Getting these B&O single sheathed wood box cars perilously close to the finish line.
Last night I did letter streaking, some random fade/grime streaking, hand grab/ladder grime, and mud splatter.
Letter streaking was with Master’s Touch artist oil Titanium White, applied at the bottom edge of selected lettering/logos with a tiny brush, then drawn down with a flat dry brush. All areas done were a bit too vivid for my taste, and were dry-brushed over with a thickish wash of Mission Models Brown and Mission Models Anthracite, mixed 1:1, and thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. (The Anthracite is incredibly thick stuff, and needs thinning to get even to a hand brushing consistency.)
Hand grab/ladder grime was done with the same heavy wash.
Photos:
End view:
Roof griming was done with pastel chalks, then the cars were sealed with airbrushed Dullcote:
The final step was the mud splatter. I usually use Vallejo “Dirt” straight up, but I wanted a darker, more brown/red tone, so I made a mix of eight drops Vellejo Dirt, two drops Mission Models Standard Rust, and four drops of Mission Models Brown:
I think the splatter is on on the first photos as well, but the above two pictures show it a bit better.
The colors used in this installment:
This is pretty much the way these are going to look when finished. All that remains is sealing of the mud splatter, and weathering trucks and wheels.
In retrospect, there are two things I would do differently (and will, because I have more boxcar red subjects in hand):
1. A darker, reddish-brown mud splatter
2. A wash that more closely matches my home-brew B&O box car red for subduing the letter streaking. (but keep the existing mix for grime on grab irons/ladders)