I’m starting the 1/96 Revell Constitution and am trying to decide how much weathering to do on the copper plates. I’ve read up on how to do it in the instructions and in Les Wilkin’s book on plastic ship models, but am still unsure just how far to push the patina. It’s hard to tell from the photos in Wilkin’s book just what the patina really looks like.
What would be great would be a color photo of an actual copper-clad ship so that I can get a feel for how streaky, patchy, or solid a typical patina looks. Or maybe it’s all the above. Anyone know of any such photos on-line, or any comments on what it should look like?
Jim,
Do you have any buildings where you live with copper domes or roofs? Go look at them and see how the grey/green/blue effect these have. I have used Wes’s technique but find it very time consuming with all the masking. I use oils and do washes over copper of thin coats with vary degrees of turquiose and green, then grey and white. A final wash of coal black is done and then rubbed out. This gives a shadowed effect. I leave about 80% copper to show through because the copper is what will first catch the observers eye. I weather it out so the hull won’t be so overpowering and will distract from the other detail that I want the observer to see.
I really do not try to get a “scale” appearance because real copper turns a ugly grey/black/corroded green that many people would not want on top of their mantle.
Skink,
Email off BB and I’ll send you the photo’s I have of the models I have done that to. I have chosen to do that with just about every copper clad ship i have. I’ve have pictures of the Cutty Sark, HMS Victory and others in several scales.
Jake