C&OMtnMan
Well-Known Member
The one(s) with the streaked rust on the interior of the wells are particularly arresting to my eye.
Weathering Rolling Stock, a Continous thread
- Thread starter TLOC
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The one(s) with the streaked rust on the interior of the wells are particularly arresting to my eye.
Thank you!
You know, I think I have finally found the happy spot around my layout for taking my photos to show things off to their best. It’s on a corner of my layout table, the lighting is in a good spot, I don’t have to over-zoom, and I get good focus.
My tape measure is sitting on that corner of the table right now, and the belt clip makes a little cradle for holding a car.
Dave LASM
Yes, this is not your grandfather’s N Scale anymore.
Well, the repainting was easy. The part that I dread is the decaling.
What is your process and materials for decal undercoating, laying, setting, fixing, and overcoating?
I model 1930s-1950s, (with some older equipment that would still be operation in that era) so I don’t deal with graffiti, but when I weather cars, I do both sides, but then I evaluate “good side vs. bad side” and I face the good sides to where they face me when they are on the near side of the layout.
"The lighting does not convey the richness of colors..." Right on about that, I have noticed having difficulty getting a photo to look like what I am seeing, I think my biggest problem here is the lighting in the train room and how that translates.
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The one(s) with the streaked rust on the interior of the wells are particularly arresting to my eye.
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Thank you
C&OMtnMan
Well-Known Member
Ok, another chapter in the “Rime of the Ancient Boxcar Weatherer”:
(the box cars are ancient, the weatherer is…well, not so much)
Something again from a century and a quarter ago, but visually a changeup: An Atlas N Scale yellow wooden reefer:
I made a yellow wash for brushed on local faded spots mixing one part Badger Model Flex Erie Lackawanna yellow (16-52) with four parts Vallejo white, and an interminable amount of Vallejo airbrush thinner. (I had to scoop out a few brushfulls of the stuff to have enough room in my tiny basin to thin it enough. I also gave it a couple of brush dabs of Vallejo burnt umber to get the right tint to the yellow.
Also, for dirt spots spots on the body, i made a lighter brown wash than for the previous car: a 1:1:6 mx of Mission Models Brown, Vallejo burnt umber, and Vallejo white. Then that whole was thinned 4:1 with Vallejo airbrush thinner.
I used the same green wash for wood deterioration as on my previous car.
Getting down to it with the A side:
The B: side
The airbrush thinner did afford me more working time to blend the edges of the various patches where the washes were applied, than using water did.
For griming up the roof, I did up a modestly thinned (2:1(?)) batch of Mission Models Anthracite, and dry-brushed it on, the first time I used something other than pastel chalks for a roof; I rather like it , and I know it will hold up to Dullcote.
For the ends of the car, I made a green gray mix, because the green straight up wasn’t as visible as I wanted: 1 Part Gunship Green to 2 Parts Neutral Gray, then thinned 4:1.
Brakeweel end:
The empty end:
Here are the colors I used for this car:
Up next: a pair of outside-braced B&O box cars. “Modern” stuff; only about 105 years old, they are!
P.S.: Enjoy the nice variety of cars from me while you can; before long, it will be back to humdrum black hoppers, and boxcar red.
(the box cars are ancient, the weatherer is…well, not so much)
Something again from a century and a quarter ago, but visually a changeup: An Atlas N Scale yellow wooden reefer:
I made a yellow wash for brushed on local faded spots mixing one part Badger Model Flex Erie Lackawanna yellow (16-52) with four parts Vallejo white, and an interminable amount of Vallejo airbrush thinner. (I had to scoop out a few brushfulls of the stuff to have enough room in my tiny basin to thin it enough. I also gave it a couple of brush dabs of Vallejo burnt umber to get the right tint to the yellow.
Also, for dirt spots spots on the body, i made a lighter brown wash than for the previous car: a 1:1:6 mx of Mission Models Brown, Vallejo burnt umber, and Vallejo white. Then that whole was thinned 4:1 with Vallejo airbrush thinner.
I used the same green wash for wood deterioration as on my previous car.
Getting down to it with the A side:
The B: side
The airbrush thinner did afford me more working time to blend the edges of the various patches where the washes were applied, than using water did.
For griming up the roof, I did up a modestly thinned (2:1(?)) batch of Mission Models Anthracite, and dry-brushed it on, the first time I used something other than pastel chalks for a roof; I rather like it , and I know it will hold up to Dullcote.
