Cranky's Mr. Penguin

[Dr. Cranky]

So I'm driving around town and suddenly I spot this vehicle sitting pretty in a shop . . . luckily I had my digital with me . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

So what else is Cranky to do? Get inspired, of course!!!

Got the frame squared away first before the fun started . . . just to make sure this one's gonna sit pretty and right.

[Dr. Cranky]

The AMT '55 Chevy Stepside is one nice kit, and I've build a few so far . . . but I'm really excited about this one . . .

Using the pictures for reference I added all the rust-throughs and modifications . . .

Luckily, it's not too much . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

That's about it for all the road-weary damage, etc . . .

The rest is going to be up to the paint . . .

For texture before the rust coal I added a little baking powder to the rust-throughs . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

Next step is the painting process, which should be slow and fun . . . stay tuned in . . .

[carbonar]

WOW, that's very cool. I saw all your work on the fotki and got very impressed. I liked so much that i bougth a Ford 40' to try out the rust technics. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Marcelo from Brazil

[Dr. Cranky]

Thanks all, I plan on making some more progress today, stay tuned in . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

The first step after primering the body with ruddy brown is to apply the stippled undercoats that will show through after the salting, rusting, and painting . . .

This is water-thinned acrylics applied with a sponge . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

On the roof and top surfaces of the hood and fenders, there's more discoloration, so I fogged in a big more paint using the airbrush.

Then I applied the salt . . .

This time I am trying to keep the salt localized to those areas . . .this build is going to have more solid color . . . like in the picture . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

I started to apply the paint slowly, making sure to stipple in the color over those surfaces . . . the salt will take care of the rest . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

The innitial results are always pleasing, but this one's got more to go . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

The texture look on the rust-through comes from the baking soda, and a little bit of liquid masking . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

And finally we get a little closer . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

We're getting a little closer to getting some of the right look in place. The streaks of paint in the original picture are hard to replicate with the airbrush, but the salting gets us close enough. I might try the drybrushing technique after everything dries . . .

[Chuck Most]

This should be interesting...

[Dr. Cranky]

Thanks, stay tuned in for more progress. Up next is the chassis . . . then the engine . . .

[Janne Herajärvi]

Ooh.. i did one of these pick up Chevyes when i was kid. It would be fun to build that kit again. It looks so nice. Great work again from you Cranky

[Railfreak78]

My friend all I can say is......

[whale392]

awesome weathering Cranky....I need to study your ways for my '30 Woodie build.

[Raul_Perez]

AWESOME tutorial, Virgil!!

I've weathered several models in the past, but I've never tried using baking soda for the rust. I'll have to give that a try the next time I get around to building a backyard diorama.

Thanks!!

[Dr. Cranky]

Thank you, there's more progress being made so stay tuned in for it. Getting the rolling chassis ready . ..

[Dr. Cranky]

All right, some more progress for the night . . .

The rolling chassis without any weathering in terms of powders. It's got one coat of Rustall and that's it . . . most of the effect was done with the airbrush stippling and salting . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

So far I like the bed better than the cab, but that's just me . . .

I still have to paint and detail the brake lights . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

Here is some more . . . I don't know what happened with the windshields. I test fitted them before I painted, and they fit fine, then after the paint they needed a bit more coaxing . . . and they still didn't seal a few gaps. I used white glue as filler and then painted over it . . . stuff you can get away with when painting a beater, but not a shiny build . . .

[Dr. Cranky]

This is as close as I could get to the picture . . . and with some liberties, of course . . . the hubcaps turned out real nice . . .

Engine and interior are next on another day . . . stay tuned in . . .