which is a better product to use?
That largely depends on the individual. I generally find the use of paints for weathering to be beyond my skill level.
Typically, I apply a thinned acrylic wash with a color similar to the car color and/or highly-diluted black India ink. This gives an overall weathered/dirty appearance and helps “fade” the lettering. After that dries, I often apply Bragdon weathering powders of suitable colors.
Some get good results with paints. Others end up with the object looking like it was struck by a paint brush held by a 520-foot giant.
Mark
Even though I have seldom used them I’d have to vote for weathering powders simply because If you decide you don’t like the way it turned out you can simply wash it off and start over. With paint what you see is pretty much what’cha get!
Having started learning weather on older Athearn BB and TM freightcars back in the late 70s early 80s I quickly switched to a air brush and payed little heed to the powders,now I’m seeing some just fantastic weathering done with them and really need to give this new aspect of the hobby a shot!
I use both. AIM and Bragdon weathering powders. I use Testors white for the fade. That’s the only time I use paint. Of course I mix the powders with some oil paints.
A couple of examples:
This one was mainly done by powders.
This car was done with the oils, and powder mix. Of course I still added a few layers of “dry brushing”.
That is beautiful work (photos above). One frustration with powders, at least in my experience, is that the perfection you achieve is always altered by the fixitive medium, such as DullCoat. It can take repeated applications to achieve what the powders alone can achieve at first try. Some guys do without the fixitive but I find that to be an
invitation to a mess
Dave Nelson
Very nice work Robby. I’m still pretty new at weathering, but I’m a little more conservative. This X-29 boxcar was done with Bar Mills, Aim, weathering powder. No fixative, just applied with a stiff brush. DJ.
There’s no one better then the other answer, it’s all according to what your weathering. For things like rolling stock and locomotives hands down paint is better in my O/P for the simple fact that they are handled on a regular basis as compared to things like structures.On the flip side the nice thing about using weathering powders and chalks etc. is before you seal your work with dullcoat etc. if your not happy with it a simple trip to the kitchen sink and your back to square one. Some times it’s nice to employ both paint and powders, chalks etc. as not everything weathers exactly the same so mixing up how you weather things give a more realistic look some times. I guess the bottom line is what you most feel comfortable working with.
From the stand point of someone who is not well experienced,and I dont mean like Grampy’s fantastic example of being new at weathering ( looks like you’re an old hand at it to me. Very nice work), I have tried both. First with paints because that’s what I had and they weren’t as expensive. My achievements were somewhere between Marks description, and a 2 year old with a paint brush in a fit of anger. I then bought some powders by AIM ( not suggesting that brand. I like them but you, or others may prefer another). Wow, what a difference. 100% improvement with the first try. Still not good but much, much better. Powders are much easier to get the look I want. There is still a learing time, but if you watch modelers like Robby P, you’ll be doing work that will please you in no time. Learning to use paints should be included as they have their uses and should not be ignored, but personally if I could choose only one medium, I’d choose powders in a heartbeat.
I like to use a mix of paints and pastels, and I like to wash, drybrush and airbrush, I keep at it until I get the desired effect. I will try my air eraser at some point in the futre.
I like to use a mix of paints and pastels, and I like to wash, drybrush and airbrush, I keep at it until I get the desired effect. I will try my air eraser at some point in the futre.
It probably comes down to bias and willingness…I suppose the willingness to patiently learn how to do either, but your bias will make you spend the lion’s share of your weathering time on one over the other. I prefer craft paint washes, and either use whole wet brush with a very light wash, or use a heavier wash but with an almost dry brush. If I overdo something, I just cover it with a coat of white wash or revert back to the original base colour…say a flat black for a steamer…whatever.
Some metal covering paints get rusty, others just get weathered themselves. I have a dirty Y that is covered with grime, rained-on ballast mist, and sand for traction, and it was done with the washes:
Also done with a wash, but with several over-coats of a plain light white wash, is this Allegheny. It hasn’t been over a muddy or rainy yard or main line, but its black paint is obviously weathered:
All of my girders are done with craft paint washes with combinations of yellow, read, and burnt umber:
But the one engine I did with plain old pastel colours was this P2K 0-6-0:
I feel it is overdone, and have since washed over much of the heavy rust with black washes…so it is a corrected version, but done with paint wash to do the correction over heavy powders fixed with Dull Coat.
-Crandell
i started with chalk powders because i was afraid of messing up the engine or cars and then i got happy with the results and just kept using them… the engine in this photo is done with powders , i no its not the best weathering job ever done , but it works for me
This may not be the place, but I must say everyone has done a terrific job!
Selector, that second picture you posted is absolutely fantastic! Thank you for posting it. I’ve saved it in my “inspirational files”
Very nice, Grampy. Not using a fixative on this car seems to have worked just fine although excessive handling might “shine” the weathering.
I sometimes use a fixative (my favorite is Krylon Matte Finish) before weathering with powders. This seems to allow the powder to adhere a little better.
I too have just started learning to weather my models. I now use both paints and weathering powders. I have read that the Bragdon brand of powders have a dry adhesive that allows them to remain attached without a fixative, but my experience with them says that they stick better than chalks, but still need the clear cover. I had this problem while weathering wheel sets in that I would put on the powders and the clear coat would blow away the powders. My fix for this was to put on the clear and while it is still wet, put on the powders. I am using Krylon Clear Matte finish because it is a water based paint and I can then clean my brush out to remove the drying paint. I have had excellent results from this and am now going to try it on the body of the cars.
Painting with the airbrush does take time to learn, but I am using it to get some great results. To practice, I have bought some cheap cars off of ebay that were broken, so I practice on cars that do not cost very much.
Keep up the great work everyone, I enjoyed the pictures posted.
Thanks, Todd…you made my day! [:)]
-Crandell
That is incredibly awesome! I am just amazed at how well you’ve captured the sense of rust on the boxcar.
John
What did you make the load out of? Aluminum foil?
john
You did a great job rusting up your track there Crandell, how did you get it to look so good?
John
John, thanks for your compliment. It would be great if I had a new and involved process, but the fact is…I just painted them with a smallish cheapo artist’s brush…hand-held. The darker rails are Poly Scale “Railroad Tie Brown”, which most of us who use it agree is really “Railroad Tie Greenish-Grey”, and the rust coloured rails are Floquil “Rust”, an oil-based paint requiring thinner for cleanup. The Poly Scale is easily srubbed off from surface such as the rail tops, but not so the Floquil. It takes some work to get it off if you forget and paint up a long stretch of rails before you remember to go back and wipe off the tops as you go. The Floguil dries quickly, maybe three minutes, to the point where it will be quite a bit more work than merely wiping.
If you are interested, the “Rust” needs frequent shaking/mixing, and I feel that I ought to have primed the rails with a medium brown first so that the metal look of the rails doesn’t shine through quite so much from under the paint. It may not be obvious in my images, but it is obvious standing over and squinting at them in person.
-Crandell