Doctor Ben's Weathering Solution Spotlight: Instant Age #1152 Ready-To-Use Weathering Solution for Wood, Plastic, Hydrocal©, Metal & Much More-4oz Jar & 8oz, too! 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 back in the 1980s India Ink and Alcohol were all the rave thanks to a number of popular modelers. And if not careful, it was very easy to "over" apply the mixture resulting in a dark, goth look when viewed under normal lighting covered up much of the model's detail.
The Doctor Ben's Instant Age takes the original technique one step further with the inclusion of a Doctor Ben's Weathering Pigment. NOTE: Using another dry product to add to the India Ink technique may not work as well as using the Doctor Ben's because of quality and fillers in the other pro duct.  My addition of the Doctor Ben's Weathering Pigment to the Instant Age Weathering Solution results in significant improvement creating a more dimensional look instead of just the India Ink laying on the surface of the model. But there are a couple of notes when using Instant Age. Originally, we packaged Instant Age as a "Ready-to-Use" product and customers complained it was too thin or diluted. Today's Instant Age is twice a strong as the original which allows the modeler more flexibility in the level of coverage when applying Instant Age. There is very light by simply slightly mixing the Instant age and dipping the brush tip in the very top of the Weathering Solution, or the other extreme is shake the heck out of the jar (lid tightly screwed on) and you've got really dark. I prefer to apply several light coats being sure to wait till each coat is dry and if I'm in a hurry, a hair dryer or heat gun with dry the Instant Age real quick.Much more detail is discussed in our Doctor Ben's How-To #1: Turning Toys into Models booklet and in our Blog Archive June 2015.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 Be n'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. And for the record, these are the very same Weathering Stains & Solutions that I have demonstrated in the many Clinics and Model Shows and used to finish the plethora of Fine Scale Miniatures (FSM), Master Creations, Sequoia Models, Downtown Deco, Thomas Yorke, Scale Structures Ltd, Evergreen Hill Designs, Model Masterpieces Ltd, South River Model Works, and many other kits (including quite a bit of Athearn rolling stock)  over the years that have been recognized as award winning, museum quality models. Using this Doctor Ben's Product: Weathered Rust differs from Realistic Rust in that it is more like the rust that you would see on old farm equipment sitting out in the field—dampened by the morning dew slowly etching away at the metal surface. This product is a topical application that does not affect the surface integrity of the model. This product has built in adhesive polymers that enable it to stick to any surface. Get too much on and want to remove it? Not a problem, read on about all the great uses in our How To #1 booklet and in our website Blog.. You will not be disappointed. USPS Postage Increase January 2021!
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