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Structures - kits & kitbashed

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* * Motive Power - painting, customizing & detailing * *

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"Flame Weathering"

Future Floor Wax

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"Flame Weathering"
by Mike Schwarze

Printable Version

"Flame Weathering" is the term I use to describe a method for adding dark black soot around exhaust stacks and fans on the roofs and sides of model diesel locomotives. Basically, all you do is get an old piece of sprue from your scrap box, light it on fire, and wave it underneath a painted shell. You can vary the effect in several ways - hold the model further away from the smoke; reduce the time the smoke hits the model; move the shell instead of the fire; brush the soot off after you're finished flaming....  Three of my experiments are below:

Here's two old AHC GP7 shells I used as guinea pigs for my flame weathering tests: These are undecorated, white-primed shells. I've also "torched" an IHC Southern green C-Liner.

* * I should add here that this should only be done outside - forget about the proverbial "well-ventilated area". Probably not a good idea to put newspaper down underneath, either, for obvious fire safety reasons. Wear heavy leather gloves & appropriate eye protection - trust me. Burning sprue is basically napalm - DON'T get it on you! * *

All that out of the way, on to the experiments - - -

Shell #1
For this shell, I put the sprue in a clamp to hold it stationary and passed the model over it from side-to-side - notice how it feathers itself out down the sides. 
 

Shell #2
For this shell, I held the burning sprue in my hand and passed it underneath the model from front to back, holding the shell slightly angled tail-up. The build-up is much heavier on this model - I did a lot more passes to try to get a black sooty appearance. It worked - the roof of the hood is just about jet-black.

Shell #3
This is an IHC (?) C-liner shell I picked up at a swap meet a few years back and has been a guinea pig for many weathering and paint-compataibility experiments. Here's how it survived the "flame weathering" process: 

My conclusions:
I'm convinced that the way to do this is to have the burning sprue in a fixed position. A spring clamp would work to hold the sprue, but I'd go with a small vise and wave the model over that, because when you wave the sprue around, the flame dances too much. Also, do as I say and not as I do - this should be done outside. Black soot from burning sprue goes everywhere, and in close quarters, it just hangs in the air for hours. Also, it drips, so don't wear your Sunday best or try this on the dining room table. Probably not a good idea to put down a lot of newspaper underneath to catch the drips, either....

Once you've flamed your models, you can do several things with it - the soot is powdery, to a degree, so you can use a soft brush to take it off places you don't want it - tops of fans, any lettering on the side you don't want obscured, etc. Use a stiffer brush for a different effect. When it's the way you want it hit it with a coat of DullCote. Unlike chalk, it doesn't disappear, though. Now you can add a bit of dry brushing with rust, earth, dust, aged concrete - pretty much any weathering color you normally use - so the soot doesn't look too "new". It has a very fine texture that chalk doesn't seem to capture. While chalk is great for more subtle applications of color, to me, the "blackness" of an ALCo exhaust stack or the grilles on the side of an F- or E-unit is best captured with this method. For a well-used Geep, torch the sides and then softly brush off some of the soot for a great looking dirty engine.

Try it!

Mike Schwarze  copyright 2000

 

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Modeling with Future Floor Wax by Mike Schwarze
Printable Version

I've found numerous uses for this stuff, some of which I've learned from the model press or newsgroups, others just by trial & error.
Future floor wax is a clear liquid acrylic manufactured by Johnson Wax. Its intended use is for shining no-wax linoleum floors. It is sold in 27oz-size jugs at grocery stores, discount stores like Target & Wal*Mart, large drug stores, etc. I'm sure there are generic brands available as well - all I'm familiar with is the name-brand Future, though.

Below is a simple list of modeling applications I've tried, as well as a few I haven't.

•  As a gloss coat on models before adding decals - spray full strength through your airbrush.
•  As window glazing on portholes on F & E units; glazing on portholes in PA-B/FT units. * Bend a paperclip into a small loop and scoop up some Future with it, like a spoon. Gently dab the "spoon" around the porthole opening until it "films" across to fill it up. Allow this to dry for several hours - overnight is better - and add a second & third coat if desired *
•  For a satiny finish on locomotive models, spray a coat of Future and allow it to dry overnight. Follow with a light spray of Dullcote.
•  Simulating water spills, melted ice, mud puddles, water in gutters or curbside - just brush it on.
•  Creek beds - I've got a small creek on my layout with at least 25 coats of Future - it's no more 1/16" deep but looks deeper due to coloring on the creekbed itself.
•  More in-depth - from the SMRF archive :

 From:

       Mike Schwarze

 To:

       SMRF@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU

 Subject:

       Re: [SMRF] Modeling murky water with ... FUTURE!!

