Part two of the aging process. I brushed on crackle medium with a smaller brush, basically the size relative to actually painting the house if I were in miniature. I used the lighter brush with the stiff bristles for the crackle medium and the darker soft brush for the paint. The stiff bristles allow me to move the medium around and the soft brush gives good paint coverage.
I didn’t apply the medium uniformly. Some areas were thicker and some areas I left all but untouched. In real life, paint will weather differently depending on the wood base as well as its exposure to the elements, so I wanted an uneven crackle effect. I brushed it on heavily at the lower corners of the windows and on any visibly damaged wood.
Once the crackle medium was dry, I painted the exterior with white craft paint. I painted one “row” at a time, all the way across. You have to work fast and use long brush strokes. If you need to fix an area, you’ll have to wait until it’s dry. Overworking it just makes a mess. But, watch it work as the paint dries!!! :D
Here’s the first wall after the paint coverage.
I work from top to bottom so that when I am done, I can take a paper towel and dab a few random places and lift the paint completely.
With this additional wear along the bottom and in a couple of places on the overall wall, I think it looks much more realistic. Later on during assembly, I will add more washes to age the white to keep it from looking too bright and new.
Now I need to repeat this entire process for the connectors so I can build the outer structure. I’ll eventually need to do this process for the gables, windows and front door, too.
