Weathering Rolling Stock, a Continous thread

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Cleaning up the shop as I get ready to move to the new place

Things shipping today to 3 different modelers:

 

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While not a rail car being weathered this is one of 10 loads of I-beams I made in the last few days. Wow, has the price of Evergreen I-beams gone up at the LHS. This particular load contains 17 I-beams that will be fitted onto a ScaleTrain bulkhead flat car

The paint is sprayed Tamiya Arcylic

Some touch up to the paint is going to be done and then the strapping added to tie the I-beams together. The chains to hold the load on the car will be added by the client

I use pin striping tape and Chartpak graphic tape to simulate the metal banding/strapping. I hope to be done by noon tomorrow to get these shipped out. Pictures then! The bulkhead flats came in from ScaleTrains last week and they are weathered. Similar to the last ST bulkhead flat weathered in the thread on page 69, 7/17/2023. Exact same process

 

[C&OMtnMan]

I use pin striping tape and Chartpak graphic tape to simulate the metal banding/strapping.

Those I-beams are magnificent.

For simulating metal banding, there is aluminum foil tape you might want to consider. Doesn’t come in pin stripe widths, though; you’d have to cut it to width.

The term “foil” can be a bit of a misnomer - the grade we worked with in the wind tunnel (I used to work for a race team) was pretty hardy stuff, not crinkly kitchen foil. Less prone to wrinkling than duct tape. Stayed stuck at 160 mph, too.

 

[TLOC]

Those I-beams are magnificent.

For simulating metal banding, there is aluminum foil tape you might want to consider. Doesn’t come in pin stripe widths, though; you’d have to cut it to width.

The term “foil” can be a bit of a misnomer - the grade we worked with in the wind tunnel (I used to work for a race team) was pretty hardy stuff, not crinkly kitchen foil. Less prone to wrinkling than duct tape. Stayed stuck at 160 mph, too.

Interesting about the aluminum foil tape until I put it on a Amazon search

 

[C&OMtnMan]

Interesting about the aluminum foil tape until I put it on a Amazon search

View attachment 172467

Yeah, I saw those, but upon going directly to Amazon, stuff is cheaper there, but a lot of it is “duct tape with aluminum finish.”

The stuff we used was just aluminum ribbon with adhesive on one side.

 

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One of my Scaletrains bulkhead cars weathered similar to the picture below sold on EBay today. 3rd weathered freight car I have sold there in the last 2 months. I can’t figure out what sells there or not but I have put 5 cars up in the last 3 months selling 3. Tank cars that go like hotcakes on FB don’t seem (at least mine my 2 didn’t) to sell on EBay.

2 of the 3 sold have had decals for graffiti. I have a weathering comrade who does custom painted graffiti (not very well IMO) on any kind of rolling stock and does auctions only and has sold 20 cars this year at no less then $140 each. So graffiti sells! That should be my clue as to what sells!

 

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Pictures of 3 Athearn reefers

not like my usual but these are older reefers and get fairly dirty here in the Midwest, especially around the potato fields. Anyway these were done per request

 

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Remember this guy

Turned it into this

Now the guy who didn’t like the 1st version and who supplied the pictures of a prototype with similar tags then asked for a different car, just purchased version 2. I put it on my group text for modern car weathering yesterday and he took it! I don’t want to tell him this was the same car he first rejected even though he paid me a % of the car because I did the loopy tagging the way he asked.
Going out tomorrow

enjoy the evening

 

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I have a 3 LPG tank cars for myself and 3 more came in last week from a client. These are the white tank cars from Athearn and while I know for sure I have never seen a real one in white I not sure about ever seeing the black ones. Searching for photos of white dirty LPG tank cars came up lacking. They are not real clean and after sending about 10 photos to him he called. Said use your imagination and send me pics as you go along.

Client says dirty it up but he wants to still see that it’s a white car and wants to see the seam lines on at least one of the 3 cars. So!

Clear coated all 6 cars 1st and let them dry. Do I experiment on his cars or mine? Let’s do mine!