For the ends of the car, I made a green gray mix, because the green straight up wasn’t as visible as I wanted: 1 Part Gunship Green to 2 Parts Neutral Gray, then thinned 4:1.
Brakeweel end:
The empty end:
Here are the colors I used for this car:
Up next: a pair of outside-braced B&O box cars. “Modern” stuff; only about 105 years old, they are!
P.S.: Enjoy the nice variety of cars from me while you can; before long, it will be back to humdrum black hoppers, and boxcar red.
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Smudge617
Well-Known Member
Really nicely done.
C&OMtnMan
Well-Known Member
Thank you!
You know, I think I have finally found the happy spot around my layout for taking my photos to show things off to their best. It’s on a corner of my layout table, the lighting is in a good spot, I don’t have to over-zoom, and I get good focus.
My tape measure is sitting on that corner of the table right now, and the belt clip makes a little cradle for holding a car.
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logandsawman
Well-Known Member
The car turned out very well, and I am amazed at the quality of detail they got in that little thing.
Dave LASM
C&OMtnMan
Well-Known Member
Yes, this is not your grandfather’s N Scale anymore.
Rico
BN Modeller
Geez, didn’t realize until now that was N scale, thought you just had really big fingers I guess!
CambriaArea51
Well-Known Member
That is the only thing that bugs me when taking pictures is the lighting. What looks great in front of you doesn't always translate to the camera. I've taken many pics adjusting the light to get photo to look good.
TLOC
Well-Known Member
JAY!
I pulled the picture of the center beam you posted in the diner to here!
You did a great job on the bridge. You need to weather that center beam along with pictures
Here are some of my weathered beams that all moved on to other modelers and layouts.
I have many more pictures of different center beams.
The ones pictured above were weathered with a bit of everything. Acrylics, oils and Pan Pastels. Lately when I do a center beam I’ve been using an oil wash along with pigments and a straight shot of burnt umber oils for heavier rust spots.
Basically use what you are most comfortable with and have fun
I pulled the picture of the center beam you posted in the diner to here!
You did a great job on the bridge. You need to weather that center beam along with pictures
Here are some of my weathered beams that all moved on to other modelers and layouts.
I have many more pictures of different center beams.
The ones pictured above were weathered with a bit of everything. Acrylics, oils and Pan Pastels. Lately when I do a center beam I’ve been using an oil wash along with pigments and a straight shot of burnt umber oils for heavier rust spots.
Basically use what you are most comfortable with and have fun
TLOC
Well-Known Member
I tried Monday to weather but with the window and roofers here it was way too noisy to concentrate during the day. The window guys are here for day 2 as the roof is done and I just sort of cleaned my bench. Or, about as clean as it gets!
I have a commission to just add graffiti decals to 4 box cars, both sides! Even with the noise I think I can handle this
Outside my trainroom a window has been removed!
Thankfully it’s another nice day!
What little weathering I did Monday was late afternoon darkening the weathering on some intermodal well cars. Just a few sprays of xf-52 Tamiya flat earth color with a drop of xf-1 black thinned by Isopropyl Alcohol to what looked good
The client did approve the darken weathering. On to tagging the units after the window guys leave after 3pm
Outside my trainroom a window has been removed!
Thankfully it’s another nice day!
What little weathering I did Monday was late afternoon darkening the weathering on some intermodal well cars. Just a few sprays of xf-52 Tamiya flat earth color with a drop of xf-1 black thinned by Isopropyl Alcohol to what looked good
The client did approve the darken weathering. On to tagging the units after the window guys leave after 3pm
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TLOC
Well-Known Member
These are definitely darker than pictures shown. These are sets 5 and 6 in the last couple weeks of 53’ well car weathering. A few are repeat numbers and may look the same as the initial weather on all 18 cars was done as a batch. There are some individual differences in rust scratches and dots but got the most part the weathering has been the same. They are all going to different modelers so that part was of no concern. The final weathering, like darkening the 2 pictured today makes a difference in the cars. Tags and any graffiti is always different and that’s next on these 6 cars
Other than 1 unweathered new in the box Pacer Bran blue 3 car set that is on fb ($152 includes USA shipping) to sell I am done with the current batch of Kato articulated well cars. I know I have mentioned this before but for good quality details that are not fragile, cars with very good weight and roll excellently, Kato is my choice.
