Thanks Randy for keeping this thread going! There's lots of great weathering artists who show their wonderful talents here!
Today I'm showing two types of my weathered tunnel portals. My railroad has several different kinds of portals of different brand names .. K line double track portals, MTH double track portals, MTH single track portal, Scenic Express single track timber portal, and an unknown maker single portal ( bought at a community train show ) , a real rock portal which I made from stones out of a nearby river, and a double track HO portal ( shown below ) which is used as a vehicle tunnel entrance through a mountain. Today I'm showing two of those portals. I'll try to show the others in future WW editions.
Here is a vehicle tunnel entrance portal which is located at the base of Mt. Randolph. It's an HO scale double track tunnel which lends itself well to being a vehicle tunnel on an O gauge layout ... especially when located in the back of my O gauge layout, as it appears to be distant within the context of the overall layout . Although not intricately weathered, I used a Testors Grime Black spray paint to give the entrance a sooty look ... as if trucks have sprayed exhaust from their upright exhaust stacks for decades ... in addition to exhaust that collected at these points from many decades of use by all kinds of vehicles from automobiles to farm equipment. The roadway, although not intentionally weathered was created by accidentally spilling stuff on it ... lol! In my current plan to upgrade this area of my layout, I will create a less steep and thus more convincing angle for the roadway entrance/exit.
As side note: This tunnel entrance pulls forward for removal, much like a file cabinet drawer, so I can gain access to the track which runs directly behind the tunnel.
Shown in the below photos is a wooden portal I purchased from Scenic Express in the days when they exhibited at York. When purchased new, this portal was a brighter color. I felt it needed to be darkened to give a many decades, if not a century, of use. Again I used Floquil Grime Black to give the "decades of both steam and diesel exhaust look" ... making it darker at the top center and immediate peramiter around the opening and less so at the very edges where it adjoins the mountain. I also used tiny stone ( I think a Woodland Scenics product? ) on the bracing to show how the bracing captured stones as they rolled off the mountain side.
BTW- the tunnel has a full interior too which is not weathered. One day I hope to install a hobo camp inside which will be shown using a camera mounted on one of my railcars or engines.
