Fake rust


cncproadwarrior

cncproadwarrior

North of the 49th
OK, how do you make this great looking rust? Is there something you can buy that looks like real rust? This pic was borrowed from eBay.
 
It's called experience and you can't buy it. With practice and some good reading here and places like modeltrainsweathered.com I'm sure you could eventually do it.
It takes a good eye and talent to make models like that.
 
theres no one answer, and theres no wrong answer. there are as many ways to create a rust effect as there are shades of rust. you may want to start with some powders, acrylics and maybe oils. it takes a lot of trial and error to get to the point of what is in the photo you posted. i would say go thrift store hunting for old cheap model rr cars and practice on those before sacrificing real cars you plan to run on your layout.
 
In addition to using paints and powders, I've been using Rust-All from http://www.rustall.com/index.html. It does a nice job on almost any material and is easy to control and apply. I've been using it for a year or do and it really helps if you want to simulate rust easily.
 
And another product to consider is AIM Products washes. You can do things like this.

100_1186.jpg
 
These were done with a combination of Doctor bens Rust that I found on Ebay, and flat black as I try to keep mine simple but effective.

RGHopper.jpg


26902.jpg


ADMHopper.jpg
 
Don, those freight cars a bit overdone for my tastes but the SP unit is right on the mark. The freight cars have a lot of rust but too much original paint that looks like it never faded. The SP unit is a good combination of fading, grime, and rust.
 
Josh, I have found that the chalk/hairspray works great for doing the basecoat on things like trucks, wheels and old junk where you want an even solid rust color for your base, but find them quite difficult to use on the sides of cars. The colors go on very opaque and are hard to fade out, even when thinned out alot. The color will look translucent in the middle but when it dries the outside edges like to dry darker making it look like the edges are outlined. For trucks and wheels the chalk and hairspray looks about the best of anything I have used, but does start to come off after a while. Have to find a better medium to bind the chalk to the surface. Maybe some CA, eh!
 
UP2CSX said:
Don, those freight cars a bit overdone for my tastes but the SP unit is right on the mark. The freight cars have a lot of rust but too much original paint that looks like it never faded. The SP unit is a good combination of fading, grime, and rust.
Click to expand...

I have seen a few Rio Grande Hoppers that accually look worse then what I did. A few of them belong to the KYLE here. Here is an example of one of them
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=270890

And thank you for the complement on the SP unit. Almost every SP unit out there looked like that at one time in there life. Kyle runs a few ex SP tunnel motors that look far better then what they would have looked like on the SP
I think though since the Kyle never goes thru tunnels they have an easer time keeping there engines clean.

Here is an EX SP unt with KYLE wich belongs to CEFX....

SP9333.jpg
 
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Don, check out those Rio Grande covered hoppers again. Notice the relatively even fading of the paint before the rust started. I think that's what's missing. Fade the car like you did the SP switcher and then apply rust.
 
I didn't fade the SP unit but I think that since the Rust is Alcohol based it may have faded it as I applied the rust. Not sure how i got the effect as it was totally by chance.
 
It is a type of water based paint that is quite opaque. You can texture it like oil colors, thin it out for washes and do many other effects. You can get it here.
http://www.dickblick.com/categories/gouache/
It is also available at craft stores like Micheal's, but here in Canada it is almost three times the price it is online. I use the Windsor and Newton brand.
 
rlundy90 said:
Josh, I have found that the chalk/hairspray works great for doing the basecoat on things like trucks, wheels and old junk where you want an even solid rust color for your base, but find them quite difficult to use on the sides of cars. The colors go on very opaque and are hard to fade out, even when thinned out alot. The color will look translucent in the middle but when it dries the outside edges like to dry darker making it look like the edges are outlined. For trucks and wheels the chalk and hairspray looks about the best of anything I have used, but does start to come off after a while. Have to find a better medium to bind the chalk to the surface. Maybe some CA, eh!
Click to expand...

After the hairspray is dry, lightly mist on dullcoat or its equivalent. But note, I said mist it on, don't spray it directly on or it will blow everything away. I find the spraycan Dullcoat allows for this better than my airbrushes do. For fading chalk, it has to be "faded" before its applied. To do this I mix in a very small amount of white chalk to lighten it up. I also apply mine with an old big supersoft makeup brush of my wife's. This eliminates that opaque edge you're concerned with.
 
When I put the chalk on dry I also don't get the dark edge. I was thinking he was talking about the way they say to do it on another site that we both belong to, where you dip your brush in hairspray and then in the chalk. The hairspray acts as an adhesive for the chalk and like I said before works really nice for wheels and trucks as it gives a nice even coat of textured looking rust. Using the chalk dry, I just mist on the Dullcoat as you said, but don't even use hairspray. The dulcoat will keep it all in place once it is sealed. I use an airbrush though, as I find I have much better control of how much goes on, than with the spray cans.
 
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