need help: painting plastic to look like old rotted wood

[mazinz]

I own this plastic "ghost ship" from Revell



The ship is modeled in black, but I was curious, I wanted to paint it as if it looked like this was sailing the 7 seas for centuries.

I sort of want to base it on the look and color of the ghost ship from the 1974 horror film: the Ghost galleon (aka horror of the zombies).

a quick (crappy) snapshot of that ship is here:


I can paint the ship but want the wood to look old or rotted-ish. Can anyone help me out with any tips for paint/weathering this thing?

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

Use a medium brown for the base colour on the wood. Let it dry, then do a heavy wash of dark brown over it. That'll give it a rich look. Drybrush heavily with a light brown.... lighter than the base you used. That'll make it look like the edges of the wood have been bleached, and the inner portion will have a sort of damp, moldy look. (For regular wood you'd build up light drybrushes of a brown closer to your base.) If you use a really heavy wash of dark brown, it'll settle and pool near the bottom of the kit.... adding to the moldy feel. Once all that dries, you can buff a drybrush of light grey; heavier at the top, softer at the bottom to preserve the moldy look. That'll make the upper parts look bleached out. You can buff in some green for mold over the leading surfaces if you feel confident and ambitious.

For mouldering sails, start with a light or medium grey. Wash with a medium or light brown, and when that dries do a very thin wash of dark brown. Hilight with a drybrushing of light grey, maybe a smidge of white. You can buff in greens for mold, blacks for burns and rot.

Don C.

[mazinz]

Hmmmm....

Use a medium brown for the base colour on the wood. Let it dry, then do a heavy wash of dark brown over it. That'll give it a rich look. Drybrush heavily with a light brown.... lighter than the base you used. That'll make it look like the edges of the wood have been bleached, and the inner portion will have a sort of damp, moldy look. (For regular wood you'd build up light drybrushes of a brown closer to your base.) If you use a really heavy wash of dark brown, it'll settle and pool near the bottom of the kit.... adding to the moldy feel. Once all that dries, you can buff a drybrush of light grey; heavier at the top, softer at the bottom to preserve the moldy look. That'll make the upper parts look bleached out. You can buff in some green for mold over the leading surfaces if you feel confident and ambitious.

For mouldering sails, start with a light or medium grey. Wash with a medium or light brown, and when that dries do a very thin wash of dark brown. Hilight with a drybrushing of light grey, maybe a smidge of white. You can buff in greens for mold, blacks for burns and rot.

Don C.

Thanks for the info Don! I went to Michaels (who rarely have anything I ever do need in stock) and picked up (because this is all they had) some Testor's enamel.
1141 flat wood
1133 light brown
1183 black rubber
1166 flat brown
1140 gloss brown (kind of dark)
1163 flat gray

I do have some regular colors here bought in a set so I can pretty much get by with your guide using the colors I picked up or already have


I did find one website that mentioned if you take toilet paper and dip it in a certain floor cleaning product and then drape over your model ship for sails, it dries to a kind of hard like plastic that can be cut and gives the yellow old sail look as well. I might do a mix of what you mentioned and that. Well see. First thing I need to do anyway is start putting this together so I can paint it

[Mikey]

I've never done this but I heard of people that finish up with chalk dust.

First you pick the colors of chalk you need and then sandpaper it to dust.

Then you brush and/or sprinkle it on where needed.

When completely finished it MUST be sealed by a sealer, either flat, semi gloss or glossy.

Chalk is good for making areas look dirty

[ctc]

>I went to Michaels (who rarely have anything I ever do need in stock) and picked up (because this is all they had) some Testor's enamel.

Enamel might not be a good choice. Acrylics are much better, and WAY easier to work with. The gaming mini stuff is best, but I've found some good brands at the dollar store. Good; but fragile, so you'd have to give it a light dusting of matt varnish.

>I did find one website that mentioned if you take toilet paper and dip it in a certain floor cleaning product and then drape over your model ship for sails, it dries to a kind of hard like plastic that can be cut and gives the yellow old sail look as well.

Hmmmm.... I bet they're talking floor wax. It's a neat idea, but I think it'd be tricky to get it to look right.

Don C.

[mazinz]

I've never done this but I heard of people that finish up with chalk dust.

First you pick the colors of chalk you need and then sandpaper it to dust.

Then you brush and/or sprinkle it on where needed.

