As I was flipping through my Model railroader magazine noticed the ad for the Athearn Genesis boxcars. It said they where factory weathered. Now I’m thinking, Experienced modelers might not like it because they can’t weather it there selfs(makeing it lighter weathering) But I can see there idea that it’s all ready to go. So I was wondering your thoughts of what you think of it.
It seems to me that it would have to be a lighter weathering that would be common to rolling stock in any region of the US or Canada. I can see where a lot of modelers would want the weathering to match a specific area they are modeling.
I can tell you from past experience working with two US companies, they don’t sell. We had buyers returning them to the shop (they thought something was wrong with them) and we had shops shipping whole cases back for the same reason. Same thing when we tried "patch "jobs. Now, Athearn Tboxes may do OK becasue they are pretty desired cars and buyers will be aware about what they are. The sales you see on ebay are one car wanted by a certain buyer - not the same as a whole factory run.
It’s really hard to tell exactly because of the angle from which the photograph was taken, but a picture of two TTX Rail Box boxcars shown on page 7 of the May 2007 issue of Model Railroader seems to show the weathering to be nothing more than a black smudge on one end, as if someone took a can of black spray paint and gave it one very short blast from 2 feet away. Not prototypical at all. I’d want to see one up close before paying extra for it.
A mildly dissenting view from those above … at swap meets I sometimes buy cars that other fellows have weathered, provided the price is right and they did good work.
I think it helps to introduce some variety into the mix as I, and perhaps others, tend to use the same techniques and even colors to the point where our friends can recognize our weathering
So we tend to use the same notions of weathering over and over again — now and then I think it enhances realism to have greater variety and have cars that don’t look like I weathered them.
Dave Nelson
I guess it’s OK as long as they don’t look like a group of chimps where hired to fling their crap at the cars. Now if we could clone a group of Aggros and employ them to do the job.[:-^]
Preweathered cars rarely sell well. One reason why Ertl failed on the market is because all of their cars came RTR and pre-weathered, and most modelers didn’t like them. As swaps, weathered cars generally go for as little or as less as any other used freight car. Unless you’re Boxcar Mike, there’s no market for this sort of RTR. (if there was, Bachmann would have run more preweathered steam engines. They haven’t)
Is every weathering pattern on a particular car different from any of the others (like the proverbial snowflake)? It would look really weird to have a set of coal cars for the same road grouped together with exactly the same rust spots, streaks and fade patterns as all the others.
We will have to wait and see for sure, but I suspect they will sell well, based on the popularity of everything else that is RTR these days. I think we have a significant influx of modellers whose main thrust is the electronics and running of stuff rather than the building of stuff, and that may be helping some. (If this does not fit you, do not feel you have to defend anything.)
Personally, I would not be interested. For me, weathering just makes the car look dirty. I know it’s more realistic, but part of my fantasy world is that it is clean. [2c]
Enjoy
Paul
Experienced modelers will probably continue to do their own weathering as you have said. Factory weathering is usually light or dusting in general and does not reflect the work you will see from modelers.
The factory cars have a place in the market and should sell OK since many modelers are not able to weather models in a convincing manner. It takes practice and usually a few older cars are used to hone the skills needed to weather both locomotives and cars.
The pictures I saw are light non descript dusting type weathering with no details like rust and streaks.
I’m not interested.
In the RTR world of N scale, one of the few options I have to personalize my equipment is to apply my own custom weathering. I don’t need Athearn doing it for me (they’re offering it in N as well).
That, and most folks will need several of the same kind of car (check out that other thread!). If you had them all with the same bland overspray of gime, it wouldn’t look any more realistic than no weathering at all.
And therein lies half the rub!
The other half is the modeler’s desire to have the weathering match the layout - HIS (or HER) layout. If your scenery is red clay, a dusting of white or carbon black looks out of place. If your locos use lots of sand on grades, will the pre-weathering include powdered silica on the running gear? The difference in appearance between a cylindrical corn hopper and a cylindrical cement hopper definitely precludes ‘one size fits all’ weathering.
And then there’s the difference between a PS box car just off the erecting floor on Joe’s transition-era layout and the same car just about to be switched into the scrap yard on Jim’s circa 1990’s pike…
I rest my case - and prefer to do my own weathering, thank you.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
It said in the add that they where all “hand” weathered in calforina. They might not be the same but pretty close.
May I speak freely?
Frankly a lot of modelers go to extreme weathering their cars to the point they are no longer realistic.Now I would agree 5% seems to be a good figure for rust buckets on rails whereas the other 95% should be light to medium weathering with some new paints.This comes from years of track side observation.
As far as factory weathered cars I have mix feelings…
For you younger folk this isn’t a breaking CNN news story seeing pre-weather cars and locomotives was talked about in the 60s and every decade since.
I suppose the real question is:Is the RTR market and modelers in general ready for this next step?
I personally think it’s like this, when you go and buy something, you want it to look as new as possible and that’s why the car yards hire someone just to wash and polish cars all day long.
However, for MR, you may get someone who want’s a ‘express’ scene or layout, just like some of the Faller building kits, they are pre-painted and weathered and all you have to do is just stick them together with plastic cement. I think this may be so for the new generation of nw comers to the hobby just like why building kits are now molded in various colours to reduce the amount of work for the buildings. I am 1/3 way through my second layout and just find how easy building kits has become, just assemble, weathered and do a final dull cote and viola, realistic looking strutures in no time!
It’s an OK idea. Not a big deal with me. Having a light coat of weathering underneath will add one more layer of texturing. I would probably add a little weathering myself. I don’t like to overdo it. Just enough so it doesn’t look like it just came from the paint shop. A few may get a heavier treatment just for variety. Whether it is a good idea or not really depends on how much it adds to the expense of the car. I might be willing to pay a buck more for a weathered car but that’s about it.
As with anything, execution is everything. If they can find the “just right” weathering, it should sell well. If not…
I don’t think we have to worry about pre-weathered cars displacing the “new” cars - either RTR or shake the box kits. It will always be easier to make a “new” car look dirty than it is to make a “dirty” car look new.
-George
Weathering is a personal preference and each modeler has thier own signature so to speak. Each car has to be treated as individually as well. With the onset of most cars coming rtr, it’s logical that light weathering would follow. Basically a dusting of grimy black or tan, nothing spectacular. You won’t see Aggro style weathering from them. All cars have a degree of weathering unless it’s right off the line or paint shop. Wheels are rust colored, even new cars are, same with couplers, wheel splatter up the ends, some along the sides. It all depends on the age of the car, the modelers wants and his abilities. mike h.