Weathering Rolling Stock, a Continous thread


wombat457 said:
@TLOC

Thank you and you have my word, I'm not going to "wreck a good engine" for the sake of weathering at the moment :) Think I'll stick to Box Cars to begin with, although I'll have to buy a few I think.

Are Box Cars a good starting point or would you suggest something else for a total novice to break his teeth on?
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I started on box cars but anything you have that’s inexpensive you should practice on
 
wombat457 said:
Might be a good idea for those who have graduated from Rolling Stock and want something a bit more complex and/or challenging. The next logical step really ;)
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I have a few that I've done, and like rolling stock I find myself going back to ones I did a few years ago and adding a little more weathering, not much but as you become better at weathering you see stuff you missed or now have the know how to enhance what you did before.
 
I know I have written about this before but…

this is MY process to get ready to weather rolling stock, your process should fit how you want to do things

1. remove the trucks from the car

2. screw the screw that held the trucks onto the car back in that same hole

3. remove the wheels from the trucks

4. fill a container with enough Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) to cover the trucks and wheels (I use a clean yogurt container)

5. put the wheels into the container of IPA

6. Tune the trucks (I use a MicroMark tuner to ream the holes)

7. place the trucks into the container of IPA

8. after say 5 minutes ( or whatever) pull a set of wheels out and using a clean toothbrush, brush the front surfaces of the wheels and set aside (on a paper towel or ???) to air dry

9. pull out the trucks and clean with the toothbrush and set aside to dry.

10. recycle the IPA into a bottle marked as such, I continuously reuse the IPA for trucks and wheels

IPA dries quickly but you want to be sure the wheels and trucks are dry. I usually set a timer for 90 minutes but more often I will leave the parts to air dry overnight. Your decision…

11. I love my airbrush, so I use it here. This step can also be done by hand brushing or by spray can. If I only have a set or 2, I will hand brush. I spray the truck sides lightly with 2 drops of a grey added to a Matt clear varnish of choice. (currently I use VMS flat clear) I use a spring clip or clothes pin to hold the truck. Put aside to dry

12. I hand brush the wheels if there are only a couple sets. Anymore than 2 cars I have a wheel mask I use so I can airbrush the wheel sets. I can do 20 wheel sets (5 cars) of 36” wheels with the masks I have. Spray the wheel faces and the inside plus axle. I have no masks for 33” wheel so I hand brush those. Set aside to dry.

13. Back to the trucks. Using the airbrush or hand brushing, I apply a light coating of my base color. Set aside to dry

14. Still on trucks. Any additional coats after step #13 are hand brushed and are generally a different color than the base. I dry brush here. Add some paint to the brush, dab it off on a cloth or paper towel and dab the remaining almost dry brush on the truck side. Harder to write up than do… Set aside to dry or using a hair dryer on a low heat setting blow dry the piece

15. Truck side frame, coloring is very subjective and try to use a picture as a guide. You may want to add some Pan Pastels or chalks into the truck side frame coloring process.

16. My Wheel faces generally get a Vallejo dark umber and I use a brush to apply then set aside to dry

17. When everything is dry I put the wheels into the trucks and check the gauge using a NMRA gauge. If good, I place on the track and push and see if they glide. If they do I store them in a labeled container for the cars they go on. If they don’t glide, I will check for paint build up on the thread portion of the wheel. If clean I will pop the wheels off and check the axle point for paint build up. If clean, I then will retune the truck.

18. Couplers. If the car is for a client I leave the stock coupler on the car during the weathering process. I use a micro brush to hand apply Vallejo Burnt Umber. I seldom paint a coupler to where it is non-functioning, but it does happen.

19. If the cars are to be kept by me or the client requests Kadee I replace the couplers to the Kadee #148 metal whiskers, the Kadee Scale Shelf coupler or the Kadee metal whisker recommended for the car. All these couplers are painted the Tamiya Hull Red 50/50 thinned with IPA using the airbrush. I buy the bulk packs and paint them being held by a clothes pin rack setup.

THIS IS MY PROCESS. It’s just a GUIDE that I use and I often will deviate in techniques from it but not too far.

I do not weather a freight car with the trucks and wheels attached to the body. That’s just the way I do it. Many do leave them on and get awesome results

hope this helps
 
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CambriaArea51 said:
Should we start a thread for engines?
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I am not ready to start one as other than painting brass steamers and diesels back in the 1970’s I have never weathered a plastic diesel. I send my diesels out
3F093FE6-D42F-4E8D-80AD-64379D817249.jpeg

to be weathered but I have 3 I would like to attempt doing myself.

I will gladly follow along and will contribute as I learn
 
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CambriaArea51 said:
Tom- Those tank cars and the refer turn out great, nice work as usual. I would agree on weathering tank cars is different. Putting the reflective strips on is even more of a challenge due to the curved body.
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Thank you. The 1st couple of tank cars really had me scrambling to come up with jigs so I wasn’t constantly re-gluing or replacing hand rails or piping. I broke one car so much I grabbed another as a replacement.

