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How to paint woodgrain effects on plastic. Options
Kev the Modeller
#1 Posted : 03 April 2020 22:41:40

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Hello all,

A couple of members on the forum where I have my WnW 1:32 Bristol F.2b Fighter build have asked how I painted my woodgrain effect on the cockpit floor of that build? I thought that whilst I'm not showing that build on here, there may be a few of you who would like to learn this technique and use it on your projects?

I have cut a piece of plastic sheet to show a small tutorial by way of a series of pictures. I can't do a video but hopefully all will become clear below:

First I primed my piece using Tamiya's 'Fine Grey Primer':



Next to spray the base colour, which is done using acrylics, as the top colour will be in oils. It is essential that the base colour can't be diluted by the top coat when it is applied, which if the base coat had been done in oils or enamels, it would be removed by the solvent in the oil paints and ruin the effect. Acrylics and oils don't have any effect on each other and can't mix or be dissolved by one another, so work well with each other as separate processes. The paints I've used for my base coat are shown below and are mixed in a roughly 50/50 ratio but it's all down to personal choice as to which colour you want the base to be, bearing in mind that different woods show different colours so you'll need to play with the mix ratios a bit to get what you want:



The mix was then airbrushed onto the workpiece and left to dry completely:



Next, to mix a top colour using oil paints. I prefer to use Winsor & Newton 'Alkyd' oils as they are fast drying oils and if applied thinly can dry in as little as half an hour when placed in a warm location such as an airing cupboard. Again top colour is personal choice depending on the type of wood you are trying to portray. Of the five paints below I used only three for this piece, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna and a touch of Indian Yellow, mixing in varying ratios until I got a satisfactory colour. I do sometimes use the other two but not for this demonstration:





Using the 'Sansodor' low odour solvent shown below, the mix was then carefully diluted to a sort of single cream consistency, which can be seen in the second photo:





Using a soft chisel brush, which is the perfect brush for this technique, the mix is then painted over the acrylic base colour in the direction that you want the grain to flow. It helps if you use a brush that isn't as wide as the workpiece and which then requires you to make two or more passes, which in turn leaves a very realistic darker line of paint where the two strokes touch each other, something very similar to the darker lines that you often see on sawn wood and which can be seen in the photos below. It may takes several strokes going over the piece several times until you get something that you are pleased with in terms of a realistic grain:







Before the thinned oil paint dries you then need to start accentuating some of the lines by using various other brushes such as coarse Hog hairs, soft liners and even cocktail sticks and by making marks in the oil paint layer that leaves the base colour showing through. For this piece I only used the thin tipped black brush, which had been dipped in the Sansodor solvent then dabbed on a tissue to take most of it off. It is also good to randomly clear away the oil paint in small ovals to represent the light shades of wood around a 'knot'. Then I darken the oil paint mix slightly to add the darker centres to the knots plus a few random dots and marks elsewhere in the wood which represent where smaller shoots had started to form in the tree trunk. Try not to have your knots and other marks looking too uniformly spaced as it will look unnatural, random and uneven is best! After I was happy with the look the piece was left to dry completely:





The piece was then sealed using thinned Winsor & Newton 'Galeria' Satin Varnish through an airbrush and again left to dry completely, after which the final sheen was achieved by brushing it with 'Future' liquid floor polish, which helps to bring out the grain, making the colours 'pop'!:



And there we have it, quite simple really but practice makes perfect as they say? Mine is painted using my own imagination, but you could also find an image on the internet of the wood grain that you want to replicate and just copy the pattern on that?

Hope that helps explain how to make your own woodgrain so that you will not have to buy those expensive woodgrain decals or PE sheets that seem to be all the rage at the moment!

Kev.
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mwb
#2 Posted : 04 April 2020 00:03:28

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Thank you very much for this Kev. Very helpful and this page is saved to my favorites list for future reference.

mwb
Gandale
#3 Posted : 04 April 2020 08:32:36

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Fabulous little tutorial Kev, the effect looks amazing....Drool Drool Drool .. Thanks for sharing, I'm sure many members will find this extremely useful....Cool Cool

Regards

Alan
Markwarren
#4 Posted : 04 April 2020 09:32:30

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Fabulous tutorial Kev, Love no need for a video. Your explanation and pictures make it look simple and easy to achieve.ThumpUp

Mark
mogwai
#5 Posted : 04 April 2020 11:17:18

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Hi thanks for the showing that I'll give it a try on my wnw lanoe hawker amc dh2 cheers mick.BigGrin
Builds hms victory, suzuki gsx 1300 R hayabusa, honda C B 750, lamborghini countach L P 500 S, tamiya 1/16 rc full option tiger 1 tank,
built, Mclaren M P 4 - 23. Occre london tram,
Stash.airfix 1/24 mosquito. Diag Virginia schooner, tamiya 1/6 honda 750, tamiya 1/35 famo, tamiya 1/35 flak 88.
darbyvet
#6 Posted : 04 April 2020 15:24:32

