Click here to get a Adobe download on the painting instructions.

           Well it is time I update this page after all the requests for 'How do you paint those
              castings and make them look real?'. First I'm not a painting guru, I just have my
              own style and stick with it. There are plenty of DVD's on the market that will show
              basics and different painting and weathering methods. Checkout Darryl  Huffman
              he has some great DVD's on painting and weathering http://www.darrylhuffman.50megs.com/
              And Darryl is a great help and resource for many other projects.

              Well lets get started

              First you will need to check the casting over and see if you need to do any cleanup.
              Remove any excess material or mold marks.  Next I do not wash the casting but
              spray the casting with a flat white paint. I use the cheapest flat white spray I can find.
              This gives you a nice primer coat for your paint to bond too.

              Second the questions is what kind of paint do I use. I buy cheap bottle of acrylic paint
              at Michael craft store about a buck a bottle. Colors like Burnt Sienna (makes a great
              rust wash). Then to make the indian ink wash I take real indian ink and mix with
              denatured alcohol. Remember go light on the amount of ink you can always make
              it darker. Also a great source of washes and weathering paints is Dr. Bens check
              them out at www.drbens.com I also purchase cheap brushes from Michael's craft
              store. My favorite weathering chalks are from Bragdon http://www.bragdonent.com/weather.htm

              This is the point of personal choice some people just get their paints out and start
              painting. What I do is if the casting is suppose to be wood I spray the casting with
              Model Masters Dark Tan Part #1942 to get that overall wood color. Then I take
              out my alcohol and Indian Ink mixture and brush this on until I get the effect I'm
              looking for. Then hit it with Bragdon Weathering chalks. Check out the example.

                           

             As you can see it fills the cracks and crannies nicely. In fact most people have to look twice
             to see that is not wood. Then of course you can use shoe dye and alcohol washes or chalks
             which are another one I really like to use.

             I hope this helps.