Photos of textures to help and inspire scale modelers

For a long time, I’ve been meaning to start a library of textures images for modelers to reference for their models and dioramas. I intend this to be a living thread, so please feel free to add to it and help grow it, but please don’t fill it with comments. I’d like to keep it lean, mean, and very scrollable with keywords good for searching. Also, don’t link to other pages or share other people’s work. Let’s keep this organic.

If there seems to be enough interest and varied subjects, I’ll break out the images into categories—architecture, vehicles, ground scapes, etc.

And yes, I go into alleys—a lot. It’s there that you find some of the coolest ideas for stories and compositions. It’s also where you can see how things weather because its not kept up like the street fronts often are.

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Farm, Walworth, Wisconsin
Old rusty water spigot; weathered wood; weathered steel; concrete; cement; chipped paint; faded paint; rust



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Farm, Walworth, Wisconsin
1920s two-bottom plow; old disused rusted farm equipment; rusty steel; overgrowth; dead grass; weeds


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Farm, Walworth, Wisconsin
Old tree broken by the wind; fallen tree; snapped wood; tree bark; weathered wood; dead grass: weeds



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Farm, Walworth, Wisconsin
Wooden barn doors on metal tracks; weathered wood; faded paint; rust; rotting wood; cracked paint; chipped paint


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Tim, this is going to be an excellent modeling/weathering resource for us! Thank you so much for starting this.

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Looks very interesting!

Here’s a picture of an image I made for Marston Matting (pierced steel planking) I did for basing of fighters. (Not sure if it qualifies, Tim. Let me know and I’ll take it down.)

Example:

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Brick building, Walworth, Wisconsin
Building facade; bricks; weathered bricks; brick and mortar; windows; neon signs; ironwork; rust; weathered iron; weathered steel; glass; marble; rain stains; rain streaks





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Alley, Walworth, Wisconsin
Broken pavement; manhole cover; moss; ironwork; street; blacktop; water stains; rain streaks; rain marks; moss; potholes; rain grates



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Alley, Walworth, Wisconsin
Down spouts; electrical conduit; weathered brick; chipped paint; rust; faded paint; ironworks; wiring; architecture; building; facade; steel door; dirt; pavement; concrete; cement; gravel; rain grate; windows; window bars






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Delavan, Wisconsin

Farm tractor with bucket loader and back hoe on trailer; dry mud; wet mud; rust; steel; chipped paint; hydraulics; oil stains; weathered wood; tires; muddy tires; dirt; hydraulic lines; hoses; tubing; metal chain
































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Delavan, Wisconsin

Puddles; water; rain; asphalt; broken pavement; blacktop; gravel; mud; wet ground




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Delavan, Wisconsin

Alley; metal stairs; rust; chipped paint; rusty iron; rust steel; concrete; cement; weathered concrete; broken concrete; rain streaks: stucco; bricks; door; doors; conduit; gutters; wrought iron; metal railing; building; architecture






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Alley, Delavan, Wisconsin

Industrial equipment; aluminum; grease; oil; oil stains; oil streaks; dirt; weathering; building; architecture; architectural; bricks; painted bricks; painted walls; concrete; cement



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Delavan, Wisconsin

Alley; brick; stucco; painted cinder block; corrugated metal roof; hinges; gate; water stains; rust marks; pavement; gutters; downspouts




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I will not post any of the te3xtures in my collection except the single one I shot myself. However, I think this comment is important. Mostly I get my textures from Google Images. Go to Google, select Images. Then enter the term “Textures”. Then the type of material. The result is an image of the texture, nothing else. Ready to use- no extracting,

Here is an oak door I shot myself-

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Delavan, Wisconsin

Alley; weathered wood; wood stairs; metal fire escape; brick facade; windows; painted door; rust; rusty metal handrail; electrical conduit. Editorial: I really like that the fire escape leads to the downspout and there isn’t a ladder that drops—story element in a scene if modeled.





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Textures is used more in the environmental design sense here, Don. How do these things play with each other in reality? The effects of weather on different materials. It’s not about extraction, but observation. Inspiration. For instance, I was looking at car bumpers today and started snapping photos for a future post. If a bunch of photos of bumpers can help a modeler get that certain look or free them from thinking their attempt doesn’t look “real” or inspires them to try something new, then we’ve succeeded.

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Delavan, Wisconsin

Old stop sign; yellow and black paint; rust; rusty metal; sign post; faded paint; weathered paint



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