Weathering cars and buildings.

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I purchased the Walthers Northern Lights Power Station. It was sitting on my desk for about a month and my 16 year old son decided to put it together for me because he was bored[oops]. He did a great job but I had intended to lightly weather it before assembly. I would like to detail the morter between the bricks, weather the stack and coal unloading area as well as windows and such. 1st question how do most of you detail the morter between the bricks. Second would that type of building based in the transition era between steam and diesel have gravel on the roofs like most industrial buildings currently.

Also I greatly admire the extreme weathering that some have done. But most of the rail cars both tank and boxcars that come into the mill I work at are not that beat up and rusted. Do the type of industrys served dictate what cars go were. For example the paper mill I work at has easily damaged goods so they get the best cars while the companies that produce metal or heavily packaged goods get the more beat up cars?

Thank you Kevin

2

If you son didn’t paint the parts before assembly, you have that to do anyway. There are several ways to get the mortar, but what I would do in your case is pint the building gray and dry brush the brick colors onto the gray. This means you would also have to paint all the details as well. This might seem like a lot of work, but having restored a zillion eBay structures, I can tell you it is entirely doable.

Others will have other ideas.

3

I’ve used light gray, flat Latex indoor house paint for mortar color. Just brush on a wash and wipe off the excess on the bricks with a soft cloth and let dry. Brown, gray, white are a few basic colors of Latex paint used for all my weathering needs.