I’m just finishing a batch of hoppers for a friend and thought I’d post pictures of them here for comment, criticism, and whatever value anyone might find in the pictures as examples. Besides, I think I have finally mastered the mechanics of posting photos to this forum and want to demonstrate it (to myself).
First, some general comments: All of the cars in this post are custom painted USRA 55 ton hoppers from Accurail. They’ve had Kadee couplers and Intermountain and Proto 2000 wheel sets (with 10K resistors) added.
All of the weathering was done with Bragdon Enterprises’ Weather System powders. A couple of cars were sprayed with Krylon Matte Finish before weathering but, since I can’t tell the difference, I quit spraying. Most of the weathering was applied dry with disposable brushes. Some – highlights and ‘fading’ – was applied with a cheap #0 brush and ‘wet water’.
I highly recommend the disposable brushes from Microbrush. Any weathering powders (and particularly Bragdons’ because of the contact adhesive in the powders) simply destroy most brushes by clogging and stiffening them. The Microbrushes, being very inexpensive and disposable, don’t get clogged (Murphy’s Law at work).
Now, on to the show: This first photo, HNXT 5090, doesn’t fit the subject of this topic in that it hasn’t been weathered yet. I’m including it here as sort of a “before” image for all of the others.
HNXT 5082 is a car that has been exposed to strong sun light for so long that the carrier in the paint used in the lettering has been pretty much baked away. This released the white pigment and subsequent rains caused it to run down the sides of the car:
HNXT 5083 has some pretty badly faded paint (Bragdon’s "Green
Not too bad. Something you probably should consider is painting/weathering the wheels and coupler. Even brand new wheels have a coating of rust. A little liquid hairspray poured into a bottle cap and a throw away brush, along with the weathering powders will get you a nice textured rust on the wheel fronts and the backsides too. If you slop some on the wheel treads you can use a small piece of soft wod to burni***he hairspray/powder mixture right off. A slightly lighter application can be used on the couplers. Then check for freeplay after it dries. All in all not a bad job.
The couplers on these are all weathered – faded green and rust – up close, they look like they have terminal hang overs.[:D]
Great idea on weathering the wheels but how do you get “liquid harspray”? Do I swipe my wife’s and simply spray it into a small bottle? Might be easier to just spray the wheels. Or maybe Krylon Matte Finish sprayed on the wheels would do the job? Back to R&D mode.
But you’re right: even brand new wheels that have not even been put into trucks have rust on both sides of the wheel. The only reason I haven’t been rusting wheels is because the Bragdon powders don’t really want to stick real well to bare metal.
Chuck, simple just go to your local “hair-spray” place and pick up a bottle of unscented HS in a pump bottle, not an aerosol can. Then you just screw off the top and pour. I actually use it for the truck side frames too. It leaves a great crusty texture. I take my wheels and puhe axles into a small piece of foam board. Then I take a premix of appropriatly colored weathering powder and 71% alcohol, shake it up and take a dropper and fill the upended wheel face with the mix. I repeat on the exposed inside of the opposite wheel. It will dry pretty quickly and leave a nice finish. I then turn the wheels over and do the same to the other side. It sticks like crazy to the wheels too. I use a wire brush in a Dremel tool to polihe treads, but it can be burnished with a stick too.
This is how I set the wheels up and two examples. The one on the right is polished, but the wheel backs weren’t done. I also clean the axle points before reinstalling.
This is a set of wheels with straight RUSTALL used as above. I would add a little diluted black or brown India ink to tone these down a bit.
This is an Athearn RTR car. The sturrip is painted, it just doesn’t look like it!
An Atlas Hopper. I only use InterMountain .088 semi-scale wheels and Kadee 58’s.
I hope the picture sizes are Ok. I couldn’t find the rules about such things.
Tip for ya’, dragonrider. Start with a car that you are considering scrapping because it’s too __________ (fill in the blank). You might well wind up with a new favorite.
Here’s an Athearn Genesis SIECO 50ft Box. Everything in life gets weathered. A $10 car or a $30 car, they all get dirty. This is the first step in dirtying this car. Layering is what it’s all about.
Took me a while to figure out the “two pictures” per car, until I caught th “A” and “B” side comment. Question, on the 5083 one end has a rust stripe down the center of the one end, is this rust on a “welded” panel joint?
Good photos, and great variety of weathering to give these cars “character”.
Bill
Actually, “A” and “B” really only refer to which end of the car you’re looking at (with the B end being the end with the Brake equipment and the A end being … the other end [:)] ). I took a little liberty in referring to the A or B side but it makes sense, I think.
These are all USRA 55 ton hoppers; they’re of riveted construction with very little (if any) welding. But, yes, most of the rust is on or near joints; usually close to the ribs. The reason is simple: paint prevents rust but is most likely to be thin or come off around joints for various practical reasons. So that’s where rust is most likely to be found but rust will also develop on flat, painted surfaces. All it takes is a scratch that’s deep enough to penetrate all of the layers of paint down to bare metal. Add moisture and it’s only a matter of time.
Having spent many years railfanning in the West irginia coal fields (in a former life) I became fascinated with the rusting through of the joints between the slope sheets and sides. This is an obvious place for moisture to react with the acids in the coal, and open gaps were common in older cars.
It appears the mine workers wouold stuff virtually anything in thes nearrow gaps to prevent leakage. I have seen rags, newspaper and clods of grass/dirt crammed into the gaps.
It seems to me that these "repairs need to be modeled, and I have done a little of that with super glue applied with a tooth pick and a little toilet paper glued by the edge, then trimmed. Some of the turf and long grass fibers could also be used.
Older cars often had damge to the steel: corner end posts pushed in, probably by a front end loader pushing the car at a mine.
I would post photos, but the cars are packed away and the prototype photos are…somewhere?
