As I mentioned in WPF I’ve been a hypocrite regarding weathering. When I get the opportunity I enjoy watching most model railroading videos, layouts and scenery that I’d give my eye teeth for but watching pristine trains, that look like they’ve only been handled with kid gloves, running on these layouts kinda grates me.
However, until a fortnight ago the thought of ruining my hard earned acquisitions by attempting to weather them filled me with a degree of trepidation so I didn’t. (Though with a fleet made up with mainly Athearn BB kits or similar, there certainly is an irony there.) So finally I’m experimenting with various weathering techniques, (need lots of practice), but am interested in your thoughts.
I know weathering is a very subjective subject, so there is no “right” answer and therefore no prizes or second place, just as so long as we’re having Fun no matter what our level of participation is in the hobby.
Weathering is one of thoese skills that is driven very much by one’s personal tastes. Cruddy looking equipment bothers me on the prototype, for some weird reason, so I tend to not like weathering applied in a heavy-handed style. But the well-worn, but well-loved look has grown on me over the years.
Being in HOn3, I’ve been fortunate enough to acquire a number of Blackstone’s realeases with factory weathering. I’ve also got a small stable of mostly Kadee rolling stock that’s been weathered by various people, from ebay mostly. Mixing weathered cars in with the non-weathered works well. Not everything needs it for the overall effect to add to the layout.
I’ve experimented with weathering in various ways over the years with mostly indifferent results. I’ve recently started working in some basic weathering in structures I build. And I have a set of the Tamiya powders, which work pretty darn good in my clumsy mitts.
My advice is to start on items that you’ll not be too distressed by how they turn out. You’ll soon catch on and start surprising yourself as just how good it is.
Most of my freight cars have at least some weathering. I don’t do all the same because some cars stayed away from the paint shop for years, and others were new or freshly painted.
Not many of my locomotives are weathered. It is easier for me to “mess up” an inexpensive freight car than a more costly locomotive.
The great problem with weathering is that if you get it right ie it is subtle and realistic then it is great but get it wrong and it is awful. I have seen weathering that appears to have been applied with a 2" brush. To achieve a good standard of weathering you have to have (in my opion) a good painters eye if you have not got that DON’T weather.
I may be unpopular for saying this but over the years I’ve seen many layouts featured in Model Railroader where the whole overall view of the layout is grey, dark, dingy , drab. Buildings its OK and very lightly on rolling stock. The trouble is almost everyone overdoes it. Maybe people think its protipical but on models it dosn’t look good.
Another annoyance thats easy for me to bypass is on the forums some guy will weather a car and then post 20 pictures of it.
I agree that weathering is an art. It’s a learning experience. When I first started using powders, I was tentative to overdo it. As I gained confidence with them, I found that there are a number of techniques you can do such as mixing the powder with Dullcote in a cup, and dry brushing them on locomotive drivers to give them a dusty look. The Dullcote makes the powder a little gritty, and tacky enough to stay put on the drivers. Also, if you have a boxcar with the brownish paint such as old athearn blue box cars, dust them with a little medium rust or faded Tuscan to brighten them up a little. Most of the cars get a spray of Dullcote before I weather with powders, then I work in some dust at the bottom, and since I run a lot of steam, the cars get some grimy black powder on the roof. All coupler knuckles get the light rust, and the coupler body gets a darker rust. With trucks, I use minimal amounts of rust because they are all friction bearing trucks and they receive a lot of grease, so inside the wheels it’s strictly black. The outside of the truck frame gets dust. Since I’m modeling the 1950’s, I weather my steam locos heavily, and my diesels lightly. With the steamers I start with grimy black on the boiler, cab, tender, and pilot. The firebox gets a dark rust and maybe a little graphite by rubbing pencil lead into it. The tender deck gets a combination of different shades of rust since they usually had water laying on top. Drivers and trucks get the dust treatment, the underframe and under the boiler can get a little dust as well. Any place where steam and water might leak out get a little rust, and on the boiler where the generator, whistle or safety valve are located, I might work in a little light powder to look like the calcification you would see dripping down the boiler sometimes. diesels are easy since in the 1950’s they were fairly new. I dust up the trucks, and rust the coupler and on the F units, I rust the pressure plate above the coupler. The top gets a dusting of grimy blac
I like well done weathering but it is something that I haven’t done yet. Call me chicken! I hope I can get reasonably good at it because I’ll have my entire fleet to do once I start.
