Here I have gone over the battens with plain water to swell the nail holes as I didnt want any more of the grey color.Then I took some very watery raw umber and toothbrush flicked a bit of crud on ,after I had protected the plexiglass with paper.I then used a very small round brush and with the same raw umber emphasized where I thought the crud may build up a little heavier over the years.Try to be subtle and take your time,it will be worth it in the end.Now it is on to the pastels!

The work you see here took about an hour to do .Pastels are fun to work with if you dont overdo it.Use a very soft brush and work the pastels into the wood.Because our wood is not sealed this is very simple to do and quite permanent.
Here I have used only 2 colors so far,black and burnt sienna.The most important thing is to use your imagination and have fun with this.The final work with the pastels will be when I put the walls together and decide on the wear and tear.

Here is the outside bottom of the same wallpanel.After doing the pin and pencil routine,I took a small burr on a rotary shaft and roughed up the boards near where they come in close contact with the ground outside.I want to show the ground a little uneven where it runs along the concrete foundation.The boards will also have a fungus/mossy green look at the very bottom.Sounds like fun huh!

Here I have begun working a bit with the Raw umber.The top portion of the panel has just the pin and pencil and toothbruck flicking techniques.From the mid portion on down,i have taken a very small round brush and with some watery raw umber filled each individual hole so that it swells level and diffuses a little color around each hole.It is important to let the holes wick up the watery mix.Take advantage of the fact that you are using raw, dry wood ,for example at the bottom touch the the ends of the boards with your watery mix and let the wood wick it up just like it would do in nature.When weathering try as much as possible to follow mother natures routine in the aging process.For example:rust would show later in the process than plain crud,moss and fungus still later.For those who maybe worried about the wood not being sealed, you could I suppose, use a spray fixative over your finished panel.(I am not too worried about this as these dioramas are going to a controlled enviroment.)
I find that these panels can be a lot of fun to do if you treat each one as a little artists canvas of its own.Gather lots of reference material and be creative.Make each one a little different as they can be subject to different weathering and lighting in real life.Also keep in mind ,as in my case,the buildings' modules could have been added at different times in the history of your diorama.Smaller buildings and trim could be painted, while large outdoor wallpanels could be left subject to more weathering.Also there could be a cost factor invovled in not completely painting the large main structure.

This is the great thing about diorama making, the learning just goes on and on and there is no time to get bored.It incorporates just about every aspect of modeling and a lot what is called "ART" too.Hope your havin' as much fun as I am.
Cheers! John.
__________________
It has been said that the difference between a "pilot" and an "aviator" is that a pilot is a technician,and an aviator is an artist in love with flight.
JohnReid (Aviator)

this is about as far as I am going to take it for now.Any additional weathering will be done after I put it together.
Here i have taken a little watery burnt sienna and added a little rust to some of the nailheads.Be careful not to overdo it.I then took a touch of burnt sienna pastel and softened the look a bit.You can continue to shade some of the boards with grey or black or even add some brown if your boards look too grey.I took some very light green pastel and dusted up the windows a bit.I also added a little darker green at the very bottom of the boards to represent a little moss, I am not yet totally happy with the moss color but it gives you an idea about what I am talking about.
In the next pic you can see some of the tools that I have been using.

This is an old pic of the unfinished office module.I posted it so that you could see how a more painted type finish could be weathered.The weathering is not yet completed but will be much more subtle than the engine shop out back.I figure that is they were going to go to the expense of completely painting any of the structures it would probably be this office.The exterior is an off-white put on in thin washes.Nailheads could in this case be covered with paint except maybe at the very bottom and a few more only lightly rusted here and there to add a little interest.

Help!
I am now finishing up the engine room wall panels and about to start on the furniture.If anyone has any pics of a room such as this please advise.
In my imagination I can see lots of parts and pieces laying around and storage space for various nuts and bolts.This shop is designed for light maintenance and not major overhauls.There already is a lathe in the carpenters shop but maybe a nice drill press would be in order.Got any pictures?
__________________
It has been said that the difference between a "pilot" and an "aviator" is that a pilot is a technician,and an aviator is an artist in love with flight.
JohnReid (Aviator)

This is the lathe in the woodworking shop .This whole idea evolved from a pic that a fellow sent me of a shop in a museum in Sweden ,I think it was.The storage space for the woodworkers carving tools etc... and the prop being given its final coats of varnish all came from that picture.

John, That woodworking shop is incredible. Each piece of equipment and all the little extras are projects all on their own. I really admire miniaturists that take on subjects of this scale.~Gary

A Blast from the Past!

Once in awhile I like to post pics that have never been posted before for those who are building or are comtemplating building the Nieuport 28 or Albatros in 1/16th scale.I hope you find them helpful as I know I sure did like seeing pics of other guys work when I was building mine.