Weathering Coal Cars

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I’m sure many may already know this trick, and if not, I present this method of weathering rolling stock for your review.

Women’s Make-up

I found this on a youtube video called “weathering 101”. In the video the gentleman uses “the cheapest women’s eye shadow you can find” to weather a box car. I figured, what the hey, if it doesn’t work, I’ll just wipe it off and try some more conventional methods. Well, I’m not wiping it off.

I’m in the process of weathering a substantial number of HO gauge PPLX, 3-bay, 100 ton, coal gondolas for a fleet train. I bought the make-up at walmart with some assistance from the wife, applied it with the applicator that came with the case, and the results are awesome.

The author of the video states that the more you handle the car, the more realistic the effect will become. (There is no need to topcoat as the mak-up sticks fairly well) So far, I think I agree. I’m sorry, but I don’t at yet have any pictures to post, but as soon as I take some I’ll post them up here for your review.

Some items of note: First, the applicator that came with the pack of make-up is only going to hold up to about 3 or 4 cars but my wife assures me these can be purchased by the hundreds…lol. Second, in the packs I bought, I thought I’d found a good color for rust, but its too sparkly…glittery…so I need to find something to use for that color. But I’m not making all the cars rusted, so I’m ok for now to just have coal dirt on them.

Total cost of two “kits” of the stuff…under $5. Judging by how much of the black I’ve used so far, I’m thinking the kit with that color in it will last about 10 cars worth, perhaps more.

Now, does anyone see any unforseen issues I could have with this method? As I said, the results I’m seeing in appearance, ease of application, and adhearance to the cars is great to my untrained eye but I am brand new to this hobby an

2

How 'bout real coal dust for dirtying up your hoppers? Even cheaper than eye shadow…

Tom

3

Please explain more, why you don’t need a top coat to seal it?

So the make up doesn’t rub off when you handle the cars? Thats hard to believe.

I might try this, as I need to weather a bunch of coal cars also. I’ve got the weathering powder kits. But that stuff rubs off when you handle the cars, so they require a seal coat.

4

I thought of this actually. I work at a coal burning power plant here in York, PA and I have access to ALL the bituminous coal you could ever need for ANY scale layout. The problem is, even after the coal goes through the crusher, and then through the pulverizers, it is still too large to be scale “dust”. As a matter of fact, its about the right size to be the actual size of the coal that comes in on our fleet trains. Also, coal is very abrasive to plastics. I would surely scratch the coal cars all up if I were to use this method. But thanks for the suggestion. Hopefully you learned something in the exchange about coal…lol

5

The Author of the video stated it would not rub off “easily” and I too was skeptical. He explained in the video that the oils in the make-up provide enough adhesion that topcoating wasn’t necessary. After applying the stuff, and actually using my finger to rub between the frame rails on the panels to smooth out the effect, I can assure you that it is NOT easily rubbed off. At least not the make-up I used. In comments below the video, the author was asked about topcoating, and he stated that while it is not at all necessary, there is nothing wrong with applying one. I’ll take some pictures today and see if I can get them posted up here for all to see.

6

!(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm60/fc2turbomss/Model Railroad/2012-06-13_13-46-27_178.jpg)!(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm60/fc2turbomss/Model Railroad/2012-06-13_13-45-27_326.jpg)

7

Wow that looks pretty good! Nice job on those!

I will try the make up kit then on my coal cars. Thanks for the tips.

8

I started a thread asking about whether women’s makeup would work as weathering on another forum a while back. Ive yet to try it, but thanks for reminding me! I too have a bunch of coal cars that Id like to weather at some point. I think the key here is to make sure the makeup your wife purchases for you (aint no way Im swallowing my pride/manhood and buying it LOL) is not too shiny or glittery. Just as flat as possible with little sheen. Nice job btw.

9

agree…the “rust” color i wanted to use, turned out to be very shiny/glittery. HOWEVER, at the suggestion of a coworker who knows NOTHING about the hobby, I laid down the glittery rust color first, then covered over with the darker black. This made a very nice effect and the “rust”, although not quite the look i was hoping for, did come through in some areas minus the sparkle.

Oh, one thing I failed to mention previously that some of you may have noticed. For whatever reason, the make-up I have will not adhere to the trucks or the machined surface of the wheels. So I’ll be using a wash for those two areas.

thanks for all the compliments fellas…its a very easy method, and takes me around 5-10 minutes per car.