When completely finished it MUST be sealed by a sealer, either flat, semi gloss or glossy.

Chalk is good for making areas look dirty

That sounds interesting and I might look into that. I do have a spray sealer here that I used on some G.I.joe customs

>I went to Michaels (who rarely have anything I ever do need in stock) and picked up (because this is all they had) some Testor's enamel.

Enamel might not be a good choice. Acrylics are much better, and WAY easier to work with. The gaming mini stuff is best, but I've found some good brands at the dollar store. Good; but fragile, so you'd have to give it a light dusting of matt varnish.

>I did find one website that mentioned if you take toilet paper and dip it in a certain floor cleaning product and then drape over your model ship for sails, it dries to a kind of hard like plastic that can be cut and gives the yellow old sail look as well.

Hmmmm.... I bet they're talking floor wax. It's a neat idea, but I think it'd be tricky to get it to look right.

Don C.

Honestly I HATE enamel (though it does give you a nice look once the damn paint dries). The whole section of paint they offered was nothing but enamel. It takes forever to dry and totally ruins my brushes. I do have some acrylics (the generic box sets they sell), but for whatever reason buying the acrylic paint alone is hard to find, unless I try another craft place (like AC moore) and see what they have there? The one hobby shop left in the area did not have paint either

Yes it was the floor wax method mentioned for the sails

[Tothiro]

Doc O'Brien's Weathering Powders, Set of 12 Colors


Website also carries a nice line of solvent paints (I don't like the water based versions) with micro-ground pigments for better color coverage - polyscale I think?

[thunderbolt]

you must be looking in the wrong aisle at Micheal's. they have a whole craft section with acrylics.

[Figuremod73]

I actually think Hobby Lobby (if you have one of those near you) has a much better selection of acrylics. It may depend on the size of your local Micheals though.

[mazinz]

Doc O'Brien's Weathering Powders, Set of 12 Colors


Website also carries a nice line of solvent paints (I don't like the water based versions) with micro-ground pigments for better color coverage - polyscale I think?

WOW!!!! Yes I will be ordering that, thank you!

you must be looking in the wrong aisle at Micheal's. they have a whole craft section with acrylics.

I was by the model kit section that had all of the Testor's paint. After that if you do go to paint aisles I just see oil based and a slew made for fabric along with spray paint, but I can check again

I actually think Hobby Lobby (if you have one of those near you) has a much better selection of acrylics. It may depend on the size of your local Micheals though.

I do have a Hobby Lobby, but have not been there yet. The are closed on Sundays and I cannot get to them on the weekdays which just leaves me with Saturday. In my case most Saturday's are already booked up, but I will try to swing it this weekend

[babycyclops]

Even if you do pick up some acrylics, I would use a flat brown enamal base-coat first, because it will bond well with the plastic, and should give any acrylics a good 'tooth' to bond to.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

If you don't mind a bit of a wait; these guys sell good paint:

Reaper Miniatures :: News

I've ordered lots of stuff from them over the years. Acrylics will be a lot easier to work with; they thin with water, dry fast and are light enough so's you can control the effects. Chalks are good too, but they're tougher to use. If you can, hit up a library and get some model railroad books. They'll have some good tips. (AND instructions for using the weathering chalk properly.)

Don C.

[mazinz]

you must be looking in the wrong aisle at Micheal's. they have a whole craft section with acrylics.

So much new info, links and more supplies to buy.

I did find more acrylic at Michael's. What I had thought was all fabric paint stopped midway down the aisle and it went to regular acrylic. Naturally some of the colors I needed were not there, but found ones very close to them. Think I am getting set to start this thing already

Even if you do pick up some acrylics, I would use a flat brown enamal base-coat first, because it will bond well with the plastic, and should give any acrylics a good 'tooth' to bond to.

thanks for the tip. I do have that here as well

[ctc]

Say;

Testors makes decent acrylics. They're kinda thin, but they'd be good for washes. You can usually get them where you get the enamels.

Don C.

[mazinz]

Say;

Testors makes decent acrylics. They're kinda thin, but they'd be good for washes. You can usually get them where you get the enamels.

Don C.

Hey Don that was the original problem. I wanted Testor's but that whole section of single paints at Michael's only sold Enamel. In fact the display itself was only for Testor's Enamel. If I wanted acrylic I had to buy another generic 10 piece set and the ones they had did not offer the colors I needed