Weathering Locos and Rolling Stock

[Espeefan]

I see post after post and article after article talking about the medium used for weather. (Chalk, paint, etc) but what I've never seen is how to apply that medium.

What do you do to get the chalk on the car? Paintbrush? Finger? just drop it on?

That's the key element I'm somehow missing in 'how to weather'.

Apply powders with a brush. Scotty Mason's weathering video shows him applying them by dipping a brush in alcohol and then in the powder and applying it wet. That works also. Bragdon's have an adhesive in the powders so they won't come off.

Come to one of my airbrush clinics sometime and I'll teach you how to weather with watercolors! I do them at Amherst, the NMRA National, Trainfest in Milwaukee, and the RPM in Lisle IL.

 

[GN.2-6-8-0]

by no means a expert but have had pretty good results with my air brush,if I have a problem its tending to over do things once in a while.

 

[montanan]

Looking really good. Can't have too much grime and dust.

 

[A2TwrOpr]

here's a few shot of a car I did this summer.
Here's my weathering process:
1. Remove the couplers and wheel trucks from the car
2. Apply an India ink wash over the entire car; top bottom sides and ends. Seal with krylon dull coat
3. Apply washes with cheap acrylic paints from hobby lobby. Seal between each coat.
4. Apply rust.
5. Apply more washes and seal again
6. Apply graffiti, if I want. And seal that.
Wheels and trucks;
1. Paint them black with krylon flat black paint for plastic.
2. Apply dirt/ earth tones via dry brush streaking them vertically. Seal it
Assemble car and enjoy. This takes about 8-10 hours per car if the car is a rust bucket. More lightly weathered cars may only take 3-4 hours to complete. One important note, ALWAYS work from a prototype photo!

 

[Cjcrescent]

I also use paint, chalks, powders, makeup, Cigarette/cigar ash. Anything to get the effect I'm after.

 

[logandsawman]

A2T--really nice job on the rust! Great explanation, too.

 

[beiland]

Here's my weathering process:
1. Remove the couplers and wheel trucks from the car
2. Apply an India ink wash over the entire car; top bottom sides and ends. Seal with krylon dull coat
3. Apply washes with cheap acrylic paints from hobby lobby. [U]Seal between each coat[/U].
4. Apply rust.
5. Apply more washes and [U]seal again[/U]
6. Apply graffiti, if I want. And [U]seal that[/U].
Wheels and trucks;
1. Paint them black with krylon flat black paint for plastic.
2. Apply dirt/ earth tones via dry brush streaking them vertically. [U]Seal it[/U]
Assemble car and enjoy. This takes about 8-10 hours per car if the car is a rust bucket. More lightly weathered cars may only take 3-4 hours to complete. One important note, ALWAYS work from a prototype photo![/QUOTE]
Great looking job, but I do have one question.
Doesn't the 'multiple sealing' process end up adding a lot of paint thickness to the car,....possibly covering up some of the details such as rivets, etc ??

 

[Lynnb]

Some great looking weathering in here.

 

[Yannis]

Great weathering work everyone.

Just my two cents, i used recently with good results on a boxcar as a first attempt some specific enamel washes that produced dust effects. The upside was that they seem very durable to handling in contrast to dry pastels (which i use extensively in scale aircraft).

 

[A2TwrOpr]

Great looking job, but I do have one question.
Doesn't the 'multiple sealing' process end up adding a lot of paint thickness to the car,....possibly covering up some of the details such as rivets, etc ??

I should have mentioned that actually. The key is to build up the layers of dull coat very thinly. You certainly don't want to flood the car applying each layer. Another thing to keep in mind is that applying too much dull coat will actually create a sheen on the car that you can't get rid of. It's almost like a glossy effect from having so many layers of dull coat. Sounds weird but it is possible to have that happen, I've done it lol! Thanks for the compliment on my weathering. That car was a blast to do, but took an entire day.

 

[A2TwrOpr]

A2T--really nice job on the rust! Great explanation, too.

Thanks man! I hope someone finds this short write up to be helpful.