Hi
over the few days i have been practicing weathering railcars
Here are the results
Tjsingle
It looks like there’s a smudgy fingerprint on your camera lense. You’re using a camera phone, arent’ you? You might want to check into getting an inexpensive 3 or 4 mp digital… you’ll get much better results.
Lee
I was using a cannon power shot, but it looks to have a fingerprint on it, opps
What happened to it? I mean, what did you do to it?
Some larger pictures would be nice, but from what I can see, it looks pretty good. I’d also like to hear how you got those nice results.
420 was three days ago…
[%-)]
What does 420 have to do with this? lol on the 420 tho. I dont do it but some of my buddies do.[:D]
[#offtopic]
420 is 6 hours and about 12 minutes from now. I was thinking that was the (clouded) reason for this comment:
Nothing about those cars looks good. More fingerprints would help.
Kaboom My head just exploded!
Is this a mean-spirited post? I can’t even tell that, hehe. I think the cars look wonderful particularly for a first attempt. I would also love to know how the op did it.
Doug
I’d say for your “first crack” you did pretty darn good. I like how the lettering is broke and faded, very realistic.
I have found that differerent kits from different manufacturers have different paint that can react differently to acholol or thinners. (Whew! follow that?)
But do tell us what you did, love to know.
No spirits, just smoke and mirrors.
See, you’ll just encourage him with pats on the back. People who are just starting out need more than undue praise, they need direction. I welcome him and anyone else to www.modeltrainsweathered.com click on the link to the weatherers forum (On the left, just below the advertising banner.) and you can use the login mtw and password enter to see what others have learned and that we are always willing to help people who want to learn how to weather realistically. All we ask is that you are able to take constructive criticism because we really enjoy it when someond progresses beyond what they thought their limits were. You won’t receive the “attaboy’s” that gets a potential learner nowhere, but you will get better and have fun doing it.
Here’s a first picture post from a first time weatherer, and the first response to his threaad.
[quote]
Looks a bit heavy, but there is a good amount of texture. Seems that you
studied well some of the posts here and learned.
For future reference the hatches won’t rust, most of the time they are made
of fiberglass but the hardware will rust like the hinges and latch areas.
The usual stuff applies, keep your hand as steady as possible to avoid streaks
that run off on a angle and when you go
I think Neutrino stated things very well - If you simply tell someone “attaboy” and “looks great” they have no incentive to try and improve and go beyond what they’ve done because everyone has told them their first attempt was “great”. The other to add is that the pictures need to be better - higher quality, lartger so that when you click on them to expand they actually expand. The small pics make it hard to see what the car really looks like and to provide comments about what can be improved. Also, include in the post how you achieved the effect shown. Practically nobody achieves excellent results the first time weathering, thelling someone their first attempt is great is misleading, what is needed is a more honest assessment of what they’ve achieved so that their next attempt will build and what they’ve already done and improve on it.
Let me very clear that we don’t “do” modeltrainsweathered here at the Kalmbach forums. We try to be less caustic and offer more encouragement than is offered at that site. Some members here are also members there and they admit that it is a hard case at modeltrainsweathered. They are not us, we are not them. Most of the membership here comprises less experienced modelers who can only stand a bit of criticism at a time, but who also need some attaboy comments to keep them feeling good about their place in the hobby. Those who seek out modeltrainsweathered are there for a very specific reason that is only a part of the holistic hobby experience.
I like to encourage a more humanistic approach to coaching on this site instead of a less collegial one. It is helpful to point out the successes as well as the failures so that the person gets a balanced commentary, and not merely negative ones like the one above.
I know that folks have a right to express themselves, but they ought to do it in a way that causes no offense. If you must object to what you see, try not to be objectionable while doing it.
-Crandell
Hi Crandell,
Thanks, that’s pretty much how I felt. I’m not sure how, “Nothing about those cars looks good. More fingerprints would help.” is constructive.
I have yet to even start my adventure in model railroading. I decided to spend a year reading and learning before jumping in with both feet. I know that if I got a comment like the one above–and I would (mine would not look near as nice as the op’s)–it would be kind of discouraging. I’d be absolutely thrilled to have the results that he did.
Anyway, enough. Much happiness to all.
Doug
I don’t think I’ll join…seems a bit hard-nosed. My work would have to be perfect or I’d get bashed for it, and I know my work is far from perfect.[V]
I hate it when a normal thread by someone proud of their work turns into a thread bashing them for all the imperfections…[sigh]
I agree with both sides of the fence here. Just as with raising children it usually (IMHO) helps to have a positive and a negative together. I look to improve my skills and being just a beginner I need the constructive criticism along with the pat on the back. Too much of either side will not help in the learning process. So I am always looking for the opinions of everyone whether it is positive or negative because I know I can learn and grow from either.
It’s entirely possible that the you did a pretty fair job of weathering on your first time out but we just aren’t seeing it. If you are using a canon powershot you should be able to post a better photo than a tiny 17kb image. So clean your lens, don’t use such a wide angle for the closups, post some better pictures (100-200 Kb 4x6 should do it), and let us pat you on the back for your fine work… or, dare I say it, make suggestions where you might improve it.
Weathering.
It’s a real challenge. Yet nothing goes farther to make your models look like they interact with the real world…
I have to be honest, I’ve been at this hobby for 25 years or so, and I still have trouble weathering. Sometimes I hit the jackpot, other times I hit the trashcan. It’s a rough game.
The guys that do it well are real artists.
To the OP (who seems to have run for the hills):
My best advice is to start with a “scrap car,” something you don’t mind messing up. Read a few articles about tried and successful techniques before you try to invent your own. Start with “reversable” techniques. Using weathering powders or colored pastel chalk dust is a good, somewhat reversable way to weather. Start by hitting the car with some Dullcote to give the car some “tooth” for the powder to grab onto. If you get too much on, you can wipe some off. When you finally have what you think looks good, you can seal it with Dullcote.
After that you can move on up to acrylic washes. Start real thin and build up in layers. The other, second most profound advice I can offer is to stop just before it looks weathered enough. This will help keep you from over-weathering. Over-weathered cars look no better than (and sometimes worse) than brand-new cars.
This comes naturally to some and unnaturally to others; I’m somewhere in between (depends on my mood I guess). Expect to “chunk” a few cars at first; the reward is that the practice you get will make your remaining cars that much better.
I can’t offer anything additional that hasn’t already been said about your photo. It’s somewhat difficult to see what you’ve done, but what’s there looks like it could use a little help. I do like the partial removal of the lettering; I think perhaps some subtle hints of other colors (grime, rust) might help make
Building on Dave Vollmer’s post, if you don’t have any "scrap’ cars to practice on, then intermodal containers are relatively inexpensive guniea pigs for practice.
