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Distressed Paint


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Many have asked about the paint and other details on my ’32 5 window I just completed. I’d like to post a three part tutorial on my techniques if I may.

First the weld beads. I performed the typical top chop, taking three scale inches from the height.

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After getting it all back together and smooth I used some stretched sprue to make the beads.

I deliberately used plastic of another color to help see what I was doing. I think white plastic is a real bear to work with because you can't see details clearly.

You can see I left the rear window in its stock size. I don’t like mail slot windows and wouldn’t drive a car that had them.

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I glued the weld beads on where the cuts were after I smoothed out all the body work. Primer, sand, primer, and sanded until my old eyes said it should be all right. I wanted a scale appearance and was worried about how they would look with paint. Good thing I did as we shall see.

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Final primer coat.

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That's part one.

G

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Here are the paints I used for the body.

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Yes that is hairspray. No I'm not kidding. It works well as we will soon see.

After primer comes the first color. Rustoleum's "Oil Rubbed Bronze". I painted the body and radiator shell this base coat.

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This is a really cool color that I want to use on another model as a finish coat. One thing I found that this is a VERY thick paint from the can. To build up enough coats to get the metalflake to look right adds a bunch of paint layers. I'm going to experiment with this decanted and airbrushed.

When this dried sufficiently in the good old southern Nevada sunshine I gave it a good coat of hairspray. Yes boys and girls hairspray. I let this dry for an hour or so.

Next are the tricks of the finish. I mixed Tamiya OD and Dk Yellow to give a slightly faded olive color. I airbrushed this ACRYLIC paint over the ENAMEL base and hairspray.

Now here's where the magic happens..........................

I used an old brush and plain old Las Vegas tap water. Of course some will claim the Vegas water did the trick as it is nearly undrinkable from the tap.

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The water loosens the hairspray thus disolving and stripping the acrylic paint from the enamel base. A wet brush, some delicate scrubbing and you get this.

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One of the most important things to remember is when to STOP! Again remember this is a scale model, everything is 1/24 the actual size. Also think about where a real car would exhibit wear and tear if it sat in a desert barn for a few decades.

I keep a paper towel just moistened with Windex close to occasionally wipe the body. This takes the paint haze away leaving a good balance between the base coat and the top color.

I have to cut this short right now however I'll be back.

G

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As far as I know any hair spray will work. I used the cheapest I could find at that time!

I have had good results with hair gel also. It is applied a bit differently as I use a brush to dab it on where I want the paint to be chipped. Painting the acrylic over that accomplishes the same in a smaller more precise way.

The trick is dissimilar paints. Water will dissolve the hairspray and acrylic, but wont dissolve the enamel.

G

Edited by AgentG
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Ok part three and I'll be done boring you guys. :blink:

I like the "Mexican Blanket" look for a low budget ride. I had to alter the interior since this was a channeled ride anyway so this is what I started with.

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I covered the pleating with putty and sanded it somewhat smooth. I just wanted a base for the blanket.

The blanket itself is just a piece of plain white copy paper pilfered er provided by my agency. I drew a pattern on it and cut it to size. here's a remnant I found with the markers and pens I used.

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A wide flat brush, white glue and that gosh awful Vegas tap water did the rest.

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I soaked the paper in a mixture of white glue and water and used the brush to flatten it out on the seat. Here's what it looks like. I deliberately canted the pattern so it wouldn't look so "perfect". The water made some of the inks run and fade but it really added to the effect.

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That's all there was to it.

Questions, comments, threats and kudos all accepted with a smile. :rolleyes:

G

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  • 4 weeks later...

Very nice work happening here. i'd like to throw in my 2 cents worth.

If you add some salt, ordinary table salt, to the hairspray before your finish color it will help in the "rubbing off" process. here's some photos of my first attempt this way:

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PS; I back up all statements regarding the quality of Vegas water.

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Joe,

I haven't tried the salt as yet, but a guy in the club has. He experienced what I refer to as a happy accident. The salt grains dissolved a bit leaving a faded area around the chip. It looks fantastic, but then again he's a great builder.

G

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Another great tutorial ! I keep sayin I am gonna do a rusted out build but afraid I will mess it up !! But I guess thats the idea. I just hate buying a perfectly good model and messin it up. Its a mind set thing. Great stuff you did. thamks for sharing.

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  • 3 months later...

Hey all,

I would assume that your acrylic topcoat color could be blue, green, yellow, gold, etc...?

I don't use new kits for junkers..I trade friends for their junkers/partially built kits or go to eBay and look for other peoples junk..

With prices of kits today, I can't see trashing a perfectly good kit to make a junker.

Cheers, Ian

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