weathering diesels

You could try a pharmacy for the cotton buds, i think you guys will call them the same in the U.S? Their the things ya mom would poke in your ears to get the cabbage’s out of when you were a kid[:D] There a great tool for this job. I find it easier to use enamel paints. White spirit or Terps is realy very cheap from your local hardware store. Thin the paint to the consistency of milk in a spare plastic desert pot or the like. Dip the bud in and blot off some on kitchen towel before applying the cotton bud to the sides of the model in vertical movements. You’l soon see how the ‘dirt’ lays in the molded detail of the model, just like it does on the real thing. You’l also learn quick how much to apply and vice versa. If you over do it, just blot some off with towel or toilet paper and have another go. If you use oil based thinners like i mentioned above, it will not effect the paint on your model. Do not under any curcumstances use a car paint thinner etc, it will melt your model!

We call them “Q-tips” in the U.S.

Yeh, that’l be the ones[tup]

I just had a thought, there’s a section on weathering diesels and cars in this book http://kalmbachcatalog.stores.yahoo.net/12416.html

He also uses weathering powders as well as paint. It realy is a great book, no conection with Pele the author, just a very happy customer. It realy is a great help if your starting out.

oh yeah Pelle is amazing. You crazy non-Americans are better at modeling our country than we are!! lol

Do you think water would work okay though? I have water colors, but the results I got when using those on some freight cars weren’t all that satisfying…

i mean, dry brushing is fine, but I need something that will get realistic looks down behind the handrails of my engines, because getting a brush in there with paint or some powder is realllly hard to do properly

Im not sure Greg. I find water colors are only any use on rock castings and stuff. Plastic engine bodys just seem to repel the water like a ducks back kinda thing. Thats not to say it cant be done but i find that enamel/oil based paints are easier to work with. If you use the cotton tips, you’l find that you can get behind the handrails like i did on my SD50, I never took them off! Alternativly, you can also use the tips to apply weathering powders in hard to reach places on a locomotive.

Sorry if I wasn’t clear; I wont be using water colors. I tried that on a hopper and… no. haha. i mean, the result isn’t that bad, but it was a pain in the ass, to be sure.

What I’m still confused on is if I can just thin my regular Pollyscale/Floquil paints with water.

I take it this wouldn’t be acceptable if he was a grown man? [(-D] Keep at it kid.

Nice![bow] That’s my favorite CSX paint scheme!

You forgot to mention the t- shirt and hat![;)]

Personally - and it is just a personal preference - I don’t like to weather with paint of any type. My standard M.O. is to give the model a good coverage of powdered charcoal (usually with a 1/4" brush), then wipe most of it back off with a paper tower (or Q-tips for hard to reach areas). Then I seal that in with a spray of flat finish (dullcote or flat acrylic finish, both are available in spray cans). Then I add a little gray, rusty red, brown etc. with chalks.

A nice thing is that before you seal in the powdered charcoal, you can wash it off and start over if you don’t like the way it looks!!

Here’re two examples, an old and dirty SOO, now WT and a nearly new WT engine.

I think, at least at the trucks there should be some weathering.

Wolfgang

Dont worry about 'em all Packer, I am still learning to, believe me I am nothing compared to them, but time is the best way to learn, it will improve, stick with 'er. Mike

With limited budget you can try chalks, any sort, and Dullcote.

First try:

Dullcote (it will take the glossy look and made the surface better for chalk)

chalk powder from the sand paper, appllied with a brush. When you’re satisfied, again

Dullcote (this will seal the chalk, until now, you can remove the chalk)

You can see my way at weathering

Wolfgang

clcotrains.embarqspace.com/stuffpage

The Conrail SD45 on the right. It is my first weathered diesel. I have done some more to it since I took the pictures so I need to update them. But for now, you can look at these.

A few years? More like a few decades!

Keep practicing!

Yeah they are just $10.00 but unfortunately they spray like $2.00 !! I bought a couple of their airbrushes when I first started to weather my locos, but they do not spray fine enough to detail with. They would work ok for painting buildings or spraying track but do not try to spray fine lines below about 3/8 of an inch with them, no control over the width of the spray. Another thing bad about them is they mix the paint on the outside of the spray nozzle and it tends to drip off the end of the gun onto what ever is in it’s path, usually your fingers.

Here is my contrabution to your question. I Havn’t started weathering any locos myself yet but I plan on it. I would if possible do some reserch on it go out take pictures if possible to see the real thing to get a basic idea of what it looks like. If possible try to get shots of the actuall type of loco you will be weathering. Try practising on something less expensive like rolling stock first untill you get the hang of it.

Here are a couple of shots from one of the local yards where I live. I hope it helps a bit

Here’s an F unit that needs a wash.