I’m 17 and I have never seen a Pullman in service, so I have a question. What do I weather? What colors should I weather with? I came to acquire several Walthers Heavyweights. The roads I have(I know this plays an affect on the colors of weathering) UP in TTG and DRGW. The UP cars will be in the Wyoming area, while the DRGW will be in Colorado(Duh). Of course general any PAX weathering tip is appreciated. I do not have an airbrush now, I will buy one after I save up money for the FEF(+Tsunami[sigh]), but my drybrushing techniques are advanced.
Keep any weathering VERY subdued. We’re serving 1st-class passengers here! We wash these “mansions on wheels” after every trip. I wouldn’t go much beyond some very light dusting on the underframe and trucks.
Mark
Since passenger cars were washed frequently weathering should be very light: LESS IS MORE.
Black roofs would ‘chalk’ in the hot sun, and dirt /mud/ were airborne from the spinning sheels, I would suggest waiting for an airbrush - for subtley - and limit oneself to ‘dulling down’ any obvious ‘plastic shine’.
Freight cars are a different matter. Go down to a freight yard and take pictures, to use as models.
Also , depending on the AGE of the paint. freight cars fade to all different shades of their original color. It is actually hard to find two alike.
Much of UP’smainline was across Wyoming’s Red Desert (hint).
Check out this site http://www.trainweb.org/passengercars/Indices/U1.htm
You may find some useful pics there. To add to what Don mentioned, I would confine most of the weathering to the trucks. Any color pics that I have seen of heavyweights showed some dirty trucks. Good luck!!
Thanks Smitty. That site will help alot.
Time for some humor:
Seem like they were doing thier job:
Edit: Forgot to ask, would one need to apply a light wash for the “chalk” effect?
Just a post to get this topic more attention, it was almost on the 3rd page.
Hopefully, this is my last question, How the heck do you remove the wheels from the trucks???
For most trucks, just apply a little sideways pressure with your thumb or a small flat bladed screwdriver and they will pop right out. The are only held in by the small holes on the inside of the trucks that act as bearings for the needlepoint axles.
If the wheels are insulated metal or the car has any lights, you do have to be careful to get the wheels back the same way they were before. You could mark one side od an axle with a green dot, then put a green dot in the truck. Then you can be sure to match a green dot with a green dot. If you mix things up, you can get a short.
You could paint the wheel rims a shade of “rust” & the tread a Steel or silver color. A little Dirt & Grime will dull down the shine. You could look for any photos of D&RGW or UP pax cars in operation to see what colors to use.