Today I fixed up my engine house using the lightweight spackling and your fingers method. It turned out pretty good for an amateur 
I also made my first ever attempts at weathering a model with a thin wash of paint. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out for my first attempts.
From normal viewing distance of a couple feet, they look pretty decent.
Nice work, Matt! Those look great.
Thank you @York1
I’m really wanting to try to do something with my Plasticville coaling tower. If anyone has any ideas or photos of coaling towers that look good feel free to share 
Once upon a time, there was a kit available to do this to the coaling tower:
I don’t remember who offered the kit, but it should be easy enough to replicate with some wood or plastic of your own. I replaced the “steel” legs with wood and added additional bracing to the bin, too.
Thanks @palallin that looks good. Definitely a different look from the stock kit.
That weathering turned out really nice on that wooden siding. Nice job
Thank you @Kim it was brown acrylic craft paint mixed with water in a little cough syrup type medicine cup and applied with a small brush. As it was applied, at places that looked like too much color or where the thin mix would run or pool, I just kind of dabbed it carefully with a paper towel.
The roofs were done the same only black paint
Aaaaaaaawesome creative modeling (the best kind)
I don’t have any of photos but I gave my Plasticville coaling tower a wash of diluted black acrylic paint and added grain of rice lights to it back in the 90s.
Sounds neat @pennytrains
Remind me to take a few photos of the construction vehicles I did the same thing to. They’re currently at the rear of my Christmas layout and it will be awhile before I dig them out of the snow
