On this one I did heavy shaders all around on the brick work. (Much more clean looking on the front of the building.) Added a silver base to that large rooftop pediment plus rust and other shaders to make it appear more rich and detailed. I also reworked that Loew’s vertical marque to make it larger and more embellished adding a touch of deco to it. Of course there is also the added billboard.
*And before anyone says anything: The African Queen was shown in a limited Hollywood viewing in December, 1951 simply to qualify for that year’s film awards. The movie’s official grand opening was in New York, February of '52 with general distribution coming in the months following.
I promise you I am NOT trying to be boring with all these many examples of the Citadel Shaders plus a little added pigment weathering. It is just that with about an hours’ additional work on a basic plastic model structure kit, one can elevate its’ appearance from a straight out-of-the-box shiny plastic so-so kit, to something far more impressive . . . and in the process elevate the level of overall realism on your model railroad as well.
(I just discovered these Citadel Products and I am as blown away as anyone
with the affects they can help to create.)
My son the Fantasy Figure Painter calls it;
“Experience in a Bottle”.
This very available HO engine house kit has had the “Nulun Oil” Black Shader treatment applied throughout. Then a green shader and some green pigments added to the rooftop ventilators*. Plus a touch of yellow pigment to highlight slightly the detail in the brickwork.
*The main roof is gray slate whereas the ventilators are shingled so a difference in appearance between the two is correct here for this structure ~ and adds a color variation.
Another classic HO kit is this very available model Depot from Chama, NM. on the Narrow Gauge Line. But have no doubts this charming and intricately detailed station would have been at home on any railroad line throughout the US.
Black Shaders on the groundwork and loading docks as well as on the roof. Then Green Shaders and Green Pigments for the roof. The Yellow siding on the building got an all-over treatment of the Sepia Shader. Of course those many nice brick chimneys got a serious coat of the Citadel “Nuln Oil” to add grime and to bring out the detail in the brick.
The coaling tower weathering made me think of large grain elevators and how much fun it would be to weather one of those. All I had on hand was the old Suydam, all corrugated metal feed and seed elevator in bare metal. Added some very basic custom signage here - however the widows were all gone from the kit a long time ago, so do not know what I will do about that.
The colors seen here are various shades of dusted spray paint with black and rust shaders on the roofs.
I either need to build ramps and a roadway section for the “dump house” floor so trucks can enter or remove the treadway at the bottom of those doorways entirely so we can lay a RR siding right into the building.
Not saying at all that this is some of my "best’ work.
It was more like a last ditch attempt to rescue an otherwise sound usable structure.
The fellow that built this used SO much solid gluing that it was impossible to get the structure apart for a full repaint. At the same time he/she had left the model in its’ original hideous shinny green plastic color with unaltered shinny plastic, light “battleship” gray roofs.
I really thought this one was headed for the trash bin!
I knew I could salvage the roofs (rooves???) OK but I was less sure of the green siding.
So I thought maybe just tone down the bright green? So off I went . . . Black and Green Shaders for the roofs and Black, Brown and Green Shaders used for the siding. Plus a little Sepia to tone down the pure bright white porch railings.
There is also a touch of Green Pigments on the roofs to represent moss growing
and Yellow Ochre Pigment on the siding to slightly lighten and indicate even more decrepitude!
This is now at least a perfectly fine “rental property”, perhaps located on the “other side of the tracks.”
Or put a red light over the front door to indicate a “house of somewhat ill-repute”?
Now I wish I had a whole row of these houses (5-6) and do variations on color, porch arrangements and relocate or remove the small wing side structure from some.
Anyone know who the manufacture is on this one? I could not find a name.
Seen below left; a black wash over a Panzer Gray base coat.
. . . . . . then center; a lite Sepia wash over a Sand colored buff paint brushed on.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . and finally; on the right, is the Sepia Shaders applied heavily overall.
All the “wood” seen here is done with the Sepia and Black Shaders over a base coat of lite Sand color. The jack is painted in a solid Rust color. (All my German jacks come fully rusted, don’t ask me why.) Everything else is your basic Panzer Gray.
Also everything has been given a coating of Yellow Ochre and Tan Pigments to represent road dust and moderate usage.
Sepia and Black Citadel shaders over a Buff colored undercoat used here to make the wooden cat-walks really stand out from the rest of the steel bridge and look much more realistic.
