Hey guys
I have been working on a patched gondola from Burlington, and is patched for Burlington Northern. The patch is supposed to be hand painted I tried my best…
Pictures
Also Yesterday driving home from Pennsylvania I caught this CSX unit #7694 on 895 leaving the yard in baltimore with a unit coal train. Its a little blurry
Tjsingle
Works for me!! Not bad at all.
Not too shabby! Did you use a Sharpie for the lettering? Because it kind of looks like it. You might try a gel pen (I’ve had good luck with the solid black ones). Then again, a little dab of Dullcote might help, too. [:)]
I going to get some more dullcote soon, ran out 
And i might try the gel pen 
Not trying to be rude -
But what did you do to that gon? The different paints and such really don’t appear to be weathering, it looks like it hit the inside of a DuPont factory.
And FWIW - When the prototypes cover other markings, the generally acepted practice is to make sure the other markings / notes on the car are visible as well.
I like the paint and patch job on the gon. i have the same car but u couldnt pay me to paint it! Im not that confident with my paint work i’ll stick to colored pastels! The weathering is really nice i love the part of the Burlington showing trough it looks realistic!
I’ve seen some gons that look just like that. Like somebody just threw gallon sized paint balloons at them.
I think it looks pretty decent. I wonder if some weathering powders would be nice–sort of filthisizing it.
Ed
Good job, I’d be proud to have it run on my pike.
I’ve got to agree with GraniteRailroader on this one. Before undetaking such a project you need to study some prototype pics. I’ve been railfanning and modeling the BN for at least 30 years and have never seen a BN car with hand stenciling like that, especially one in revenue service. Even the MOW cars I’ve seen have not had hand stenciling. Some thing like that is more common on small short lines or industrial roads, not on Class 1 roads.
Here’s an example of what you were after:
http://www.billselleck.net/Images/galleries/jerrypics/Qgon.jpg
This my picture taken in 1997 - that’s 27 years after the merger and the gon is STILL in CB&Q paint with CB&Q reporting marks. It’s well weathered, but still legible.
Tjsingle, spending some time studying prototype pics, read up on various techniques on such places as MTW and other websites. Practice, practice, practice. Contrary to what others here will say or do, there is more to weathering then simply splashing some brown paint on a railcar with a brush. Study and practice. You can do better.
You might find cars that look like they have been hit with paint balloons or RPGs.
If a railroad was going to take the time to paint on new reporting marks, the other stencils would have atleast been made legible as well. The FRA doesn’t take to kindly to not having the appropriate marks on cars.
A car that survived the 1967-1977 period should also have an ACI (automated car identification) label as well as consolidated lube stencil plates. You can get those from Microscale.
While you’re at it, you may want to see what kind of “paint-out” decals you can get. For example, Microscale makes the Conrail “CR” that represents when the prototype “kitbashed” the distinctive PENN CENTRAL stencils into CR.
I looked through Fallen Flags’ photos trying to find a prototype photo that would back up what you’ve done. I couldn’t find one.
To paraphrase JK and Granite, if you’re looking for realism, you really can’t go wrong by using prototype photos. In my recent weathering thread, I used probably a dozen prototype photos of the same class of cars. I made sure even my rust streaks where along the right rivet lines. The result is plausible because it’s based on reality.
I started weathering years ago by randomly applying grime, rust, dirt, etc. in a manner that looked realistic to me. But once I started really examining prototype photos and collecting books on prototype equipment and painting guides, I began to realize that wasn’t the path to realism. Using prototype photos as a guide has helped my modeling considerably.
Good luck.
Well thanks I guess? I had some good comments and some comments that were annoying. With the car I had weathered It did not have all the right FRA marks on it, I used my decals on other detailing projects. This car was going to have the look that it hasn’t moved much and has been rusted over, i’ve seen many similar examples on Class 1 railroads. There is many examples of hand painted numbers, and i’ll work on the on the only FRA marks like load capicity.
Tjsingle
[:-^]
Tjsingle;
That is a pretty good start. However if I can make a few suggestions.
Even when railroads are doing quick touch-ups of road numbers or other reporting marks, they usually do it with a stencil not free hand. The back ground that they would paint for those marks would be masked off so that when the paint is applied it would be in a nicely squared or a rectangle with sharp lines and corners. The backgrounds that I have seen have tended to be more of a grey primer background rather than brilliant white.
The inside of the car should look more like the outside does. It is just too bright to have the outside looking that skroungy.
Just my [2c] worth.
Keep on plugging away, it truly comes with practise and more practise. None of us that I know were just born with it.
I’m always a little scared of going to far. I personally like light weathering, a little rust here and there and only a couple on the layout that are truly harder to read.
So my suggestion to you overall would be those things. You pay really good hard earned money for the paint schemes and lettering that the Mfgs have put on them, so enjoy them by only weathering to the point that they look like they have been in revenue service for awhile and you can tell that by the build date on them. The odd car that might be more of a junker that you want to keep running for a longer period of time .>> go at it with more weathering than the others.
Johnboy out…
I saw that, Johnboy [:-^][;)]
We all have to start somewhere. I agree with jktrains. Study a photo and you will see a difference. I will tell you the truth. I do alot of my weathering by fantasy, no picture and going by whats in my mind. Sometimes the look good and then, UGH!!! I am currently working on a Chessie patched to a CSXT 2-bay hopper. I found a easy photo to use for it. Thats another thing, choose a good photo. Something easy. I have picked out a few I thought were easy and they weren’t.
I believe if you find a good shot of a car, and its like looking into a mirrior. To the photo and your car. Heres a car a did awhile back. It was done by a photo. It wasn’t to hard to do. My Chessie I am working on is someone like this one. Try it, you might see a difference, and may be easier.
Model:
Photo of actual car:
Tjsingle - you said you’ve seen ‘many similar examples’ on Class 1 roads. I’ve can’t recall seeing any and Dave V. hasn’t been ableto find any on Fallen Flags site either. I’ve seen hand painted reporting marks on things like hot metal cars and ingot cars, but Class 1 equipment usually has a more professional look, regardless of how much its been moved. If you’ve got pics like you’re talking about, please post them.
No pictures but memory is a factor
Does any one have a picture of a 40’ gondola that has a prototype, and a picture, Im willing to start over
TJ,
I was about to say the same thing… you have to start somewhere. Like I said I did a lot of very bad weathering in my day (I still do botch cars now and then, hence my drive to find a “reversable” weathering process).
Take everything that was said here onboard. You seem like a very mature young man and have taken all the comments quite well. Realize that all of us want to see you do better because we know you can. There’s so much more information available now (and for free) than there was when I was your age; take advantage!
We all start somewhere. But we also all need a little help getting there. Your gon gave its life for a good cause; you’ll be a better modeler the next time you weather.