Railworks America

I've been experimenting with a rusty black color for a gondola reskin. The color has been close, but the texture just looks like a flat black. Do any of you have suggestions?

Harry

Usually, rust is red to brown. Do you have a picture you are working from?

Hi,

My recommendation would be to use a near-black solid color as the base, and then overlay it with a semi-transparent photograph of some actual rusty metal. That usually comes out quite well and you can adjust the level of decay with the transparency of the rust layer, plus fiddle around with sharpening and/or color/contrast settings until you have reached the desired effect.

You can find generally free to use and awesome rust textures at textures.com, among other places. Also check out the "Decals" collection at Textures.com, there are some very useful grime/rust/smear/leak overlays in there, very handy with transparency/alpha already included

By the way, even on a clean, though not factory fresh, locomotive/wagon I'd recommend using some subtle dirt overlay on top of the solid texture to add a bit of "unevenness". Hardly any rail vehicle is 100% clean and shiny in the real world unless it has been washed or painted just moments ago.

Cheers
Michael

Thanks guys. Good suggestions.

Harry