While building Ark Number 4 for the Tiburon Railroad-Ferry Depot Museum I needed to make a weathered wood shingle roof.

Ark number 4 in place in museum

Here’s the recipe I came up with.

  • Apply Campbell Shingles or other paper/wood shingle material
  • Ink-alchohol wash lightly
  • Dry brush Tamiya XF-66 LIGHT GREY
  • Dry brush Tamiya XF-23 LIGHT BLUE, followed immediately by more ink-alchohol
  • Very lightly dry brush Tamiya XF-21 SKY
  • Highlight with china white pencil
  • Seal with Dullcote
  • Add more highligts with ink-alchohol and very small brush

Hindsight: airbrushing a control color to tone down the contrast would have made the effect a bit better.

The final result on the model:

Roof of Ark #4

5 Responses to “My recipe for weathered wood shingles”

  1. Ben Says:

    Hi, sorry if you covered this, I did search but couldn’t find how you ended up modeling your water? I really like the look of it, especially how it captures the reflections. Nice! I hope to produce quality such as this when I start on my own railway!
    thanks~ Ben

  2. Ben Says:

    oh yeah, of course the ferry depot is amazing too. I love the detail of the rust dripping from the chimney. Great work!

  3. Daniel Swearingen Says:

    Hi Ben,
    I believe the water is modeled using polyester but I do not know which brand the museum used since I was not on the team that was doing the water.

  4. Ferromodelismo Says:

    Congratulations for you very interesting blog.

  5. Tim Jayme Says:

    Hi…nice works..i love the weathering effect.