I’ve been inspired by some of the artistic talent I’ve seen online lately. Specifically when it comes to weathering. I have therefore decided that if I want something half as nice as what I’ve seen on here as well as other boards, I better get crack-a-lackin. I am no artist (yet), so I have to learn things tha hard way, and when good ideas are presented, I file them away to make my life a little easier. That being said, I heard about a method of fading that involved pen erasers. So guess what? I got a pen eraser, and a $2.00 Athearn Railbox and went to work.
it’s a good start! Kicking myself for my way which was rubbing alchohol and a sore arm and it didn’t work as well as that. now get some weather chalks and you’ll have a profesional looking weathering job in no time.
andrew
[#ditto]what he said as far as a little chalk, and you did nice work. I have yet to attempt weathering a loco, but am going to weather a scratchbuilt structure as my next project.
Nice work Glenn. That is an excellent effect which actually mimics lettering being worn away or faded, something very difficult to do by ADDING weathering over lettering.
You mention using a pen eraser. That of course has a bit more grit than a standard pencil eraser. (A Bright Boy track cleaner seems to be of the same stuff as a pen eraser). There used to be, back in the day, something called a typewriter eraser, which was a disk and brush assembly, but I do not know if those had more or less or the same amount of grit as a pen eraser. There might be times when you want less grit than a pen eraser, which is why I mention the point.
There is also a product seen at art supply stores that looks like a big thick pencil but is entirely a rather hard paper material. There is a specific name for this item and I regret to say I have forgotten the word (it is a French word). Anyway, those products are more abrasive than a pencil eraser but less so than a pen eraser. It too might have uses for the kind of weathering you have shown us here.
In fact I would advise any modeler to spend some time looking at the shelves of a really well equipped art supply store. There are various products which are useful to modelers particularly in the weathering area. There is also a wide variety of spray can fixitives, matte coatings, and the like.
Dave Nelson
The eraser effect looks very good. The next step would be to try and make the yellow paint look aged to match the fading of the lettering. From my own experience it seems that Athearn has used different paints of decals for lettering over the years. I often start my models with an ink wash made from india ink and isophoryl alcohol. Sometimes this mixture smears the lettering, other time it does not.
Thanks for the responses. The pen eraser I’m using is actually on the pen. It is a Paper Mate pen and the eraser is NOT like the old grey ones they used to have that were gritty. This one is more like a pencil eraser. I had to rub ALOT to get the effect you see in the pics. Next time I’m in Michael’s, I’ll pay closer attention to the eraser section.
Next step is a grunge coating using a wash of some type, haven’t decided yet which one.
I used a regular pencil eraser on the other side, and found that it actually worked a little bit better. It’s rough on the erasers though.
Here is the second phase. I applied a light coat of Dullcote, allowed to dry, and then washed it with India ink and water, as suggested earlier (thanks).
Well, I finished her off. I painted the rust on and it looks pretty OK, maybe just a tad much. I’ll thin my India ink more next time, I think it darkened up too much. I’ll post pics tomorrow, I have to let a buddy see it first.
You might be right on the ink wash. My mixture is about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of the india ink in a pint of 70% Isporyl alcohol. This gives a subtle effect but can be built up with further coats. Looking good though. I can’t wait to try the eraser effect on my next project.
Well, here it is. I thinks is too dark, I need to dilute the ink wash a little more. There is always next time, but everybody needs a beat to crap car on their layout.
Let me know what you think. All criticizim (sp) welcomed.
After the India ink wash, I miked up some acrylic artist paints, you know, the ones in tubes. Anyway, I first did the lighter rust color. That is a mix of 2-3 parts yellow ochre, 1 part vermillion red, and 1 part burnt umber. I really just kinda winged it, but the color came out good once put onto the model, so I went with it. After the lighter rust areas were dry, I used straight burnt umber for the dark spots. The nice thing about acrylics is, if you goof up, just wipe it off with some water and a paper towel or paintbrush.
Glenn, very nice result. You have inspired me to try a couple of different things. The eraser method and also mixing my own colors from acrylics. So far I have limited myself to “rust” paint sold for MRR.
