Well, as stated in a thread I created( http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44117 ), my first ever weathering project for eBay went for $12.87. I would like to hear from all the other weatherers on the forum. What’s your average time per car? What are some of your techniques? The gondola in the above thread, overall, took about 4 hours, plus another 10 minutes spraying on the Krylon version of Dullcoat.(2 coats, too much in my opinion.) The Santa Fe cement hopper I am working on right now has taken forever, especially perfecting the spill streaks. I have another CSX hopper I am working on that has taken around THREE hours, for one side of the body itself.
One thing I have problems with is fading paint and logos. Anyone have any tips?
Thanks in advance, as I hope this’ll get a little bit of interest.
mine very from car to car…usually i can do a good weathering job in a couple of hours…(not consecutive).
As far as technique, I used to use my brothers airbrush untill he moved out, now i use mainly chalks. The first one I did was dry brushed, that one came out pretty good, I can take some pictures and post if you would like?
I know you said to forget this topic but I think it is a good idea for here.
I’ll bring this back up for a question. I know there are self-adhesive(sp) weathering powders out there, and there is also chalk. What do you guys recommend? Also, what brand/product?
What I do is to airbrush a thinned fog coat of reasonably matching paint or lighter on the model. I do this w/ Floequil, not sure if this would work w/ acrylics. Then proceed to streak, rust and weather to your hearts content.
Bob K.
At the risk of sounding like a pill, we should, all of us, refrain from mentioning prices that we get for selling something on e-bay. The subject of weathering is fine, including mentioning that one has not garnered the prices/results that one had hoped for in recent auctions, but I think that we have had several reminders not to cross the line into commercialism on this forum.
Bergie has a lot of forebearance, but he is, I’m sure, not happy with the tenor of some of the posts about weathered rolling stock of late.
One neat idea I saw in the Kalmbach book on weathering is to use ‘oil chalks’ that you can find in any art store. They’re kinda like pastel chalks, but oil paint based instead – more like a thick crayon.
You get a couple of colors that closely match the logos you want to fade, and then you use the chalk to outline the logo/letters. Then use an old stiff bruo bruhe chalk down the sides of the car. Because it’s thicker, it does a nice fade the further you go – looks like the paint is running down the side of the car.
If I can ever resolve the problem with getting ftp access to the web area I have with my ISP, I’ll put up a photo of a Southern boxcar I used this technique on.
Hi,
It’s always great to hear someone else get so enthusiastic about a new idea and I know you’ll be happy with the Bragdon Enterprises powders. I have just started using them in the past month and am having great results. I finally got up the courage to spray my rolling stock with Krylon Matte Finish and then applied the Bragdon powders. The matte finsih not only tones down the shiny paint but gives the powders a great surface to adhere to. I’ve found that using a stiff brush will really dirty up the ends of freight cars and the lower sills. I use a soft paint bru***o lightly apply dirt to the top and sides of the cars. Again, if you use a stiff brush, especially where there are ridges like on the doors and ends, the result is great. I’ve decided to not spray a finish coat over the powders…the dry adhesive in the powders makes them stick okay and I’ll just be careful when handling the cars to not touch the sides. Actually, when you pick up a freight car, one usually holds it from underneath to place the wheels on the track anyway.
Thanks, I will. Guess the “old school computer guy” takes over in me every so often, and I forget there are newer ways of doing things out there. [:)] Alas, she-who-must-be-obeyed has already packed the digital camera for our Labor Day get-away, so photos will have to wait until next week. [;)]
Ok, I finally got a chance to get a picture – this logo fade actually came out better than the one on the Southern car I originally mentioned. It was done with white oil chalk. The rest of the weathering is a combo of washes and Bragdon powders.
I did some weathering to 2 gondolas over the weekend, I used oil based paints and thinner to get a rust effect, some areas look okay, others are a bit to be desired. We need a really in-depth clinic on weathering. N scaled enhanced maybe? I find it really hard to get the little specks of paint to be just right, and not ne so raised up. Any n guys have tips?
-Toothpicks are very useful tools
-Clean the car throughly before doing anything to it
-The weathering of most cars begin with some kind of wash
-Chalk won’t disappear when sealed with hairspray
-I don’t use oil based paint at all
-Distilled water with a drop of soap washed over a Dullcoted surface will add a slighly ashy, faded look.
-Try to master drybrushing, its quite useful
