Engines,engines, engines.

Thank you, thank you, thank you !! that was amazing !

Wow, some of those look like if you put oil in them they would run! great work

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

Sorry for such a long wait before a progress report but I have to wait till I'm doing something that relates to this topic.

OK so for headers I use ak real metal steel



Ak real metal gold



And valejo Arctic blue



First paint the headers with AK steel ( if I was doing bike headers I would buff the steel up first) (the AK range of metal finishes are amazing and all can be buffed) (the buffing works even better if you have of the paint on the cotton bud or cloth you are buffing the work with) 

Slightly off point my airbrush died so I decided to try and replicate finishes without one.

So get some of the AK gold on your brush(medium flat brush) work most of it off on a tissue and dry brush only on the first bends of the headers.

Next get a cotton bud dip it in AK steel and rub most of it off then dip it in the Arctic blue and starting at the dry brushed gold blend from the gold down towards the exhaust.




Here's how it should look.





If on a motorcycle you would blend less and the header would be highly polished.

Hi all I'm thinking of expanding this to include bodywork, interiors or any and all aspects of my modelling techs, firstly would anyone be interested, secondly should I post it all here or set up separate sections for each subject.

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.

Put some hearshrink on the ends and paint steel.

Great job on those exhaust headers Ken. Love the weathering and effects.

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

Hi all this is how I do engine cases.

So first I prime it.

Then dab white in random places.




Then since it's already a light grey primer, I add a bit of darker grey(just for a bit of variation)






Now I just use a stiff brush lightly loaded with AK steel

And scrub over it all.