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Texture: Another Attempt At Replicating Wood With Paper

Started by finescalerr, October 21, 2009, 08:04:27 PM

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finescalerr

I may have complained here that I couldn't get paper to look right but, over the weekend and yesterday I tried a little experiment. Just for a lark I printed white siding on some textured, flat finish sketch paper I bought last year at Michaels. I didn't think it would work with the inkjet but it did.

I distressed the printed paper with a wire brush. Surprisingly the paper did not tear or fuzz. The result was as close to "scale" grain as is possible.

Two photos show a section of 1:48 clapboard siding and trim I built up with laminated strips of the sketch paper. The flaky stuff in the super macro shot is pastel chalk and maybe a few bits of styrene dust. Even with a double magnifying glass I can't see that stuff at my workbench; it's too small. But I went back and brushed it off anyway.

The photo with the peeling paint is a section of a wall panel with scribed six inch boards. No chalk or noticeable dust on it.

I tried to make the photos super sharp with a little more contrast than usual to show the texture.
 
What do you think?

Russ

finescalerr

Here is an extreme macro close up of that clapboard section.

Russ

finescalerr

Finally, here is a section of 6 inch scribed siding with peeling paint.

Please comment on whether this possibly final attempt at paper artwork is up to a high enough standard. And please judge it on its own merits without a colored perception of what you are used to seeing. In other words, just because you are used to seeing grain and texture in small scale wooden models without using a magnifying glass doesn't necessarily mean they should actually look that way! The reasons I have kept trying to get paper to equal the appearance of wood are:

The quality of commercial stripwood has become very disappointing (can't sand off all the fuzz, coarse and blotchy grain, too much texture for smaller scales under close scrutiny).

I want to develop a quick, repeatable, consistent way to finish models. (Chuck Doan's method is pretty consistent but it ain't quick and works better for scales larger than 1:48.)

Okay. That's the background info. Now fire away!

Russ

Ray Dunakin

Looks great to me, only the extreme macro shot gives it away as paper.

Visit my website to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad!

Ray Dunakin's World

Hauk

Quote from: finescalerr on October 21, 2009, 08:04:27 PM

What do you think?


In the pictures, it looks really good. It looks no-nonsense, no caricature. I applaude that!

But as always when I see modelling including pictures of the real thing I feel that it is impossible to give a fair judgement without seeing the model in person.

I do not doubt for one second that the samples shown here are way better than the non-relief pictures of weathered siding and corrugated metal roofing that are sold as modelling materials today. But the problem is that those materials (that I loathe on principle, I must admit) looks great in pictures. And why shouldn´t they, Its the real thing!

But what when you have the model lighted in a way that do not exactly matches the lighting used when taking the pictures of the old wall/roof? What when this is combined with "real" modelling materials?

I understand that this might not be an issue with your approach, but again, seeing in person is beliving!

Regards, Hauk
--
"Yet for better or for worse we do love things that bear the marks of grime, soot, and weather, and we love the colors and the sheen that call to mind the past that made them"  -Junichiro Tanizaki

Remembrance Of Trains Past

MrBrownstone

Hey Russ,

I think it looks good...

Now how exactly did you do this?..
(did you print a darker grain then paint it white?)

Russ quote: Just for a lark I printed white siding on some textured, flat finish sketch paper. (how do you print white siding?)

Mike

finescalerr

Havard, I'm not sure whether you are asking whether the photos show actual three-dimensional boards. If so, the answer is yes -- no "fool the eye" artwork.

Mike, here is the process in brief:

1. Scan actual boards, modify and enhance the photo in Photoshop, print on white paper with an inkjet photo printer. When I say "white" boards, obviously they are not entirely white; in the example I photographed there is some grayish grain in the photo (worn whitewash) but, for painted boards, that shouldn't be there because paint is opaque. The artwork also includes joint lines where the boards meet but they are nowhere as pronounced as in the third photo. Shadows from the lighting make them look darker.

