Dulling Prior To Weathering

[BCR751]

I want to weather some recently painted bridge piers.  They have been painted with Vallejo silver acrylic.  I would like to use an India Ink/alcohol mix to darken the piers prior to weathering.  Will this mix affect the paint?

Doug

[tom mann]

It may, depending on the strength of the alcohol.  But why not get the color right first?

[BCR751]

Musta been a dumb question.........

Doug

[Missaberoad]

Kept quiet since I'm far from a weathering guru. 

but my experience is that on a smooth painted surface, Alcohol/India ink will tend to pool giving a mottled effect and will not be ideal
for darkening the color... It really works much better on a porous surface...

I think a better method would be to airbrush a thinned clear flat finish with a couple drops of black or darker grey paint, and slowly build up until you have the color you want.

As Tom said the Alcohol may damage the paint depending on the strength/duration of exposure, additionally if the item is dulcoated before hand the alcohol will cause the dullcote to whiten...

[BCR751]

Ryan, thanks so much for your reply.  Using a sprayed-on flat finish mixed with some black makes perfect sense.  I've tried using washes on other stuff and the pooling is a real problem.  I was really leery of the alcohol ruining the paint.  Thanks again for the reply and the great suggestion.

Doug

[tom mann]

Musta been a dumb question.........

Doug

Well, no it wasn't but a lot of weathering questions are based around some perceived "correct" technique to use as opposed to the intended outcome.  For example, if a pier should be darkened, why assume a alcohol/india ink wash technique?

[Missaberoad]

Ryan, thanks so much for your reply.  Using a sprayed-on flat finish mixed with some black makes perfect sense.  I've tried using washes on other stuff and the pooling is a real problem.  I was really leery of the alcohol ruining the paint.  Thanks again for the reply and the great suggestion.

Doug

No worries, hopefully it fits your needs. I often used that technique in the past to darken locomotive grills or ad weathering to under-frames...

[BCR751]

I think a better method would be to airbrush a thinned clear flat finish with a couple drops of black or darker grey paint, and slowly build up until you have the color you want.

Ryan,  I tried your suggestion and it worked beautifully.  Thanks for providing it.

Doug

[Missaberoad]

Doug,

Glad it worked out for you!