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As the title says, I'm new to weathering and will be trying it out here in a couple days for the first time. Just have a couple questions for you weathering guys out there. First off when fading the car, do you fade the car first then apply rust, grim etc or apply rust, grim etc then fade the car? Also how I was going to approach this was, I was going to use white acrylic paint mixed with water for the fade mix, then rust, and grim and that would be chalks. Is this a good way to start or do it all in acrylic paint? Any tips or tricks from you seasoned pros would be great.
If you are just starting out weathering rolling stock, I would suggest buying some inexpensive, used cars at a local hobby shop, EBay or a swap meet to practice on before attempting weathering your equipment. Look for engine shells to practice on as well. This will give you an opportunity to try different methods, paints, fading methods and chalks. Mistakes can be tossed.
A couple of tips:
Check the internet for weathering videos. There are several excellent guys out there that provide weathering tips.
Check this forum for photos of rolling stock that has been weathered.
Use DullCote spray on the equipment to dull the finish and provide a surface for the weathering to stick.
Fade the car first.
Black washes or air brushing work great on darker colors or use a THIN wash of the color close to the basic color of the car.
Keep weathering light at first....Don't over do it!
Don't forget to weather the bottom of the cars and couplers.
Notice the slight weathering to the flat car and heavier weathering on the old cab.
I'm not sure how far you are wanting to take your weathering or what skills your are hoping to learn, but an excellent resource for both beginner and seasoned weatherer alike is The Rustbucket forum: http://tws-rustbucket.com/. There are a lot of helpful walkthroughs and articles on there. The members will help with any questions you may have and try to help you along. I think you need to sign up before being able to view the forum. Some examples of models weathered by some of the guys who have been around a while on that fourm can be viewed here: http://theweatheringshop.com/. Hope this helps and hope to see you over there!
To answer your question about the order of attack. Yes, fade first then add on top of it. There are several ways to fade, including acrylics with brush, acrylics through airbrush, oils, etc. A lot of what you do depends on how it works in your hands and what is easiest for you. Check some of the tutorials at the forum linked above for more on that. After the fade, you'll want to add some grime, then rust if the prototype calls for it. Lastly, any patched areas or graffiti that is present on the prototype.
The following was done with a very light airbrush fade to start off (not with white!), then followed up by multiple light layers of grime done with oils. The grime along the sill and on the bays was done with powders applied carefully, with acrylic for the wheel spray. The rust was all done with oils. The graffiti was done with thinned acrylics. The trucks and wheels are mostly powders over a base coat of rattle can camoflauge paint.
That is fantastic Kevin! I only hope to be that good someday. I've watched a few of the videos posted above by Greg and I will be signing up to the Rustbucket forum. I hope to play around this weekend with the weathering.
