Hi Guys
Who out there enjoys weathering? For me I spent this whole weekend weathering freight cars. I enjoy wetahering from engines to buildings. Who else finds making things look weather beaten enjoying.
jeremy
I do, its a part of the hobby where your artistic eye takes over.
I like weathering because it is a good evening project, after coming home from work. On a Tuesday night, I can’t get started with any larger projects, because “24” comes on channel 19 at 9:00 PM… and of course there are all sorts of other things one must do besides model railroad projects.
haven’t tried yet. i plan on doing some next weekend if i get the chance. all i’ll do is just use paint and streak down the sides of cars.
i plan on further down the road definatley doing this to all of my cars and some of my cheaper or worse looking locomotives. i’m not going to touch any of them right now.
Like I said before, I am the “Weather Master”. It is the most enjoyable aspect of scale modelling to me. If done right, it brings a whole new dimention to your models.
Here is one of my first weathering attempts on a boxcar (in N-scale):
I’ve been experimenting, but am still looking for that “sure fire” method. For the above, I used simple diluted watercolor paints. I’ve tried chalks, acrylic paints diluted in Isopropyl Alcohol, and combinations of these.
One method I tried is Isopropyl Alcohol over a surface treated with Testor’s Dull Coat. It’s supposed to give a faded look. However, I have found that the results are inconsistent. Here is the best I managed with this method:
What methods have others found success with?
The way I weather most boxcars and reefers goes like this…
First I give a wash of either watercolor, chalk, water, and alcohol or Ink/ chalk/ water/ alcohol.
As the wash is drying, I use a fine point bruo add more wao the rivits and add streaks from the roof. ( If it doesn’t come out looking correct, I come in with a moist brush and work the surface until satisfactory)
When it looks good, I dullcote it twice to seal it on. Then I use a sable bru***o work pastels into the model, with it concentrated mostly on the bottom edge. I dullcote it again. Then I add an earth tone pastel powder to the bottom seal. Really, really work that into that area. And I dullcote it yet again.
Finally at the end, I use a sable bru***hat has pastel residue ( kinda like drybrushing with a powder. Dunk the bristles in chalk and shake off as much powder as you can) to rub tiny bits of dirt-tone pastel into the bottom 3rd of the car. It is so small amount , it won’t come off when you touch it. This heightens that area so it looks like real dust kicked up. [^]
You must wait until the each dullcote layer is cured. This process is long and stretched out, but it works excellent. [:D]
The car’s trucks are cleaned with alcohol to remove all grease. Then they are drybrushed with floquil earth, dirt, or grimey black.
MAbruce -
How do you get the water colors to stick to the plastic? I have experimented a litte but the water just seems to bead up and leave little blotches of color. Do I need to use alchol or do I need to use the dullcote? Any guidance or suggestions you can provide will be greatly appreciated!
Tom
n c
Use rubbing alcohol in the watercolor. It reduces the surface tension.
Super! Thanks for thew help, AggroJones.
To “The Weathermaster” or anyone else out there who may know. I applied patel colours as powders to my box cars, and then Testors Dull Coat. When the DC had dried, there was little sing of thte pastel colours. What happened? Does this happen for you? What to do? BTW, the same thing happened with just plain dust and ashes. These are fine particles I’m dealing with. Thanks.
i have found that those gel-pens work nicely for adding graphitti (especialy when the paint or plastic is matt) if your railroad runs through a city or other heavily industrialized area.
If pastel chalk dissapears after you dullcote, you must re-chalk the area again. And dullcote that again. You keep doing this until you build up enough to be seen when your done.
Cause one layer of chalk sealed with dullcote has very little effect on a model surface. [:(]
A word of caution:
Be careful using an alcohol wash over old rolling stock, as it can remove lettering and decals. I learned this the hard way. A few years ago, I used a alcohol and ink mix in the first layer of weathing on an old, old Athearn flatcar. Almost all the lettering came off of one side before I realized there was a problem!
Use more water in the formula when alcohol is used to wash an old car. (made in the '70s and '80s)
Krylon makes a workable spray matte fixitave that artist use on pastels and chalk drawings. Spray the first coat on VERY LIGHTLY to "set’ the chalk. Do’nt hold the can too close.
My methods
- Dullcote
- Grime wash (India ink Alcohol) - Use the 99% rubbing alcohol mixture, it dries faster and does not give the car the white mold look. I first tried the 70% solution and it looked bad. In either case, if you do end up with the white mold look, another coat of DC will solve the problem.
- An assortment of earthtone pastels and a brush
- Dullcoat
- More Pastels, more dullcoat
Someday when I have five hours to figure out how to post a picture on this sight I will do so. [:(!]
I will weather my frieght cars but not much as I like the look of clean cars and locos [:O]
Oklahoma…
Amen, brother. All of my trains go through the Train Wash at least once a week!!
[:P]
I learned recently, from a guy on the Atlas forumWWW.ATLASRR.COM that if you spray Testors Dullcoat, Floquill “Figure-Flat” or whatever on the car or structure before you apply chalk dust or pastels, it won’t dissapear and you don’t have to spray it again to “seal” the weathering.
A light spray of dullcote will put a ‘tooth’ surface for the chalks to cling to, thus a seal coat won’t blow the chalk away. Also I have had good results with colored pencils where I want a less diffuse effect. White works especially well where I want water scale buildup.
Randy