Weathering Locomotives - Do I have to?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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I’m new to the hobby and I see all these books and articles about weathering your locomotives to make them look more realistic. Am I wrong that I have a hard time “mucking” up a $250+ model? I really don’t want to have to weather my locomotives, but many people, especially Tony Koester’s books, make it sound like that’s a criminal offense. Are there any of you that have not weathered your locos?

Thanks,

Mike Brubaker

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I would be interested in other oopinions. I myself can go both ways, but i like the way alot of them come from the manufacturer.

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Mike,

First of all, it’s your railroad, do what you want to do. If you don’t want to weather your locos, then don’t. Simple.

I hear what you’re saying. I have some beautiful MTH SD70Aces that I can’t bring myself to weather. At least not now, maybe down the road (rails?) some time.

I might just do some light weathering, like trucks/wheels get dusty. There are many levels of weathering. From rust bucket to a light dusting.

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I have only weathered one of mine as an experiement.

But other than that, the only “weathering” is dust.

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With the prices of locos as they are here in Germany, I am very reluctant to give my loco a weathering job. Imagine mucking up a $ 600 loco! I´d rather spend an additional, say $ 50 - 80 to get a professional weathering job done by an expert.

6

I myself do not weather any of my models, and never intend to.

A friend of mine who was a custom painter refused to weather any engine he painted. A customer especially wanted an engine weathered and he refused. The engine was painted in gloss and eventually it was sent to Mr. Weather for weathering.

Rick

7

Short answer is that you don’t have to weather your RR equipment.

I am funny about weathering.

I will weather buildings to make them look more realistic.

But I do NOT weather my locos or RRcars. I prefer to think my RR keeps 'em clean and shiney.

I, too, have a hard time even weathering a $50 loco or a $4.99 RR car, let alone a $250.00 loco.I am affraid I will “muck it up” and if I do on a building I can always strip it and start over, but loco,it’s hard to get that factory-like new look back again.

Now maybe if I could do a great weather job like Robby P. ,

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Mike,No its not necessary to weather your locomotives or cars and with today’s limited production I highly advise against it.

Whys that?

Glad you ask…Being a horse trader I have found unweather locomotives brings a better cash return.

You see the majority of the modelers that do weather prefers a unweathered locomotive over one that was weathered by the previous owner since weathering is a personal touch.

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My biggest problem with weathering is not whether to do it (sorry about the pun), but whether I’ll do it right. There are so many techniques out there, and every modeler who actively weathers his rolling stock swears by his (or her) method. What if I try a particular technique I saw in the magazine and it doesn’t work, or I screw it up? What if I weather it too heavily? What if I follow all the techniques exactly, and it still doesn’t look right?

I know the answer to my concerns is to try several techniques on less important models, and as I master some or all of those techniques, I can judiciously apply them to my more important models. Still, getting over the hump of caution and indecision is tough at times. I keep telling myself I’ll throw myself a weathering party - fire up the airbrush and weather a large batch of models at once - but there’s always something else I want to do first.

It’ll happen one day, but I’m in no rush.

Tom

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Well, I’m glad you all are on my side! HA HA HA! Good, I think I’ll leave them alone, too much investment to “weather” it up.

Mike

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anything i weather is done with pastels , chalks. If i am not happy with it it is real ez to undo. Any weathering i do on engines is very very light. my railroad , unlike the old SP , takes pride in having clean engines.

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Me…It has to be weathered!! Every bit of my rolling stock is either a mild weathered job, or a rust bucket. Just having a engine on my layout shiny…Just won’t work.

I agree it’s your layout, and maybe down the road you can do as someone said, and just dust it up a bit.

Here’s some engines I’ve done.

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[IMGhttp://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o144/robby_79/100_1069.jpg[/IMG]:550:0]

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[IMGhttp://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o144/robby_79/001-12.jpg[/IMG]:550:0]

This was a N-scale

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[IMGhttp://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o144/robby_79/100_0647.jpg[/IMG]:550:0]

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Like most folks said, the short answer is NO. Do what makes you happy. I personally like filthy steam so nothing runs on my layout that hasn’t seen gouache weathering and an airbrush.

Chris

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Mike,

First you sould understand that is a very diverse hobby with lots of different "views’ on how to go about doing it.

Don’t let the Tony K’s of the world dictate to you how to buid a model railroad or what to do or not do.

Now a few thoughts on weathering, and on the hobby in general.

IF your goal is to build a realistic, possibly photo-genic layout with realistic scenery, etc, like many you see in MR and RMC, than you most likely want to get into some level of weathering. How much is another question intirely.

For some weathering is a model art form within itself, especailly for many modelers of the current era since there is little or no pride of ownership on todays railroads and stuff is allowed to get in very poor cosmetic condition.

While railroading has always been a dirty business, in many eras past railroads did much more to keep things clean and looking as good as was practical.

Many of us who model these other eras are less likely to weather to extreme degrees, at least not on every piece of equipment. On most lines, the early 50’s was a relatively clean and shinny period, diesels were new, freight cars new or freshly rebuilt with profits from the war, passenger cars too were new or rebuilt/repainted in one last ditch effort to save passenger business.

Back to modeling style and interest for a moment - Many people, some who have responded to your question so far, are more the “collector/runner” type rather than the “scene builder/modeler” type. And that’s fine, everyone should take from this hobby what they enjoy. These folks we tell you not to weather or modify because it will hurt resale value - and they are right! So the question goes to you - do you ever think you would sell your stuff and does “collecting” interest you?

I (and other scene builder/modeler types) generally don’t buy and then resell - I basicly have every model train I ever bought since I was 12, in 1969, when I started buying model trains w

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I didn’t want to have to weather my loco’s so I modeled Canadian Pacific. Their engines always looked as pristine as the day they rolled out of the shop.[:-^]

It’s your Railroad. How Pristine you keep your fleet is up to you.[:)]

Brent

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Yes, you have too![:D] Just kidding… I am a light weather, I use 59 cent Jo-Anns acrylic paint and lightly dry brush my dirty mix of colors, bit more on my rolling stock and less on the engines. I believe the paint is water based as it does wash right off if I find I might have over done it. My Dash-7 has bit more since it is an “older” engine while my Dash-9 is just dull coted to get ride of the plastic shine since it is a newer engine. I have one of the new Atlas Genset on order (should be here tomorrow) and I dont plan on doing anything to it since the those are very new to the rail world all the photos I have seen they look shiny new.

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If you wish to model and show something one ought to expect in a modelled context, then I would say at least some judicious weathering would be more convincing. But no one has to do anything only one way in this hobby.

Let’s be realistic…how many of us would tackle the job of painting their own backdrop? Not many a t’all. They decline because they understand themselves and what they want to do about their own enjoyment of their purchases and construction(s). So, if one is not very handy with an artist’s brush, with powders, or with an airbrush, one is probably wise to accept that his/her items are not going to look very used or weathered over the long haul.

I used to feel squeamish about mucking up a pricey engine. I got over it, and was determined to make it a goal to weather engines decently…as I define decently. Some of my photos make me think I have done a passable job on some of my projects, while my early efforts were…uh…interesting…yeah, interesting.

My first two serious attempts, where I stuck to it and got ideas about fixes as I went along, were, in order, these two, each costing me over $350:

-Crandell

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This is a “To each his own” bromide, I guess. Me? well, I don’t really regard my (model) railroad purchases–even if they were two hundred and fifty smacker models–as an investment so I’m not averse to weathering my equipment. I would much rather have my locomotives convey the impression that they are working, and hence, earning revenue, rather than my whole fleet giving the appearance that they just emerged from the erection shop in London, Ontario, Canada or Erie, Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . or maybe just having come out of the paint shop as part of an overhaul.

For me locomotives . . . . . . . . . . and rolling stock also for that matter . . . . . . . . . . look more appropriate when at least lightly weathered. They should become part of the illusion of the layout’s scenery. Unfortunately weathering is sometimes applied with too heavy a hand! . . . . . . . . . . GUILTY!!! On more than one occassion I have had to go through a stripping and repainting process because I came out with a weathered locomotive that looked more like a T-34 that had just spent a week mucking through a Russian winter offensive.

A vignette if I may:

About thirty years ago a group of us railfans were on an excursion up on the Santa Fe mainline. We caught a freight departing westbound from Winslow with a freshly painted GE on the headend. I was informed by an individual heavily into modeling the Santa Fe, and therefore in the know about such things, that this unit was fresh off the erection floor at Erie and was on its first trip westward.

Roll the calendar forward six or seven months. I’m shooting an eastbound from atop the old Route 66 bridge out at Rimmy Jims . . . . . . . . . . it is now known as Winona, Rimmy Jim’s being a somewhat vulgar expression which is why this location is no longer known as that. There was a GE unit on the point of this train, dirty and muddy, badly in need of a trip through a washra

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You don’t have to, someone else may want to weather tham for you [(-D].

I weather my cars, but I’m trying to get a bit more experience before tackling more engines. Let’s just say my last loco got botched.

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Dear Mike: I weather all my buildings, cars and locomotives, eventually, unless I desire to make a piece of equipment appear new. More that one person has commented that my layout is Grungy, not in a negative way ,but as a compliment on the realism. One thing I have found out, though, is that my structures sold on Ebay, go quicker if they are not weathered!