Adding Rust with the Hairspray Technique

Not bad at all Shawn. Try coming back with a pin-wash of brownish oils thinned. Cover the barrels with a coat of Turpenoid .. then touch the brush with the thinned brownish oil paint here and there. Try it .. you'll like it! :)

If you thought you rusted the barrels too much .. try mixing some oils so they have a similar color to the color you used to paint the barrels. Thinned .. it will give a film as if the rust is just starting to show. You can put that on it layers .. it will basically act as a translucent base color over rusty areas.

I've never used oils, but I know they take a long time to dry. I have always used acrylics or watercolors in my artistic painting classes. Oils are expensive. I'll probably stick to what I know for this also.It's better for my nerves not having to watch paint dry....

David, thinned they take little time to dry .. overnight at most. As for cost .. I picked up a pack of oils at Walmart .. on the cheap.

The last time I depended on beer for anything I had bailed off the third floor of the barracks under an 8 foot drogue chute I'd packed myself. Did a perfect PLF, the chute opened as planned but I was off flight status for three months while the torn ligaments healed in my right ankle. Should have seen the look on the flight surgeons face as I lied to him explaining I "fell" down three flights of stairs. I do really stupid things on beer. I can't begin to imagine what those drums would look like under those conditions...........

I did spend the whole day trying to dimension SketchUp drawings to some minor success and major disappointments. I am dogged as long as no alcohol is involved. I still fall on face sometimes when the ankle gives out.....

He probably needed the drogue chute....Problem is the window in "Dummies" isn't the same as the one on my PC. Before I reach for the beer I'll call you. Sometimes I trip over the right answer and feel like an idiot. Don't like sharing those moments but I'll keep your offer on tap when I get desperate. Thanks Ed. 2 stories is as high up as I can get these days.......

Rust with paint; the two bridges that I spraypainted with rust color out of a spray can, which I almost never do as I use nothing by acrylic craft paints, which by the way work for all my hobby needs. The spraycan paint just happened to be handy and the right color. I won't tell about my experiences with beer, particularly the drinking of the stuff in Vietnam, it's a lot like having flashbacks of Greatful Dead concerts that I never went to.

Oh my, Carling Black Label on the bunkers at Thuy......never mind, this is a model rr place. Those stories are best left where they belong....in a far away very dark place. Happy thoughts gentlemen.
Take a look at Shaw's texture painting article John, it's full of easy stuff to make rusty things REALLY rusty looking.

The attached are photos of 1/35th scale armor as I rust things with the following techniques;
Paint parts with rust colored acrylic paints with ground pencil lead mixed in.
Go back over the parts with pencil point to bring out the details.
The chain in the top photo is treated with the rust technique, the muffler in the second is rusted as well. As one would guess the detailing of any HO model layout of any worth take time and effort, I have been concentrating on getting the trains running so super-detailing is one thing that has been put more less on the back burner, but my armor detailing shows my techniques which will certainly be applied to HO. Additionally there are the various types of paint such as the texured paint series of at least $8.00/can so I stick with the pencil lead and because I use all acrylic craft paint, i.e., Apple Barrel, CreamCoat, etc., I can blend weathering products right along with the paint, a favorite of mine discovered quite by accident is billiard chalk which in all respects is better than artist's chalk. That is something to think about as well for weathering. Additional notation: I paint the tracks on my armor with silver paint and pencil lead mixed in as well to produce a much more realistic look instead of the rubber.

I find this interesting. I had taken a photo of my smal oil tank after I had done some oil washes. I just finished with a close up and realized that I had almost the exact same composition from a couple of days ago. Both are from the same original photo .. but the final results are quite different. I just find it amazing what graphics programs can do with a phtoto depending on what 'tweaks'  you apply ..

Thanks Shawn. That reminds me .. said I would do a SBS on the tank when it was finished. I'll knock that out for ya.

Pencil lead and chalk. I would think that's got to be similar to what passes for "pigment" on the open market. I use artists chalk I scrape with a razor blade but I'll try the pencil lead too. In years past I have used a projector to cast an image on the wall that I intended to paint or draw and I guess that's the same process you mentioned John. I'd just forgotten about it. It's still a viable notion for backdrops to get an outline blocked in. I have over a hundred feet of backdrop to paint and I need all the help I can get. Digital photo's are way too expensive and I like painting with acrylcs.

That is some of the best rust effect I've seen Ed, does it have the oil washes we were discussing the other day? I guess I'm going to have to try the hair spray thing because I really like the chipped paint effect here and I have a specific place I'd like to apply the technique.