Did I overdo the weathering on the Bluebox Burlington hopper?
Do you want this car to look old and worn or failry new. If new, maybe you went too far, if old, then I think you didn’t go far enough.
IMO, the white weathering looks like the red paint has faded, you now need to find a way to fade the BURLINGTON lettering to match. Like you did over the CB&Q letters.
Then I would add some muddy brown color to the trucks, lower bays, and lower strrups. Just dabs since the color will show well against the white and the red.
It takes practice, so you don’t want to love this car in case it turns out badly.
No not overdone, although as with any weathering the key question is, in the era you model how long ago was this car new? I’d evaluate your weathering as looking like the car was 6 to10 years past being new.
Indeed given that it hauled coal, the interior should be less pristine, much darker not just from coal dust but because the sulfur chemicals in coal are not kind to paint (or metal).
Some similar CBQ red hoppers (3 bay if memory serves) ended up on the Chicago & North Western in ballast service and the red paint would by then fade to a dingy pink, the white lettering would “bleed” down the car side, and of course plenty of dings and dents that tend to beome growing rust spots.
Dave Nelson
Thanks for the replies!
Weathering can be put in the same category as “Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder.”
By this I mean that there are modellers whose work I admire who find the very idea of weathering their rolling stock abhorrent, whereas I don’t. That said there has to be a line beyond which a freight car would be either “Bad Ordered” or refused by a shipper a being too “grungy”!
Here’s my attempts / experiments at weathering on some of my covered hoppers in cement service.
This first car, while freelanced, is based on the earliest covered hoppers from the early 20s which were basically coal hopper cars fitted with a roof. It maybe mechanically sound but is showing its age.
While black is not a great colour to keep clean in the best of circumstances, this
How did the OP weather this car? If it was done with an airbrush, it’s probably the way it’s going to be. But, if it’s done with powders and has not yet been sealed with Dul-Cote or the like, then it will look a lot less weathered after sealing.
I like the way it looks, if it’s hauling limestone or concrete or something light. Coal, not so much.
I gave it washes of dilute black and dilute white Tamiya acrylic paint.
Sometimes difficult to say when enough’s enough, but taking frequent breaks to evaluate results when applying the fade and weathering is helpful, so too using prototype and model photos as a guide. Puzzling how oftentimes an otherwise faded and grimy car can have fairly clean heralds and lettering.
Regards, Peter
Seems to an art ,not a science!
Hi philo426,
I don’t think the weathering is overdone at all. I love the way you have created the streaks of washed off paint under the letters.
If I were to do anything, I think I would add more rust higher up in the interior.
I don’t understand what the bright white paint spots and lines on the left side of the hopper are meant to represent. Perhaps you could clarify.
Cheers!!
Dave
Weathering is quite subjective. I used to over-due weathering and now follow my wife’s advice: less is more. I think she was referring to trains. [:^)]
It is a great start. Def add some rust spots/streaks starting from the top and going down since rain rolls downward.
Me too, it looks like you spilled white paint there. My technique is to airbrush a dilute wash of gray to make the paint look faded. I would add more rust by either brushing oil paint or acrylic.
I question what the inside of any hopper should look like, especially if they are carrying coal. Should they not look black and rusty?
When I rode the Rocky Mountaineer, I was able to look down on a few silver (aluminum?) colored hoppers and they were silver inside. No black, no rust.
Yes had an issue with a difficult to open paint jar with unfortunate results …for some reason I like it !
Hi philo426,
I have a simple trick for making my paint jars easy to open. As soon as I open a bottle, I clean the rim and the inside of the cap with a paper towel. If I get any paint on the rim while I am using the bottle, I clean that off immediately too. Since I started doing this, I can open any bottles that have been cleaned with bare hands.
Unfortunately, I didn’t do this right from the beginning with a lot of my older paints so I still have to get out the channel lock pliers from time to time. When I need to use the channel lock pliers, I put the bottle in my rubber jawed vise. If you don’t have rubber jaws on your vise you can wrap the bottle in several layers of masking tape to cushion the glass.
Cheers!!
Dave
Yes good tips ,thanks!
This Bev-Bel 50’ Double Door boxcar represents a nearly new car with a light coating of dust I airbrushed on. 
Hopper weathering by Bear, on Flickr
To be fair, there has been rain and as we all know bare steel and water is a recipe for rust.
Cheers, the Bear.[:)]
Thanks Bear, and I liked your weathering.