It's also not for impatient types.
Go forth as follows :
Method 1
- Get some cheap, hard nylon brushes for acrylic-paint. The cheaper and crummy-er, the better. I get them from the "Action". Some kind of China-outlet for low qality stuffs.
- Take the thick sludge fron the bottom of a paint-tin that has stood for some time. Any colour, as long as it's flat. You can even add some talcum-powder to get a somewhat coarser structure.
- Smear that on a bit of cardboard to have even more thinner absorbed.
- Take the somewhat thick-mud-like sludge on the brush, and generously stipple it on the object that should look cast. If it starts running, the paint is still too wet. Just keep stippling the runners back to where the cast effect should be. Evntually It'll thicken enough to stay put
- Let dry for a bit, but not completely ( ! )
- Stipple on a second layer, and again start dabbing the semi-dry paint with the hard brush. ( You'll already see the new layer starting to break-up the first in a cast-iron like texture)
After that, let it dry thoroughly. Say, 2 days, and paint the final colour.
Why this method instead of the standard putty one? Well, I always find that putty dries too quickly, and gives sharp ridges that can only be taken care of by 'painting' it over with toluene thinner, which also tends to 'melt' smaller details. Thick enamels do that too, but to a far lesser extent.
By the way, adding talcum powder to gloss paint can dull it down quite a bit, without it turning completely flat. Only hard thing is preventing lumps. I made a tiiny egg-whisker from 2mm steel-wire bent into a messy "S" that fits in my dremel for that. Stir the paint with that on a VERY slow rpm ( don't ask
) and the lumps will be gone after a while.Method 2
This method should only be attempted out side, or in a very, VERY well ventilated place!!! I'm not kidding here. You won't be the first hobbyist to keel over after sniffing too much thinner/plastic cement.
For this You'll need Xylene Isobutanol thinner, ór thin plastic cement. And a quick hand.
-brush a generous layer of the thinner/cement on the bare styrene (it ónly works on styrene!, ABS just turns dull and brittle)
-immediately start stippling the still wet object. Eventually It'll start pulling threads, if that happens, dip the brush in the thinner again, and go on.
-You'll start seeing the structure quite quickly.
-Let dry on a well-ventilated spot. Preferably outside. (!!!, again, not kidding here. Thinner and plastic cement in large quantities like this, are plain nasty! )
- paint it. Done.
Both methods also work for creating wood-grain. In that case a small steel bristled brush is used to "pull" the wood-grain in the softened plastic/paint.
Final advise : first try it out on a bit of left-over styrene. You'll discover soon enough what brush/bristle gives the effect you're after.