I find adding the safety stripes is either easy or not. For me there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. But I am getting better.
 
wombat457 said:
Might be a good idea for those who have graduated from Rolling Stock and want something a bit more complex and/or challenging. The next logical step really ;)
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I not sure about graduating. There is so much. I am sure I can weather a plastic diesel but I keeping learning new things on rolling stock.

Using Pan Pastels
Using weathering pencils
Using the airbrush to weather
Moving from airbrushing Vallejo Air paints to Tamiya for my base
Hand brushing Vallejo Air as a wash called “wet on wet”
Using panel liners
Finally using oils for weathering

I constantly buy, weather and sell my rolling stock for the layout. I call it ”churning” the roster. That’s one of the joys of model railroading for me. While I am by no means a Rivet Counter I like the cars on my layout to reflect the eras I operate in. Previously 2005 or 2015 with the emphasis now to just operate in 2015. It’s another opportunity to weather and churn the fleet.

Locomotives do not scare me but they do intimidate me.
 
CambriaArea51 said:
Box cars and smooth side hopper cars are good. You can still find cheap cars at a show, that's how I got started.
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CambriaArea51 Tom is right. I did box cars first then the smooth sided covered hoppers. Found out you need to add a dull clear coat to a clean car before you apply Pan Pastels (PP). PP‘s need something to grip to and a dull clear coat gives a tooth to the car body that the PP grab onto.
 
TLOC said:
I not sure about graduating. There is so much. I am sure I can weather a plastic diesel but I keeping learning new things on rolling stock.

Using Pan Pastels
Using weathering pencils
Using the airbrush to weather
Moving from airbrushing Vallejo Air paints to Tamiya for my base
Hand brushing Vallejo Air as a wash called “wet on wet”
Using panel liners
Finally using oils for weathering

I constantly buy, weather and sell my rolling stock for the layout. I call it ”churning” the roster. That’s one of the joys of model railroading for me. While I am by no means a Rivet Counter I like the cars on my layout to reflect the eras I operate in. Previously 2005 or 2015 with the emphasis now to just operate in 2015. It’s another opportunity to weather and churn the fleet.

Locomotives do not scare me but they do intimidate me.
Click to expand...
I don't know that you can "graduate". I've been weathering for 20 years plus, and my techniques have evolved over the years. Mediums come and go or improve. What I use now is different from what I started using. My palette is much the same as Tom's

Airbrush, with Iwata's weathering set. They are watercolors, and very easy to use. Forgiving as well, since you can wash off anything you don't like, or use a wet bristle brush to lighten any place where you got carried away. I put together what I called "Weathering Set B" when I sold that stuff. It was mostly your basic earth tones and some grays for guys in the steam era, and no washes, as some folks prefer to work with full strength paint or dilute it to their preference.
Vallejo Model Air. You have to be careful if you weather with Vallejo. It has a vinyl component, and if you do other things over top of it, like alcohol or ink washes, or work over it with brushed mediums, it can get shiny, and we don't want shiny in our weathering.
Reaper Miniatures paint. This is a line used by figure modelers. It's a latex, and while you can spray it, it is better suited to brushing. They have many colors we can use, and many more in common with the model railroading palette.
Pan Pastels
Rembrandt chalks (stick form)
Prismacolor colored pencils
Watercolor pencils
AK washes
Oil paints
Craft store paints
Panel liners (Tamiya's)
I'm still using Dullcote (I have a couple of bottles of it and Floquil flat in my stash) but Alclad makes a nice flat coat as well if you prefer working with solvent based materials. As mentioned I like to add a bit of "Dust" to my flat coat.

Stuff that's obsoleted out for me:
Doc Bragdon's weathering powders. Nice but Pan Pastels are easier to apply.
AIM weathering powders. same deal, replaced by Pan Pastels.

I'm still learning new techniques, from other members here, from the military modelers, you name it.

As to another thread, engines don't intimidate me. I just go to Railfan.net and look for photos. Using a photo as a template is the best way to start out. The two most challenging things for me were the tank cars, and steamers. Steamers don't get dirty like everything else on the rails. They're a little different.
 
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Espeefan said:
I don't know that you can "graduate". I've been weathering for 20 years plus, and my techniques have evolved over the years. Mediums come and go or improve. What I use now is different from what I started using. My palette is much the same as Tom's

Airbrush, with Iwata's weathering set. They are watercolors, and very easy to use. Forgiving as well, since you can wash off anything you don't like, or use a wet bristle brush to lighten any place where you got carried away. I put together what I called "Weathering Sert B" when I sold that stuff. It was mostly your basic earth tones and some grays for guys in the steam era, and no washes, as some folks prefer to work with full strength paint or dilute it to their preference.
Vallejo Model Air. You have to be careful if you weather with Vallejo. It has a vinyl component, and if you do other things over top of it, like alcohol or ink washes, or work over it with brushed mediums, it can get shiny, and we don't want shiny in our weathering.
Reaper Miniatures paint. This is a line used by figure modelers. It's a latex, and while you can spray it, it is better suited to brushing. They have many colors we can use, and many more in common with the model railroading palette.
Pan Pastels
Rembrandt chalks (stick form)
Prismacolor colored pencils
Watercolor pencils
AK washes
Oil paints
Craft store paints
Panel liners (Tamiya's)
I'm still using Dullcote (I have a couple of bottles of it and Floquil flat in my stash) but Alclad makes a nice flat coat as well if you prefer working with solvent based materials. As mentioned I like to add a bit of "Dust" to my flat coat.