I am going to tag and do graffiti, enjoy your day
Other than 1 unweathered new in the box Pacer Bran blue 3 car set that is on fb ($152 includes USA shipping) to sell I am done with the current batch of Kato articulated well cars. I know I have mentioned this before but for good quality details that are not fragile, cars with very good weight and roll excellently, Kato is my choice.
I am going to tag and do graffiti, enjoy your day
C&OMtnMan
Well-Known Member
“There are two kinds of men in this world, Tuco, those with good paint jobs on their weathered cars, and those who start over. You start over.”
Sooo, my last couple of posts were about “The Good,” but that’s only a third of the title of the movie, and now I must post the part about “The Bad, And The Ugly.”
So, I decided the next weathering project was going to be a pair of Micro-Trains (N scale) B&O outside-braced box cars. Again, I took no before pictures, but Micro-Trains’ stock photo depicts it pretty well:
This car, as shown, is converted to cement service. I didn’t want that conversion, and was able to ascertain that the conversion parts were not pre-attached, nor were the cars pre-drilled for them.
So, I did the perfunctory Dullcote, then faded them with the same mix I used for the 1890’s vintage C&O box car. They can be seen in the as-faded condition below (the two cars to the left of the yellow reefer):
I decided I was going to do some washes in artist oils, to highlight bolts, plank lines, etc., and that meant a gloss clear coat next, and thats where the problems began:
So, I reach fr my Tamiya clear gloss, and thin it 1:1 with 99% isopropyl, because it’s their acrylic gloss , right? I have a throwaway caboose to test spray it on, and I do that. Let it sit for a few minutes, and it looks good. So, I spray the cars.
A few minutes later, I see my test caboose turning white. In short order, so do my cars.
So, I’m not certain whether alcohol was a bad choice for thinner, or if it was my atmospheric conditions: I spray outdoors, and humidity was in the upper sixties, and surpassed 70% before I was done.
So, I decided I had to do the overnight isopropyl alcohol soak to be able to start over on these cars.
And so I do. Well, “starting over” is to put it mildly. After four hours of my “overnight soak,” various decals are floating around in the alcohol, and it’s turning brown, to boot. What color were these cars again?
Upon opening the ziplock bag with the cars and alcohol, I can see also that the cars are well on their way to being laid entirely bare by the process.
There is “starting over,” but this is “starting from nothing.”
Making a long story short, I finished the stripping process (bare car is molded in pretty much the same color as the original paint), primed (rather than dullcoted) them, and repainted fairly close to the original brown.
Decided I didn’t like that original brown, however; I prefer the traditional B&O box car red, fairly bright and leans toward the red end of the spectrum.
I also did some research, and found that B&O had “iron box cars” dating back as far as the 1870s, and a modern museum photograph showed a preserved one, in this traditional B&O red. I felt that gave me justification to strip the cars a second time and go for that coloration.
And so I did.
I primed them this time with Mission Models red oxide primer. The color is in that general ballpark, but a bit too burgundy to just Dullcote over as-is:
So, I decided to roll my own B&O boxcar red, utilizing
16 parts Mission Models standard rust
8 parts Vallejo burnt umber
3 parts Vallejo red
The cars came out as below. Top car is in paint, bottom car in primer only:
The photograph doesn’t convey well the richness of the colors, but does give a relative comparison of the difference between the primer and the top coat.
And yes, the primer is a gloss when dry. I, being primarily used to automotive primers, was a bit surprised by this, but the paint took to it quite well.
Since I’ll be doing decals on these, the next step will be to glosscoat them, then wait for the decals to arrive.
And since I’ll be glosscoating them, I’m dang sure going to do test sprays and be certain it comes out right before any of it goes on the cars.
My color palette for the repainting done thus far:
Sooo, my last couple of posts were about “The Good,” but that’s only a third of the title of the movie, and now I must post the part about “The Bad, And The Ugly.”
So, I decided the next weathering project was going to be a pair of Micro-Trains (N scale) B&O outside-braced box cars. Again, I took no before pictures, but Micro-Trains’ stock photo depicts it pretty well:
This car, as shown, is converted to cement service. I didn’t want that conversion, and was able to ascertain that the conversion parts were not pre-attached, nor were the cars pre-drilled for them.
