Q on Weathering Walthers Mission Style freight house and depot

[nephthyr]

Hi All,

Any suggestions / advice on how to weather the Walthers Mission Style freight house and depot?

I dont plan on painting the kit at all since I don't have an airbrush yet, so will leave it in its original sand brown color for walls with white trim for doors and windows.

I definitely want to weather it though, particularly for a western Texas setting, especially those white / cream doors, I suspect they would have to be made to look dusty brown.

Any help would greatly be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[kjd]

Flattening coat would help a lot, either Dullcoat or a matte spray, then chalks or drybrushing would be the way to go.

 

[UP2CSX]

What era are you modeling? The Santa Fe took very good care of their station buildings right up through the late 50's so, except of some staining from water runoff, you'd rarely see a Santa Fe station that needed a paint job. Starting in the 60's, there was almost no maintenance done to the smaller stations until most of them were demolished in the 70's. If it's the 60's or later, you could start with a general fading of the colors by using a slightly lighter color of chalk than the walls, fading in spots most directly exposed to the sun. The later in time, the more you would have gotten to actual peeling paint and wood dors that had most of the paint removed by weather and time. You should check for Santa Fe station pictures on line to find one close to your style and era and use that as a guide.

 

[nephthyr]

Thanks for the replies. Modeling mid 50's so I guess no heavy weathering which I'm glad to hear, I don't particularly want to weather these too heavily anyway.

Will I have to use chalks or could soft pastels also work? I seem to be having a hard time finding colored chalks at my local art supply.