Please show us your weathered MTH Operating Water Tower. Mine looks new out of the box and I would like to put some age on it. Please share with us what you did to weather yours. Thank you, Bo 
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Mike CT, that tower looks very nice indeed! I take it that you had to disassemble the model in order to paint it. Was the disassembly at all a problem? I like the way you sceniced around the tower. It really looks good. Bo
Visit my website Bo's Trains at http://www.bostrains.com
Originally Posted by railhead53:
Mike CT, that tower looks very nice indeed! I take it that you had to disassemble the model in order to paint it. Was the disassembly at all a problem? I like the way you sceniced around the tower. It really looks good. Bo
Visit my website Bo's Trains at http://www.bostrains.com
It has been a while. It comes apart with a lot of screws. Indivdual parts were painted and detailed accordingly. I used an oxide red for the steel roof with a light india ink wash. The sides were also done with oxide red that was darken a bit with engine black to give it a red wood look. Support posts were done with Polyscale Railroad Tie Brown. Spout was repainted grey and dry brushed with Testor's polyscale Rust. Concrete bases were Polyscale aged concrete. Additional drybrushing was done with off white to show tank leaks. Any paint is better than this model out of the box. IMO. To do it again, I might of painted the tank hoops black.
Have fun with this project.
Mike.
One more.
Jim
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Mike CT, thanks for the additional info. It will be very helpful. My tank sits in a very visible location so it definitrly needs some attention. Hope to work on it over the winter.
Jim, yours looks very nice as well. How would you describe the color of your tower's metal roof?
Bo
Visit my website Bo's Trains at http://www.bostrains.com
Originally Posted by railhead53:
How would you describe the color of your tower's metal roof?
Bo
Grime?!!!
I took the short cut method of spraying the entire structure with several coats of a very dilute mix of Floquil grimy black paint with an airbrush. This lets the original colors of the plastic show through, but with a weathered, dirty look.
This tank is part of our club's portable modular layout. The ring of tiles is glued down, and assures that the tank is placed in exactly the same spot each time and doesn't wander too close to the tracks during a show.
Jim
Trackmun, looks good. I appreciate your taking the time to share your work! I'm convinced I am going to have to do something with mine. Bo
Visit my website Bo's Trains at http://www.bostrains.com
Opps. Thought it said please show us your weathered Jim Beam operating "water" tower. This one's neat because liquid actually comes out of it. You pour it in your firebox.
Cold down in the basement? No problem.
I agree with those above that this tank must be weathered to look "right." I hit the entire assembly with a 10% mixture of Floquil Grimy Black. Then I dry brushed more Grimy Black, Reefer White, and Earth on to the assembly. After all that had dried I mixed up a 10% solution of Rail Brown, Grimy Black, and Earth. This one I applied by brush under the top of the tank and let gravity carry the mixture down to the base. I was looking for an uneven coating. Finally, with a small cloth, I went over the bands lightly...as well as the water level indicator, to provide a bit of contrast. Installed in Ellison Terminal, it looks "right" to me.
I don't have any pure images of the tank, but these, taken in January 2010 when I was running PacNorthwest on CONUS Lines, will give you an idea of what the final product looked like when I installed it on the layout.
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Rick,
Thank you for posting the photos. The water tower looks great as does rest of the railroad. I have to agree in the pictures, it "looks right"! Bo
Visit my website Bo's Trains at http://www.bostrains.com
This one was done by Dave O'Connor (Dave_AGHR.) It turned out a bit too dark/over-weathered, so Dave decided that a re-paint was in order. He added a paint crew, replaced the oversized ladder with a scale one and replaced the bands. Here's the result.
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Hey guys, very nice! Thank you for taking the time to post your photos.
Patrick, that is some layout you are building. I'm amazed at your rate of progress!
Matt, thanks for sharing. Dave did a nice job on the re-paint! Replacing the oversize ladder was a good move as well.
Dewey, I like the weathering you did. It is right in line with the coaling tower and appears very realistic!
I am getting some good ideas! Bo
Visit my website Bo's Trains at http://www.bostrains.com
railhead53
Harry Hieke weathered both for me. I am too shaky nowadays to do most anything in the craft area.
Finally, after how many months, I finally had a chance to work on my MTH Operating Water Tank/Tower. I want to thank everybody who posted earlier showing what they had done to give me some ideas and inspiration. I also want to thank Steve P. (SIRT)who suggested painting the tank using the dry brush method. He got me started on this project in the right direction. I had been contemplating painting it with an airbrush and/or rattle can. I used an airbrush to paint some of the parts and for some final weathering to tie things together, but dry brushing really helped bring out some of the detail and allow for some subtle shades of color. Here is the completed project.
I'm pretty pleased with it. A definite improvement over the model that came out of the box. The only thing left to do is to place it on the railroad so that it can begin servicing thirsty locomotives. The MARS locomotive crews will be glad to see it back in place.
Thanks again, Bo
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After seeing all these great photos...I'm definitely gonna have to do something with mine! Matt
Looks good Bo!
I did a Lionel back in the late 80's which is long gone now.
Glad I had some spare time to help out.
