Weathering Wednesday - 11/6/2024 Edition

Here you go!

Got sun-damaged at a swap meet years ago when I had it for sale in a "window" box (doors warped on one side of car; second photo). So, couldn't sell it at a decent price; decided to have some fun with it. Like the modern Wms diesel to the left, not really "my" era, but there it is. The warped doors look authentically dented/pushed in, to me.

Funny - now I have had offers for the car exceeding what the un-damaged NIB car would have ever brought. I also now do not want to sell it. This blasted hobby is just one Catch-22 after another.

@chris a posted:

@mike g.  Mike - thanks for the kind words.....   Experimenting with weathering is a great activity when you're between layouts !   

@chris a I would love to try doing something like this, but everything is packed up for our future move. I know the CEO would kill me if I opened up a packed box and started taking things back out! LOL

Untill then I will just have to live threw all you guys and the amazing work that you all are sharing!

I'm late today! Sorry!

Well, hopefully better late than never, I open Weathering Wednesday, the topic where we like to share with you some of our projects as well as those done for us by other fine artists. Also, we invite you to share your weathered items with the forum as well as weathering techniques so that all can benefit from your expertise and experience. Today, per suggestions from Dava (aka luvindemtrains) and other readers, I will go back to the format of just renaming the entire topic from page one on with the new edition so that readers can scroll back through past port to admire and learn from previous posts. But first, the forum ground rules as so stated by my good friend Patrick Whitehead (aka trumptrain), host of the popular topic of this type, Switcher Saturday:

• Have fun and enjoy!
• Post only photos that you have taken.  
• If you post a photo taken by someone else or a copyrighted photo be sure you have express written permission from the photo's owner to post their photo.  
• Any individual who posts copy written material is subject to legal liability.  Furthermore that individual will be banned from the OGR Forum.  
• Please consult the OGR Forum TOS (Terms of Service) for further information regarding copyrights.

To start today, I want to feature a piece weathered for me by Pat Whithead that has appeared in previous posts. But today, I will show Pat's artistry in full detail.

The first 2 photos are of the Great Northeastern Railway's first caboose in GNR livery.

...and a photo of pat's final weathering product when it arrived back on GNR property.

Here are photos of the caboose, taken by Pat Whitehead and used with his permission, on a siding of the Free State Junction Railroad (FSJR) awaiting transport back to the GNR. Roof and end views of show the great detail of Pat's artistry.

Now, let us see what you have been working on or have completed.

These photos show cars with only a light coat of black chalk. The black accentuates rivets, handrails, latches, and other small details to make them look as if they are casting shadows.

@corsair29 posted:

Wow great job corsair!

Here's a B&O 50 ton composite hopper I weathered back in 2017.  The hopper is a Premier MTH model.  

Steve, I had to do some research to see if that was a Weaver Consolidation. I’ve looked at a few. Frankly. I never new they had that much detail. The weathering really makes it pop. GREAT job.

Here's a MTH N8 Caboose I lowered weathered and installed Kadee's.

Also a before and after shot of a 50 foot Rock Island Woodside Auto Box car that I really liked how it turned out.  Before the acrylic washes, I used water color pencils to tint individual wood siding boards both darker and lighter than the factory Rock Island Box Car red/brown. 

Late entry for me this week.  Here's a Lionel PS-2 hopper that was factory decorated for the PRR.  I removed all lettering, then redecorated (3 cars total) for the CNJ.  The CNJ used these cars for bulk cement loading, so I weathered it to represent a car that has seen many years in cement service.  If you've never seen these PS-2 hoppers up close, they are really nice!  IMO they are one of Lionel's best-detailed scale freight cars.

Here's how it was decorated by the factory...

Here's how it looked after re-lettering and before weathering...

And here it is after weathering...

@chris a posted:

Here's a MTH N8 Caboose I lowered weathered and installed Kadee's.

That looks so much better!

What did you do to lower it?

@corsair29 posted:

That looks so much better!

What did you do to lower it?

