Art Anderson Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 This is how I did the wood framing on my Revell '49 Mercury Station Wagon: First a bit of background: Ford woodie station wagon bodies were all built using hard maple for the framing (from Ford's own forests in Upper Michigan) and various plywoods for the panels. On the '49-51 Ford and Mercury wagons, these panels were formed from layers of veneer with the outer surface being Honduran mahogany, molded into shape in large presses, with their maple framing being done by laminating strips of maple and then forming those into the curves required, again in large presses. As a result, virtually no end-grain was visible, certainly on a 1/25 scale model. The finish was marine or "spar" varnish, which is a light amber in color, and darkens somewhat with exposure to UV light. So, how to replicate this? Given that freshly cut hard maple is a light buff color, I airbrushed the wood paneling and trim areas of the body with Testors 1141 Gloss Tan, and gave that several hours in the dehydrator to dry thoroughly. After experimenting with both artist's acrylics and artist's oil paints for giving a woodgrain effect, I settled on the oil paint, mixing just a little bit of Burnt Umber into Raw Sienna for color, and then using those little foam "eyeshadow applicators" found in almost any cosmetics department, I simply streaked the oil paint on over the tan paint. Now, artist's oil paint is simply pure linseed oil mixed into the pigment, and linseed oil does not dry by evaporaton, but rather by oxidation, and that takes 2-3 days even in just thin streaks as I put on the model--so patience is a virtue here. Once the oil paint was dry, I laid on the kit decals for the mahogany panels, and found that several decals are a bit undersized. Using a Micron artist's drawing pen, I was able to color in the gaps around the edges of the decals. For the varnish, I used Tamiya Acrylic Clear Yellow, which was brushed on, with a fairly large brush. I didn't worry about brush marks, as the real wood on those cars is somewhat varigated in shade, and the Clear Yellow gave some of that. And that's all it took! Body, with tan basecoat and the oil paint woodgraining added: Finished body! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Great way to do it. Thanks for sharing . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixx Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 I've read in military model books to put the oil paint on a piece of cardboard to draw the linseed out. Awesome work Art! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Anderson Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 2014 I've read in military model books to put the oil paint on a piece of cardboard to draw the linseed out. Awesome work Art! Merely for convience, and nothing else, I used 3X5 file cards to mix the oil paint. It didn't really draw all that much of the linseed oil out though. I used a professional grade artist's oils, Winsor & Newton. The stuff is actually very creamy in texture, which made it streak very, very nicely. Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpletcher55 Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 looks good ,i have never try,ed oils ,that looks great .thanks . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Anderson Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 2014 looks good ,i have never try,ed oils ,that looks great .thanks . Just be sure to give the work done with artist's oil paints plenty of time to "dry". As I noted above, oil paints do not "dry" by evaporation. Rather, the linseed oil combines with the oxygen in the surrounding air, hardens in that manner. Depending on how thick the oil paint is laid on (in the case of wood graining, it should be quite a thin layer), this can take anywhere from perhaps 3 days (I allowed the Merc body to dry for three days). Also, linseed oil will penetrate enamel, particulary Testors (no matter how well dried it is), soften it, but even that will go away as the linseed oil oxidizes. Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixx Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Yep, Winsor & Newton is some awesome oils! Again, I love the work you did on your Merc! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southpier Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 was there any difficulty getting the decals to bond where the oil paint was under ? and - two part question - where the panel decals were small, how did you duplicate their grain (and base color) ? end result is quite stunning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cato Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Art, I'd like to see that complete model-mind posting a pic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Anderson Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 Art, I'd like to see that complete model-mind posting a pic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Anderson Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 was there any difficulty getting the decals to bond where the oil paint was under ? and - two part question - where the panel decals were small, how did you duplicate their grain (and base color) ? end result is quite stunning Several of the mahogany decals were undersized by a small fraction of an inch--just enough to show a sliver of the tan base color. I used a Micron Artist's drawing pen with a .25mm tip, Raw Sienna in color, which was close to the base color of the decals, just drawing in over the expoxed base color areas on the panels. The pen did the trick, as any missing wood graining there was very insignificant. Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramfins59 Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 That really looks great Art, and thanks for the woodgraining how-to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cato Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Beautiful-thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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