I want to try my hand at weathering a freight car, but I have no money for an airbrush system. Has anyone ever had any luck weathering with just washes and powders? Most of the weathering information I find includes airbrushing at some point. Specifically, is it possible to get a look like this?
Image from: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1348292
Thanks in advance!
I haven’t done much weathering, but I did a building and brush weathered it with washes of black and some rust, used craft paints in water for the washes. The building was on posts or I would have done some “dirty” washes around the foundation. For a first try I was very pleased.
Take a piece of scrap material of the same material you are going to weather and tive your wash a try. If you are doing a car, take one of your less desireable ones and give some different washes a try. Those dollar cars at train shows make good pratice pieces.
Good luck,
I am a mere beginner, but yes, you can achieve that look. You need to spray your hopper with Dullcoat to take off any shine and give it a nice dull finish. Those streaks coming down from the upper supports can be made by taking a very fine, very small pointed brush, putting a minute spec of wash on it, putting the smallest spec of wash on the car at the top of the streak, then take a wide soft brush and “brush it down” using a quick stroke.
The wash color will be for you to determine, in the picture you provided, it would appear to be a brownish streak. You can then take some powder or chalks and sparingly add some light grey to the lower parts of the car. Sparingly is the key, both in the wash and the powders.
Practice on some cheap cars to get the feel of it. First timers generally start by being a bit “heavy” on weathering. Take it easy, there’s no right or wrong, it’s all a learning expierance. Again, practice a couple of times before you start on your choice car.
Good luck, have fun
David
[:P]
I don’t rate myself as a weathering expert, but I’ve never used an airbrush and I’m happy enough with my efforts.
Before and after photo.
Mike
Same here, I don’t use an airbrush. May not be fantastic, but from 3’ away it looks pretty good. 
Washes can indeed produce some generally satisfactory results with practice when careful applied even by beginners. In the hands of an experienced modeler, results virtually as good as when employing an airbrush are attainable with skill. However, at the outset of the learning curve, equal or better results are certainly more easily and far more quickly obtained when weathering employing an airbrush, particularly so when it comes to producing subtle, diffuse and localized shadings on buildings, rolling stock, etc.
While some will likely argue here that an airbrush isn’t an essential tool for the model railroader, long experience has demonstrated to me that it most certainly is and it is often employed in conjunction with washes to create the most realistic appearance for models. Thus, purchasing an airbrush needs to be given definite consideration by anyone wishing to become a truly serious hobbyist.
CNJ831
I’m a custom painter and of course use my airbrush a lot, however I don’t use it that much for weathering. Much of my weathering is done with just washes and weathering powders, (you can use chalks, but you’ll get better results with the powders). For many of the effects where you would use an airbrush, you can get similar and sometimes better results with chalks and/or powders, washes and straight paint. No airbrush was used in the following examples:
As others have mentioned airbrushes have their place but over the years I’ve started to lean more towards washes as the more effective technique. When starting out I’d suggest using oils and limiting yourself to only two colors: burnt umber and perhaps a touch of black. Lighter color pieces of rolling stock are easier to learn on than darker ones. The top of silver box car roof would be a good starting point.
If you go to the progress photos of my site here:
http://www.lancemindheim.com/2009_archives.htm
and scroll to November 2 you’ll see a loco. weathering project using just those two colors.
Lance
Here is a car I did with just washes and brushes…I did use an airbrush to seal it with Dullcoat but it can be applied with an aresol can.
You can see my technique here:
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/3666
I hope this helps!!! and good luck!!!
Thanks to everyone who replied (and to those who shared their pictures- nice work all around!). It’s certainly given me the confidence to try. Hopefully I’ll have something to share with the forum in a week or so, depending on how my work load is.
I tried this tip one time and it worked well. To fad out the lettering on the car, use a fine sand paper. I used 600 grit. After dull coat you could not see the sanding marks.
Ken
If you have an ACMoore nearby, grab yourself the “Proart” 18-pc oil paint set for $6 (probably on the shelf below the $6/tube oil colors) and a jar of thinner. This set has all the umber and sienna colors you need, as well as black, white, etc. Put a tiny dab of oil at the top of the seam on the car and then soak your brush in thinner and “wash” the oil pigment down the car.
Hi!
For years I have been weathering rail cars (primarily the trucks/couplers) and structures with a wash of Model Masters flat black, rust, leather, and thinner (and sometimes other colors).
Take your brush and dip in the thinner and touch it in the colored paint and wipe on the item. For flat surfaces vertical strokes are best. By varying the amount of color paint, you can get all kinds of results. My suggestion is to go light - no matter what method you use - for you can always add, but can hardly take away.