North Central Wisconsin USA and a pond next to a State Hwy but no rivers or lakes. Then it was where did I see the pictures on the forum of water? It was here.

JazA, this maybe a weathering thread but your water is excellent. Just wanted to let you know and thanks for sharing your weathering pictures and your water. Now start posting here again…

Do you have a specific water feature in mind.
puddles, good for repairing damage to the layout, a too deeply cut road,or just a point of interest.
I favour varnish, but you need to be aware of the drawbacks, it can leak through porous modelling items, to avoid spillage it is best to paint a thin layer and let it dry it then acts like a container lessening the chance of a nasty mess. small or large look for areas that can take a subtle finish.
Even if you plan a larger item starting small helps you get a feel for what ever medium you do use.

PVA glue can make an acceptable puddle also.

I personally like the old fashioned varnish rather than the new plastic ones, I bought a plastic quick drying version and it was not good in a situation where I went for a thicker finish,took ages to dry and it was a not warm but summer month

 

[Jaz avalley]

Photographing of water is a trick also, preferably use a camera where you can see the resulting picture, move the camera in a vertical direction checking for reflections that suit you.

 

[Jaz avalley]

If you want textured water, you will likely do best with specialist model kits, but if careful you can get away with all sorts of tricks,
Perspex with a ripple finish, plastic sheet from packaging, etc can reduce the amount of expensive materials.
A lot of people make a waterfall with a flat piece of plastic laid in an aluminium over gray then raise it at one end, adding ‘water’ droplets then slowly raising the end until the desired effect is achieved.

 

[Jaz avalley]

When I did me initial waterfall, I read loads of material and decided to jump right in.
I used a piece of cork for the wall, but if you hunt around you may find a piece of wood that is either good enough,then coloured with say wood dye or upgraded with moulding material.

I tried it on a cork tile thinking I could fit that later, BUT the cork tile curved as the plastic dried and shrunk…eeeek!
so onto the layout and a couple of plaster cast moulded stones, if the moulds are expensive crinkle tin foil and full out then drop plaster in that works really well.

see the curve!

Reference always good, I wanted sandstone type so the cork was a good colour choice,that said by the time I finished the cork had all but disappeared so I could have gone cheaper.

on layout, at this point choose the water colour
decide on the flow of the water
and decide if you want splash back,and how much.
I added blue and white paint as I went for depth and air which is ca-tired in the water, fyi you can over egg this aspect,so less is more.