Commission: Penryhn brake van weathering in 7/8ths...

This wonderful hand built model of a Penrhyn brake van has been a true delight to work with over the past few weeks. It arrived pristine with a black chassis, pale grey primed tank and laser cut ply brake van and I've worked with the customer to define the finish and bring it to life...

The quality of the model making has rewarded this careful and subtle weathering that blends a variety of techniques. The wooden cab was laser cut ply which had a lovely grain but was too obviously one piece as the grain moves across each laser cut plank as it was done as one sheet. Therefore the weathering had to not only preserve some of the grain, but also disguise it. I selected to use a wash of Humbrol 72 initially, which toned down the garish raw ply look and then once dry used a dry brush and stipple of Humbrol 64 for the faded worn paint. Rust streaking from the nails has been micro painted in place.

The tank has some lovely weld detail and I wanted to subtle highlight this in the finish, a mid grey was chosen for the paint work applied using Humbrol enamels as they dry hard and stand up to the weathering steps that follow. The first step was a dirty dark wash all over the tank. On the sides this was mostly removed using a vertical motion to leave some staining and streaking. On the tank top this was more stippled to give the effect of previously pooled and dried water puddles. Once thoroughly dry my more usual shade of wash was applied, and the process repeated, giving it a dusty finish. Once dry a rusty mix was thinned and painted along the welds, and used neat along the bottom edges of the tank for rust patches, before being dry brushed with gun metal to highlight the edges.

The chassis was painted a dark grey, before rust effect was hand painted around nut and bolt heads, along some of the seams and streaks of dirt and grease added, before dry brushing gun metal to hi light metal edges, same with the buffer beams that also got a few neat rust patches and scratches from abrasion or chains.

The moss around the windows was added using a matt dark green, dribbled along the edge of the glazing and used a little neater along the bottom edge. The photo below also shows the pooling water stain on the tank top, along with the rusty weld.

Finally, the model was sprayed with dirt in the airbrush to tie the finish together, concentrating on the two 'dirty' stripes on each end, clearly visible on the prototype, assumed to be road dirt flung up from the wheels of wagons when running at speed in the wet.

I'm really pleased with how the finish has pulled the model together and brought it to life from a dull lifeless masterpiece of a model to a miniature reality. If you have a model you'd like me to breathe life into, I can work in any scale or gauge, using the prototype as inspiration to create truly unique models. Contact me via the Facebook page, contact form on the blog or a forum message. More soon...