I did a little test of some techniques for simulating the look of old wooden boards with peeling paint. I plan to use this method on the upper level of the small house I’m working on. I started with a scrap of 1/8" thick styrene about 2" x 4". I scribed “wood grain” into the wood using a piece of hacksaw blade, as described in my other post. A hobby knife was used to carve additional cracks, nail holes, etc. Next I painted several layers of Apple Barrel acrylic paints, in thin washes, allowing each to dry before adding the next layer. I started with a couple washes of warm brown (Nutmeg), and then a mix of brown and orange (Apricot). Another wash of brown, then a darker, slightly redder brown (Espresso). When applying the darker color, I left some of the lighter areas exposed to provide variation. Last was a thin layer of black, just enough to seep into the crevices; a little more was added to darken specific areas. This produced a very life-like representation of old, weathered wood:
Note that for weathered wood in colder, wetter climates, you’d probably need more grays and less of the warm tones. Next I dabbed on some small blotches of “Micro Mask”. I also added a strip of tape to represent an area which had once been covered by a now-missing batten. After the Micro Mask had dried, I coated the whole thing with Testor’s enamel thinner. While this was still wet, I very lightly brushed on some random splotches of Apple Barrel “Hunter Green” acrylic paint. The paint thinner causes the water-based acrylic to smear unevenly:
After the paint and enamel thinner had dried, I pulled off the tape. Then I washed the piece in cold water to remove the Micro Mask. The effect turned out beautifully. However, the base coats came off the styrene in a few places. This should be avoidable, simply by better preparation of the surface prior to painting:
This method of replicating the look of peeling paint on old wood show great promise. In the future I will carefully sand the surface and clean it with alcohol before painting, and that should eliminate the few adhesion problems seen in this test. .