Stuff that's obsoleted out for me:
Doc Bragdon's weathering powders. Nice but Pan Pastels are easier to apply.
AIM weathering powders. same deal, replaced by Pan Pastels.

I'm still learning new techniques, from other members here, from the military modelers, you name it.

As to another thread, engines don't intimidate me. I just go to Railfan.net and look for photos. Using a photo as a template is the best way to start out. The two most challenging things for me were the tank cars, and steamers. Steamers don't get dirty like everything else on the rails. They're a little different.
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Thanks Alan for popping in. As always you have some great info.

At Hiawatha Hobbies yesterday Glenn is still out of Tamiya XF86 Matt clear and I almost purchased the Alclad, it was in the hand but put it back. I am going to try the Vallejo clears next and came home with those.
 
TLOC said:
Thanks Alan for popping in. As always you have some great info.

At Hiawatha Hobbies yesterday Glenn is still out of Tamiya XF86 Matt clear and I almost purchased the Alclad, it was in the hand but put it back. I am going to try the Vallejo clears next and came home with those.
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I bought some Vellejo matt (26.651), seems pretty easy to work with, but definately need to thin it first.
 
On to the next project

1A2EAE61-058D-4E76-9D31-B9B7A1CB6FD4.jpeg
A443FDAF-942F-4593-8EC6-74E653580FB7.jpeg
FCE8368C-66FC-47BD-9A7A-987BA094F5CB.jpeg
A2ECA371-B3B4-4C3A-AE31-F37D721762E5.jpeg
Turning the above 3 shining cars into something close to these. Photos are credited on each. I found these
26A04860-822C-437B-8F73-4272154A2698.jpeg
4B35576F-736C-4C7D-A9B5-634E44998C12.jpeg
The client emailed me these
6081B2C2-D6E7-4C54-A843-E6DA8922B9AC.jpeg

F3EC47B5-62C5-4CE5-BE94-D40D5C7084A2.jpeg
D5BD0034-B0C3-4721-9F01-99E4F737028F.jpeg
I will use the pictures as guides.

First thing this morning at the bench is I will remove the wheels and truck frames.

Since I like to do wheel sets and truck frames in batches I also will do the 6 pulp cars that were on the porch when we returned.
216EAEEC-CEA5-487A-A19E-7EB6D6E655A3.jpeg
While strangely enough they are the same truck frames they are kept separately and will return to the car they were removed from. Not sure about the pulp car wheels if they are steel or not. They should be but the pulp cars from Walther’s did not always have steel wheel on the pulp cars. If not they will be replaced with steel ones in inventory.

Fading on the 9 cars will be different. The covered hoppers I need to think about. The 3 pictures he forwarded to me are very different. That’s a good thing…

But the pulp cars will get a touch of gray/green if these are the Procor cars WC used or just a light black/gray if not.

After the fading and clear coating process each car then will be handled individually

As always helpful hints, pictures and constructive criticism is requested. No problem if you state you don’t like it but only if you say why and can offer a reason. I take your suggestions seriously so don’t be hesitant
 
TLOC said:
On to the next project

View attachment 161727View attachment 161728View attachment 161729View attachment 161730Turning the above 3 shining cars into something close to these. Photos are credited on each. I found these
View attachment 161731View attachment 161732The client emailed me these
View attachment 161735
View attachment 161734View attachment 161733I will use the pictures as guides.

First thing this morning at the bench is I will remove the wheels and truck frames.

Since I like to do wheel sets and truck frames in batches I also will do the 6 pulp cars that were on the porch when we returned.View attachment 161737While strangely enough they are the same truck frames they are kept separately and will return to the car they were removed from. Not sure about the pulp car wheels if they are steel or not. They should be but the pulp cars from Walther’s did not always have steel wheel on the pulp cars. If not they will be replaced with steel ones in inventory.

Fading on the 9 cars will be different. The covered hoppers I need to think about. The 3 pictures he forwarded to me are very different. That’s a good thing…

But the pulp cars will get a touch of gray/green if these are the Procor cars WC used or just a light black/gray if not.

After the fading and clear coating process each car then will be handled individually

As always helpful hints, pictures and constructive criticism is requested. No problem if you state you don’t like it but only if you say why and can offer a reason. I take your suggestions seriously so don’t be hesitant
Click to expand...
Admit it, you love a challenge. :D
But I think the last one your client sent is just too yellow, ignore that one, it just won't match up with the others.
 
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