Noticed something in the ships category at Nordicon yesterday. Other than a sailing ship that of course had no prop, and a modern sub where the propeller was in a duct and not visible, only one of the many ships on display had a reasonably painted prop. All the rest were shiny gold color, even though some were weathered to beat the band everywhere else. First, it would be nice if kit mfgs didn’t tell folks to paint props gold or brass color. Second, we need to get the word out that props on large ships are not made of brass, and the bronze or steel they are made of weathers rapidly in water!
Don,
I am in the final stages of finishing my dreadnought and will be weathering for the first time. I painted the props brass but as you say they are a bit shiny. What would be the best method to dull the shine or make them look like they put a lot of miles on them?
Marcus
After watching an episode of " how its made" on TV. When a prop is completed and new , It does look like its made of nice shiny brass. Yes , I know they are Bronze. So in my humble opinion, if painting a ship “un-weathered”, paint them brass.
If you are making them shiny ‘gold’ may be a closer color than ‘brass’.
A newly burnished propeller:
Don;
Hi . When I paint props here’s what I do .Having been in many Navy Yards around the drydocks I figured they deffinitely weren’t bright brass looking . So - I took to a little square bottle ( empty and clean) and put five large drops of brass ( well mixed ) in there .
Then I added four large drops of flat red .Okay ? so where am I going with this .Follow on . Then four large drops of silver . I shook the daylights out of it and liked the reddish bronze dull color it had .I then added two large drops of dark grey .
Guess what ? after shaking and mixing well I had a well worn bronzy - silvery color . Much like a bronze prop would look after beating around in salt water for months or years . Most folks forget , unless it’s supposed to be a pristine display model , that salt water is abrasive to these big bright things . And besides , they look more like pale gold than anything else when new .That’s all that initial polishing and finishing
My normal technique is to paint them with copper rather than gold or brass. I then airbrush on a very light, translucent overcoat of gloss brown. Then I go for the weathering, with a mix of medium gray and olive drab green (both flat). I have dry brushed the gray and green, and also done those colors as a wash. I get about the same effect either way, so it is just what I feel like doing.
I have taken some photos of fairly new bronze statues in local parks, as well as some older, weathered ones, to use as references. There is a park up at the Duluth Ship canal that has several old props, but I think they were cleaned and coated with a protective coating as they look almost new, in spite of having been in the elements for several years.
Seems to me I have read that some new, large ships now have steel props. Anyone know how common steel props are? I assume they are either a rust proof alloy, or else have a protective coating of some sort.
Not all props are completely burnished or shined during a dry dock availability.
www.76fsa.org/…/CGC_Capstan_Stern.jpg
www.76fsa.org/…/CGC_Capstan_Prop.jpg
Stainless steel props don’t weather too much, as evidenced by the picture of USCGC KAW (WYTM 61).
Keep in mind that a submerged prop would weather much differently from one in the open air. It can’t oxidize the same way due to the lack of oxygen so I would recommend staying clear of using outdoor mounted props as a guide.
Groot
I just can’t help but chime in here on this subject…[dto:]
If one is building a desk top, no weathering, like new crisp paint, then it is Ok for the shinny bling bling. Thats were that got its start and many years ago, Japanese mfg’s would include brass props w/their motorized kits. Now I will say this, I like the fact the prop is brass, if only they would make from bronze.
Now, as stated, bronze is a better color to paint, but how I get to that is this way…I spray with Alclad Gloss Black…once completely dry, Alclad II copper. Then after dry, sealed. Time to get the bronze effect. As has already been pointed out, a wash or thinned brown is applied to the prop, this results in a nice bronze brown metallic look. Now that prop needs to be weathered just a tad, so just like the copper sheeting on a hull turns green, so does the salt that collects in the creases of the prop blades where they attach to the boss. key word suttle, suttle effect with a light green/white mix wash. Let dry and seal again w/a semi-gloss finish.
Plastic or metal, this can be done to great effect and makes the ship pop with realisitic looking props.
Now, there are brass props on small boats and one has the option to take a real brass prop, drop into a glass of water mixed with salt and then remove the prop after you see the effect you are looking for. Rinse w/clean water, dry and seal. You get a very cool effect on a real brass prop.
Or again, mount them after a good polishing for that bling bling effect. It really is up to you what you want.
I have a Mobus Skipjack and yes, I sprung for the $30.00 brass prop and will shine it nice and shinny to install on my Admirals Display of the Skipjack…[t$t]
Just my [2cnts] worth…Rick from NC
Shiny ones 
