What go to colour for wooden tools?

[Doggy]

Can anyone recommend a good colour for the tools on tanks?

I don't have much luck making them look authentic.

I have all the tamiya xf range but none really suit. 

Is there a Vallejo or mig bottle that would do the job?

 

Many thanks.

[Black Knight]

Try Vallejo 'Cork Brown'  70-843

[fatfingers]

I use Vallejo 'wood' followed by several coats of Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

[Doggy]

12 hours ago, fatfingers said:

I use Vallejo 'wood' followed by several coats of Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

I've got Vallejo wood, it definitely needs something on top 

[Stef N.]

22 minutes ago, Doggy said:

I've got Vallejo wood, it definitely needs something on top 

If you have any oil paints in your kit, a very thin glaze of raw or burnt umber over that works well. As it dries slowly you can mess about on grain effects too.

[demiles]

I use any light brown-tan then one coat of clear orange and don't worry about how it looks

[Doggy]

30 minutes ago, demiles said:

I use any light brown-tan then one coat of clear orange and don't worry about how it looks

When you say clear orange what exactly do you mean?

[demiles]

Tamiya X26 paint clear orange

a base coat of light brown, leave it to dry at least 12 hours and then a top coat of clear orange leave for another 12 hrs and then a matt coat sprayed over the top

Edited May 1, 2022 by demiles

[pigsty]

Don't forget that there's no one shade of wood.  Ash is popular for tool handles but not universal; and then there's how much varnish has been applied, what the varnish is made of, how old it is, how much use it's seen, whether the army in question actually paint their tools (on or off the vehicle) ... you could easily do a different colour on every tank you build.  And they'd all look right.

[Doggy]

On 5/1/2022 at 7:08 PM, pigsty said:

Don't forget that there's no one shade of wood.  Ash is popular for tool handles but not universal; and then there's how much varnish has been applied, what the varnish is made of, how old it is, how much use it's seen, whether the army in question actually paint their tools (on or off the vehicle) ... you could easily do a different colour on every tank you build.  And they'd all look right.

Absolutely.

[Mike]

Whatever reddish brown shade is handy at the time.  Put a base coat on, then lighten it and draw some of the lightened paint across the surface to give it some semblance of grain.  You can use an incredibly fine brush, or one with a splayed head that you either bought that way, or knackered with your own 'skills'

[Bertie McBoatface]

I start with beige and then botch up some grain in a darker brown. Sometimes I use the clear orange thing mentioned above. Sometimes I make the parts that get handled very dirty. I have a sneaking feeling that it's all a matter of do whatever what you like because I bet most of them were painted green anyway. 

[Rumblestripe]

Vallejo 828 Woodgrain over grey, beige or brown 828 is a glaze and simply drag it along the length of the tool to give an impression of woodgrain.

 

 

 

[ErikT]

I use whatever tan colour I have, and then coat the handles with several different Games Workshop shade colours - Agrax Earthshade, Seraphim Sepia, and Reikland Fleshshade, so I get different shades of wood.  As already mentioned, though, you could just paint them whatever colour you want.  Looking at my Engineer Squadron's tools, we have everything from bare wood handles to green and black painted ones, with everything in between.  I'm sure you'll find every variation through any time period.

[Doggy]

There's some quite advanced options here. I got the orange clear so I'll start with that before I try the more advanced options.

[IanC]

On 5/2/2022 at 9:05 PM, Bertie Psmith said:

I start with beige and then botch up some grain in a darker brown. Sometimes I use the clear orange thing mentioned above. Sometimes I make the parts that get handled very dirty. I have a sneaking feeling that it's all a matter of do whatever what you like because I bet most of them were painted green anyway. 

 

Yep. OD with the paint flaking off. And for panzers you could do them wood or dark yellow but with brown and green overspray. There are photos showing the ghostly impressions of said tools after having been removed from the vehicle. 

 

Only we modellers care about such things. 😀

[Bertie McBoatface]

17 minutes ago, IanC said:

Only we modellers care about such things. 😀

 

Ha! My point was that I don't really care. I paint them whatever I want.

[Space Ranger]

Got any wood-handles tools in your home toolbox? Duplicate that color.

[Kingsman]

Reinforcing what others have said, different colours on the same vehicle.  It is highly unlikely that all the tools on any one vehicle came from the same source and different woods and finishes may be involved.  I imagine that a protective varnish was specified by most nations, and these likely varied in shade.

 

Woodgrain has been mentioned.  Wood suitable for tool handles such as Ash and Hickory is necessarily very close-grained.  In 1/35 you are not going to see the grain.  As @Space Ranger says, look to your own tool box.  Stand back 35 feet and that is what your 1/35 tools should look like when seen from 1 foot.

 

That being said I have applied woodgrain with a 0.1mm Sepia artists' permanent pen.  Definitely overscale, though.

[Doggy]

Actually I should clarify. It's not only the tools I was wanting to paint but the floors on a swimwagon and a kubblewagon. I think floors would be wooden but I'm not too sure.

[Graham Boak]

I wouldn't have thought that the floor of a Schwimmwagen would be wood, and looking at 1/76 models the underside appears to be smooth like metal.  As for the Kubel, possible this would begin as metal and change to wooden later in the war?  Just a guess.

[Black Knight]

Floors on both Kubel and Shwimm were always pressed steel

[Space Ranger]

8 minutes ago, Doggy said:

Actually I should clarify. It's not only the tools I was wanting to paint but the floors on a swimwagon and a kubblewagon. I think floors would be wooden but I'm not too sure.

One technique is to paint a base color such as a light tan, allow it to dry, then use oil paints to create a “grained” look, then, once the oil paint is dry, apply a clear orange semi-gloss varnish. There are several tutorials on the Interweb; search for “simulating wood grain on plastic models.”

 

There are also wood grain decals that might work in your situation.

[Doggy]

15 hours ago, Black Knight said:

Floors on both Kubel and Shwimm were always pressed steel

Ok. The colour call out made me think it was wood. I would have assumed it was the same base colour inside and out but tamiya suggested browns on the floor.

[Tojo72]

I use Model Master Enamel Wood,and a brown wash for some depth.

When my stash of MM runs out,I also use Vallejo Model Color Wood with a darker brown wash.