Replicating Colorado High Country Weathered Wood Colors

A little background before I dive into this. I have made a conscious effort to reduce the magazine back issue population around the house. The ones I do hang on to are the NGSL Gazette (6 times a year), Model Railroad Planning (annual) and the On30 and HOn3 Annuals. I probably have less than a dozen issues of other magazines. I tend to periodically work my way through all the annuals and I often find small articles that I forgot about that pique my interest again.

I’m reaching the point on my current build that I need to seriously think about painting and weathering so I started flipping through my collection of On30 Annuals. Something was tickling the back of my mind about weathering wood in Colorado. I had flipped through 8 issues when I found an article in the 2014 On30 Annual; Knotty & Nice, Weathering Wood Structures by Jim Ellis. This article isn’t about how to get the silvery grey color, it is about replicating the brown/orange color often seen in the Colorado high country. Normally I would go to my standard peeling paint weathering, but the current build is a mining structure and it is a 50/50 shot if it was painted or unpainted. The article was very intriguing, so I had some alcohol markers already and ordered the rest.

Up to this point I have only completed one build with unpainted wood sides and in that instance I went with the silvery grey weathering recommended in the kit instructions, so I already had experience using alcohol based markers (4 versions of grey). I think it turned out pretty good, there are some nice tonal variations and it was easy to accomplish with the markers and then a quick wash with Weather All (out of production, but there are a more than a few versions of it on the market) to blend it together a bit. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

What I really want to replicate are the colors you see in these pictures: 

The Yankee Girl Mine in southwest Colorado. Note that the planked roof surfaces have weathered to the classis silver grey while the vertical components vary from grey through brown to orange.

This pic is from the opposite side under different lighting conditions. Here the orange appears more like a much light brown, almost tan.

Same side direct sunlight, the orange is far more visible in this light, looks like early morning based on the shadows.

This looks like more of an early afternoon, late morning shot. The orange is definitely visible.

So, we are looking to create a mix of browns and orange (of all things) along with areas of silver grey. I decided that this technique needed some practice before I tried it out on the model. In the article Jim Ellis, essentially, uses five or six different Prismacolor markers to make rapid streaks on the wood. Here’s the process:

1.      Using double sided tape, stick the individual strips down tight against each other. You can also apply this to a piece of “sheet” (plank?) wood (which you could later cut down to individual strips or whatever you need).

2.      To provide a base, in my case the Weather All, apply the product to the wood, as “primer” coat. Let this dry (you can do multiple coats to get the base color you like).

3.      Using the alcohol based markers rapidly make random streaks down the wood (working with the grain). Alcohol markers dry fast so speed is key, you are trying to blend the colors together at least to a certain extent.

4.      Once the alcohol has dried (probably seconds) apply another generous amount of your silver weathering mix again. This will help blend the colors together. Once this has dried your, wood is ready to go.

Pretty straight forward, the article goes into a lot more detail including adding knots and wood rot at the bottom. I checked the White River Productions web site and 2014 issue is not available. I did see a few copies available on eBay so try there for the full article.

The Experiment Begins

First, I didn’t use the Prismacolor alcohol markers. I already had Copic Sketch alcohol markers (I purchased mine from Dick Blick) on hand, recommended by Roger Malinowski for one of the Stoney Creek Designs kits that I built. I added one more from Angel Craft from a small set of 12 markers I picked up on sale at Homegoods. These are all dual ended markers, a wider chip style tip on one end and a narrower pointed tip on the other.

I pulled out a handful of coffee stirrers and taped them (with double sided tape) to a piece of foamed PVC. I applied a couple of coats of Weather All, mostly because it didn’t penetrate the coffee stirrers very well (it is some kind of hardwood). After that dried, I followed the directions and applied random streaks of color as quickly as possible. I also kept some Isopropyl alcohol handy and used that and an old brush to scrub at the colors to try and blend them together better (limited success with that). Once dry (a minute maybe, the benefit of living in a high dry climate) I applied another coat of Weather All. The end effect was okay.

First set of coffee stirrers. To much red from one of the markers and some harsh transitions between some of the colors. Apparently I'm not good at making streaks either. I was using the bigger chip end of the marker.

Just to experiment, I pulled out another batch of coffee stirrers and repeated the sequence but did not apply the initial “primer” coat of Weather All. Again, the end result was okay. At this point I was leaning away from this really working.

Initially I didn't think this was working very well, but looking at this I can start to see the colors "blending" as I went back over the top. This is the happy accident that I talk about farther down.

Next step was to try it out on the basswood that the structure is really made from; basswood. The exterior of this structure is board & batten basswood (representing 6” planks in O scale, and really tiny battens). I also wanted to try layering the markers rather than going with random streaks. When you look at buildings with this type of weathering there are some definite patterns to the weathering. The bulk of the color tends toward the darker brown colors, as you move towards more sunlight you start to see more orange and often in the harshest areas you can see our favorite silver grey color. It probably wouldn’t make a difference on a smaller building but this one is big and the patterns need to make sense.

Like any good modeler I don’t throw anything away (at least right away). I still had the frets that the main walls had come on, so plenty of material to work with. Since I’m still experimenting at this point I repeated the original process with random streaks. I found this a bit difficult with the battens in place. When I applied the second application of Weather All I made sure it worked its way into the edges of the battens. Still not pleased with the effect at this point and at least one of the markers I was using (since I was also experimenting with color at this point) had way to much red in it, a color that definitely does not exist on the prototypes.

I "primed the wood on the right side with the Weather All, and went without on the left side. Again the brown marker with the heavy red element snuck back in.

In one of those happy accident moments, I notice that you could continue to affect the color after it was applied when you ran another marker over the top (I don’t know if this would work with the Prismacolor marker), either the same one which would intensify the color or a different color that helped blend things together. This worked even after the colors were dry (should have tried that much earlier).

At this point I’m was down to what I felt like were the final colors for the structure. I picked out another section of the fret and repeated with my modified process. Now I was starting to get the results and control I was hoping for. Lots of tonal variation and since I could intensify and blend colors by going back over it (much like paint) with the same marker or change the tone by adding another color on top.

A couple of final thoughts. I haven’t tried Prismacolor markers so I don’t know how they would perform as you layer the colors. I really like the Copic markers because the pointed tip is much softer than the Angel Craft pointed tip. The Copic works more like a paint brush. The Angel Craft is much harder like a Sharpie marker and leaves a very distinct line that is harder to blend. I’m going to go back to Dick Blick and see if I can find a similar brown in the Copic line. Take a look at the pictures and let me know if you think I succeeded with the modified technique.

Now a bit of why we see these colors, this is an AI answer mind you. I’m not going any further down the rabbit hole on my own.

In Colorado (and probably in any location that shares similar climates) wood weathers to different colors based on a mix of sun exposure (UV radiation), moisture and the natural resins inside the tree itself. In the dry, high-altitude sun, these elements interact to create colors running from a bleached silver grey to a rich, dark brown with orange streaks.

AI also suggested that the south and west facing walls would tend to bleach to the silver grey while the north and east faces would weather to the brown/orange pattern. Looking at pictures I don’t really feel like this is the case. There are definitely variations based on the sun position but not always as well defined as the AI response insinuated. The one thing I have noticed is that horizontal surfaces almost always bleach to silver grey rather than the brown/orange. Ore bins, regardless of position to the sun, seem to run more towards the silver grey than the brown/orange, although I have certainly seen examples of both and there are pictures of mining structures with the headframes and support buildings in the brown/orange weathering and the bins in silver grey. As they say, you can find an example for almost every situation.

Climate definitely affects this process as does the type of lumber used. A well documented example is Bodie National Park. Those buildings have almost universally weathered to the dark brown color and most lighter colors appear to be variations of brown, while there is some of the orange it is  (check the time of day the photo was taken, I have noticed that shots taken in the early morning or late evening when the sun is low makes the lighter browns look very orange at Bodie) not as prevalent as seen in Colorado. I’m not sure how much altitude makes a difference (other than intensifying the UV exposure); Bodie sits at 8,375 feet and the Yankee Girl sits at 10,600 (so close to the tree line, typically starting about 11000 feet). Having a reference photo or two handy is a important to make sure you have the right colors to work with.

