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The summer Doldrums have arrived. Since Hollywood can’t seem to come up anything other than remakes, I guess I can’t do any better. Here is a description originally “published” on the Yahoo Weathering group. The words are pretty much the same, but the pictures are new (just like Hollywood!):
Not too long ago, I built a little country gas station/garage diorama, and I wanted something to put in the service bay, undergoing repair. The Fordson tractor kit from Mckenzie Iron and Steel (Bill Roy) fit the bill perfectly. This is an excellent kit of a common prototype. I wanted to build the farm version, but the wheels were unavailable. So, I decided to make a County road maintenance tractor with the hard rubber wheels. For reference, I had a tattered and grimy 1927 Fordson manual, a very nice 1/16 scale die-cast model I borrowed from my dad, and the very detailed instructions in the kit.
I built the tractor pretty much straight from the box. I did scratch build a new manifold from styrene and brass wire, basing it on one from a real tractor my dad helped restore. I also built a new coil box from styrene, after losing the kit version in the carpet. The front spindles were made from parts out of an old wrist watch. The spark plug wires were stripped from some fine insulated electrical wire and routed appropriately. I left the front wheels and steering gear off, and removed the gas tank to better see the engine. Bill suggests adding a lot of tiny details like a head gasket and radiator hose clamps, but I decided that was a bit much! Then I turned around and added the spring on the starting crank with .002 wire, and the control rods to the carburetor!
I began the final finish after most of model was assembled. The wheels, seat and steering wheel were done separately. The fine detail like the plug wires and control rods were added last and painted in place. I really like to weather soft metal parts, since I can take advantage of the blackening feature of the alloy. I first used Blacken-It on each casting. Different metal alloys blacken differently, sometimes coming out black (duh) and sometimes I get a more rusty look by leaving them in the solution a bit longer. Be sure to rinse well when done! I began painting with Polly Scale CP Gray. This isn’t a great match for Fordson Gray, but I figured the old girl had probably been re-painted a couple of times with whatever paint was on hand. The lighter gray also shows up better inside the garage. I slightly thinned the paint with water, and applied it using a brush. I often use multiple thinned washes to build up the color. When I was satisfied with the coverage, I took a sharp toothpick and picked at the paint to simulate chipping. I rubbed the side of the toothpick over some of the sharp edges and high points to simulate worn off paint. I used the blunt end of a piece of stripwood to rub and wear away the paint on the front wheels. The Polly Scale paint is usually pretty easy to remove, exposing the metal underneath. When I was happy with the chipping, I dipped the parts in Blacken-It again, which darkened any shiny bits and added more contrast between the paint and the exposed metal. The radiator face, coil box and steering wheel rim were brush painted with thinned Polly Scale Engine Black. The hard rubber wheel treads were picked and nicked with an X-Acto blade and a pointy dental pick to simulate hard usage. Then I painted the tread area with Polly Scale Engine Black straight from the bottle. When dry, I burnished the treads lightly with my finger to give them a hint of rubbery shine.
After painting, the next step was to add oil and grease detail. My Fordson manual had an illustration that showed all the lubrication points. Most of these points were supposed to be oiled daily, so I figured there would be plenty of evidence. On some of these areas, like around the oil filler, I took a small brush and applied thinned white glue and then sprinkled fine powdery dirt over it to simulate a heavy build-up of oil and dirt. When dry, I applied washes of oily paint, using a sharp tipped brush. I used a mixture of Floquil Engine Black and Roof Brown, thinned with paint thinner (which gives me more working time than lacquer thinner). I just mixed the two inside the lid of my thinner jar until I liked the look; not too black, not too brown. Sorry I can’t be more exact! I also applied this mix to other points that were frequently lubed, like the front wheel spindles, the wheel hubs and the front axle pivot.
I began the next weathering step with Bragdon Powders. With a small, soft brush, I dusted the model with a mix of brown and black pigments. On some areas I took a water dampened brush and streaked the pigment in a vertical direction. Fordsons were notorious for overheating and boiling the water out over the radiator. I applied rusty pigments and streaked and worked them with a water dampened, sharp tipped brush. This is a subjective technique, sometimes taking a long time until I’m, happy with the result. The nice thing is that the powders can be re-worked as often as I need to. The rust pigment was also applied to the manifold area and a touch around the air washer just behind the engine. I dusted a fairly heavy (dry) application of light brown pigment on the rear wheels, concentrating on the outer rims and the treads.
Once I finished the powder application, I added a hint of gloss to some of the oily places to simulate recent spillage. I used Floquil High Gloss and applied it with a sharp tipped brush in an almost dry brush technique. Its best to build up to a desired gloss and not flood it on. I find that the combination of the oil glop texture (the fine dirt) and a touch of gloss really “pops” out and helps make the model look “alive”, like it is being used. I use this a lot around any frequently lubed locations on machinery and around the journal boxes on railroad trucks. The last touch was applying ground pencil lead (an old military modeling idea from way back) to the seat, shift lever, and power take-off pulley. I applied it with a soft brush and then burnished the surfaces with a Q-Tip. A rag made from painted tissue paper adorns the rear bracket. I didn’t use any final overcoat, since the model would not normally be handled.
A lot words for a tiny model! This was a really fun project made easier by the great Mckenzie kit. The little Fordson from the County road crew now sits in my Red Oak Garage, propped up on a (bottlebrush tree) stump undergoing a thorough overhaul. (Hope they don’t wash it!)
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