Fade my paint


zgardner18

zgardner18

Member
Guys,

I want to fade the colors of some of my cars and engines, what are some good ways of doing this to an already painted train?
 
Dull coat, alcohol on a swab, paint thinner will work. Just have to try on some scrap or something similiar for practice and make sure it doesnt remove the paint. Am sure there are other methods like weather washing with grimmy black or a gray for a dusty effect. Depends on what you want in the end. Remember different finishes react to different chemicals so what works on one will mess up another.

There are plenty of articles around on weathering including searching here.
 
If you want to fade the whole car, try airbrushing a light white wash on the car. I mix white acrylic paint with window cleaner and spray several light coats on the model to get the desired fade.
Another methode is to dullcoat your model. After it dries, spray it with alcohol, the alcohol reacts with the dulcoat producing a splotchy white effect. This is hit or miss, but if you don't like how it turns out, just dullcoat again to remove it.
If you just want to fade lettering, FunValleyLine has some great suggestions. You can also try wet sanding with very fine sand paper. I've found Mr Clean Magic Erasers will also fade letting well.
Good luck with your weathering. Make sure you post some shots of your progress.

You can also check out www.modeltrainsweathered.com for tons of weathering tips and advice.
 
The light white wash was the method in the quickie clinic I related in the weathering thread below. Basically, a couple drops of white into a cup full of thinner, and then airbrush the mix multiple times until you get the effect you want.

You can get a really faded color, like those older, well-used Pacer Stacktrain containers you see on the roads.

Kennedy
 
Ewww, paint thinner, avoid that on plastic...

I just paint over it with a really watered down white. I'm talking 15:1.
 
You see, I've heard some people say just airbrush over the car/engine with a thinned out white, but when I tried it just didn't seem to work. I've also tried to do a white wash and that too just didn't look right. To me those just made my car/engine look like it had white paint over it not the actual color fading. I guess I just need to practice more.
 
I've heard that light gray is the best color to use, not white. Fading means the color has lost much of its "value" (intensity), IOW, a boxcar that was bright red when new should look less red, but not pink.
 
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Zak, My first try sucked. I had to use the craft paint from Wal*mart thinned with windex. I actually used antique white. I also tried it with the foam brushes, and that works well, but only one smooth side cars.
 
Z,

Take a look at Lance Mindheims "Voodoo & Palmettoes" layout. He explains how to fade paint by placing a slightly brighter color over the same color making the original look faded. He does this with two CSX locos; a MP15 and I believe a a GP-38.

www.lancemindheim.com

Larry
 
68 Camaro said:
... Take a look at Lance Mindheims "Voodoo & Palmettoes" layout. He explains how to fade paint by placing a slightly brighter color over the same color making the original look faded. He does this with two CSX locos; a MP15 and I believe a a GP-38. ...
Click to expand...

Wow, this ol' dawg just learned some new tricks! Excellent link, thanx for sharing it.
 
i got a tip from the response in another thread. i thinned some acriyc antique white with windex. i dont have an airbrush so i uesd a really broad sponge brush and wpplied it in vertical strokes. there was a lot of excess so i spotted all the puddled areas with a paper towel. i let it get almost dry and applied some weathering dust to the door jambs and other parts that commonly acquire rust. ran some rust off the rain gutters as well. unfortunately my camera is on the fritz so i cant show a pic, but i the light fade on a dark colored car turned out pretty good with the sponge brush.
 
A slight fade on a Santa Fe sd40-2 Snoot. Applied oils thinned with an airbrush
IMG_2343.jpg
 
I use a combination of flat white and flat black. A light gull grey would also look good. I use a heaver coat of white or grey to simulate grain dust on such as Grain Hoppers. Grain dust is white. But I use a combination of paint and thinner.
 
There are many good ways mentioned here and it's best to try all to learn how each works and then get photos to work from and you'll then see what style you need to do. Layer many styles if you need.
 
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