Here are some other examples:

Cartoon Wednesday

 

What's Next

I have, more or less, been doing lot of soul searching over the last few months on what I want to, what I can do and what is really possible. I still enjoy playing games, both boardgames and miniature games and that's not going away. The reality for gaming though is I have way to much stuff for what I'm probably capable of using or even assembling with the time I have available. I'm seriously considering disposing of all of my WWII 15mm miniatures. This is primarily Afrika Korps equipment but I believe there is a some European theatre stuff in there too. I need to dig it out and see what is actually there and make a list.

At this point I'm going to hang on to my 15mm Union ACW army, along with all the unpainted miniatures to go along with it. The same is true for my 15mm Napoleonic British army. To much time and effort invested in these two armies, I'll probably re-evaluate that on an annual basis and how much space I have available in the future. 

On the 28mm front I'm being wishy washy on what I should keep and what needs to go. I have maybe a dozen kits to go along with the buildings I have finished or are in progress (some were started more than five years ago). I have a bunch of regular German troops along with British and American Paras. If I stay with Chain of Command (which just came out with a 2nd edition) I don't need nearly the numbers of troops that I have laying around. I'll hang on to the vehicles that I have finished or are in progress, I love modeling vehicles to much to give them up just yet (and there is a closet of armor kits to prove it).

My boardgame collection has been much reduced over the years although I'm considering letting my ACW games go. I really don't have anyone nearby to play them with and the time needed to play one of these is starting to exceed my attention span. The railroad games fill my gaming needs quite nicely. I'm also contemplating selling off my Clue collection, although I'll wait for the economy to recover a bit for that I think, its a bit on the niche side of things.

Model railroading has definitely been my highest priority over the last few years and I think I'm going to much further down that road. Space is an issue, but designing something that is portable or at least can be disassembled and reassembled easily can get me around that issue.

The final though along what I want to do is cutting puzzles. I get along of satisfaction from cutting out a puzzle and the process is very relaxing. Its a side hustle that I really want to explore. There is workshop full of equipment that I really want to put to use which includes a laser cutter, a 3D printer and a CnC machine (still in its box, its big and I haven't had a chance to build a bench for it yet). There is plenty of things out there to keep me busy.

This soul searching is definitely the result of coming up on anniversary of my mother's passing last year. She did so much to downsize and make it easier on us but she was still a farm girl and the amount of stuff that she had squirreled away in her apartment was a amazing. I need to emulate that and do better.

Cartoon Wednesday

 

Experiment Aborted

Yes, I have been missing in action since April. I have been slowly working on a few projects that I'll share in another post but there were two things that really brought the blog crashing to a halt.

First, the weather here really got warm fast and we spent a lot of time outside getting the house and landscaping in order. After a day spent weeding, repairing, building, painting or whatever I was simply not interested in working on anything let alone talk about it on the blog.

Second, we made the decision that I would go ahead and retire early. So I burned two months of saved up vacation in May and June. The result was I rescinded my retirement request with my employer. Fortunately this is a thing with my employer and I was able to come back to work in my position as my retirement wasn't effective until 7/3/2026.

I talked with my boss before that date, she was happy to have me back. However, the request did not quite get to all the proper channels and I have spent the last few days trying to get  back online and restore my access. I should have known better than to think a request to back out the retirement with HR, even after logging into the right system and checking the right box and hitting enter, would be all I needed to do. It didn't stop IT or Payroll from moving forward with my retirement!

The current administration and the circumstances they have created means that the retiring at this time is just causing a lot on unnecessary anxiety for both of us. We definitely feel that this is the right decision, although somewhat disappointing in the end.

I think the happiest bunch are the dogs, their normal routines have been restored!