How can I achieve a weathered caterpillar yellow?

Rice:  Thanks for the information.  I appreciate it.  The links are great!

Mucker:  I've looked into the Mr. Surfacer products, but I'm pretty happy with my spray primer right now.  I think it's because I'm weathering the yellow so heavily I'm getting results from it that I'm happy with.  If I was going for a clean yellow I would go with the laquer primers via the airbrush.

If you don't mind spraying a lacquer, I highly recommend thinning and spraying Mr. Surfacer 1200 or Mr. Base White 1000 as a primer. These cover excellent and will provide a nice ase for your yellow.

Here's a good link, substitute colors (yellow and brown).

http://thepaintingcorps.blogspot.com/2008/12/friday-quick-tip-sponge-painting-battle.html

Paint he yellow and use a small piece of spong to dab on the brown. There is a specifi one for yellow, I'll see if I can findit for you.

http://migjimenez.blogspot.com/2009/11/sponge-chippping-and-rust-stains.html

http://cmdante.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-paint-chipped-armour-tutorial.html

A quick update.

The models I'm working are Game Workshop gaming models that I paint to a high standard (high standard for me anyway!), and occasionally use for playing Warhammer 40,000.

The best yellow I've found is actually a Krylon Fusion spray paint called Sunbeam Yellow.  The only issue is that it's gloss finish.  Once I get a good base coat of yellow on the model I need to seal it with Testors Dullcote to get a good matt finish I can weather from there.

I'm about to start on the vehicles, but here is an example of the yellow with a Raw Sepia + Black Wash applied.  I'm very happy with the deep yellow so far.  I am using weathing powders and pastels to dirty down the yellow and am also carefully painting on chipped areas.  

When help up to an actual worn and rusted back hoe blade, (i.e not a model a real back hoe) the yellows are the same.

I'm looking forward to working on the vehicles that I will start work on in with in the next couple of weeks.

Note that these are work in progress pictures and don't have any weathering powder at this stage.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80523470@N00/4832184795/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80523470@N00/4832184887/

any updates or additional thoughts on this topic?  im gathering supplies to build the aoshima aliens power loader which is supposed to a piece of cat equip.

What are you building? I was a heavy equipment operator for many years so when I hear the word "Caterpillar" it always catches my attention unless you are talking about the furry creature that eats leaves.

Killjoy,

Right now it's just on scrap plastic and cardboard to be honest.  I hope to have more tests on models soon, but there's nothing to show really.

I did take your advice and when picking up the Testors lacquers this weekend and picked up a jar of Model Master Desert Tan to try as a base coat for the yellow.  I might give it a shot to give me a little more depth in the shadows of the joints if I try airbrushing the paints.  

Can you post some pictures of what you have already?

This past weekend I tried Testors Glosscote and Dullcote over the Krylon Sun Beam Yellow and got what I feel are good results with the Turpenoid oil wash.

The Testors lacquers seem to be softened slightly by the Turpenoid but not fully dissolved like the previous stain varnish that I tried as a protective coating.  

My plan right now is to stick with the Dullcote.  It is providing a nice dirty washed effect and that's what I'm after.  The Glosscote is nice and allow me to move the wash around wasily but the clean area's are too clean for the look that I am after.

I'm liking the Krylon Fusion Sun Beam yellow so far, but I'm having a hard time using oil weather techniques over the Krylon paint.  The Weber Odorless Turpenoid I'm using is eating through Krylon.  

I tried a flat sealant varnish to protect the Krylon yellow and that held up for a few minutes but was eaten through as well.   I've always used acrylic paints before this with the oil weathering and not had a problem.

Is there a good way to seal the Krylon before using the oils and turpenoid on it during the weathering stage?

When trying to get a weathered yellow tone, I have found that a light brown undercoat helps produce the 'aged' look.  Aim for something close to leather brown (buckskin).

A white undercoat will make yellow look nice and bright, but you may still have coverage issues.  Beige or khaki let you get pretty good yellow tones with one pass, and brighten it with successive passes.

Chris

'sun beam' lays down smooth and easy...I have recently used the Krylon color with excellent results over flat white. I line Vance's suggestion to use a richer base coat, over white its almost to bright. Even light grey primer to tone it down a tad would suffice.

I couldn't find any CAT official colors at stores I checked out but did find a Krylon "Fusion" labeled "Sunbeam Yellow" that looks pretty close to the color chip I have.  Supposedly Fusion label Krylon paints are formulated for plastic.

I have heard that a pink base coat ads depth to the yellow as well.  I might look into that again.

I am testing the Krylon now.  It sprays very well right from the can, I might get away with no decanting this paint if it's the color I want after washes and weathering.  

Stay tuned!

I have also heard (but not tried) that a flat pink undercoat works better than white. I expect it would give a slightly deeper tone than the white would.

Krylon has old and new Cat yellow in their equipment paint line. It covers very well despite being yellow, I used it over grey primer with no problems when I built the AMT D-8 several years ago.

Cat changed their yellows in the 1940s or 50s, so if you are building an older Cat use old Cat yellow, if you are building something since the 1950s use New Cat yellow. 

Yellow is one of the hardest colors to lay.  The base has to be perfect, etc, etc.  I say experience will be the be solution, as well as many laying down the cardboard trial runs.

Try Krylon, they lay down really smooth and are formulated to work on plastic.

Do you know a good yellow that will cover well?

After (much) Google-fu I've found out that this tone of yellow can be called Chromium or Hi-Way yellow.

I was going to try Testors Chromium Yellow tomorrow over a flat white before decanting the spray.  If someone on the boards has a suggestion for another brand though I'm all ears.

Yellow will only work well over a base coat of flat white. Some brands and colors of yellow spray paint work better than others. Test the product on something other than your model before committing to it.

Good luck and post some WIP's (Work In Progress) pictures.

Jason

I'll go look for a rattle can guys.  Thanks!

Napa auto parts sells rattle cans of cat yellow.

Pick up a rattle can of it from the Cat dealer in your area. Decant it and use it.

I'm going to use an oil paint and pastel weathering technique when the time comes, but I'm having a hard time finding an color from any company that is caterpillar yellow.  

Dry brushing?  Im still learning myself but as far as I know yellow is the hardest color to stick, and when black weathering underneath.....    your probly not yellow anymore.    I may subscribe to this thread, this will be interesting.