Weathering Rolling Stock, a Continous thread

[TLOC]

I’ve weathered some 60 cars; I consider #60 to have been as much a practice piece as #1 was.

Ok, have fun…

 

[C&OMtnMan]

Ok, have fun…

That part might be asking too much!

 

[TLOC]

Good morning on this Friday. Some work to be done

Back to the weathering bench today SORT OF!

After working on 3 dozen very white reefer cars it’s time to switch gears as I wait for supplies to show up before I can continue down the reefer track. I am about 40% on the first set of 36 reefers.

I am out of Vallejo Air burnt umber, various Vallejo whites, the 3 paints I mix for my desert dust and I have 1 bottle of Tamiya xf86 flat clear left. Totally a screw up on my end.

1. I wasn’t supposed to be in Wisconsin in February but re-wrecking my knee ended my vacation after 11 days. So, I am about 10 days ahead of the reefer weathering schedule…

2. 82’ reefers use many more supplies then the 50’ and 60’ cars I am used to weathering

3. My usual dealers are out of the supplies and they back ordered everything.

4. Amazon is much higher priced but when I decided to bite the bullet and buy anyway, the major item (Tamiya flat clear) wasn’t available in the amounts I wanted and they are backordered

So, I pullEd out some of my own cars. Inspected and items noted to be done. Today I will add the safety stripes.

I pulled cars off the shelf to be worked on today. Stripes first and the 4 cars not already weathered will be clear coated with my last bottle of Tamiya flat clear. These are all cars distributed from HomeshopsLlc and are available at Homeshops.net

16 cars with 15 getting stripes added. I know the safety stripe mandate was issued for 2005. I am saying these all qualify after the brakes were re-done or an ownership change. There are 4 cars that have no weathering at all and that will change over the next 4-6 days. A few of these cars will be re-done

enjoy your day

 

[C&OMtnMan]

Hey, @TLOC , I’m sure this didn’t happen without you noticing, but in the next-to-last picture, the long Arkansas Valley boxcar, you have an abrupt change in the appearance of the roof, right at the end of the word “Arkansas.”

Is that to represent a change of storage state of a car? Partly in/out of a building for years? Stick partially out from under a covered open-air bay?

Or just unfinished, waiting on the supplies?

 

[TLOC]

Hey, @TLOC , I’m sure this didn’t happen without you noticing, but in the next-to-last picture, the long Arkansas Valley boxcar, you have an abrupt change in the appearance of the roof, right at the end of the word “Arkansas.”

Is that to represent a change of storage state of a car? Partly in/out of a building for years? Stick partially out from under a covered open-air bay?

Or just unfinished, waiting on the supplies?

I have had issues with the 86’ long auto parts car for Arkansas Valley. A while back I was using tap water for the wet on wet method and for thinning. What we believe was our water softening salt reacted with the clear coat I was using. On this and a few other cars everything became a mess of cloudiness, fog and just mixed up looks. This car is going to get re-done for the third time and that roof will be mildly and eveningly rusted some day

 

[C&OMtnMan]

I have had issues with the 86’ long auto parts car for Arkansas Valley. A while back I was using tap water for the wet on wet method and for thinning. What we believe was our water softening salt reacted with the clear coat I was using. On this and a few other cars everything became a mess of cloudiness, fog and just mixed up looks. This car is going to get re-done for the third time and that roof will be mildly and eveningly rusted some day

I know we had that discussion a couple of months ago, and you have migrated to distilled water since. One other possibility:

If you have one of those mini-faucets that got installed with the water softener, it probably runs through a demineralizing/deionizing filter that takes out the residual salts, and might give you a good controlled source.

 

[Jaz avalley]

Four is still startup territory.

Maybe be less ambitious with early projects, and get yourself closer to satisfied with some basic grime, fading, lay that car aside as a progress marker, move on to some rustier jobs, and, down the road, you can work on the vandalism & defacement.

I agree it’s a learning curve, the more you try the more you learn

 

[TLOC]

I know we had that discussion a couple of months ago, and you have migrated to distilled water since. One other possibility:

If you have one of those mini-faucets that got installed with the water softener, it probably runs through a demineralizing/deionizing filter that takes out the residual salts, and might give you a good controlled source.

Thanks. We do have a reverse osmosis system on the kitchen sink cold water line. I could try that.

But I believe we found the issue regarding a new house, new well, different water softener salt and the use of distilled water and have not seen the issues in a few weeks.

 

[TLOC]

A couple in process and 1 complete

Walthers Center Beam car, in process needs end panel splatter and tagging plus a final clear coat

Spine car set in process. It’s been inspected, cleaned and a shadow coat place on the deck. Weathering the deck is next

Finally a finished car headed off to Venice, Ca. this afternoon

Have a great day

 

[TLOC]

The center beam is awaiting client approval. He wanted tags added.

Tags were added using a fine point Sharpie and Prismacolor colored pencils

 

[TLOC]

2 Cement Hoppers are still in process. The client wanted light weathering and a few tags to match a prototype picture. There are some touch ups to be done and then they will be sent off for client approval.

