Hi all some people have said they thought my engines looked very realistic (I think it helps in that most of my life I've been around or worked on either motorcycle or car engines) so I thought if anyone wants to know how I do any aspect of weathering an engine they could just ask or if it would help maybe I could try and post a video (pretty rubbish at social media) 

Here is a random sample of the hundreds of engines I must have modeled over the years 

Ken, this is outstanding! So much so that I’m going to move it into the tutorials section.

THANKS!

Mark

Your engines do look great Ken! I’m following this. Never thought or heard if using talc powder before, so I can already add that to my “learned something new” list. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks guys.
Hi all well I have been given lots of ref pics of this engine and none of them are as distressed as this is, so a bit of white spirit and a cotton bud and it's looking more like it should.



So next method, here is the sacrificial engine for this example (and for most of the others)



OK as I said at the start of this I use mostly enamels so I can't say if this works with acrylics (although I've found in the past adding washing up liquid to the solution tends to have the same effect as white spirit)

If you want an engine that looks like it's been in a dusty environment (as in my mad to the max bike) 

Get an empty tin or bottle into that pour some matt colour of the earth in the area your engine has been driving in ( for the mad to the max bike I used sand as it was set in a desert, for this I've used earth)

Add talcum powder to it and mix keep adding talc till you get paste like consistency then add white spirit keep stirring till you get the consistency of milk, add the talc to the paint first don't thin it till you've added the talc as the talc doesn't seem to take the colour if you thin the paint first.

OK so use a big brush and load it with this mixture and dab it all over the engine(really cover it so it gets in all the nooks and crannies, then load your brush with white spirit (this is the important bit hold engine as it will be in the car or bike and flood the engine with white spirit just let gravity do its thing.




This is how it looks when dry



All the plastic parts I dab with ABT copper oxide blue patina

And again blend with white spirit

I also add ABT engine grease anywhere you might expect an oil leak

Not too fussed about the name mate as long as it not oy

Hi all here's my method for aging plastic parts on car engines you know fuse boxes, air boxes drive shaft gators and such.

I use mig 502 Abteilung model colour copper oxide blue patina

I roughly dab the 502 over the part 



Then hold the part the way it will be in the car and scrub loads of white spirit over the part and let gravity do its job

Nice aging on the plastics Ken!

As for other aging/weathering, I’d personally love to see it. I’m always up for new ideas. And I vote for a whole new thread, just to make finding and referencing easier in the future.

Hi so heres another quickie (very messy one)

Take some AK real metal in this case steel put it on a cloth take some string and press it into the AK steel



Fold the cloth over the string



Put your fingers on the cloth over the string and pull the string through



Lots of braided hoses, you can use different thicknesses for different sizes of hose or even double it put it in a dremel and spin it up to double the thickness.

Another of my favourite products



I have an old stiff brush I use for stuff like this.



Dip in the powder.



And flick over the engine by pulling your finger through the bristles.

You should end up with this