Hey guys,

Looking at assembling some of my kits for my new layout but need some assistance in how to paint/weather them to get a realistic finish.

First up is my viaduct bridge by Vollmer. The plastic for the wooden beams looks shiny, so thinking I should paint them before assembly for a matt finish.
Also thinking the bricks would be weathered easier before assembly.

I have read the threads on here from users with experience and their quality work but as someone who has never weathered before I am not sure where to start.

First, what tools should I buy and what paints? I have an Aztec 4308 airbrush (which I have never used and find daunting) but do you guys even use an airbrush?
I like the finish that was achieved with cheap acrylic paints but what is considered a cheap acrylic?
My like hobby shop has little bottles of acrylics, should I buy those and is there a standard palette I should buy for weathering?
What brushes should I buy for dry brushing? Sponges for wet washes?

Are there any good youtube videos you've found particularly helpful?

Hi,

I have done majority of my own buildings and structures in the layout using mainly acrylic art paint with great success, I can only give some advice based on my own experience. Needless to say there is many ways of weathering!

A few general recommendation regarding painting/weathering:

If you are building a layout with distinctive areas and towns, it can pay off to make a overall strategy to get a harmonic look. E.g. if you prefer airbrushing try to to stick to that technique with the majority of your structures. Having a mixture of e.g. carton paper kits and plastic kits can also look weird. Same with colours, as in real life bricks and roofs has distinctive looks based on material available in that area. So don't mixed hard bright colours with soft tones. Stick to either of them.

If you have larger kits, it's defintly easier to use the airbrush techniques. So if you have a large railway station spray all the sheet then finish off with some shading and dusting using the spray. Final weathering can then be made done with chalks or acrylic paints.

General recommendation regarding acrylic paint:

I use this brand - not the cheapest but a tube will last a long time:
https://www.eckersleys.c...ve-artists-acrylic-paint

I prefer soft tones. So e.g. if I have to make a grey tone I will never just mix black and white. Instead I will take a little bit of white and mix with Naples yellow, then some raw umber maybe a tiny bit of black. You will then get a non harsh tone, which will look more realistically for our scale world.

Good colours to buy are: White, Mars black, yellow naples, burnt sienna, raw umber, Indian red oxide, yellow orcher, olive green, sap green, pacific blue.

A simple way to make a brick wall: paint the sheet in one colour and let it dry. Then highlight top of brick with the dry brush method. Or you can also do a wash which will seep into the cracks and then wipe the top of bricks with some tissue paper.

A simple way to make a roof weathered: paint first the base colour and let dry. Leave some base colour left and divide this up into 4 small portions. Add a reddish, greenish, blackish and brownish colour to the base colour and then add water to make a wash. You now have 4 seperate washes. Use a larger worn out stiff brush and then make small washes on the roof and blend them together. Let all the washes sit for a minute and then use a soft tissue paper to wipe/pad gently the roof. When all dry mix a whitish highlight colour and use the drybrush technique to make highlights. This work especially well on tiled roof for buildings as the tiles will then look worn out as in real life.

Most importantly with weathering is not to overdue it but keep it subtle. I have found with using the dry powder techniques that it can be difficult then. Dry power is great for weathering smaller details or locomotives and wagons, but I would not use it as the only means for structures.

To save time, don't fuss around with window frames or smaller stuff that can be difficult to paint with art acrylic. Overall you would hardly notice the window frames have not been weathered. If you want another colour it's much easier just to give them a quick spray paint.

Remember to check the buildings for light seep. Shine a bright light inside in a dark room and observe for any light escaping through cracks. A cheap way is to plug up from inside using blue tac.

Also see thread:
https://www.marklin-user...ints---updated-July-2015

Have fun!

Brgds Lasse