Ageing decals...

[Eric]

Yes.. aging decals. For the SDV Praga V3S pictured here I have made decals for the body. I wanted to achieve a fainted paint look and have used a very light blue and damaged the decal in several places but somehow it still looks too 'fresh' to me.



Any tips on ageing the decal further ?

[only87]

First coat the box side with transparent color, matt or semi-gloss. Then paint some of the blue lettering lines after with small portions with white color and wipe it off immediatelly again, letter by letter. Do not wipe with hard pressure, so that occasionally some small stains of paint stay on the box. After letting the paint dry totally, do the same procedure on the same edges but with the darker cab color.
This will give the letters a faded optic or if you do it only on some edges it'll look like wheather has "sanded" these edges apart a bit.
I would advise you to practice first on some other wortless objects to get a feeling for the amount of paint and time to give the paint to dry on. Try to use as little paint as possible, just a little drop, smear the drop along the letter contour, let it dry a second or two, then try to wipe off as much paint as possible without using hard pressure.

Another trick is to to repaint some parts with a very similar but still diffedent color, this will destroy the clean look. Best is to use a fine brush, dip it in the paint, then do a line or two on a worthless object until the line is scattered and then begin to paint your model with the remaining paint on the brush.

But do not do too much, it will look fakey otherwise.

[cfesmire]

I would try some pigment powders and if they don't look so good you can wipe them off.

[DavidJohnson]

From my experience in railroad model weathering the most valuable resource is a color prototype photo similar to what you want to achieve. As I have observed road trucks it seems painted on lettering is worn thin and applied film lettering will crack, peel, and fade.

Some modelers achieve the worn thin look by carefully sanding, as with 600 grit. Watch to avoid sanding through the body color paint. On this model the clear decal film will help prevent that.

The most realistic weathering approaches I have seen layer multiple technicques. Early stages may include sanding , scraping, or spot painting. The final stage often is a wash or diluted airbrushing a thin grime coating to blend everything.

Model railroad and military modeling books are a wealth of info on weathering techniques. Its really an art form and a lot of fun. Some like it quick and dirty, and others like to spend more time on weathering than any other phase of building the model.

[cfesmire]

Eric,
I don't know how this guy did it but take a look at the aging decals he's got on the side of this HO rail car.
www.mellowmike.com/FR8_Cars/RBOXcloseup1.html

For that matter take a look at all of his stuff including his photography techniques using a backdrop photo:
www.mellowmike.com/freight_cars.html

[cfesmire]

I know it's too late to do anything now with your decals but in the future, you could scan the decals into the computer, "age" them with Photoshop, and make a new set with some ink jet decal paper (or an Alps printer)

[mrbst30]

Those rail cars are some of the nicest detail/weatering jobs I have ever seen. It is almost as if you could walk right into the pictures. almost makes me embarresed of my "showroom new" appearance of my models.

[DavidJohnson]

On his web site you will see that he made decals from photographic images.

My wife recently took an art class where photographs were made into thin decals. The product was a thin waterslide decal film, with versions for color photocopiers and lazer printers. www.lazertran.com

Right now there is an excellent synopsis of weathering technique on hobby shop shelves. Check out the July 2005 issue of Model Railroader. Many techniques for general dirt, grime, and rust are shown. (Nothing on aging lettering though, as on freight cars of his era the lettering often stayed white long after the rest of the car was deteriorated). Robert Smaus also is an excellent vehicle modeler.

[cfesmire]

Maybe a little too late to help you with the Praga Eric, but I was just reading on a rail weathering forum about aging decals with a hobby sandblaster using baking soda as a medium. MicroMark sells a blaster for about $39.

[Lee]

cfesmire said:

Eric,
I don't know how this guy did it but take a look at the aging decals he's got on the side of this HO rail car.
www.mellowmike.com/FR8_Cars/RBOXcloseup1.html

For that matter take a look at all of his stuff including his photography techniques using a backdrop photo:
www.mellowmike.com/freight_cars.html

The only thing that gives the models away are the Kadee couplers. This guy is a real master at weathering. I spotted his work on eBay a while back when he did a couple of buildings and put them up for auction. Look at the structures section of his website. ;D

[skunk]

Mellow Mike also has one truck model. I especially like the spots of surface rust on the bumper and the rear view mirrors.
www.mellowmike.com/Buildings/TRUCK.html

[cfesmire]

That's the best looking Athearn Ford C I've ever seen. Funny thing is, I have about 6 of them and have never touched them. Time to get the chalks out.

[Lee]

I wonder just how he does it? Some of those spots of rust are so small that they would have to be made by a single hair brush. I have emailed him in the past finding him friendly and willing to talk.

[skunk]

The problem with putting a miniscule drop of brown paint onto the bumper is that it will be thicker than the rest of the bumper, and thus won't look like rust. If one was serious, one would have make an indentation and then paint into that. I am going to have to give that a try.

[cfesmire]

This guy obviously knows what he's doing and I wouldn't for a minute try to speculate as to how he did it, but I have found that if you thin down your (rust) paint and add a drop of dishwashing liquid (for acrylics only), it cuts the viscosity of the paint and it can be easily controlled in very small amounts like the very small spots you see on his bumper. His use of chalks is terrific too. I belong to a weathering forum that has placed Mellow Mike in the Diety catagory and rightly so.