Thanks, Paul. I don't think the display is supposed to be up and running until later this year - for some reason Thanksgiving time sounds right. Sounds like you will need to plan a return trip out there!
Here is what I did for weathering: If you are going to weather a rocket you don't need to worry about sanding it smooth. Little globs of glue and stuff just add to the look of bubbling/blistering metal or paint. First, I painted the entire rocket black. The black undercoat not only brings out the richness in the metallic color, but the way I sprayed the metallic color in the next step adds depth to the 3D details and helps the nooks and crannies fill with black. When I sprayed the metallic color I sprayed it at a very sharp angle, almost parallel to the center of the rocket (which this particular rocket really has no center!). What that does is leaves the bottom portion of the 3D details in the paint "shadow" so really only the tops of the rivets have color while the bottom remains black. Then, with a thin paint brush I brushed on some green, brown and rust color around the pipes making it look like rust and corrosion are flowing down (see detail pictures below).
Then for the grime I just squirted a little blob of cheap black acrylic craft paint onto a Styrofoam plate and added some water near it so I could water down some of the paint or keep some of it thick. Then using a cheap 1" brush, wadded up paper towel, q-tip, or even just my fingers, I blobbed on some paint/water mixture onto one section at a time and then wiped it off with a paper towel or q-tip before it dried, wiping from the front of the rocket towards the rear. That build up the grime around joints, rivets, etc and makes it look like it is streaked towards the ground. Do only 1 section at a time because the paint will dry too fast and it will all be black again. You also need to experiment a bit with different water/paint ratios and different dry times before wiping, and you may need to go over spots a few times to get the effect you want.
After it was all done I sprayed a dull clear coat to get rid of the shininess, particularly on the copper paint I used.
That's the cheap and simple way I weathered this one. There are more advanced techniques and products (especially for model railroad builders) that would produce way better results, but I am not that familiar with them. Micro Mark makes a product called "Rust and Dust" which is a 4 step application of a rust wash, a grime wash, a clear coat, then literally brushing on dust. I used this on a project before and it really makes them look dirty. I would liek to some day learn more about these advanced techniques and products.
Also... a fellow steampunk rocket builder and I are collaborating on an article that we will submit to Sport Rocketry in hopes that it gets published in an upcoming issue.
