Since I have a new switching layout planned, I want to make it as realistic as possible. So this is what came to my mind, weathering, specifically locos, rolling stock, buildings, etc. I need some tips on how to do it, what products to use, etc. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Greetings from the “Weather man” …just kidding, here are some ideas from having weathered military models and rr equipment for over twenty years.
I use all water based paints so they are easily mixed with artist’s chaulk or billiard chaulk all of which are easily applied to any plastic or wood model. First spray on the colors you want as the item would appear factory fresh ( no military models here ! ) then apply a thin wash of diluted black paint to bring out the highlights. While this is drying use a hobby knife to scrape chaulk powder onto the model. The amount is up to you depending how weathered and worn out you want the end result.
If you want to change the appearence of any model this is a great way to do it, and if you have over-weathered something you can simply rinse an area with water to remove the effects and start all over. If just starting to learn this technique, experiment on an old kit or something you don’t intent to use right away.
Weathering metal… it is about the same as plastic or wood and the acrylic paint will adhere to the rails and other metals. Also use the same effect for rust on plastic. Rust colors are available and to make plastic appear rusty mix powdered pencil lead into the various colors, then leave shiny areas showing to be bare metal with just pencil lead,
these techniques take practice but the results will look real.
Best of luck
Since many books and articles have been written on the subject, I’d recommend browsing your LHS for the appropriate books. You can use everything from weather (the real thing - weird, but it’s been done), to decals (from pictures of the real thing), with side trips through various chalks and powders, airbrush, “dry brush” paints, and almost anything else you can imagine, and I’d bet some things you wouldn’t dream of.
There have also been threads on the subject on this forum. Try searching for “Weathering”.
Good luck.
Go to http://www.modeltrainsweathered.com . There is a link that will appear at the top of the page. Click that, and join. Also, feel free to check out the rest of his site.
Matt
i like to just take rust spray paint and litely spray my cars they look great.
Thanks guys. uspscsx, thanks for the link.
You are on Model Railroad’s site and asking where to get information about weathering? They have some great publications that cover this in detail. One you might find interesting is Basic Painting and Weathering, it covers a wide range of topics from the tools to different materials. It might be a good “go to” book.
Do you have any photos to back that up?
No offense, but that really isn’t a good way to weather cars. Seriously, Colin, take the advice of that website I gave you. I am a member of the said forum(AKA “link”), and the guys over there will be happy to help you with anything.
Matt
uspscsx, when I tried to print the information, a lot of the words were cut off. There is also no way to copy and paste it onto a word document to re-size it.
What information might you be talking about?
Matt
When I go to the tips and techniques section, a circle with a line thru it comes up when I try to copy, and then paste it into word. By the way, I joined the forum.
I see. Rich did something crazy with his site, and used images. I suppose he used Photoshop to combine text and pictures. That crazy…
I’ll see what I can do…
Matt
Thanks Matt.