Every year I like to set goals when it comes to learning a new skill in this hobby. Last year it was DCC and sound. This year, I decided I want to try my hand at weathering. I don’t have an airbrush, but I have seen some work on here and in issues of MR that shows weathering without an airbrush.
Anyway, to my point. I have noticed that some modelers don’t weathering the underside of their cars. This seems to be where most of the dirt and grime get kicked up.
I have four RailBox box cars made by Intermountain and ExactRail and I want to weathering them. What would be a good color put on the undersides of these cars? I was thinking PollyScale Roof brown.
The weather color would depend on the ground color where the cars operate. East vs Western would have different colored dirt. Also weathering comes from dust. This is typically lighter than the full strength dirt that the dust comes from.
The amount of weathering will also depend on the length of service of the car and the railroad that owns it. Very profitable railroads can/could afford to take better care of their equipment.
Not sure what you mean about the “undersides”. I don’t do the bottoms, as they are pretty well hidden. I do weather the “lower sides” of my cars, and brake parts that are visible from the side.
You need at least 3 colors for weathering: a good rust color, a color which is close to the predominant soil color, and something close to your ballast color. If you model coal loads, you’ll need some black as well (coal dust goes everywhere).
I’ve used several different techniques, including an airbrush. I have also used dry brushing (get a little paint on your brush, then wipe most of it off, then dab or swipe your model). This works well for the trucks and underside details especially. The lower parts will have a mixture of mud, soil, and rust, which will also splash up on to the lower side panels. For the side panels, you can use washes (paint thinned to about 8:1) or dry brushing.
Many people like powders; I’ve never used them, so I’ll let someone who has experience address that.
I use an airbrush for most of my weathering, but, as you note, there are other acceptable methods. I never use a colour straight from the bottle, always mixing colours to suit. Your choices range from white to black, and just about everything in between, although obvious selections would be earth tones. I usually apply the darker shades first, then follow up with lighter colours. A surprisingly effective choice for underbody weathering, especially truck sideframes, is a very dark grey/green.
Follow it up with some lighter shades of grey/brown to simulate accumulated dust.
Don’t forget to add wheel spray to the car’s ends:
You can do this with a drybrush technique or use chalks or pastels applied with a brush. For airbrushing, I made this simple jig from sheet styrene:
I currently have 14 bottles of mixed weathering colours in my paint cabinet, but there’s no limit to the colours which may be suitable.
I always pre-paint the wheel faces (oily black for my solid-bearing era, rust for wheels with roller bearings) and the wheel backs and axles (a rusty shade for all types) before adding any airbrushed weathering. The truck springs also benefit from a little brush-applied colour, usually in a rust variation - this is muted somewhat by subsequent applications of dust and grime.
I agree with the above, that you can get away with just painting the underframe and add some dirt on the things that are visible from the side.
Regarding weathering without an airbrush. I have been experimenting with some weathering techniques on a Boxcar. This is how it stands today (some work left to do):
I would suggest taking pictures of parked rolling stock in your town. I do it all the time. It is amazing how much detail there is in real rolling stock. And how much crap is thrown up from the track onto the body of the car. Closeups of the trucks alone are really good to study. I really like the idea of using a jig when spraying as shown above.
I’ve also had good look using oil colors for accenting. Since it takes so long to dry you really have nice control over the color, fading and shadowing. It can be a great medium to use when simulating deep body rust.
