1:32 Diorama

[finescalerr]

I've started a small 1:32 scale diorama. Here's an attempt to replicate unpainted weathered wood with paper. The first image, "Dr. Jekyll", shows the incomplete structure as you would see it on a diorama, from about a foot away, under typical lighting. -- Russ

[finescalerr]

The "Mr. Hyde" photo, in high contrast sunlight, should show every flaw and texture but, at the resolution limit of our site's mediocre software, some warts, wrinkles, and flakes are impossible to see. The question of whether the experiment is a success is one I can't easily answer and maybe some of you have a thought or two.

The first thing I had to get over was how the paper "wood" doesn't resemble the color of any unpainted weathered wood model I've built. On the other hand, when I compare it to the boards of my back fence the appearance is very similar, both color and texture. Marc Reusser made that point to me a few years ago when he said real silvered wood has an opaque quality stained stripwood doesn't replicate. In a scale as small as 1:32, the grain of stripwood also may miss the target.

The colors in the photos don't quite match those of the model so I replaced the one I posted yesterday with this one, with more accurate color.

What do you think?

Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

Unfortunately in that photo, it's hard to tell there's any color at all. It does seem to me, that there ought to be more variation in whatever color is there.

[1-32]

go  russ i dont believe it.

[Design-HSB]

Hello Russ, the second photo has clearly more contrast, only something is pending, it still does not look finished.

[finescalerr]

It is not finished. These images are "in progress" photos. -- Russ

[Malachi Constant]

It needs nail heads ... razor-saw woodgrain ... and antlers! 

[Hydrostat]

Essentiall it's not my place to post here after I didn't manage to post at least anything in your amazing "Wood?" thread - indeed I was tempted to evince my compunction that Chuck AND Marc seemed to have gone mercenary, but discarded that, facing the danger of being sent off to the corner. As astonishing your results are there, to my eyes here in the second picture the structure's texture is simply paper ... and maybe this results from the paper fibres following one straight direction at one sheet of paper. For very sure the direct sun lighting has a share in that for over 90 percent. I'm a bit clueless if that is some helpful criticism without seeing the finished structure`.

Volker

[Bill Gill]

The grain is good. The overall tone OK, but I agree with Ray that as it stands is too even. The brownish tinting at the top where the wood is less exposed to sunlight and water doesn't yet look like any weathered unpainted wood color I've seen, but different climates + different woods = different effects.

[Hydrostat]

Correction: It's not the fibres or grain, it's some kind of repeating 'waves' on the surface, which gives it this 'uneven' touch, especially visible at the boards above the door, and I still think that's a feature of the paper surface.

[Allan G]

Tough group!....Allan

[Bill Gill]

Hmm, I can't see the 'waves' unless they are perhaps faint raised spots left where the paint dried in small pooled areas, or just artifacts in the low resolution the image itself?

Here are two wood photos, not sure what they add to the discussion except they are also board & batten. The first one is too new looking. It's on the inside of a recently rebuilt covered bridge, so it's protected from the sun and rain.
(It also has faked curved lines scratched onto the individual boards with a disc grinder to try to imitate the look of the original rough sawn planks!) The second example is too weathered as it is starting to get a bit green where it stays damp in the shade. Both examples show more variation in color than your model, Russ, but again, that might simply be the kind of wood used in each case. I've seen weathered cedar that is a much more uniform color.

[finescalerr]

My model tries to reflect the weathering in your second (lower) photo. I just don't know how to add the subtle coloration we find in real wood -- but I'm not sure I could do that with stripwood, either.

I've attached a photo of a 1:32 scale shack I built from stripwood about 15 years ago. The stain has faded and the wood has yellowed. Next to it are some paper boards I did last month, part of a 4 week experiment. They looked good to my bare eyes ... and in my workshop lighting the color looked very real. Then I saw the photo and threw the disaster into the trash! Horrible!!!

Volker, the waves are part of the paper surface. Again, when you just look at the model with no magnification or low magnification you can't see them. When you use a macro lens, high resolution, and deliberately harsh light to show up problems, the imperfections become overwhelming.

Anyhow, the point of this is to show how even real wood doesn't always look the way it should. Yes, it looks like wood, but it sure doesn't look like the wood in Bill's photos because the grain is way out of scale and it absorbs color improperly. Maybe we're looking too closely at a 1:32 scale model and should back off a foot or two?

Russ

Russ

[Hydrostat]

Russ,

you made an important point about photography: Is there something like a scale adequate distance or resolution? Close ups which work in 1-24 scale for example don't work at all in 1-87 scale because of textures' flaws or simply some 'not to scale' light distribution / shadowing and depth of focus issues. Maybe this reasonable postulation for backing implicates a need for backing off from the prototype for a more 'correct' general color impression, too. But I still think the coloring of those paper boards is good. There's a lot of variation in rough cut wood, depending on tree species, cutting angle, board position within the trunk and so on.

Volker

[Bill Gill]

Russ, In your photo the paper boards look pretty good. One possible way to attempt to add some color and tonal variations to your paper boards might be to use colored pencils and transparent watercolors instead of acrylic paints. They won't seal the paper surface so subsequent washes/layers can still be absorbed into the paper.

Instead of embossing grain, suggest it very lightly with the tip of colored pencils, then use the side of the pencil points rather than the tip to very lightly add a little darker tonal variation to the boards. After a bit of practice I think both can be done pretty quickly so it won't be as tedious a it sounds.

Next add several very thin washes running the length of the boards, but don't aim for even coverage except for the first coat or two of extremely pale gray. After that vary the grays with a bit of Paynes gray or perhaps a tiny dot of burnt umber. Let the pencil show through for the subtle textured effects you can't get with washes. When the washes are dry you can experiment with a couple techniques to complete the weathering:

Wet on Wet: Really wet some of the individual boards using a brush loaded with clean water. Let it sit so the water mostly soaks into the paper & evaporates until the surface looks damp, not wet. Wet a brush with water, add a tiny bit of a darker gray and barely touch it to a board with a gentle motion in the direction of the long dimension of the board rather than just touching the tip of the brush straight down to the paper. Try different sizes of brushes. Be generous with the water and stingy or not with the paint.

Blotting: Really wet some individual boards again and this time blot and streak the wet surface with a paper towel to both soak up some of the paint and spread it along the length of the board*

* I say "board" but you can try this on wider strips of paper and then perhaps pick and choose areas to cut into individual boards later.