Weathering Locomotives - Do I have to?

Crandell, you sure do take terrific photos of a beautiful layout. Just like your Seneca Gorge bridge shot from another post. Thanks!

Robby

If you want a realistic layout: Then look at your protoype cues. I was in Crwfordsvill last week, and the engines and even a few of the cars from CSX ranged from “Looks like it’s been washed” to “Just came out of the box”. I couldn’t believe the shine on some of them, so you don’t have to. Me? I doubt I’ll be weathering many engines. The ones I use are either shortline, Lease engines that’ll look nicve going to the customer, or parked in a museum. trucks maybe. We’ll see about freightcars as I get to them, but judgng by my current experience, Odds aren’t great. And it’s even less likely they will see an airbrush, like never. Chalks though…

Here’s a few pictures. You can have some clean engines, and then some used looking ones!!

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[IMGhttp://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o144/robby_79/001-4.jpg[/IMG]:550:0]

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[IMGhttp://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o144/robby_79/003-3.jpg[/IMG]:550:0]

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[IMGhttp://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o144/robby_79/100_2242.jpg[/IMG]:550:0]

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[IMGhttp://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o144/robby_79/001-1.jpg[/IMG]:550:0]

If you’ll forgive a play on words, weathering isn’t hard to do, but it’s easy to overdo. [(-D]

If you’re new to the hobby, I wouldn’t worry about weathering at this point. I weather all my cars and engines, but I didn’t start doing it until I had been in the hobby many years. Nothing wrong with leaving your equipment in “like new” condition until you feel like you want to try weathering.

BTW if/when you do start weathering, you can always start with something like powdered charcoal and chalks rather than paint or stain washes. That way, if you don’t like the result, you can wash it off and start over.

Mike, it’s yes and no. If you really want to make everything look blended even new locos should have some dullcoat.

However, no one will arrest you for not weathering your locos. If you really like the paint or don’t want to mess it up that’s fine.

If you want to but are afraid of messing anything up, practice on some freight cars instead…they’re much cheaper and also easier to repaint if you want to.

I am planning to weather my freight cars, after practicing on some junkers that I still have floating around from my first train set. Having said that, I probably won’t be weathering my locomotives beyond a spray with dullcote, just to take the sheen off.

Of course you don’t have to - as most here have said.

Myself? I’m modeling a railroad, not a collection of rolling stock. As railroads operate in the weather, i feel mine need to be weathered. I used to build military models, where I “learned” some things to do and not do, and on relatively inexpensive plastic kits. Though sometimes I look at a pristine boxcar and think - that looks too cool to get dirty. But I get over it, and when I place it in a train it looks GREAT.

That said, I haven’t weathered my only steam locomotive yet. However, i am going to, eventually. Really, I swear… [swg]

Mr. Mikado (Robby), thanks very much…I sincerely appreciate your fondness for my layout and photos. [:)]

-Crandell

Well, Mike, they are not trying to imply that not wethering a locomotive is a “criminal offence”, but rather, that almost all locomotives would do good with some wethering.

Are you wrong about having a hard time starting the wethering process? No, not at all. I normally get really cheep locomotives, and I have to force myself to think about wethering them.

Wetheirng is optional, some people like it, some people don’t. It’s just personal prefrence. What I do is run the locomotives un-wethered for a few years, and then hit them with a black wash (at least on the grilles) and mabe some dry-brushed rust and dirt. Then, after that, I give the locomotive a heavy wethering, and never take a brush to it again (with few exceptions)

But, the best way to sum it all up is:

It’s your layout. Do what you want. JUST HAVE FUN!

Unlike the majority of you SCARETY CATS I choose to weather all of my rollingstock including engines. I strive for realism and you DO NOT achieve that with a good looking layout and shiny plastic models. I say people SHOULD either weather them if they are decent at it or pay to have them done by a professional. The professional weathered models sell for more money than they are worth so it is not a bad deal to weather the models. plus there is a couple of guys on youtube that make HOW TO videos with Weathering taht make it so easy to learn and be good at it.

I SAY WEATHER IT!!!

I don’t weather. I don’t do litter either. My memories of the 50’s don’t include the dirt, so why include it on my layout? I see my layout as a painting not a photograph.

That said, I have seen some very nice effects… It’s just not for me.

Enjoy

Paul

I weather my Rio Grande steam fleet just enough with Bragdon powders so that they look both used and fairly well taken care of–the Yuba River sub is known as a ‘good housekeeper’. The effect I try for is the normal wear and tear on the road between shoppings.

With that said, I have acquired some used SP brass steamers–SP has trackage rights on the YubaRiver Sub-- that have been weathered to the point where they look like ‘rolling junkyards’ (SP modelers seem to have an absolute Fetish for this, LOL!). However, I’m not about to go through the major pain of stripping and repainting them–getting lazy in my Old Age, I suppose.