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Excellent tutorial kev.Thanks for posting


Carl

Kev the Modeller
#7 Posted : 04 April 2020 21:21:47

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Thanks for looking at my tutorial and your positive comments guys, very much appreciated! Cool ThumpUp

@ Mick - You have a 'Wingnut Wings' 1:32 Lanoe hawker AMC DH2 in your stash - ooh nice!? You should post a build diary for it, this forum could really do with a few more aviation builds. A very much under subscribed genre on here, but seems to be the most popular on other forums - which I don't understand!

I think if you put it up I'll post my 'Wingnut Wings' 1:32 Bristol F.2b Fighter build that I've recently started - is that a deal? ThumpUpBigGrin

Kev.
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delboy271155
#8 Posted : 04 April 2020 21:54:06
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Excellent "How to" topic. Cool Cool Cool

Congrats on your "Turquoise" medal for posting a how to topic.

Blushing Blushing Also noticed that you were missing your "Orange" medal for 500 posts so I have awarded that one two. Apologies.


Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)
COME BACK GUY FAWKES "YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU"






Kev the Modeller
#9 Posted : 04 April 2020 22:13:45

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delboy271155 wrote:
Excellent "How to" topic. Cool Cool Cool

Congrats on your "Turquoise" medal for posting a how to topic.

Blushing Blushing Also noticed that you were missing your "Orange" medal for 500 posts so I have awarded that one two. Apologies.


Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)


Thanks for looking in and your positive comments Derek, greatly appreciated as always, and many thanks for the medals, again greatly appreciated. Cool ThumpUp

Dare I "look a gift horse in the mouth" though, as they say, and ask if I could also have a blue medal for starting a build diary?

Many thanks in advance old chum. ThumpUp

Kev

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delboy271155
#10 Posted : 04 April 2020 23:00:42
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Kev the Modeller wrote:
delboy271155 wrote:
Excellent "How to" topic. Cool Cool Cool

Congrats on your "Turquoise" medal for posting a how to topic.

Blushing Blushing Also noticed that you were missing your "Orange" medal for 500 posts so I have awarded that one two. Apologies.


Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)


Thanks for looking in and your positive comments Derek, greatly appreciated as always, and many thanks for the medals, again greatly appreciated. Cool ThumpUp

Dare I "look a gift horse in the mouth" though, as they say, and ask if I could also have a blue medal for starting a build diary?

Many thanks in advance old chum. ThumpUp

Kev




Three in one dayBlink Blink

Of course you can.

As I`ve posted before should anyone think they are missing a medal then please PM me with a link and I`ll sort it. Unfortunately I do miss some as these are manually awarded and not automatic so I apologise in advance to any others missed.Crying Crying


Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)
COME BACK GUY FAWKES "YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU"






mogwai
#11 Posted : 05 April 2020 10:55:24

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Hi deal kev be about a month before ready to start as need few bits for it ie paints and ez line for rigging ,and oils for wood effect ,got few good art shops where I live, but have to wait till they reopen to get these .I for one would love to see your Bristol f2b on here cheers mick.BigGrin
Builds hms victory, suzuki gsx 1300 R hayabusa, honda C B 750, lamborghini countach L P 500 S, tamiya 1/16 rc full option tiger 1 tank,
built, Mclaren M P 4 - 23. Occre london tram,
Stash.airfix 1/24 mosquito. Diag Virginia schooner, tamiya 1/6 honda 750, tamiya 1/35 famo, tamiya 1/35 flak 88.
Kev the Modeller
#12 Posted : 05 April 2020 14:35:09

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mogwai wrote:
Hi deal kev be about a month before ready to start as need few bits for it ie paints and ez line for rigging ,and oils for wood effect ,got few good art shops where I live, but have to wait till they reopen to get these .I for one would love to see your Bristol f2b on here cheers mick.BigGrin


Consider it done Mick, you'll find my WnW Bristol diary here:

https://forum.model-spac...amp;m=325321#post325321

Make sure when you buy your oil paints that you get the 'Alkyd' type which dries a heck of a lot quicker than normal oil paints? Think you might be waiting a while before any shops re-open though mate, so don't panic, I understand and I can wait. Would love to see your WnW DH.2 kit being built though, that's one that I intend to buy for myself when thinks get back to normal on this crazy planet!Blink ThumpUp

Kev

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