So, I did the perfunctory Dullcote, then faded them with the same mix I used for the 1890’s vintage C&O box car. They can be seen in the as-faded condition below (the two cars to the left of the yellow reefer):
I decided I was going to do some washes in artist oils, to highlight bolts, plank lines, etc., and that meant a gloss clear coat next, and thats where the problems began:
So, I reach fr my Tamiya clear gloss, and thin it 1:1 with 99% isopropyl, because it’s their acrylic gloss , right? I have a throwaway caboose to test spray it on, and I do that. Let it sit for a few minutes, and it looks good. So, I spray the cars.
A few minutes later, I see my test caboose turning white. In short order, so do my cars.
So, I’m not certain whether alcohol was a bad choice for thinner, or if it was my atmospheric conditions: I spray outdoors, and humidity was in the upper sixties, and surpassed 70% before I was done.
So, I decided I had to do the overnight isopropyl alcohol soak to be able to start over on these cars.
And so I do. Well, “starting over” is to put it mildly. After four hours of my “overnight soak,” various decals are floating around in the alcohol, and it’s turning brown, to boot. What color were these cars again?
Upon opening the ziplock bag with the cars and alcohol, I can see also that the cars are well on their way to being laid entirely bare by the process.
There is “starting over,” but this is “starting from nothing.”
Making a long story short, I finished the stripping process (bare car is molded in pretty much the same color as the original paint), primed (rather than dullcoted) them, and repainted fairly close to the original brown.
Decided I didn’t like that original brown, however; I prefer the traditional B&O box car red, fairly bright and leans toward the red end of the spectrum.
I also did some research, and found that B&O had “iron box cars” dating back as far as the 1870s, and a modern museum photograph showed a preserved one, in this traditional B&O red. I felt that gave me justification to strip the cars a second time and go for that coloration.
And so I did.
I primed them this time with Mission Models red oxide primer. The color is in that general ballpark, but a bit too burgundy to just Dullcote over as-is:
So, I decided to roll my own B&O boxcar red, utilizing
16 parts Mission Models standard rust
8 parts Vallejo burnt umber
3 parts Vallejo red
The cars came out as below. Top car is in paint, bottom car in primer only:
The photograph doesn’t convey well the richness of the colors, but does give a relative comparison of the difference between the primer and the top coat.
And yes, the primer is a gloss when dry. I, being primarily used to automotive primers, was a bit surprised by this, but the paint took to it quite well.
Since I’ll be doing decals on these, the next step will be to glosscoat them, then wait for the decals to arrive.
And since I’ll be glosscoating them, I’m dang sure going to do test sprays and be certain it comes out right before any of it goes on the cars.
My color palette for the repainting done thus far:
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TLOC
Well-Known Member
Looks like you going to have a nice outcome. I think any of us who paint or weather models have had your experience.
C&OMtnMan
Well-Known Member
Well, the repainting was easy. The part that I dread is the decaling.
What is your process and materials for decal undercoating, laying, setting, fixing, and overcoating?
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
I used to do graffiti on both sides, but with my current (and final) layout, only one side is visible to the aisle except on the turn-back loop on the end of the blob. And there it is about 7' from the viewer's eyes, so now I apply decals or painted graffiti on one side only. Saves a little bit of time. That may be negated by the time spent deciding which side to use though!
C&OMtnMan
Well-Known Member
I used to do graffiti on both sides, but with my current (and final) layout, only one side is visible to the aisle except on the turn-back loop on the end of the blob. And there it is about 7' from the viewer's eyes, so now I apply decals or painted graffiti on one side only. Saves a little bit of time. That may be negated by the time spent deciding which side to use though!
I model 1930s-1950s, (with some older equipment that would still be operation in that era) so I don’t deal with graffiti, but when I weather cars, I do both sides, but then I evaluate “good side vs. bad side” and I face the good sides to where they face me when they are on the near side of the layout.
Last edited:
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Most of my graffiti commissions are done on one side of the carI used to do graffiti on both sides, but with my current (and final) layout, only one side is visible to the aisle except on the turn-back loop on the end of the blob. And there it is about 7' from the viewer's eyes, so now I apply decals or painted graffiti on one side only. Saves a little bit of time. That may be negated by the time spent deciding which side to use though!
logandsawman
Well-Known Member
"The lighting does not convey the richness of colors..." Right on about that, I have noticed having difficulty getting a photo to look like what I am seeing, I think my biggest problem here is the lighting in the train room and how that translates.
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