But to answer your question–is it really necessary? I think that’s up to the individual hobbyist. I enjoy ‘weathering’ my locos, but oddly enough, I don’t weather my rolling stock. The several times I tried, I ended up with freight cars that looked as if they’d been buried in the Sahara Desert since the time of the Egyptian Pharaoh’s. Not one of my talents, I suppose. [:$]

Tom [:)]

I guess this is the reason I continue to look in on the forum.I occasionally find a like-minded person who clearly has excellent taste ,graet vision…oh and agrees with me!!!

I don’t weather my locos,I have weathered one or two freight cars (but they seem to be stored ) but I have some seriously beat buildings .Go figure

I can think of few things I enjoy more than watching my shiny ,clean lash-up of Overniter cars rolling around my layout.

I can’t think of any rules in model railroading that you have to obey. It may be a good idea to obey some of them, but weathering locomotives isn’t one of them.

I prefer my locos to be weathered, but not weather-beaten.

A friend for whom I paint locomotives originally liked his to be weathered more heavily:

However, after I did this almost freshly-shopped loco for him, he decided that he liked the lighter weathering better:

Eventually, I re-painted and re-weathered several earlier locos for him, including the one shown earlier:

Another friend, modelling the very end of the steam era, wanted her loco weathered fairly heavily. I first sent her a picture of the newly detailed and painted loco (I like to paint the loco in colours that represent an almost-new look, including gloss and semi-gloss finishes where appropriate.):

…and another after some initial weathering (it’s easier to add more than it is to remove too much):

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albu

I weather everything even people animals and autos. But, everyone has the right to do what they want and this is what makes it such a great hobby. As you advance and become more skilled, the reasons you use for not weathering will probable disappear unless in fact you want or need to be a seller or collector. Then it (As the latest Philosophy Friday Thread points out) will become your own particular preference or philosophy as to how you will go about weathering. Weathering is the easiest way to make your model look real life even if it is just to take the sheen off a plastic car, locomotive, structure or figure. I suggest you take a close look at how even the most detailed locomotive can look toy like when it is taken out of the box and this is certainly not meant to criticize the Lionel crowed or HI Railers who I greatly admire. The first PFE reefer on the left is an Athearn metal kit that I weathered as a beginner some 55 years ago. The one on the right is a very basic Accurail kit with cast on detail that took me less than 15 minutes to weather with removable chalk and IMO helps to disguise it’s lack of realistic detail.

Peter Smith, Memphis

I don’t have a layout yet, but here are my thoughts on weathering:

  • On someone else’s layout I think it looks great. It adds to the realism of the layout.
  • However, I plan to keep my locos and rolling stock the way they look out of the box. I’m afraid to void the warranty/decrease resale value/ruin the loco. Oh and I’m too lazy.
  • When I make my layout I intend to weather track and buildings.
  • Maybe someday the mood will strike me, but that day is not today.

And leep in mind the number one rule of model railroading: It’s your railroad. Who cares what you do? Don’t spend your time trying to please strangers. Unless you’re founding a model railroad club not many people will be looking at your layout and judging it to your face.

Welcome to the group, HO H. You’ve dug up a topic posted in 2010!

Weathering, and the degree of it is a highly personal choice. Some things will never look good without it, like track. Most things look better with at least some. But a bad weathering job on a nice model is counterproductive.

It’s a matter of taste, and even risk management, until a modeler has down a technique that can be handled safely.

John Pryke had some articles in Model Railroader that I think are some of the best examples of excellent weathering. Airbrush skills needed, but achievable. Dan

[#welcome] to the forum. Your initial posts are moderated so there will be a delay before they appear.

There is no charge to start a new thread.

Some of the people in the thread posted today, about 1/3 of them haven’t been here in 5 or 6 years. Also in old threads, as you can see, links may not work.

Anyone named Anonymous has been deleted from the forum, that’s why the have 300,000 posts.

Actually I’m not sure what you have to do to graduate to Anonymous class. When I first joined, some guy had just been kicked off this forum and his posts were deleted. He went to another forum and did not receive a warm welcome there.

As to the OP’s question, if he hasn’t figured it out in 9 years, I doubt I will sway his opinion. I’ve weathered all my diesels and not one steam engine. I’m afraid it won’t look right. I guess I should take my own advice and practice on one that is in the parts bin.

Necro topic good and proper. I thought all those members on the first page looked unfamiliar and immediately felt a disturbance the schwartz. Sure enough, 2010 topic! [(-D][:o)]

There are two things you absolutely must do to be considered a “real” model railroader.

1 - Weather your locomotives and rolling stock

2 - Use the word “Subdivision” in your railroad’s name