It is early for this post. But I have a busy day tomorrow. So, to paraphrase the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus Ringmaster, 'LADIES AND GENTLEN! CHILDREN OF ALL AGES! RANDY HARRISON OF THE GREAT NORTHEASTERN RAILWAY PRESENTS THE GREATEST(?) TOPIC ON THE FORUM,,,,WEATHERING WEDNESDAY, 3/13/2024!!!' The topic where messy is OK. Artistically messy, that is. Otherwise, I could just post photos of the condition of my workroom, and no-one would be impressed.

Today, we are hoping to see more of your GREAT weathering creations, both rolling stock and skillfully weathered buildings as well as scenery. But first, the forum ground rules as so adroitly stated by my good friend Patrick Whitehead (aka trumptrain), host of the popular topic of this type, Switcher Saturday:

• Have fun and enjoy!
• Post only photos that you have taken.  
• If you post a photo taken by someone else or a copyrighted photo be sure you have express written permission from the photo's owner to post their photo.  
• Any individual who posts copy written material is subject to legal liability.  Furthermore that individual will be banned from the OGR Forum.  
• Please consult the OGR Forum TOS (Terms of Service) for further information regarding copyrights.

I will start today off with two of my completed projects for the Red Lion (PA.) Model Railroaders' club layout at the old Ma & Pa RR Station in Red Lion, Pennsylvania. The first offering is my first assignment I was given when joined as a member of this great club. It was to create a filler piece for a vacant rear corner of the layout. Prior to my arrival, someone had roughed out a steep but undefined in shape structure out of insulation foam that they wanted to be a coal mine and coal delivery station. Here was the starting point that I was given.

Here is the finished product with smoke and soot-stained track retaining walls, as well as weathered rock facing, buildings, track and trestle.

My next assignment was a Railway Express Agency freight house and office. I scratch-built the building and weathered it to show the results of many years on the 2-track mainline of a steam railroad. Much of the weathering was done with graphite powder covered with Testor's Dull Cote spray.

Now, it is your turn. Show us MORE of your great weathered creations.

Here are some grimy Frisco GP7's, all repainted and decaled.

The fourth photo shows white battery deposits coming out of 465's battery box louvers.

K-line girder bridge painted with red car primer then used rust powders for ageing.

Randy thanks for starting this thread. Again these types of threads showcase some nice work from members on the forum. Here's my entry for today. This is an Atlas Southern Berwick Boxcar.

Dave

To echo luvdemtrains, thanks for starting this thread Randy!!  Your two weathering projects for the club in Red Lion look terrific!!  

Luvdemtrains - your boxcar weathering work is superb!!

Rob Leese - got love those grimmey Friscos.  Wonderful job!!

Sitka - Your girder bridge wears your weathering well!!  Looks like it's been out in the elements for many decades.  Great job!!

One of my early weathering projects was the MTH coil car back in 2018.   I first sprayed a coat of Testor's Dullcote ... let it dry ... then lightly sprayed a bit of Floquil Grimmey Black here and there.  

Next I used gray pastel chalk to give it that "been in a dusty region " look ... I also applied rust pastel chalk along the some of the sill areas and some parts of the lifting bars.    My process for applying the pastel chalk was to make a short chalk line then rub the chalk in a circular motion with my fingers. For hard to get at areas, I used a small paint brush creating circular motions with the brush.  

Once I got the car to look the way I wanted it, I applied another coat of Testor's Dullcote to seal pastel chalks.  

Incidentally I purchased this car at York from the MTH Parts Booth.  For some reason there were some Premier freight cars on a table with a sign that read" make an offer".  Mike Wolf was standing there and I made him an offer of $20.00. He accepted.   I should have asked him to sign the box .... oh well.

  Legacy Michigan Central Berkshire. It had a correct B&A rd. number for an A1. 1420. Bought it to doublehead with #1404. Re lettered and weathered using  airbrush.

@Dave_C posted:

  Legacy Michigan Central Berkshire. It had a correct B&A rd. number for an A1. 1420. Bought it to doublehead with #1404. Re lettered and weathered using  airbrush.

I cant figure out why Lionel rarely produces a Berkshire for its namesake Boston&Albany line.  K Line and MTH B&A models seem to sell well and its hardly some obscure regional short line.  Cudos to a doing a fine looking model.

