Yesterday , I received my first lesson in weathering. I was at the 2nd US Model Railroad Convention here in Germany and Mr. Pelle Søeberg gave a lecture on weathering. He started with a clean car, sprayed a basecoat, used some rust colored paint to give that rustic feel. He then used some colored powder to highlight the car and then air brushed a sealer to the car and trucks. Very interesting learning experience. I have never done weathering as I am modeling German railroads and in keeping within the theme my cars are clean.
I now feel that I can weather a car with a little patience, some colored powder, paint and an air brush. Kudos to Mr. Søeberg for a very fun and knowledgeable lesson.
It´s nice that you have seen the light, but I really don´t get the part of “I model German RR so I don´t weather my models”?
All equipment gets dirty regardless of where they are used. Even if the owners washed the trains regularly the still gets faded and rusty (roofs especially). I have seen many old and new German trains and I disagree when you imply that they are “clean”.
Pelle’s book " done in a Day" http://www.kalmbachstore.com/12458.html is Kalmbach’s best put out in along time… I wish I could have an oppertunity to watch him work
Weathing is different things to different people. YouTube has a bunch of vids showing all manner of the “art.”
Personally, this one sort of mimics the method I use, with great success. NOTE: The vid is NOT mine, and I have no connection to it in ANY manner, Posted simply to show the style used.
It’s nice that you had the chance to see it done in person by some one who is an authority on the subject but have you ever heard the expression “The good one’s make it look easy” before you go and start weather your entire roster of rolling stock if I may suggest you go to a swap meet or your local train store and try and find some really cheap poor quality cars to practice on. Better you make a mistake on a cheap car then on one that costs a lot of money.
In all my years of model railroading, starting in the hobby seriously at age 15 and still in at age 73, I have never felt comfortable with weathering, although I do some, I hate to take an expensive car or engine and “ruin” it because I don’t have an eye for it. So I settle for a little “light weathering” on most equipment and call it good.
This is not to put down those who weather. I will admit I think some are overboard (and I grew up around real trains) but we can’t all be good at the same thing, and I give credit to those who can weather cars or engines and make me say “that is so cool”.
So hats off to those who can weather convincingly, those who can build very accurate models, those who can do this and those who can to that. We each have our talents, and we are allowed to gaze with envy at those who excel us in other areas.
This pic was taken at the FREMO meeting in Heinsberg in 2005.