I'll try to keep this short, because realistically, I didn't spend the total of an hour from start to finish. The materials that I used for this project are as follows: on package of Doctor Ben's Industrial Weathering Pigment - fresh Rust, one bottle Doctor Ben's Aged Driftwood, a short-bristled, soft, but stiff brush (the brush in the photo is a Floquil brush that has been cut off short), an a small container of water to wash out the brush (if I need it).

Step 1:  I began with a basic resin casting (Pine Canyon Models) and sprayed it with the least expensive can of flat black paint found at a local home center. If it happens to be sunny outside, lay the casting in the sun to warm up so that the paint will dry faster. Spray the bottom first & when the bottom is dry, flip the casting over and spay the details from ALL sides. Apply a second coat if when the first coat is dry & you can still see the white of the casting. My question is why don't the casters add a little color to these castings? It would make the finishing process much easier & we could see the details much easier!

Step 2:  Brush on the Doctor Ben’s Industrial Weathering Pigments with a burnishing action. Just keep scrubbing the pigments into the various cracks and crevasses, without being too neat about it. In this project, to simplify the process, I just used the Doctor Ben’s Industrial Weathering Pigment #1119 Fresh Rust; and you can see that it looks good. If you use several of the various colors of Doctor Ben’s Pigments, however, the diversity of the colors will give better details. You could use some of the lighter brown colors for the wood, but for this project I will color the objects with another technique (shown in Step 4 and Step 5).

Step 3:  I typically skip this next step, but there are folks out there who are interested in how I usually seal a finish. Now you may have heard of using ordinary hair spray for attaching foliage to scale tree trunks. I go down to the local Big Box store and purchase the least expensive "pump" hair spray that I can find. These products are usually made up a alcohol and lacquer. I will use this inexpensive hair spray as a sealer to activate the Doctor Ben's Industrial Weathering Pigments adhesives and done, the pigments are literally sealed to the casting. Now you will have to play with this and not to worry, you can't get too much hair spray on the pigments. But, if you get too much hair spray on the unfinished casting, you will see a slight sheen such as the group of the seven wooden barrels in the image to the left. See the slight sheen on the top of the bottom right barrel top? yep, that what you get, and with a whisk of the brush and some Doctor Ben's Industrial Weathering Pigment, it is gone. Like I stated earlier, I rarely seal the Doctor Ben's Industrial Weathering Pigments. When I demonstrate these products at hobby shows, folks are amazed of the handling that some of the demonstration pieces get and how weathered they remain.

Step 4:  The process of applying the Doctor Ben’s Aged Driftwood can be found here. So briefly, shake up the bottle of Doctor Ben’s Aged Driftwood for just a second or two, depending upon how thick you want to stain the parts. The Doctor Ben’s Aged Driftwood is quite concentrated, and can get too thick if you use the same bottle for some time. If this happens to you, just add a couple of teaspoons of rubbing alcohol to the bottle and shake very well; allow it to settle and check. If it is still too thick, repeat the process. Now use your trusty burnishing brush to apply the Doctor Ben’s Aged Driftwood to the sides of the wooden details and then the tops.

Step 5:  So, here is the big secret: I have an article around here somewhere about using Sharpie permanent markers for detailing brickwork and coloring details. Yes, that's correct, and the colors are permanent, and will not fade over time. For instance, I used a red marker to color the soda machine and a yellow marker to color the gas pump. I also used more markers to detail some of the wooden boxes and door, too.

Now you have the chance to learn what many thousands of other folks have learned without having to pay a $7.00 admission fee to get in the door. Read on down to see some of the information in this very valuable booklet!

Below are the thumbnails for the 27 colors in the Railroad Set #1311. Click on each of the images to see better the item color and names.

27 Color Railroad Weathering Pack #1311 27-Color Set in 2oz* Re-Sealable Containers

  Depending up the brand of your monitor, the type of graphics card that you computer has, the lighting in your room and a dozen other reasons, some of these colors of the above images may look identical. We can assure you that these colors are quite different. Watch for the upcoming Doctor Ben's "How-To #2: Weathering & Painting with Industrial Pigments”. Yes, I said *painting* which is something that you can’t do with the other brands, either! And part of this *new* booklet will introduce a brand new tool: The Doctor Ben's "Pigment Palette" which enables the user to paint items such as the sides of railroad tracks already installed one a layout!

  *Each of the eight containers are measured as a 2 ounces by volume container. Each container is about 3" in diameter and 1 3/8" tall.

Finally,  it is no secret, there are lots of copy-cats out there trying to capitalize on our Doctor Ben's products, but really, do you actually have time to play chemist? And nobody said that you have to have all 60 colors. Besides, by using Doctor Ben's products the work is already done for you with "contest proven results". Why would you settle for anything less! Second best is still second place and if you are anything like me you'll want your models to be winners every time!

These are the very same products that we've used to build Fine Scale Miniatures (FSM), Master Creations, Thomas A. Yorke, Builders In Scale, and many other craftsman kits for our customers, and now you can have these same products, too! Quick and easy, that's how we like to do it and just like what our motto says,