Doctor Ben's Ready-To-Use Weathered Rust Weathering Solution #1070
When I first began building Fine Scale Miniatures kits (manufactured by George Sellios) many years ago, the part that I enjoyed the most was the weathering. Nothing irked me more than to build a model in a brand new, pristine condition. I began looking for something more that what the FSM instructions offered. Don't get me wrong, I owe a great deal of what I learned about building models from building early Thomas A. Yorke kits, Model Masterpieces kits, Builders in Scale kits, Timberline kits; heck, there's even a thing or two to learn from building the Campbell kits.
In my quest for the ultimate weathering process I remember that I found a four-step, four bottle product back in the 1980s that stated it came from the guy's driveway and I tried this for a while. I then I tried the 'Steel wool & vinegar rust' process. This I really liked, but the thought of the rusting processing continuing even after the application scared me. I tried flushing with water, but this washed the finer particles away, and I still was not sure that the rusting process had been stopped. I even tried sealing the finish with a dull coat—too labor intensive. And then one day I literally fell over an idea as I was helping my brother install some custom cabinets on a commercial job site.
The long story short is that although my formula has changed over the years, AND, a lot of folks have tried real hard to copy my Doctor Ben's products, but they still haven't come close. Several even posed as 'friends' to get the formulas. Today, you can buy various weathering powders (NOTE: some are just ground artists chalk and/or tempra finger paint powders), and there are folks are offering stuff used to tint wet concrete (yes, really!), but nobody—nope nobody— has a weathering solution OR an industrial weathering pigment that will perform anything like the Doctor Ben's products do.