Great work all! I hope one day I will get to that point! First I need to get a new home! LOL

Farmall-Joe, thank you for nice comment. The B&A although part of the NYC. Didn’t have a huge variety of steam motive power. Yes what has been done does sell well. What I don’t get is why no one produced the small tender. Yes some were retrofitted with Hudson tenders. I understand the economics having an already produced tender. But the small tender could have been used on other models and roads.

@Dave_C posted:

OK, looks too good to ignore; I have to weather one of my ex-B&A Lima Berks. Maybe this one below that I re-lettered for the Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia - The TAG bought 2 of them from the NYC. Neither saved, of course.

Again, it is early for this post. But I had a busy day today and have another one tomorrow.

So, to again paraphrase the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus Ringmaster, 'LADIES AND GENTLEN! CHILDREN OF ALL AGES! RANDY HARRISON OF THE GREAT NORTHEASTERN RAILWAY PRESENTS THE GREATEST(?) TOPIC ON THE FORUM,,,,WEATHERING WEDNESDAY, 3/20/2024!!!' The topic where messy is OK. Artistically messy, that is. Otherwise, I could just post photos of the condition of my workroom, and no-one would be impressed.

Today, we are hoping to see more of your GREAT weathering creations, both rolling stock and skillfully weathered buildings as well as scenery. But first, the forum ground rules as so adroitly stated by my good friend Patrick Whitehead (aka trumptrain), host of the popular topic of this type, Switcher Saturday:

• Have fun and enjoy!
• Post only photos that you have taken.  
• If you post a photo taken by someone else or a copyrighted photo be sure you have express written permission from the photo's owner to post their photo.  
• Any individual who posts copy written material is subject to legal liability.  Furthermore that individual will be banned from the OGR Forum.  
• Please consult the OGR Forum TOS (Terms of Service) for further information regarding copyrights.

Today was extremely hectic. I don't have much new to show you. So, I will start with a retrospective from some of my previous posts. I promise to try to be more prepared next week.

I will start with some scenes of our weathered engines and rolling stock around Mt. Carrol Yards on the Great Northeastern Railway.

So now, go to it and post your great work for this week.

A forum member once suggested that if you weather your rolling stock, it should be done to varying degrees.   These are not completely finished, but I am trying to simulate road grime heavier on 81337.

A beat up Great Northern gondola is caught resting in the New Haven yard before catching another load west. I used a hair dryer to heat the sides so they could be pushed out to show wear and some 3/4" round wood dowel to bend the sides and a mixture of 70% alcohol and india ink to apply a dirt and grime look.

@Bill Park posted:

A beat up Great Northern gondola is caught resting in the New Haven yard before catching another load west. I used a hair dryer to heat the sides so they could be pushed out to show wear and some 3/4" round wood dowel to bend the sides and a mixture of 70% alcohol and india ink to apply a dirt and grime look.

Fabulous Bill!!!  Very creative weathering technique with using the hair dryer!  BRAVO!!

My contribution for this fine Weathering Wednesday are these five cars that I've weathered.  Heading the consist, the K line Shay will continue to wear its shiny gloss paint ... the boys down at the roundhouse keep the Shay clean as a whistle!  

This tanker got wasted - note the blue NYC sideframes on the flatcar.

Bless me Father for I have sinned. I am very late in starting Weathering Wednesday this week. For my penance, I will hit the floor and do 20 push-ups (in my wildest dreams) and get it started NOW!!!!!

But first, the forum ground rules as so adroitly stated by my good friend Patrick Whitehead (aka trumptrain), host of the popular topic of this type, Switcher Saturday:

• Have fun and enjoy!
• Post only photos that you have taken.  
• If you post a photo taken by someone else or a copyrighted photo be sure you have express written permission from the photo's owner to post their photo.  
• Any individual who posts copy written material is subject to legal liability.  Furthermore that individual will be banned from the OGR Forum.  
• Please consult the OGR Forum TOS (Terms of Service) for further information regarding copyrights.

Today, I will start with a scratch-built creation of my own, a Union Station, that will go in our layout when we get to the fun part of refurbishing, the part where we get to do the final scenery. It was weathered for me by master weathering artist, Harry Hieki, of Mt. Ephriam, NJ. I told Harry that I wanted it lightly weathered and he really captured my wishes.

Here is an overall shot of the station's head house prior to weathering.

Here is an overall shot of the station's head house after Hary worked his magic.

Here are some close-up photos to show Harry's attention to detail. The first shows subtle streams of rust from the large metal lettering in addition to the runs of ambient city grime.

Similar runs of grime and rust stains from the window frames

This photo shows more of the weathering but is mainly to show some of the interior detail such as the dispatch board and the ticket window, just visible to the left.

Now, Let's see your creations.

Here's an old one of some F3's

@Laidoffsick posted:

Here's an old one of some F3's

@Laidoffsick:

Subtly done, but very effective. It looks like the Santa Fe RR takes good care of their motive power and rolling stock. Sometimes, less is more. Also, though not related to weathering, your scenery breathtaking!

@Laidoffsick posted:

Here's an old one of some F3's

What a natural and realistic picture, nicely done.

Gene

with one minute to go I made it in on Wed.

I hope all of you who celebrate had a joyous Easter holiday.

Though last week, I was way behind schedule starting this topic, the topic is still alive and well. This week, I hope that many of you will join in with your artistry and show us your work on weathering locomotives, rolling stock, scenery and building structures.

But first, the forum ground rules as so adroitly stated by my good friend Patrick Whitehead (aka trumptrain), host of the popular topic of this type, Switcher Saturday:

• Have fun and enjoy!
• Post only photos that you have taken.  
• If you post a photo taken by someone else or a copyrighted photo be sure you have express written permission from the photo's owner to post their photo.  
• Any individual who posts copy written material is subject to legal liability.  Furthermore, that individual will be banned from the OGR Forum.  
• Please consult the OGR Forum TOS (Terms of Service) for further information regarding copyrights.

I did not get much time this past week to do any weathering myself. So, I will start by offering photos of work some of my talented friends did for me.

A Weaver, brass, PRR, 4-6-0 weathered by my friend, Harry Hieki of Mt. Ephriam, NJ.

A K-Line, C&O Allegheny also weathered by Harry Hieki.

A PRR cabin car beautifully weathered by my friend of MANY years, Patrick Whitehead.

Great Northeastern Railway caboose also weathered by Pat.

The caboose again plus an MTH, dockside switcher in Great Northeastern Railway livery also weathered by Pat.

Now, it's your turn. Let us see what you have created!!!!!!!

A New Haven hopper showing the dirt from coal service.

Lionel bridge painted auto primer then I used powder rust colors to give it a weathered look.

Weathering step 1

These are some GREAT submissions so far.

@Bill Park: That is a great job. Enough to look weathered but not over-done.

@Sitka: Your bridge is fabulous! I also like the fact that you gave a description of how you achieved your results. In addition to a finished product, the process that was used to get the finished product is also important. Inquiring minds (even mine) want to know.

@TrainWatcher: That is a great step one! How did you get to the look we see in the photo? Also, what is your plan for step two?

Thank you all, again.

For this delightfully soggy ( in Maryland ) Weathering Wednesday!    

I bought this hopper off e bay back in 2018.   I bought it as is for $5.00 plus $4.00 shipping because I was interested in the obtaining the Weaver trucks.  The car was listed as having heat damage, as the photos depicted.  Once I received the car, upon unboxing it I suddenly had an idea to created a scene depicting a wrecked hopper car that had been towed to a siding for possible repair.  As the car was brand new and suffered severe heat damage, it still had to be weathered to replicate its' dues paying time on the railroad.  

For weathering I sprayed it with Dullcote to take down the shine.  After the Dullcote dried, I later sprayed some Floquil Grimmy Black with the spray can held about 18 inches away from the car.  After the Grimmy Black dried I applied pastel chalks, rubbing them in with my fingers and a dry paint brush for the crevices.   Once the weathering process was completed, I created a scene  and took photos to use in the a thread I once created and hosted " Team Track Tuesday" which ran for 2.5 years hear on the OGR Forum.  These are the photo I took then.  The guys from the car dept are on the scene checking the car over after it arrived on the the Mountain Division team track at Danlilu.