I’m curious on how other weather their trucks/wheelsets. I did use powders and a little drybrushed off-reddish color but am looking for more detail now…
Trucks: painting a dark grey/black & or brown color. Then, use some off white weathering powder to highlight areas and a redder color for the Roller Bearings…/
Wheels: Using an Alcohol wash - Orangy or burnt Sienna on the inside and outside of the Wheels??
I am not very good with an Airbrush yet and probably would not for Trucks/Wheels anyway as a Brush should do a very good job…
Your headed in the right direction. The problems you’ll gone face are getting the powders to stick to the ‘slippery’ plastic the trucks are out of and a wash will not get you the opaqueness you’ll be looking for. Simply spraying them with a rust color spray paint won’t yield the results you’re looking for either. You just a monotone wheelset that is all the wrong coloor and look. Think paint and powders together.
The plastic trucks come from the factory in glossy black plastic, whereas the prototype was cast steel unpainted, which rusted rapidly. I wash my trucks sans wheels in soapy water and scrub with a toothbrush to give the paint a better chance of sticking. Mask off the axle bearings with tape. Then I give them a coat of red auto primer from a rattle can. Gives them a good rust look. Plastic wheel faces get a brush painted coat of grimy black. Metal wheels get left pretty much as is.
I’m lazy (and I don’t have an aibrush) - remove wheelsets then dullcote, paint wheels, then weather wheels and trucks with rust colored powders. I think this works great and is quick…
all i do is paint them tarnished black, and add some gray powder to give them a dustier, more-real look, maybe some rust colored powder on the springs.
but you don’t even have to do that… just paint them weathered black, and the wheels grimy black, or vice-versa, for variety.
Well, thanks for all the info fellow modelers,For the TRUCKS: I got some Acylics from Walmart and mixed a half gray, half black with a touch of Burnt Sienna for the Trucks…once dried I drybrushed some Ash colored weathering Pastel/powder and then rusted out the springs a bit, sprayed with Dullcote and DONE (very happy with)
Wheels: I did use a 70% Alcohol Wash with some of the Acrylic Orange from Walmart, a couple drops on Inside & Outside Wheels, let it soak in, soaked up the excess with a paper towel, came out a little to Orange or Rusty for my liking so then I brushed some Charocal Powder on very light and Presto…what I was looking for…(probably try that Roof Brown for the next few)
Wish I could show you pictures but I have not signed up to any sites for this yet…
As for me, I brush paint the trucks & wheels with weathered black then dry brush rust on the trucks. I leave the wheels with the base coat since most of the time you can’t see them very well when on the track.
You said you paint the wheels. What color? A flat black or straight to a brown or rust? I’m just getting into this weathering biz and I don’t want to botch it up. I appreciate your sharing your insights.
This one is an experiment I did that I think came out pretty good. I brush painted the trucks and wheelsets grimy black, then hit them with some pastels.
When I used a double-action airbrush I would spray the trucks with a light mist of gray when I was painting a car or something primer gray. It was good practice to see how little paint I could get on it. The thing with trucks is it’s very easy to over-do it. It should be very subtle, just to bring out the parts of the truck. Now I generally just use a little gray or rusty red chalk. (Since a lot of my RR interest is iron ore railroading, pretty much everything could have some iron ore dust on it I figure.)
Dip the brush in alcohol (rubbing, not the tequila) and then dip in rust powder, dab on part. Back and forth, back and forth. Highlight with a drybrush in an off white. Seal with dull coat. YRMV.
Packer - that looks great and I want to learn it!! After your spray grimy black, are the pastels put on wet or dry? And if dry, how do you “fix” them??
I guess the test is to find a pic of a prototype like your model and compare it to your final results. When sitting at a RR crossing and watching a train pass I rarely see an actual rust color. It’s more a mix or grime, grease from the bearings and general road dirt that seems to cling to the grease residue over time.
