Over in the engine thread, I mentioned four wood box cars in the works. This post is progress on one of those four, an Athearn N Scale “Old Time” Chesapeake & Ohio box car. In the C& O Historic Society archives cars of similar constructionand livery sate from 1893 to 1895. I didn’t take a “before” picture, but I would characterize it as very bright on the “boxcar red” spectrum, overly so; even bordering on gaudy. More red it was, than any boxcar in any color photo in the COHS archives.
This car is intended to not run on the main line, but will be an old well-worn unit to bring supplies to the coal mine and/or timber camp up the branch line where thise industries are found.
The first task was twofold:
(1) Fade the car
(2) Lean it more toward a brown
So, for the fade coat, I mixed six parts of Vallejo white with one part Mission Models brown (yeah, just plain brown - my entire color palette used on this car is in a photo at the end of this post.) I thinned it 2:1 with Vallejo airbrush thinner.
This is the sole photo I have of it in fade only, it is to the immediate right of the yellow refer:
Think of the original boxcar color as a slightly orange shade of the caboose in that photo. Both goals were accomplished to my satisfaction.
I then sprayed over the fade with dullcoat to preserve it, so I could move on tho localized fade effects.
For localized spots of additional fade, I mixed six parts of Vallejo white to one part Vallejo neutral gray, and thinned 3:1 with demineralized water to make a wash for brushing on.
I also wanted to simulate some wood dregdadation, and I thought a green would work for that, and I selected Vallejo gunship green some months ago for that very purpose.
The combined results of the two:
The green is applied to the left and right of the word “CHESAPEAKE” in the above photo.
Below is the other side:
The green for the mildew/wood rot here is to both sides of the door.
Also in the above photos is a wash I made to dirty up the ladder areas. I’ve only done it with passel chalks before. The wash was Vallejo black & burnt umber, and the Mission Models brown, in a 1:1:1 mix, then thinned with water 3:1.
The above is the embarrassing part about photographing N scale weathering - the photos are either too dim to show off the details of your work, or so bright that all flaws are laid bare. The latter has occurred with these two photos. I painstakingly lightly blotted up excess white fade, then drybrushed to feather the edge of the fade, and even came back with a damp brush to extend the transition a bit more. The pictures tend to render that a lie, but do it, I did.
The other details were the turnbuckles, brakewheel, and brakewheel rod were brushed with Vallejo burnt umber.
The end view shots:
Well, the car isn’t sealed yet, and the trucks & wheels aren’t done yet, maybe I can rehabilitate my fade transitions of the light areas.
And below is my complete color selection for this car:
