I am just finishing the scratchbuilding of a grain elevator, one of the focal industries of my Toledo Erie Central switching layout. I have satisfactorily weathered it (to my liking) with acrylic paint washes and (Bragdon’s) powders. I am getting ready to weather my kit and kitbashed structures in like manner.
The question is: What is the best method for weathering freight cars? I do not have an airbrush and have heard (and read) of various methods such as using artist’s acrylics, acrylic paint washes, pastels, chalks and powders. What is the consensus out there?
An airbrush with fine control, Aztek for example, is a wonderful tool for weathering. I use it as a first pass, giving a base coat upon which I layer additional weathering. My product of choice is the Bragdon weathering system which you’ve already mentioned. The adhesive powders work beautifully on locomotives and rail cars. My first project with Bragdon’s powders involved making a pair of brand new UP C30-7’s look really grimy. The locos headed up a long string of equally weathered ballast hoppers. The attempt was so successful that no train goes on the layout without some evidence of road dirt.
That said, you certainly don’t need an airbrush to get great results with the Bragdon system. The weathering powders give very pleasing grit and dimension all on their own. I like the control. The powders don’t do well on shiny plastic though. Be sure to dullcote those pieces before using the powders. Also, I find there’s no need to put a protective clear coating over the powders. After two years of active train club use, that ballast train still retains the original grime.
Another vote for powders. I’ve got black, white and rust from AIM, and I’ve found these do a good job. My LHS had a series of free evening weathering clinics a couple of summers back. A local club member showed how to use powders, but it’s not difficult. As Locogirl recommended, the powders take to the surface better if it’s rough, so a light treatment with Dul-Cote is the second step in weathering freight cars. (The first step is to remove the trucks and couplers, so they don’t get gummed up with the Dul-Cote!)
Another nice thing about the powders is that you can go to the sink and wash them off if you feel you’ve overdone it.
Once you’re happy with your weathering, spray the car with more Dul-Cote. You may find that the Dul-Cote tones down the weathering effect. In general, that’s good, because many people tend to over-weather, at least at first.
The consensus is that there is no consensus…that is, we can all agree that we can’t all agree. [%-)]
I like to start with powdered charcoal, put it liberally over the entire car, then use a soft dry paper towel (like Viva etc.) wrapped around my finger to make downstrokes to remove much of the powdered charcoal, leaving it primarily in cracks and crevices and around rivets and such, and toning down the colors of the car and the lettering. Then I seal that with flat finish, and use chalks to add touches of gray, brown, rusty red etc. as appropriate. There isn’t a really good way to seal in the chalk (if you spray it with dullcote it will disappear) but I find it isn’t really necessary. Over time the chalk kinda works itself into the model.
Unless you regularly remove the car by hand from the layout and rub it on your white shirt, there isn’t really a problem with the chalk not being sealed in.
The two methods you’re using already get my vote… an acrylic wash combined with Bragdon poweders. Man, I love those Bragdon powders… I bought the assotment kit, and find them to be foolproof.
Dehusman and Lothar are quite correct and I agree with them fully. There is no single “best” method for anything in model railroading, least of all something as subjective as weathering. I’ve used all of the above methods, some by themselves and others in combinations on the same model, it all depends on what condition I want the final product to be like- almost new or almost dead. Try them all and see what YOU like best, then that would answer your own question.
Thanks, guys (and gals) for that useful information. Sounds like I’m on the right track here, as I was thinking about the combination of washes and Bragdon powders. I have an assortment of colors of the Bragdon’s products. Some of the acrylic paint washes that I already have mixed up (from the grain elevator project) may work well for some of these cars as well.
There is a school of thought that using ‘wet’ or ‘dry’ weathering methods (washes vs. powders or chalk) should be related to what caused the weathering…that is, weathering caused by say cement powder or ash/soot would be best duplicated by a dry method like chalk weathering, whereas weathering caused by say oil spillage on a tank car would be best represented by a wet method like a paint wash.