Color Choices

Color choices when painting all those details


	I recently visited the Empire Mine State Park in Northern California and spent about an hour crawling around in the rain investigating "stuff". As the scheduled tour groups passed me by they all stopped and pointed, some even snapped a few photos of me! (Get a life!)

One aspect of modeling that has been brought up by many of you is questioning what colors to choose when painting vintage machinery. The Empire Mine Park has an extensive collection of boilers, mill engines, grinders, hoists, and mine cars. They for the most part have remained untouched since being put to rest many years ago. For this reason they yield a wealth of information, especially what color the various components may have been when new. These color choices will aide you in finishing the many detail casting we use. There is very little variety and as you can imagine the colors are for the most part bland and subdued. The following information is intended to be used as the "base" color. Once it has dried, grunge, rust, and dirty it up using the techniques outlined in another online clinic on weathering with chalk.


	The grey pipe carries the "live" steam from the boiler (off to the right) to the mill engine. Floquil Grime, Concrete, CN Grey, or Reefer Grey would all work fine. These can be used randomly thus achieving a bit of variety from pipe to pipe. The electric hoist engines in the background are also painted the same color. A brown/rust wet chalk mixture applied on top of the grey paint will dirty and age the piping. Note the yellowish color of the concrete base. Aged concrete turns yellow and can be modeled with thinned down washes of Depot Buff or Mud. Streaks of dark rust (50/50 mix of Roof Brown and Rust) and oil (PollyScale Oily Black) add that final touch.

	The main color used here is a drab green like Depot Olive. Mottled and faded, it has mostly turned to rust. The wheels are flat Roof Brown with very little rust or texture on top. Once again a light grey would also be suitable. Vary the colors but keep them subdued and dulled with multiple layers of chalk on top!

	The flywheel and glans casing are once again flat grey. The color is very mottled and anywhere parts touch totally absent! The glans itself is much darker, brownish rust, but smooth! There are large oil and grease stains also.

	For some variety try using So. Freight Car Brown as it will add hints of red. Be sure to try chalk as a simple way to obtain the mottled appearance shown above.

	This close-up shows a riveted lapped boiler joint. There are several features worth noting. The color of the boiler itself appears to have been grey. Then the variation at the joint itself ranges from a dark oily black to a light rust. All of the effects can be easily duplicated with base colors of paint followed by wet and dry chalk applications. Note how shiny and smooth the metal looks. To replicate this well worn and used look try rolling the painted and fully weathered casting gently between your fingers to remove some of the chalk. A very subtle sheen will begin appear. The more you rub, the more it shines. Just do not overdue this! Too much shine looks awful.


	Subtle colors and weathering is the rule of thumb! Less is more, well you get the idea.