Weathering Rolling Stock, a Continous thread

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CHS tank cars! I am going to work on 2 today. I will be using Panel Pastels on the tank body and Vallejo Air brushed onto the trucks and wheel faces.
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1st up is fading the body using the PP colorless blender. ABOVE
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The prototype pictures of the number series of cars within the 1998 build date are not that dirty in this 2008 picture. The photo credit is shown on the picture ABOVE
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ABOVE shows the 2 cars being weathered today.

The car in the egg crate is faded using brushed on and blended Pan Pastel’s colorless blender.

The car on the cutting matt is just clear coated with a mat finish from VMS. This car will be faded with Tamiya colors delivered via the airbrush. While the picture is somewhat deceiving the faded car in the cradle has a definite color transition.
 
I picked up a few new materials and decided to give them a try this afternoon. Back some years ago when I gave airbrush clinics at Amherst, Bachmann used to donate freight cars for the classes. The last time I did them, I ended up with a couple of cases of cars left. Not wanting to experiment on the good stuff I dug a couple out and tried some new techniques on them. Nothing ventured nothing gained! The Bachmann cars actually aren't bad. A little tweaking and a couple of upgrades (wheelsets and couplers) and they're actually pretty good for layout quality models. I picked an ore car and a cylindrical hopper to play with. First thing was a flat coat. Unfortunately, Testor's Dullcote has gone the way of the Dodo, but I had some handy. There are several other flat coats out there that will work as well, but that's another discussion. Just the dullcote calmed them down a bit and killed the plastic sheen, which on these cars was considerable.
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Next I hit them with Pan Pastels. Light grays, a little white, and some earth tones on the black car, and some red rust and black on the CP ore car.

Both got Intermountain wheelsets.



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Trucks got brushed with AK interactive stains. Wheelsets were painted with Floquil weathered black.

I wanted to try the AK stains on a tank car since I gave so many to do, and I dug out an old Athearn BB tanker. The method I wanted to use was to put a dot on the top seam, let it dry a little and then drag it down the sides to make streaks. This was actually working pretty well until I saw that my thinner was lifting the paint off the car. Oops! It's fixable. Lesson learned! The AK stains are very nice, but I think I'll thin them first, and then brush them on next time. I also think they'll airbrush nicely. Live and learn.

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Espeefan said:
I picked up a few new materials and decided to give them a try this afternoon. Back some years ago when I gave airbrush clinics at Amherst, Bachmann used to donate freight cars for the classes. The last time I did them, I ended up with a couple of cases of cars left. Not wanting to experiment on the good stuff I dug a couple out and tried some new techniques on them. Nothing ventured nothing gained! The Bachmann cars actually aren't bad. A little tweaking and a couple of upgrades (wheelsets and couplers) and they're actually pretty good for layout quality models. I picked an ore car and a cylindrical hopper to play with. First thing was a flat coat. Unfortunately, Testor's Dullcote has gone the way of the Dodo, but I had some handy. There are several other flat coats out there that will work as well, but that's another discussion. Just the dullcote calmed them down a bit and killed the plastic sheen, which on these cars was considerable.
View attachment 158937

View attachment 158938

Next I hit them with Pan Pastels. Light grays, a little white, and some earth tones on the black car, and some red rust and black on the CP ore car.

Both got Intermountain wheelsets.



View attachment 158940

View attachment 158941

Trucks got brushed with AK interactive stains. Wheelsets were painted with Floquil weathered black.

I wanted to try the AK stains on a tank car since I gave so many to do, and I dug out an old Athearn BB tanker. The method I wanted to use was to put a dot on toe tp seam, let it dry a little and then drag it down the sides to make streaks, This was actually working pretty well until I saw that my thinner was lifting the paint off the car. Oops! it's fixable. Lesson learned! The AK stains are very nice, but I think I'll thin them first, and brush them on next time. I also think they'll airbrush nicely. Live and learn.

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Nice work. After applying the Pan Pastels did you spray dull cote again to seal the pastels?

CP 388500 is great but I really love the central panels.
 


Espeefan said:
Thanks to my shrinking stash of Floquil Old Silver! 😁
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In the old days back in the 70’s my modeling mentor only used Floquil and thought me a trader when I tried some Scalecoat. Now I use the Vallejo Model Colors and Air lines of paints as washes mostly applied using a brush. The main base coat is Tamiya Arcylic thinned with Isopropyl Alcohol applied via the air brush. I am very happy.
 


TLOC said:
In the old days back in the 70’s my modeling mentor only used Floquil and thought me a trader when I tried some Scalecoat. Now I use the Vallejo Model Colors and Air lines of paints as washes mostly applied using a brush. The main base coat is Tamiya Arcylic thinned with Isopropyl Alcohol applied via the air brush. I am very happy.
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Been a Scalecoat user for decades! It looks like we may have lost it. The guy's phone is disconnected, his facebook and online presence are gone. Tru-Color and Star Brand (similar products) are good, if a little tricky to spray. I also use Vallejo, and AK Interactive. Never had much luck with Badger! I've also had good luck with Tamiya, though they don't offer a railroad line, but there are crossovers. We have to remain resourceful these days!
 
Espeefan said:
Been a Scalecoat user for decades! It looks like we may have lost it. The guy's phone is disconnected, his facebook and online presence are gone. Tru-Color and Star Brand (similar products) are good, if a little tricky to spray. I also use Vallejo, and AK Interactive. Never had much luck with Badger! I've also had good luck with Tamiya, though they don't offer a railroad line, but there are crossovers. We have to remain resourceful these days!
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Alan. So right about being resourceful. That though can sometimes be part of the hobby. Finding that “score” really is a good feeling.

I have used the Badger colors that are great for the Wisconsin Central but was never happy with the rest of the colors. I have some Tru-color gathering dust and I have not heard of the Star brand. I have completely gone away from the spray cans. I still have some Tamiya, Krylon and Rustoleum brand new cans in inventory. Even spraying those outside on a calm warm day I no longer tolerate or handle the smell.
 
Now that all the decorations are down and the honey-dos are temporarily taken care of (they're never fully taken care of, are they?) back to this tank car weathering thing. I'll be using several techniques to see if I can come up with something satisfactory on these blue-boxers before I start on the Tangents. I should have enough here to figure it out! 😁
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TLOC said:
In the old days back in the 70’s my modeling mentor only used Floquil and thought me a trader when I tried some Scalecoat. Now I use the Vallejo Model Colors and Air lines of paints as washes mostly applied using a brush. The main base coat is Tamiya Arcylic thinned with Isopropyl Alcohol applied via the air brush. I am very happy.
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Moving away from Floquil….Heresy

I have paint jars up the ying yang….. but the ones I use are the easy to find/replace like Tamiya and Vallejo..

I have a lot of AK paints which work well but I haven’t used much…

But Model Master…Humbrol…Testors…have been mostly relegated to the Aeromaster / Floquil / PollyS box
 
Next small project is some Athearn Blue box cabooses. They will most likely use as a breakroom for crews. First thing is windows. There is a reason I don't throw to much away that I feel I can use later on and this is one of those cases. The packaging for the pipe I bought about a year ago is one. I've also used the clear section on the box that the car came in too. I cut pieces a little wide and long and use super glue gel to install. If your going to weather these put the windows in last. I see a lot of these cabooses at shows that guys have on a trains and looks odd with no glass in the windows.
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