Ok, going to (try to) get into the fray and post picture of some of my doing in N scale. First attempt at pictures in this forum.
The starting point: seven C&O steam era hoppers, in as received condition. The 90-tonner at bottom right is “out-of-era” and us unlikely to ever see meaningful time on my layout, but serves me usefully as a test piece for my first batch of airbrushed cars (three Athearn 3-bay 70-tonners, three Atlas two-bay 55-tonners, , and the aforementioned Atlas 90-ton):
And here is a closeup of the Athearn three-bay cars:
Obviously, my layout is far from finished, so the photography suffers from the lack of a realistic scenic backdrop.
Alright, on to the great outdoors where I do some of my airbrushing. (I do some acrylic airbrushing indoors, the more noxious solvents I take outdoors)
Yeah, I spray ‘em upside down, so I get the hopper doors & undersides, and get undeneath the lip at the top of the body. I don’t turn them over to get the top of the lip or inside the bays. These cars will have their loads reinstalled anyway, and the rims/lips really aren’t glossy. The Dullcote has already been applied in this photo. Bottled Dullcote thinned 1:1 with laquer thinner. (I’ve since gone to 2 parts Dullcote to 1 part laquer thinner, and like that better, and may thin less on my next venture.
Ok, don’t have interim process photo, but finished shots up next. The general process to get finished was:
1. Airbrush on Vallejo Air clear matte varnish (a bonehead mistake I mentioned earlier, in the weathering locomotives thread(?), because I didn’t frikking read the bottle, and thought I was using white)
2. Since the matte varnish looked good, I just put Vallejo Air White (yeah, for real this time) heavily thinned to a wash as a fade coat. Varied the number of coats among cars.
3. Airbrushed on heavily thinned Vallejo burnt umber for modest “overall rustiness.”
4. Hand-painted individual rust areas with Vallero burnt umber. Thinned to a wash for large panel rust, unthinned for individual rust spots.
5. Pastel chalking with medium to dark grays, intentionally going for uneven fade effects
6. Sealed with Vallejo matte varnish (also for real this time), thinned 1:1.
All thinning of acrylic done with Vallejo airbrush thinner.
That one above is my test piece. The lighting is a bit dark, so it’s hard to tell, but I overdid it on both the fade coat and the rust coat, as a result it gravitates a bit toward pink in hue.
Below is a better piece. Trucks weathered with a 1:1 mix of Valkejo burnt umber and rail brown (brand uncertain, and I’m not at home to ferret it out). Wheels weathered with pastel earthtone chalk mixing medium brown and dark brown. Applied dipping a small brush into 70% isopropyl,, then into the pastel mix, then swabbing it on the wheel face. (I like the texture - I sometimes like to get my eye down to ground level when the train passes; the texture allows me to see the wheels turning - one of the more vivid things I remember as a small boy waiting at RR crossings, watching the dirty wheels turn.
Below are a few shots of applying two-toned rust - the first being the burnt umber, the second being a “Normal Rust” of a military miniature brand (can’t renember that one, either, and still not at the house). Painted the normal rust (the brighter color) first, followed up with the burnt umber over it, but leaving the edges of the brighter showing, to give the impression of newer rust at the edges of a rusty patch:
Above with flash, below, same car without flash:
Some other cars with same technique:
(Things are acting up, so splitting the post here)
Very interesting.