The problem is that most beginners OVER weather things. All it takes are some very subtle washes to knock the shine off and tone down the model to make it look used. a lot of people go for the heavy weather right from the get go, and that is a skill that has to be learned and practiced. Try with some very light washes or a little weathering powder or a LIGHT overspray with an airbrush, maybe just a tad of dry brushing. a little goes a long way. A consistent weathering makes everything blend together.
My answer to the original question is yes, weather, a yard full of bright shiny cars doesn’t look real, it makes everything look toy like.
I think weathering is overused. Some equipment needs weathered, like older boxcars, flat cars and the like, but despite the dogma about “getting rid of that plastic shine”, I see prototype locomotives and tank cars with plenty of shine riding on the tracks of So. California.
Just don’t do the whole fleet in one session, or they’re likely to come out looking like they were all built on the same day and saw service on the same section of the same railroad. [swg]
I’m modelling the late '30s, but there are very few cars on my layout which are heavily weathered - not necessarily realistic or non-realistic, but simply my personal preference. Even cars which represent almost new ones get some weathering, though.
While I don’t see much point in using even cheap rolling stock to learn the art of airbrushing (a piece of cardboard will serve just as well for learning control and the nuances of the tool) but they may be a good place to start learning weathering techniques. After you’ve overdone a few, you’ll discover that less is more - and if “even more” is your preference, you’ll have learned enough control to know when to stop.
I do weather some buildings and find is is a matter of layers. I was doing a footing to a trestle once and was having a hard time getting it to look like aged concrete, threw a bunch of paint at it and gradually picked out and replacated the parts I like, turned out great in the end.
Yes, I figured that I would start with just a couple of each of the freight cars of various colours to experiment with various techniques. Most of my fleet is red oxide or freight car red (brown?) as well as the obligatory black coal cars and gondolas, but I have some tankers in silver and green and I just picked up some Toronto Hamilton and Buffalo 40’ freight cars in their yellow side/black end livery.
Logically the heaviest weathering will be applied to older rolling stock like the CP outside braced freight cars but I don’t plan to start there. Simpler things first.
I will have to inhale deeply before weathering my beautiful CP FP7s but given my era the weathering will be pretty subtle.
Years back I was hesitant to try weathering. Once I got into it, I was amazed at how easy it is.
I’ve used various techniques, including airbrushing, and they all work. However, to modelers that are beginners at weathering and are hesitant; I always respectfully suggest to take the safe routes:
Weathering chalks. If overdone or if the results are unsatisfactory, the chalk powder is easily removed.
Weathering washes with acrylic paint. Again, a safe route because if you overdo it, you can wash it off.
Another suggestion for beginners:
Start with weathering the underframes, trucks, and couplers only. I’ve noticed over the years that some beginners tend to go overboard on the bodies. Metaphorically, that’s like emptying a bottle of Olive Oil on a delicious pasta meal at a nice restaurant. Too much spoils a good thing. Keep it subtle. Don’t try to go for a 1974 Penn Central rustbucket when starting out. That can be a short route to frustration. (I’ve made that mistake before).
Practice on your freight and passenger cars’ underframes and get those basics down first. Cool factor is that underframes and trucks are difficult to foul up with washes. Don’t think too much about it. Just relax and do it. Practice on a scrap car or two. On this old run Walthers car that I metalized a few years ago, I applied light washes of Engine Black and Primer Gray to the trucks and underframe. Using a pill tray I poured about 1/2 oz of each color and thinned each one 100% with distilled water. Hence the term “Wash”. Using a #2 brush, I applied each color on the trucks, tanks, and couplers using vertical strokes (keeping in mind that gravity pulls everything down). I alternated back and forth with each color. Took me two to three minutes. The process was relaxing and enjoyable. This should never be stressfu
My way of weathering is do it like the prototype.By that I mean dirty it up like the real thing gets dirty .A little dust on the trucks rust up the wheels,maybe some rail splatter on the ends and call it good.Then gradually add more to some cars and locos but leave some just a little dusty.
If your gonna beat them half to death definately find a proto car and weather your model to match .