Thursday, April 11, 2013

Weathering a bridge

BridgeworkOver at Clayhanger Yard, things are proceeding apace. One of the jobs I've carried out recently is to weather the overbridge at the entrance to the layout.

The bridge itself is a shortened Skytrex item. The main girders are resin with whitemetal uprights holding the brass wire handrails. Nice bit of detail and slightly different from a plain girder or brick built item. I have a feeling that a photo taken from the fiddleyard into the model will look nice.

After painting with Humbol 64 (I didn't bother priming the metal as it's not going to be handled) and leaving it to dry thoroughly, a quick wash of Precision Paint Track colour put some dirt in the edges.

Finally muck comes from Humbrol weathering powders applied with one of their new Stipple Brush sets. These are quality bristle brushes intended for those 'orrid jobs that will ruin a decent brush. At a quid each, assuming they stand up to some abuse, then they aren't bad. Certainly much better quality then cheapo children's art bristles. I didn't spot any hairs falling away as I poked at the "metalwork" and worked the powders into the surface.

You could argue that I probably have plenty of knackered old brushes for this sort of job and you'd be right. If I wasn't the owner of these though, the Stipples would be a godsend.

No comments: