I have two coal mines on my layout that need new roofs. I have purchased N-Scale 'Cambell Scale Models Corrugated Aluminum' enough to cover all the areas. I have tried to use this material in the past and looking for some pointers on how to produce better or the best results for the two roofs. I believe there is a method of weathering that uses 'Etchant' to discolor the aluminum pieces before you apply them. I once saw a thread, a blog, or some pictures here at trainboard that used this material. It had been used to construct a coal mine complex and seemed like it was a tutorial or walk through of the entire process. Both the walls and the roof of his coal mine were made from this aluminum. The results were in my opinion just out of this world! I wish I could find the specific thread again. I believe it may have been done by user 'Coaltrain' or Jeff Kraker. I would like to get a breif description on how this Etchant process works or a small how to guide that lists the steps and the times for soaking the aluminum pieces. Such as: Cut the aluminum to the desired shapes. Pour this much quantity of echant into this type of container Let Aluminum pieces soak for this long remove with this type of tool let dry for this long Apply with this type of glue What type of material if any do you use as a backing for this material to sit on? What kind of glue/cement/bonding agent to use to hold it all together? Thank you in advance, Mr X
Your close. Etchant should go into a glass or ceramic container. A coffee cup would work. Plastic tweezers will be a plus. Just drop the material into the etchant, wait a few seconds and remove. Dunk in water and see if your at the level of rust you want. It may take a few times around to get the ammount of rust you want. Contact cement will work for plactic. Tacky Glue, from Michaels will also work well. They hve a fast drying flavor that is really good. Kel
Kel, Let me just make sure I understand correctly. What you are saying is the longer the aluminum stays in the Etchant the more rusty it will apear? (Up to a point I am sure) I realize that I can experiment on my own once I get the Etchant but are we talking seconds like "Blacken It" or are we talking several minutes? When you rinse it off with the water, is it a quick rinse like dunk them in and pull them out or do you give a little shake and swirl to get the chemical off? Once they are out of the water do you dry them at all with a paper towel or do you let them air dry such as laying them out on newspaper? Also what kind of material do you stick it to? In my case both of the mines are scratch built wooden structures. Should I use some sort of card board backing for the aluminum? Thanks Mr X
Well, more weathered than rusty. The longer it sits, to more it gets eaten away. The metal starts to etch when it goes into the etchant. If you use thin material, it'll get eaten through faster than thick material. I would suggest dunking first, then you can rinse off after that. Let them air dry on paper. Well, if you built your roof with beams, you should be able to put them on those. Like a real roof, you'll need some sort of support under it. I wouls just run slats then glue the sheets to that. Since etchant is just nasty, here's a another idea. Get an empty jar with lid (glass is the best). Stuff it full of steelwool. Make sure it's steel, not stainless. Fill the jar 2/3 full with vinegar. Leave it for a week and you should have a pretty nasty rust solution. Not castic like etchant, but it will stain! And it looks good. Brush it on with a cheap paint brush. Kel
Perfect! I can not wait to try it out. I will also have to try this other method that you described. I can think of a couple of places real rust could go. Mr X
Why don't you try earth tone washes on the corrugated aluminum panels? You can get the same effect very easily. Stay cool and run steam.......
I have used Archer Etchant which is carried by Radio Shack. This is ferric Chloride which is a very nasty acid and requires carefull handling. Most of the sheet metal material can have a slight coating of oil on it and I generally clean it in a good detergent to remove this before treating it. Once it starts to fiz slightly it happens quick and I remove it to a 2nd water bath to stop the action then rinse thoroughly. The vinegar/steel wool also works well to weather wood. Another product that is suprisingly good is the corrigated roofing by PaperCreek. Just a lot of tedious cutting but looks good.
OK, I've done this since the 70's with Campbells. I make the buildings out of strathmore with basswood reinforcement, cut the aluminum to rough size over the window openings, glue it down with 5-minute expoxy, and cut everything to shape with an Xacto. I made a brownish-brackish-reddish wash that's kinda indescribably out of Floquil paints and thinned it 50%. That gets painted on the aluminum. More rusty/brownish spot and area washes go over top. No etchant. Nothing against it, particularly if you like holes and severe damage though. Lots of weathering. You can weather this stuff all day... Here's a couple shots with the roof and side material on the sawmill. It also depends how 'old' you want it to look. In this building the material is supposed to be about 15 years old.
Here are three photo's of buildings with corrugated metal roofs using earth tone washes. It's easy to do and you're not using corrosive materials. Stay cool and run steam.....
I certainly appreciate the feedback. As usual, all of you are great! Well even though I have been model railroading for 21 years, I am still a beginner in certain areas. On the other hand, I guess I really do not claim to be an expert in any particular field either. I truly value everyone's opinion and some of these pictures look really nice. So maybe I need to re-think things here... So is Etchant not a wise decision to use? Judging by the descriptions of it I believe it to be some powerful stuff. When some one mentions human risks I tend to listen up. Going away from the Etchant idea for a moment, Powersteamguy1790 and randgust can you tell me the specific paints that you used in these models? Other than earth tones do you per chance remember the paint numbers and the brands? Were all these examples in the pictures 50/50 paint and water? I have done a wash on my viaduct on my railroad with black and grey paints just to fill in some of the crevasses and cause it to look as if stuff had run down it. When I used the wash it was about 70% water and 30% paint. Is this the same principle in the washing method described for the roofing material? Can you, did you, or would you recommend also dry brushing paint in some areas? Thanks Mr X
I just posted this topic in my Blog on Trainboard. http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/blogs/viewblog.php?userid=3206&entry=507 Stay cool and run steam......
Doctor Ben's (not me) sells weathering solutions that I have used. See: http://www.debenllc.com/servlet/Categories?category=Doctor+Ben%27s+Scale+Consortium%3A-+Weathering+Solutions Also pigments: http://www.debenllc.com/servlet/Categories?category=Doctor+Ben%27s+Scale+Consortium%3A-+Weathering+Pigments Ben
Can you compare your Campbell corrugated with the ngineering roofing material for us? http://ngineering.com/details.htm http://ngineering.com/Roofing_photos.htm http://ngineering.com/Roofing_specs.htm How do the corrugations compare?
Check out the current issue of N Scale Magazine. They have a whole article on roofing. There was a mention of using PC board etchant to weather and age metal for roofing material.
9 pcs - 7 1/2 inches x 8 HO ft. 74-1/2 sq in total. The one that I have looks fairly similiar to the metal one that you have. But no offense the price and qty that I got in the Campbell's package looks like it is a far better deal. More material for less money. I paid US$6.70 from my local hobby shop. Or maybe I just read your site wrong. Mr X
I'll be honest how I came up with the color. My mother grew up in the town, right above the mill on the hillside. I took scraps of Campbells and expirimented with various colors and washes, and laid them all out in front of her like color samples. "too brown...."too dark, still should look more silver", "more smoke colored, like blackish wood smoke".... and we did this over and over until I arrived at the color swatch SHE though was right and I went with it - because no color photos exist. When the old-timers in the town first saw the diorama on public display, I got universal 'you got it right' reaction. I really anguished over it when I was building the model. I literally dumped and poured and stirred Floquil roof brown, rust, Dark Lark gray (a lot of that), flat black, etc., brushed it on and then thinned it down with thinner. Repeated the application if necessary. The rust streaks are classic Floquil rust for the fresh stuff, roof brown and boxcar red for the older rust effects. Solvent-type washes (not water) work really well for this. It's an indescribably brown-gray color. Metal reacts so differently with the chemistry involved - coal may be more sulphuric, and the dust, so that unlike the somewhat smoky color my mill takes with rust overtones may not be like yours at all. But the Floquil solvent washes are thin, and apply just right to the metal, and can be thinned right off again and brutally reapplied to get depth. You get that nice effect of shiny top edge plus sediment and corrosion in the lower corrugations - that what stands out. Metal is still metal, so maybe the best thing to recommend is to see how the material ages in the field in similar circumstances. I've seen corrugated metal tipples in West Virginia that were universally dark brown rust - those were usually deep in valleys that were wet, maybe shaded, and dust was minimal. Up here in this locale the predominant use of corrugated metal is for oil field structures, and those were gas-fired, relatively clean, and had no dust component. Different color entirely. Field study will help a lot.
Probably.. SOS soap pads are steel, so you could get some of those, wash out all the soap and then dunk 'em. Kel
I believe I had purchased some steel wool from Home Depot or Lowe's that came in a larger bag (perhaps 12"x4"x3" inches). I believe it may have had 12-16 pads total in the package. I know it was fairly inexpensive. I used it to clean my gas grill and plug some of my weep holes in my house so critters could not come in. I left one of them outside on the grill and it sure rusted! I do not have the package any more, since I gave the rest of it to my neighbor. I think it might have been Homax Corp Steel Wool. Homax Corp. 106100 - 16Pk #0000 you can find it for around US$2.87. One precaution with it is wear gloves because of splinters and if you need to make it smaller cut it with some heavy-duty scissors rather than being tempted to pull it apart. Although sometimes it pulls apart rather easily, I have new scars to prove why it is better to use scissor to make it smaller. Mr X
