Pretty much every painter I know doesn’t care much for rust. When they paint metal their aim is to stop rust. They sand and clean in the hopes their paint will stick well to the metal and stop rust in it’s tracks. We take a little different tack.
For the submarine themed board room we wanted it to look like it has been around the damp salt air for a long, long time. We WANTED to see lots of corrosion and rust. And while we wanted it to look like old rusty steel, the fact is most of the project has no metal in it. It’s made from medium density fiberboard, drywall and high density urethane. Those materials simply don’t rust - EVER. But luckily we have a special paint that does. We carefully layer on two coats of this special paint and then spray on a mild acid. By the next day scaly rust magically appears every time. The process is somewhat unpredictable and random but this adds to the authentic look in a big way. The riveted trim is coming along nicely and the room is changing quickly. It’s only a matter of days now until the cork floor is laid and we begin the final assembly process.
Stay tuned for more progress...
-grampa dan