Wednesday, February 3, 2021

A different finish for concrete

As mentioned in the last post on January 26th, I did something a little different to finish the bridge abutments for the Palisade Ranch area.  I have never been really happy with the look of my concrete surfaces and have been experimenting with different colors and techniques.  I ordered just about every shade of light gray Model Master acrylic that I did not already have and settled on # 4762 Light Ghost Gray (F) as a base color.   The tunnel portals were also repainted in this color and one of them is shown below.

I saw in a Youtube video someone using a technique of splattering tiny drops of white and black paint onto a surface to give the appearance of the aggregate that can show up in a concrete surface.  So I gave it a tray.  It took some practice and some time but I found the results to be satisfying.  Besides white and black I also added some darker shades of gray and some brown.   One of the finished bridge abutments is shown in the photo below.

After some weathering with acrylic washes the same bridge abutment looks like this and I am ready to install it on the layout.  Once it is locked into the right position I cover it with painters tape to protect it while I am adding scenery materials around it.




And here is that same bridge abutment after being installed and scenery material worked around it. 



5 comments:

  1. That don't look bad at all Brad!

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    1. Thank you Allen. I am also going to experiment with the sponge technique you used on your fuel racks, maybe on the tunnel portals.

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  2. What material are the portals and retaining walls? The weathering makes it look very realistic.

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    1. Hi Peter,

      These items were made from 1/4" plywood, and tempered hardboard. The curved top of the tunnel portal is made from 1-1/4" ABS drain pipe which was cut in half lengthwise.

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    2. Thanks, looking to do a UP Weber Canyon TTRAK module of the twin bridges at Taggarts and the double tunnel portals there, so I was interested when I saw your effort as the methods should adapt to what I want to do.

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