Post #81974 by pariartspaul on Sun, Mar 21, 2004 8:12 AM

Yes, as I said Rustoleum works really well on the metal and bondo. I use the regular glossy Rustoleum, it gives a nice finish. First a light sanding overall, then I mix an ochre type color for the base coat using Rustoleum's off the shelf yellow ochre mixed with just a little brown and white to tone it down and give a more natural look. Then let it dry all day.
Once the base color is dry, I wet blend the finish colors by starting with the ochre base color again, and then blend some brown where the segment separations are, and then some lighter areas (ochre mixed with white) on the longer sections. For variety, you can mix a little green in here and there to make it look like newer bamboo.
After this coat is dry to the touch, you can come in with some matte black and a teeny brush to paint cracks and splits in here and there, this really finishes it off well and makes it look authentic.
And really, I find the best thing to do is to have some real bamboo with you to use as a color model.