Weathered Skips in Spring

A lovely spring weather prompted me to venture out in the garden to photograph 2 skips of the German DIN-type. The skips have received a tough hammer weathering, paint and a weathering with Vallejo chipping medium.

Nystrup Gravel's little Lister pulling two empty skips along in sunny spring weather.

Since I wielded the hammer over the hapless skips, two of them have been covered in rust coloured acrylic paint. I covered the wheel treads with masking tape cut to fit. Usually I have been adding rust after the main colour (on my skips a dirty dark grey). This time I took another approach adding the rust first. On top of that I air brushed a layer of Vallejo chipping medium. A fluid that reacts easily with water lifting acrylic paint added on top of the fluid. After the chipping medium had dried, I applied the covering dark grey. I painted numbers on the skips. On one of them I used an etched stencil, the other got a number painted free hand. After a few hours I took a flat brush, moistened with water and started working the surface. First with light strokes to add the water and a few seconds later with heavier strokes to lift and remove some of the grey paint and expose the rust underneath.

Skip 4 ready for weathering with water and flat brush to expose the rust paint.

A close up of the skip's frame showing how the chipping effect can be varied from comparatively large areas to tiny specks.

My first attempt of weathering using chipping medium.

Having never used chipping medium before I was not sure if I could continue the weathering proces before adding a protective layer of acrylic varnish. I took a chance and gave both skips a wash with heavily diluted oil paint. I used turpentine to thin the oil paint and the mix didn't affect the chipping medium. The inside of the skip body was 'massaged' with graphite powder. Only then did I seal the work with matt varnish.

 Still a lot of weathering remains to be done. Gravel dust and worn metal must be applied and I'm also contemplating to add some more texture to the weathering. In this scale rust really should have some texture and not be completely smooth. I better sink into my arm chair and do some thinking.

Skip 4 and 27 showing signs of hard and productive service for the gravel company. The effect of hammer weathering is particularly visible on the skip to the left. Both skips have rust showing through the covering dark grey paint.

A new and unweathered skip has been added to the train to show the difference in appearance.

Due to the corona virus I have been working from home for a week and a half now. The railway business is still working in full gear so I have actually been extremely busy as a lot of extra tasks have been generated by the virus. For me there is no sign of isolation modelling progress.