I am trying to weather some black rolling stock (Open Hoppers, & Tankers) and was wondering how you folks do it. The black grime doesn’t show up and they just don’t look right not weathered. Is there a secret I need to know? I have been using chalks and some air brushing and haven’t come up with anything I like. hanks, Mike
I went to a weathering clinic over the summer, and the suggestion for black cars was to use rust-colored weathering powders.
Hi , yes rust coloured and brown earth tones will work well on the black rolling stock. Even the “dust” coloured paint will work.I like to work from photo’s of real cars. Black cars and brightly coloured cars (yellow railboxes) come to mind as some of the more difficult to weather.For me I like to start at the bottom and work up depending on the type of car,dust and rust tones tend to make the rivets and truck detail “pop”.
Good luck
Rob
I like to use brown, rust,burnt orange, ect on black.
I use the same colors on black rolling stock as I do on white or red or green rolling stock. Harbor Mist grey for dust and dirt. Black for soot and Mineral Brown for rust and reddish grime. Those are airbrushed in light sprays. Then Bragdon’s powders in black, brown, grey and tan are brushed on.
Black cars run the same places white cars do and get the same dirt on them. Metal painted black rusts the same as metal painted red.
Dave H.
I use a wash of grey and brown, applied very thin and in several coats to build up a “fade” coat. Then I work on things like chalking the white lettering and rusting up a bit. Pretty effective, and quick to do.
Lee
Come and join the weatherers forum. You can browse the forum with the username:mtw and the password:enter
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Neutrino,
That’s some stellar weathering work. Whew.
M
M - Thanks. Practice and the helpful guys at MTW.
Nice work, everyone. I submit my much more modest efforts to show that using light washes of acrylic paints, even dry-brushing, can improve the realism for these types of rolling stock.
The hopper on the left is an early attempt, and you can clearly see the brush strokes. I have to improve in that respect. The CP hopper is a work in progress, but you can see from the trucks that it is not pristine. Again, acrylic paints.
I used burnt umber and perhaps wee dab of yellow and some red…I have forgotten, but you can be sure that burnt umber is the base.
