Wood grain simulation

This is the place to get answers about painting, weathering and other aspects of finishing a model.

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Chris Binnett
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Wood grain simulation

Post by Chris Binnett »

Anyone out there produced a good woodgrain effect. I've tried all kinds of brown/lt. brown straeking etc. It never looks good. 1/16 scale by the way.

Thanks

Phd. how much wood...?
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Kylwell
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Post by Kylwell »

To my knowledge there is no fast and easy way. You could look for some very thin veneer if the shape isn't too complex. Ran across wood grain decals at one time, they might work.

Painting, boy, that's a toughie. The hardware stores have these nifty brushes that do a decent job of simulating wood grain, the difficult part would be scaling them down to modeling size.

The last issue of FSM had little help tip about wood grain painting. Wasn't an easy thing but sounded like it might work. Give me a moment and I'll look it up.
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Post by Antenociti »

It's actually pretty easy - just use a stiff wire brush and stroke it firmly along the grain of the wood. Then dye it using "Silverstain" or similar - job done.

The degree of weathering and grain is dictated by how much brushing you do, firmness of stroke and the size of the wire bristles, you can add knot holes and major flaws using a micro-woodworking chisel (V or U gouge) if deisired.

That's about it really.

Edit: This (28mm 1:58) wooden bridge is just plain basswood with grain done by wire brushing: http://www.sden.org/Decors-crees-par-l- ... =4#galerie

http://www.rackham-store.com/boutique/i ... BO04_1.jpg
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Post by woozle »

yabbut, that's in a soft material like resin or putty.. what about a nice painted wood grain.

The easiest effect I've seen is to get a brown pen and draw the grain on, then a thin oil or other wash over it to color the wood and soften the pen marks. You could do this with a black pen for knot-holes and board edges.
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Chris Binnett
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Post by Chris Binnett »

You could look for some very thin veneer if the shape isn't too complex. Ran across wood grain decals at one time, they might work.
It's for my SF 109 project and I'm trying to stay as close as I can to 100% BF, so it has to be painted. I've cut an onld chip brush up and tried streaking dark over light...not quite...then light over dark...still not there. I think i'll try Wooz's wash idea to tone it down, but I hope paint that thick doesn't look crappy.

Phd. I just need a little wood... :shock:
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Post by Antenociti »

woozle wrote:yabbut, that's in a soft material like resin or putty.. what about a nice painted wood grain.
Actually its done in hard wood or dental plaster but it works fine in other materials also, including styrene. Ditto for a proper undamaged/weathered grain - it's just a case of practice.

Of course the obvious alternative is to use wood and stain it - at 1/16 I'm wondering why you wouldn't in fact?
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Post by Jonas Calhoun »

In the R2D2 van thread, someone mentioned taking wooden coffee stir sticks, and staining them with two shades of Minwax.

The effect was pretty impressive, but don't know if it'll work in your scale.

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