We’re working on our “next” layout, and are wanting to detail & weather a few of the bridges to reflect our fictional railroad’s name.
If we take something like a shiny new plate girder bridge and want to both letter it and and a little weathering, what’s the order of steps we should use (and which ones are we missing)? I’m thinking it’s something like:
Decal the name to the bridge
Usel solvaset or something on the decal
spray the whole thing with something like dullcoat
use a wash of india ink + alcohol
touch up a bit with something like bragdon’s powders
finish coat of dull coat
How’s this sound? Different order? Missing steps? Other steps?
Unspoken is; paint the bridge the color you want first. Then gloss coat, decal, solvaset, then continue with your list. (If the color coat is already glossy, you don’t need the gloss coat.)
All plastic kits and models look better if they are painted first.
Weathering powders or chalks, stick better to dull surfaces. Spraying them again with a clear flat will seal them, but it will also reduce the effect of the weathering by weathering powders or chalk by about half. This is always a trial and error process.
Bridge colors that I use are Tuscan, Dark green, Silver, and Black. Typically, most railroads paint their bridges the same color. Bridges on a branch line of the same railroad can be a different color. One thing I have done on my layout bridges is to show that the color is being changed. I have two bridges that are dark green, but one of them is half silver and half dark green. Between the two colors is a section painted with red primer. A paint crew will be added later, so the scene will be of a crew changing the bridge color from dark green to silver. The old color is weathered, but the new color is not.
If you look closely, you will see the bridge that I am changing the color on.
When weathering with powders/chalks, I find that applying them when the dullcoat is still tacky gives the item being weathered a little more bite for the chalks to adhere to. For something like a locomotive or a piece of rolling stock that get handled frequently, I would spray the chalks with dullcoat after weathering. On my bridges, trestles or structures, I don’t. This prevents the final coat of dullcoat from washing out the weathering effects.
You have the right idea about the sequence. Note that when the ink/alcohol hits the Dullcote you will get a ‘frosting’ reaction. Don’t panic. A second application of Dullcote will put everything back to normal.
Here’s a simple technique to model the rust pits and spalling you often see on bridges. Do everything in the order you’ve described. Next, spray the side of the bridge with Dullcote, immediately flick, dark brown (or a dark brown/black mix) weathering chalk onto the still wet Dullcote. Seal with a final coat of Dullcote.
If you go to the News and Help Section of my site then click on the ‘Rust’ tab you’ll see how this looks on some gondolas I did awhile back.
I always like to hit the freshly painted model with an airbrush of light gray wash before going on to the chalks. It dulls the paint and gives a good surface for holding chalks. On rolling stock I also do the dust and grime airbrushing before the chalks. I will post pics if i get a chance.
