Painting brass to look like wood

[SDwn]

      Since posting pics of some Class A's that I painted, I am answering requests to show how I accomplished this. For this project I will be painting a highly detailed brass On3 model of West Side Lumber tank car #2 by Beaver Creek Models. I would like to state that this may not be the best technique or only way for doing this but its what works for me. After cleaning and giving it a good coat of Zinc Chromate Primer by Floquil, I let it dry and started my research. With painting wood, you need to figure out what kind of wood and how old/ weathered you want to represent. For this I needed pictures to guide from and turned to the web. I found that pictures of fences and weathered wood were nice but I was looking for allot of wood grain images so I went to the hardwood floor websites which offer a wide range of wood colors and ages in their galleries. My printer went crazy trying to keep up. Reference in hand, I settled on a seasoned wood look but not completely rotten feel. Now back to the painting.

[SDwn]

Step 1

    I start off by painting the entire model black. This will act as my darkest shadow and makes certain that in case I miss any part in later steps, red primer will not be showing. In the same painting session, I then paint it with a dark brown (I used rail brown to match the wood picture I had). As you can see by the pics I did not cover the entire model with this but held the airbrush at a 45 degree angle from the deck so that the black will still be my darkest shadows. Keep in mind when doing this that the black undercoat will have a slight effect on the brown (making it a touch darker).

[SDwn]

    In the final pass for today I then painted a medium wood color made up from Floquil Earth, Model Masters wood, white and a touch of green. The green is used to keep the color from looking too warm and to get away from the fresh wood look. This color is not meant to be my lightest wood color but more of a basic wood background color to build on. The whole concept of the way I paint is in layers going from dark to light. I did not entirely cover the black and dark brown colors. I tried to leave them showing through a little in some areas more than others. I am not too worried about the sideframes since they will be red. In the background is Tank Car #7 by the same manufacture. Once I was happy with the look I painted the whole thing Model Masters Gloss. This seals the paint from damage in following steps and the gloss coat works better for the next steps than matte which has more of a tooth to it.  Sean

[Ray Dunakin]

That Climax in the first photo is stunning! Interesting technique, I'm looking forward to seeing the rest.

[SDwn]

     Thanks Ray. After that has dried I take some Yellow Ocher oil paint and put some random streaks throughout the wood. Since this is going over a gloss coat, I merely wipe over the streaks with a Q tip to blend them into the wood a little (plus it is quick). I have tried going over dull coat but it does not blend as well since it has more tooth to it. I then do the same with Burnt Sienna. Keep in mind that your colors may vary depending on what type/ age of wood you are trying to represent. At this stage I start outlining any details (ie bolts, grab handles, etc) and darken the gaps in the boards with Burnt Umber. I do this now because it is easy to fix any carelessness. I use oil paint for this because that is what I am comfortable with but these steps can easily be done with acrylics too.

[SDwn]

     Okay, now the fun part. Using the reference pictures as a guide, I paint in the wood grain using Burnt Umber. This color can be changed depending on the type and age of wood you are trying to show. I paint in the grain and then lightly drag a brush over it in the direction of the grain.

[SDwn]

     More progress has been done and I have started to add some of the red side frame color to see if anything needs adjusting. I have also come back in on the edges primarily with a light grey color for a highlight. With the grey color you can make it warm for younger wood with yellow or red or blue for a cold more aged look. Again the amount of grey that you use depends on the look you are trying to achieve.

[marc_reusser]

Very interesting and informative SBS so far. Thanks.


Marc

[SDwn]

A little more progress.

[Frederic Testard]

The details you give us about the whole process are really interesting, and full of ideas transferrable to other situations. Thanks for sharing.

[SDwn]

Thanks Frederic, let me know if you try it how it comes out. Here is the completed piece. For the wood, I sprayed everything flat to seal it all up and get rid of the gloss. If the look is too stark, I have had good luck with over-spraying a light dust or dirt color. Hope this helps.   Sean

[SDwn]

Here is a in-progress of Tank #7. It has the same base colors but I used Asphaltum for the grain work which has given it a different look than Tank #2.  Sean