The tags were added with a sharp Crimson Red Prismacolor colored pencil. The car was clear coated prior to the tagging being added. If the client wants a change, a wet cotton bud loaded with 91% isopropyl alcohol will easily remove them without damaging the weathering. I did wait 24 hours for the clear coat to dry before adding the tags

 

[Smudge617]

View attachment 183079View attachment 183080View attachment 183081View attachment 183082View attachment 183083View attachment 183084View attachment 183085View attachment 183086View attachment 183087View attachment 1830882 Cement Hoppers are still in process. The client wanted light weathering and a few tags to match a prototype picture. There are some touch ups to be done and then they will be sent off for client approval.

The tags were added with a sharp Crimson Red Prismacolor colored pencil. The car was clear coated prior to the tagging being added. If the client wants a change, a wet cotton bud loaded with 91% isopropyl alcohol will easily remove them without damaging the weathering. I did wait 24 hours for the clear coat to dry before adding the tags

WOW, I really like these, what did you use for the weathering ?

 

[TLOC]

The decks on this spline car set is not working out. I have done over 20 spine car sets and my brain is befuddled on these!!! I will set these aside and work on something else. I will come back to these on Wednesday after reviewing previous notes and pictures

 

[TLOC]

WOW, I really like these, what did you use for the weathering ?

Thank you Chris.

The base color is a mix of 3 grey colors from Vallejo Air applied as a wash

10% #71.056 panzer dk gray
20% #71.050 light gray
30% # 71.044 grey rlm02
40% tap water

Applied with a brush as a wash until satisfied, then a Tamiya xf86 flat clear (straight from the bottle no thinning) was air brushed to seal. I did toss (gentlely) these 2 cars in the dehydrator to dry the cars for 20 hours before the next step.

The sort of heavier streaks were applied using Vallejo Air #71.045 cement grey, straight, no thinning. Applied with a brush as a dry brushing. Paint applied to the brush and brushed off onto a paper towel, then applied to the car sides. Then I immediately using a cotton bud blended the streaks into the car body. Much easier doing it then writing about it

Sealed the cars again with the Tamiya xf86 flat clear

 

[Smudge617]

Thank you Chris.

The base color is a mix of 3 grey colors from Vallejo Air applied as a wash

10% #71.056 panzer dk gray
20% #71.050 light gray
30% # 71.044 grey rlm02
40% tap water
View attachment 183090

Applied with a brush as a wash until satisfied, then a Tamiya xf86 flat clear (straight from the bottle no thinning) was air brushed to seal. I did toss (gentlely) these 2 cars in the dehydrator to dry the cars for 20 hours before the next step.

The sort of heavier streaks were applied using Vallejo Air #71.045 cement grey, straight, no thinning. Applied with a brush as a dry brushing. Paint applied to the brush and brushed off onto a paper towel, then applied to the car sides. Then I immediately using a cotton bud blended the streaks into the car body. Much easier doing it then writing about it
View attachment 183091

Sealed the cars again with the Tamiya xf86 flat clear
View attachment 183092

Thank you, another method I need to print out for my weathering binder.

 

[TLOC]

This will be about painting the truck frames and the wheels for the 3 car spine car set. The client requested a different more rusted color on these trucks. I have done many pieces of rolling stock for him and he wanted something different from my normal truck frames colors.

I started by using the MicroMart wheel tuner on the truck frames. Then hard brushed the trucks and wheels with a brush dipped into 70% Isopropyl Alcohol

I let dry a few hours and then hand brushed Vallejo Panzer Aces #301 light rust, straight

That’s were I am at. I think I will use Pan Pastels next. I will take pictures as I go along

Winging it should be fun

 

[TLOC]

Thank you, another method I need to print out for my weathering binder.

When it comes to Cement hoppers if you go back into the thread there should be quite a few. I seem to change up the methods every 2-3 units I do. But I mostly mix and blend the Vallejo Air colors into a wash and apply with a brush.

I also did 2 cars with AK Interactives Dust effects that I enjoyed and the 2 clients appreciated. No other colors used

 

[migalyto]

This will be about painting the truck frames and the wheels for the 3 car spine car set. The client requested a different more rusted color on these trucks. I have done many pieces of rolling stock for him and he wanted something different from my normal truck frames colors.

I started by using the MicroMart wheel tuner on the truck frames. Then hard brushed the trucks and wheels with a brush dipped into 70% Isopropyl Alcohol

View attachment 183093

I let dry a few hours and then hand brushed Vallejo Panzer Aces #301 light rust, straight
View attachment 183094View attachment 183095View attachment 183096

That’s were I am at. I think I will use Pan Pastels next. I will take pictures as I go alongView attachment 183097
Winging it should be fun

What a world of difference even the first step makes.

Those are going to look great!

 

[TLOC]

What a world of difference even the first step makes.

Those are going to look great!

Thanks Mike, currently away from the bench. I actually have no idea how these will look but like any weathering. Isopropyl Alcohol fixes most weathering issues if I or the client don't like it

 

[migalyto]

Thanks Mike, currently away from the bench. I actually have no idea how these will look but like any weathering. Isopropyl Alcohol fixes most weathering issues if I or the client don't like it

I went and looked at some of these AK Interactive products.

What all are you using of theirs?

This is why I love to follow along so closely with this thread, I would have no clue most of these products even exist!