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Making Plastic Look Like Wood

Reg Hardy, Scale Modelers Handbook

Whether you are working with individual plastic

planks or sheets of clapboarding, you can

improve their appearance by making them look

more like wood.

Provide an initial roughness by rubbing the

boards with the edge of a manicure stick or a

strip of wood covered with sandpaper. Do this

in the direction of the grain.

Next, with a pointed utility knife scribe “wood

grain” into the plastic in varying lengths. If you

get it too deep and the edges raise up, use a

razor blade to remove the excess.

Texture the plastic with an initial sanding using

a manicure stick or 220 sandpaper. Really beat

it up by following with 50-grit sandpaper and

roughen it further with a utility knife with a

sharp point. Use black Dye-na-flow fabric paint

it is available online. Apply it direct from the

bottle. If it is too dark add a little water to the

paint on the plastic. Allow the paint to mottle

and puddle.

Not really a difficult process but a little time

is involved. You can make as much or as little

rough a wood grain as you want from very

slight to really rotten. The reason for using styrene for most construction like this is because it is usually stronger than real wood.