2. The paint peels are part of the artwork. I added them as an afterthought on a separate layer. I found a photo of boards with peeling paint and created a "mask" from it. I then copied only the peeled areas onto my board artwork, positioned them as appropriately as possible, and filled them with a weathered wood color. The result is what you see.

3. Distress the printed artwork with a wire brush. Use a scribing tool to draw in deeper grain. Laminate the artwork onto a Strathmore Bristol sub-wall using 3M Super 99 spray adhesive. Scribe board joints or cut individual board strips. Shiplap siding requires scribed joints. Clapboards are from individual boards.

4. Build up a clapboard wall board by board just as you would using wood. Use scribed siding where you would use either scribed wood or styrene.

No paint at all but some highlights of powdered pastel chalks.

Russ

Ken Hamilton

Heck, I can't even tell it's paper in the MACRO shot.  This definitely adds a more realistic texture to smaller scale models.  Russ, how much of the visible texture is from printing and how much is from the scuffed-up surface?
Having to ask that question at all indicates the technique works....
I LIKE it.
Ken Hamilton
www.wildharemodels.com
http://public.fotki.com/khamilton/models/

TRAINS1941

Russ

I think you have a winner there.  I like it.  And glad you kept after it until you got it to turn out the way you wanted it to.  Excellent job.

Jerry
Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
George Carlin

jacq01


Russ,

only the last close up is giving it away. These boards give a very realistic impression.
Applying the peeling paint realistic will remain a challenge, especially at those places where flakes are showing.
I will give this definetely a go when doing some of the buildings on the sawmill diorama.

Presently I am drawing the metal roofframes of the boiler house, which most probably wil be made from paper as stryrene is not stable enough.

  Jacq
put brain in gear before putting mouth in action.
never underestimate the stupidity of idiots
I am what I remember.

MrBrownstone

Hey Russ,

Thanks for sharing this... Looks like it is definetly a process worth trying.

Mike

finescalerr

Ken, none of the texture is from printing. It is all "real" 3-D texture from the wire brush or the scribing tool, just as you would apply to styrene or wood.

Jacq, please explain where the peeled paint fails to convince you. Maybe there is still a way to improve it.

Russ

chester

Very nice, the effect is quite realistic in the first two photos. I too however don't feel that the photo of the peeling paint looks quite right. The boards that do have peeled paint look good but the others are perhaps a little too pristine. So the peeled paint effect may work better if the entire wall was peeling. Thanks for sharing this technique.

marc_reusser

As noted on TNGS, the whole thing looks good and beliveable, and will work good for a model.....except for the artwork...Like Chester mentioned the peel locations and arrangement/occurance seem to have nothing to do with the boards and how they typically weather (regrdless of if it is from a real image...it was a bad choice, and it doesn't show/adapt well in this case).  I would also not mix the faded/multi-color boards with the peel technique...pick one or the other...or at the very least play down (and desaturate) the fading/discoloration. White tends to fade to a lighter chalky white...or a yellowed or greyed shade...not blue-ish and pink-ish.


I think with the right final detailing and weathering it would work very well as a foreground model......and though I know what you are aiming at, by the time/effort it took me to print, laminate (& wrap under at colored siding), cut, scribe/impress the pieces, add details...and then still need to add some weathering to "unify the structure...despite how much I like the idea of paper, I personally would probably just go with wood or styrene (or even painted paper)...especially for a building exterior......as it is at most only 40% more work....however for any interior work I would use it in a heartbeat as it would be much easier and expedient.


M
I am an unreliable witness to my own existence.

In the corners of my mind there is a circus....

M-Works

jacq01


   The peeling effect in the middle of the last picture is imo lacking the ( suggestion of) paint layer depth and sharp (flaky) separation between area's with remaining paint and are's where paint has dissappeared.

   All is very very convincing till I saw these spots on the last photo.

 

  Jacq
   
put brain in gear before putting mouth in action.
never underestimate the stupidity of idiots
I am what I remember.