Thought this would be a fun idea. I have two units I will be weathering. I can easily do that. Thought it would be more fun to have others suggest what type of weathering and where it should appear. Once a concensus has been reached I will do it next weekend. see how it comes out.
First This unit is owned by the prodecessor of the NVSRR. and is so marked. The NVSRR does keep the quipment relatively clean. With that, paint does age. It runs in central PA the history of the region is Iron ore, pig iron and limestone. Limestone still being mined because it is exceptional quality.
nextLease unit. Yes I thought of some conrust on the nose at least. How shall we do this one?
OK I’ll dive in. Back when model trail events were live and in person [%-)] I gave a two part clinic, part one being “weathering patterns on rolling stock” (prototype photos) and the second part being how to capture those looks without using an airbrush (live demos or examples to be passed around – so the crowd could see what I was doing on stage the demos used junker Lionel car bodies). I wonder if I’ll ever get the chance to give those clinics again.
The goal of my clinic (which was created to give at a prototype modelers meet) was to contrast with what one more often sees at a prototype modelers meet where the modelers pick a particular car or locomotive, gather photos of every side taken at about the same time, and try to replicate every little scratch, rust spot, worn off paint, blemish, ding and dent. The thing is, they model after what they have the best photos of. Often the photos come first and that controls what they elect to model. But what if you want to model something but don’t have photos, or have photos of only one side for example? Many of the prototype modeler types would not go there – that is not what interests them. They won’t guess. But for the rest of us, that is where the idea of weathering patterns comes into play.
Anyway, my point being it does pay to study prototype photos for ideas like this, even if there is no one prototype you are following (or that even exists). So what does one learn? Here are just a few obvious examples
Fuel and exhaust create their own weathering and this includes more than just the roof. Heat creates its own weathering – e.g. dynamic brake grids etc.
Trucks and fuel tanks get road grime as to the ends of the locomotive around the coupler and MU cables
Handrails get worn and are not “pure” colors or pure safety white or
I’m not sure that a consensus is achievable here for various reasons.
Anyway, here is what I do for my diesels:
I cover the windows and lights with masking tape and apply a light coat of dullcoat.
I brush a coat of dilluted black acrylic paint over every part of the loco, except for the windows and lights. Mix is about 10% black, 90% distilled water, with a few drops of alcohol to make is stick. Experiment the mix on an old car to make sure you are comfortable with the mix. You should hardly see the black when you cover it - multiple coats are desirable. I use a fan to accelerate the drying process between coats.
Trucks: I paint a first coat of grimy black or graphite. After that has dried, I lightly drybrush the trucks with a light brown color. A little goes a long way… An airbrush works great for this step if you are comfortable doing that.
The above will remove the toy train look, but still keep it fairly clean. I’m not a fan of over-weathering, but that’s a personal preference, obviously.
This unit is owned by the prodecessor of the NVSRR. and is so marked. The NVSRR does keep the quipment relatively clean. With that, paint does age. It runs in central PA the history of the region is Iron ore, pig iron and limestone. Limestone still being mined because it is exceptional quality.
Lease unit. Yes I thought of some conrust on the nose at least. How shall we do this one?