A mixture of Pan Pastels. Dark charcoal and Extra dark Burnt Umber. Brushed on lightly, nope, start over! Brushed on with a short stiff bristle brush concentrating on the seams. Bended vigorously with a

softer wider 1/2” clean brush. Maybe? Terry thinks I should use the colorless blender that PP has. Maybe the next car using a panel liner color and just the Pan Pastel colorless blender?

Your thoughts please. The Pan Pastels can come off rather easily since I have not clear coated on top of them yet.

 

[PNKFLOYD]

TomO- What about the ends dirty as you have them and a light weathering in the middle?

 

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TomO- What about the ends dirty as you have them and a light weathering in the middle?

Mikey, I am hoping that the Colorless blender will even out the tank sides and leaving the dirt in the middle panels to stand out more. Even as it sits now, I would run this on my layout. I would not though put it up for sale on FB. This is one of those cars that because I can’t locate a Proto picture this grimy, it will be an experiment until I get it right in my mind. Thanks

Pictures maybe tonight on this guy. If the colorless blender doesn’t work the car is not sealed. Most of the time Pan Pastels can be removed with a soft rubber eraser.

 

[CambriaArea51]

Most white cars will have rusty dirty on the tank by the trucks. The top will show a rust haze from the condensation. Most LGP cars are on the clean side, but if your client wants them dirty then you did a good job on them.

 

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I took this picture just after applying but not blending the colorless Pan Pastel, you can still see the powder. I got called away before blending this side

 

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I did a hard brush blending of the colorless Pan Pastel blender. It didn’t create much of a change

Since this is my car to experiment on, chances are fairly high I will be stripping this car of the weathering and start over. Meanwhile, I moved to another car to experiment with

I think better! Need some more grime from the wheels but I like it.

Here is a third car, that has been clear coated and a very light fade applied. Needs the wheels, trucks and couplers weathered and some wheel splatter on the end panels and underneath. Side panels though still look to fresh!

All three together

tomorrow or Thursday I will work on the client‘s cars giving him these 3 choices or provide a picture


next

 

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Sometimes you just have to start over. Tamiya Arcylics are very forgiving if they haven’t been sealed. But if they have Pan Pastels added they can become a bit of a mess to clean off. 99% Isopropyl Alcohol sprayed on and let to dry, maybe at most 5 minutes. Then another spray and start wiping off. I don’t have the patience to use a cotton bud/q-tip so I use an old white sock.

PROX 31181 was too dark and needed a refresh, all done in less then 30 minute

 

[AirbrushNo5]

Nice recover!

 

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Nice recover!

Thanks it’s one of the reasons I use Tamiya Arcylic. It’s recoverable if you need to wipe it out and start over.

 

[PNKFLOYD]

ometimes you just have to start over. Tamiya Arcylics are very forgiving if they haven’t been sealed. But if they have Pan Pastels added they can become a bit of a mess to clean off. 99% Isopropyl Alcohol sprayed on and let to dry, maybe at most 5 minutes. Then another spray and start wiping off. I don’t have the patience to use a cotton bud/q-tip so I use an old white sock.

TomO- The alcohol bath made the car look like it had gone thru a wildfire and was headed back to the shops for a remodel.

 

[TLOC]

TomO- The alcohol bath made the car look like it had gone thru a wildfire and was headed back to the shops for a remodel.

We have an ice hockey game tonight to watch that the grandson is playing in and his mom (about time in my opinion) coaching his team. After that for tonight and tomorrow there is nothing stopping me from finishing up this car. Most probably on Sunday I will show off the 3 cars again together on the bench. I do like my other 2 but this one just has been a mess from the start. I also have 3 cars finished for the client and shipping out tomorrow. I did get the client to back-off from wanting super dirty LPG cars. Since they are his cars and he said no to posting photos of them I have only shown my cars.

Being without the paint booth has not been that difficult. Weathering with hand brushed washes and clear coating with a spray can of Krylon flat in the garage into a box has been ok. Slower but ok.

 

[CambriaArea51]

Mixed freight top view. A view you don't get to see that often for weathering information.