Need assistance weathering boxcars as easy as possible.
I have used dry brushed acrylic paint (dirty colors). Get some photos for reference and have at it. If you’re nervous that you may ruin them, practice on a “junk” boxcar first until you get the results your looking for.
My staple is powdered charcoal, you can get it at an art/craft store. Apply it over the entire car with a brush - a fairly stiff 1/4" brush works well. Then wrap a paper towel (dry) around your finger and brush down along the sides and ends, and also along the roof. This removes a lot of the charcoal, but overall darkens the paint and lettering. Plus, the charcoal tends to stick in the areas dirt really sticks - around rivets, between boards of a woodsided car etc. Once you like the way it looks, spray with a flat finish like dullcote or acrylic flat.
Best parts to me is that it’s dry like chalk weathering, but you can seal it in with flat finish, and until you seal it in, it’s reversible - if the model doesn’t look right, wash it off and try again!! With paint, it’s pretty much a one shot deal.
http://www.modeltrainsweathered.com/
You can get some tips here.
I second that, a wealth of information.
Quick and dirty!!!
Floquil markets an aerosol called ‘Instant Weathering’; now this ain’t gonna make your car look like it went through an Arizona dust storm or just endured a blizzard out in the wilds of western Nebraska but it is going to make your car look like its been awhile since the railroad got around to running it through the car washer - which is my perception of the way most cars look at any given moment!
Really? I’ve heard only negatives about that ‘instant weathering’ canned stuff. Others talk. Personally I’ve never tried it, as I have my own sophisticated bag-o-tricks.
I use a set cheap artist chalk I picked up at Wallyworld and a soft brush…Scrape the chalk with X acto blade and brush on car…I don’t use Dulcoat…and its easy to change if you want…Cox 47
AggroJones, I, too, have my own ‘bag-o-tricks’ and they don’t include ‘Instant Weathering’ but brofullard417 was looking for
and, like it or not, you ain’t gonna get any easier than grabbing an aerosol can and making a quick hit on a boxcar. The term ‘weathering’ implies that we are attempting to make our equipment look like it has been exposed to ‘weather’ and that, to me, is primarily ‘dirt’ and ‘grime’ and that’s what you get with ‘Instant Weathering’.
A lot of peoples main pain when it comes to aerosol cans is that it looks so terribly unsophisticated.
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how to weather 20-30 years worth of rust on flat-sided steel boxcars Quickly,Cheaply,and Easily: get a piece of orange chalk about the thickness of a triple ‘A’ (AAA)battery. Drag chalk down the side of the car. Wipe chalk off.Take a brown colored pencil and drag up and down where chalk was.The chalk prepares the plastic body of the car to accept the color pencil. The resulting wet-looking dark brown and red washed rust effect really stands out to the crusty orange chalk dust accumulation,. also, don’t be afraid to get the chalk and color pencil in every nook and cranny of the car side, and the roof is fair game too. Overall, a convincing look,except in the desert.
Does anyone have pictures?
Peter Smith, Memphis
Sure, here’s a picture of a Sand Hill Crane watching me weather a box car.
Do yourself a favor and try to realize weathering isn’t a quick and easy proposition.
Go to www.modeltrainsweathered.com and check it out.
Here is my first attempt. Dusty, dirty water based paints and a cheap airbrush. I think the thing is do a number of very light coats. I use a rusty color, a dirty brown and tan and a grimy black. Pretty easy really.
Well…“d van” those cars look great, and a first attempt. WOW! Hope I can get mine to look that good. What types of methods did you use? Only an airbrush?
I have to agree that weathering isn’t quick…But then it seems that NOTHING I do is.
I haven’t done too much weathering but have done some. Thus far I like to use India ink washes, acyclic paint washes and I have also used some “Rust-All” on a few of my rolling stock and one steam engine.
I did try the Floquil Instant Weathering but didn’t like the result, so that can is just collecting dust.
I like the idea of the charcoal dust and do want to give it a try. I also would like to try out the Bragdon powders…Anybody like them for weathering rolling stock?
Also, if you have an airbrush…There was an article in MR, February 2003 Quick & Dirty freight car weathering that I thought was a very good read and informative. I do have an airbrush, but haven’t tried weathering with it. The techniques outlined in the article seem pretty simple.
I have used forever a set of artist chalks, it has about 20 colors with it , I use a small artists brush, sorta stiff, to apply it. I just rub the brush on the chalks, they are like square bars, then put it on the car. If I have a red caboose , I will use some red to tone the decals down , then use gray and white to get the overall look. Towards the bottom I use a small strip of lblack or dark brown to simulate dirt. On the trucks I use a rust color od a gray , this will help bring out the details of the black truck. Sorry I dont have a picture to show you. Also don;'t spray anything over this, it will all disapear. If you dont like what you did , you can wipe it off. Good luck