 Date:

       Mon, 6 Mar 2000 13:33:10 PST

 I've not yet tried modeling water, but want to do one of those slow-moving,

murky brown creeks typical of Alabama. Unlike water moving past greater

degrees of elevation, these creeks have gentle swirls instead of rapids

much of the time. Have any of you attempted this kind of murky southern water

and the swirls of a slow-moving creek.  How did you achieve the right color for the water?

I would use -[drumroll, please]- FUTURE FLOOR WAX!  I'd fill an old Ragu

spaghetti sauce jar about 2/3rds full, get some CHEAP acrylic craft paint

from Wal*Mart, etc., in appropriate colors (browns, blacks & dark greens)

and add it a drop at a time to the Future. *Don't stir or shake it - you

DON'T want it to mix*.  Instead, with a toothpick or sprue, gently stir the

thick paint around in the jar just to make waves, etc., like a lava lamp.

You'll see what I mean if/when you try it.

[I'm going to assume the creek is going into an area with no other finished

scenery around it - so you'll first have to draw it on the layout. I use

foam as a scenery base, so I'll further assume that you are, too, but some

of these things shouldn't be hard to do if you're using hardshell scenery.

I'm also assuming HO scale - if another, add or subtract to the size of the

bank accordingly.]

Now prepare the creekbed. Make sure it's at least 1/2" (REAL size) below the

banks - build up the banks if you have to with foam, plaster, etc. and

feather them into the sub-base like so:

Bad ASCII drawing:

Cross section of banks:

    Left                                Right

 _______________                   ________________

               \                  /

     1/2" foam  \     creek bed  /      1/2" foam

_________________\______________/__________________

Start with your earth color and paint a heavy-ish coat on the banks and a

heavy thin line of dark brown or black down the center of your creek -

again, use the el-cheapo acrylic craft paints from a craft store rather than

your loco-painting ones. Feather these two colors together with a 1" brush

(2" is better), letting them mix & mingle in an irregular pattern where they

meet and being sure they don't leave a straight line anywhere. While that's

still wet, sprinkle on a light coating of dark green, tan, brown & yellow

foams, keeping the lighter colors toward the banks with an occasional splash

of a really dark green to simulate the slime that accumulates close to the

shore. Add some twigs, weeds growing on the sides, trash, whatever you want

on the bottom and hit it with wet water from a spray bottle & some 50-50

dilute white glue.

While that's drying, head on over to Home Depot, Lowe's, etc., and get a

piece of plexiglass big enough to fit the area - if you have to cut & paste

a smaller pane of plexiglass to fit, that's okay. Now lay the plexiglass

over your creek bed - cut & paste it to fit; it should only overlay your

banks by about an inch or so - just enough to keep it in place while the

next step comes in -

Now it looks like this:

           ______________________________

__________|__________plexiglass__________|___________

               \                  /

    1/2" foam   \    creek bed   /     1/2" foam

_________________\______________/____________________

Now, on either side, cut & fit a piece of foam to be the remainder of the

bank - feather these out as steep or as sloping as you want - and lay them

on top of the plexiglass so they *slightly* overhang the bottom layer of

foam like this:

       _____________                         ____________________

            FOAM    \                       /    FOAM

       ______________\ <_slight_overlap__>_/_____________________

     X_GLUE_HERE|__________plexiglass________|X_GLUE_HERE_____

                      \                  /

                       \   Creek bed    /

                        \______________/

Still with me? Okay, now with the Future/paint mixture you made to start out

with, slop it on top of the plexiglass in a random way. The colors should

mix & meld into a colorful glop. Let that dry at least overnight, and then

add a second & third coat - or more, if you want - I have a creek on my

layout with about 25 coats of brushed on Future that is about 1/16" thick.

Finally, add a bit of foam, texture, etc. along the edge of the bank to

disguise the seam - plant a dude with a straw hat and a cane pole, and your

SE bog is complete!

Mike

____________________________________________________________

End of SMRF message.

Website: http://smrf.railfan.net/SMRF/

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03-Feb-2002