Quickie Cooler Project…

[RoughboyModelworks]

Gee thanks Ken, but Craig did the two really cool coolers below. He deserves the credit for those.

Paul

[Ken Hamilton]

Oops.....I didn't read the post thoroughly.

Nice work, Craig.  Sorry for the misdirected accolades.
No "slight" intended!

[Craig_H]

Ken,   No problem   glad you liked my coolers.    Craig

[Philip Smith]

Nice claen results & SBS Paul! You shoulda cast it!


Philip 

[marc_reusser]

Very neat and fun project. Nice attention to the small oft overlooked details.

M

[RoughboyModelworks]

Quickie update on this little project. Salt removed and rust base coats finished... much better this time, texturing much more appropriate to the tiny scale of the cooler. Now you can get a better view of the new ribbed panel.



Now it's on to hairspray and the color coat...

Paul

[finescalerr]

In the macrocosm it is nothing more than a tiny lump of plastic. In our microcosm it is quite something else. -- Russ

[RoughboyModelworks]

Finished the basic color coats today. I was originally intending to use the hairspray method, but after some thought, opted not to. I find it too difficult to control on small parts like this where I only want a minimum of paint chipping in very specific areas. So I opted for gum arabic instead which I find much easier to control in application, particularly on such small parts. I use a small foam makeup applicator for splotching on the gum. In photo below you can just see the small gum areas, they have a sheen different from the rust base coats.



Once the gum arabic dried, only a few minutes, I painted the main color coat using Tamiya Red. I spray my paint very thin, like a glaze, in many layers, to build up the primary color coat. This allows some of the color variation in the undercoats to read through producing a modulated appearance to the top coats, very effective in representing old, weathered paint. I then sprayed a lighter version of the red glaze on the top and upper surfaces to represent sun fading, followed by a darker version on the lower surfaces, all to give some depth to the final color. Photo shows cooler immediately after painting these color coats.



Then using water (gum arabic is water soluble) and a small stiff paint brush, I scrubbed off paint and gum arabic in the areas where I wanted the rust to show through. Once that was complete, I gave the entire cooler a quick gentle soda blast to even the paint surface & remove any stray bits of gum. I've also found this to be very effective for representing sun-damaged paint surfaces. To give some reference of size in the photo, I borrowed Chuck's giant penny. 



Next steps are detail painting on the handles and drain spout, adding the Coca Cola logo decals (courtesy of Craig) then some glaze washes followed by powders for final weathering.

Paul

[Malachi Constant]

Nice subtle effects so far ... now, where the heck's the dang waitress?  Oops, maybe I'm in the wrong place again. 

Cheers,
Dallas

[RoughboyModelworks]

Nice subtle effects so far ... now, where the heck's the dang waitress?  Oops, maybe I'm in the wrong place again. 

Cheers,
Dallas

Thanks Dallas. Keeping it subtle is what it's all about.
No waitress here though... she's still cleaning up the cracker crumbs and drawing sausages...

Paul

[finescalerr]

Satisfactory. Restraint is an admirable quality. -- Russ

[Ken Hamilton]

Wow...the adage that every detail part is a model in itself sure holds true here.
What a fantastic piece of work!
Thanks for the in-progress shots, Paul.  Great stuff.

[RoughboyModelworks]

Thanks guys... Made some more progress this weekend. First photo shows the cooler with the logo decal in place (thanks again for the logo Craig).



The logo looked a little intense for the final weathered appearance I'm after. So I gently soda blasted the decal to wear through some of the lettering, make it look like a lot of people had been leaning against the cooler rubbing the paint off on the logo. I should have done this step prior to applying the decal because it took a great deal of care to wear away just the decal and not the surrounding paint. Oh well, that's what comes from not being fully awake.

Then I painted the details such as the drain pipe, handles and hinge with Model Master Metalizer and buffed them up. Following that I sprayed some overall weathering glazes using Dr. Ph Martin's Synchromatic Transparent Water Colours. These are my favourite colours for weathering wood but I haven't used them too often over painted surfaces. Instead of diluting them with water, I use denatured alcohol which helps the color bond to the paint layer. The water colours are very concentrated as they come so I dilute them approx. 50 to 1 to get just barely discernible colour from the airbrush. Using the Paasche AB Turbo brush I sprayed layers of Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Sepia and Stone Grey to give a weathered, discoloured look to the red and the logo. This step was followed by powders in the rust areas and on the top. Followed that with some pin washes on the ribbed section at the bottom. The overall effect is a little darker than I had originally intended but still acceptable. Going to let it sit for a few days then go back with some more pin washes on the ribbed section and rust spots to help bring out those details a little.



Paul

[Craig_H]

Paul,   Glad you put the coke decal to good use I really like the way the paint and weathering turned out.   Craig

[marc_reusser]

Hmm...I am sorry to say, that I feel it came out a bit too dark...I have seen some Coke items oxidized close to this shade, but not often.

I think part of the issue came from the darkness of the original red...which is protypical, but did not account for "scale effect", and the darkness of the subsequent filters/washes.........If the red color was acrylic, I also feel part of the problem might have come from the alcohol thinned watercolors....not so much the colors, as the alcohol, which can affect the paint it is aprayed over, as well as cause the filter to weep and blend into the acrylic color.


Marc