The Black shader (Citadel calls it Nulin Oil) used over a base of Tamiya Red Oxide Primer for the wooden end retaining wall/abutments and also on the railroad tires and the rails:
Personal Opinion Note Here: Painting the sides of the rails diminishes the apparent visual size of your model rail no matter what code size/scale you may be running. Here I simply sprayed the entire piece of track with the Tamiya Red Oxide Primer and then went back over it all with the Nulin Oil black shader. Finally when dry I burnished the tops of the rail with my abrasive track cleaning block.
I know I am always talking about how good these Citadel products are for making realistic wood decking. (Well they ARE!) Truck beds, porch decks, flatcars; Whatever, it doesn’t matter.
Recently came across some very generic G gauge (and inexpensive) logging flatcars. Just solid molded shinny black plastic and I thought how much richer and detailed they would look with stained wood decks.
This was just a base coat of Tamiya German Dark Yellow (sometimes I use Desert Sand for a lighter effect) that was later gone over with Citadel Black and Red/Brown Shaders and then a final over spray of Tamiya Matte Clear in the rattle can. (TS-80) p.s. Also some rust “shading” using Tamiya’s Red Oxide Primer.
Recently came across another of the Hartland Locomotive Works G Scale “Generic” log cars.
Decided to give it a similar treatment (thou a bit darker decking) as the other three.
Again, the rust color is Tamiya’s NEW Red Oxide Military Primer and the “Wooden” deck base coat is Tamiya’s Military German Dark Yellow. Now give it all a quick coating of Tamiya Matte Clear (TS-80). (This will give the surface a slightly rough “tooth” which allows the water based stains to attach to the paint without puddling.
I than used liberal coatings of Citadel’s Black and Red/Brown Shaders (stains) to create the final look of the decking applied with a broad brush. This is followed by a final application of Tamiya’s Matte Clear to kill any shine that might have been left by the stains.
Here is a weathering job, (some might say EXTREME weathering) that I did just recently to a USA Trains, G Scale Woodside Carnation Reefer.
Primary weathering was done using Citadel’s Red/Brown stain (shader) over a coat of Tamiya Matte Clear (TS-80). Again the Matte Clear provides a rough “tooth” to the plastic surface that allows the water based stains to adhere to the plastic without puddling up into blotches.
Weathering in the black areas of the car was done using soft oil pastels (mostly white) “scrubbed” with a stiff, small brush into the tooth of the surface. (Again over a coating of Tamiya Matte Clear.)
And yet another reefer tortured with Citadel Shaders:
This time a Bachmann “Big Hauler,” Arm & Hammer woodside reefer.
I repainted the original black roof and car ends with Tamiya red oxide matte primer.
Sanded the car side lettering lightly to destress the painted on lettering and when went to town with both the Sepia and Black Citadel shaders diluted with the Citadel clear medium. The final weathering touches were added to the roof and hatches with Soft Oil Pastel powder with the metal hinges on the side doors getting the same treatment also with just a little touch on “rust” Pastel powder.
Once again before starting the weathering process I gave the entire car a thorough over coat of Tamiya Matte Clear (rattle can) sprayed on extremely dry. This dry spray produces a very fine, rough “tooth” to the plastic surface and of course kills any plastic shine.
This tooth" allows the water based Citadel Shaders to better adhere to the plastic surface so as to flow out without glomming up and causing blotchy puddles of stain. Also this “tooth” allows me to “scrub” the Oil Pastels into the surface for good adhesion. No clear over coat is necessary to protect the Pastel powders.
Yes, if you really rub the surface you can dislodge some of the weathering powders but under normal handling there is no problem.
.
(This example features Armor but the process certainly still applies to any grating or plate.)
Use any dark stain (but not paint) to bring out the detail of these engine gratings. (I used the Citadel Nuln Oil, black Shader.)
You don’t want to use paint because the paint will stay on the tops of the grating rods but using stain, it will run off the rods and gather in the depressions between the rods.
I suggest you keep you model level until the stain has fully dried.
A more thorough treatment of a salvaged Rico Station than my earlier attempt.
A recent work, again using the Citadel products, is this AHM Rico Station in HO Scale. The weathered yellow wood is yellow plastic with an application of the Citadel Sepia. The Orange wainscoting is accomplished with oil pastel pigments . And the roof is painted Tamiya Olive Drab and then highlighted with various light applications of more Pastel pigments to bring out the detail of the shingles
Both the lite and the dark mud mediums comes from Citadel. The darker color is a paste right out of the bottle that builds up very nicely into caked wet mud.
