I am a lot happier with the side of the box where I sealed the stencil first, just because it looks better. But I saw lots of overspray on stencils when I was in the Army, and saw some associated chickensh*t related to that. None of that here!
On to weathering the box.
I used weathering techniques from when I was building models as a teenager, so it's a different style/approach than what Lugz uses on his restorations. This is just more familiar to me. Supplies are turpentine, white, yellow and brown (burnt umber is what I used) and a small paintbrush. And a lint free rag.
I started by a liberal application of burnt umber and turpentine to the corners of the bottom of the box, the tray, and the external feet and where the handles join the box. Intent here was to create the appearance/illusion of dirt/gunk in the corners and out of the way locations. All other color application is designed to break down the uniform appearance of the (OD) base color. The idea is to give the appearance of some color, but not enough to look painted. I just slopped on some color, added turpentine above it, let it wash down the box and then evaluated. If it looked painted, add some more turpentine. If it looked faded/washed out, perfect. I used the rag to soak up the turpentine where it gathered in places (seams & corners) and left an off-color residue. Then tried to cover that with the brown color. Very trial and error, non-scientific approach; remember this is to break down the uniformity of the base color. This is where your inner aritiste can came out, lol.
. After that I will coat this box with my favorite brand of protectant- "patina sauce".
. Also the smaller of the two drawers was rusted but my parts box one was solid. It was totally spray bombed gold and red but i managed to strip it by hand with a rag and goof off. This box very isn’t the nicest one but it’s a lot better than I found it and it’s one you could actually use now!
