Mario started a thread last week on weathering cars and asked forum members to share their process. I had given my word to show how I generally do a car. Now I did not finish the car today, I only have about a hours worth of time into it, I do go to work tomorrow so I hope to have it close to done on Wednesday. For the victim I will be using a newer Lionel PS-2 hopper for Chessie. This car has lots of nice detail like air lines and separate grab rails.
In the 1st phase I will prep the car. I will remove the trucks from the car, makes it a lot easier to do the trucks and under side of the hopper. On box cars I will remove the bottom of the car and the doors too if they open. This allows you to weather the floor and inside of the car.
With the trucks off I now will take some 600 grit sand paper and slightly fade some of the logos. If you look up real photos most of these chessie brands faded off the cars.
After sanding I will give the car a nice bath in luke warm water with mild dish soap. I will use a air hose to remove most of water then let dry. Need to be careful with closed hoppers you will get water inside so I did not submerge this car in the water. After completely dry, inside and out I will Dullcoat the entire car. Today I used a spray can but generally I mix my own, 50/50 dull with thinner. Notice the latex glove, from this point on I will use the glove to prevent oil finger prints (do not eat chips while doing this).
With the car sealed I will start my fade with a air brush. How far you want to take it is up to you on what era you are modeling. This car will be middle of the spectrum, not a light weathering and not a total rustbucket. I have 3 colors I will work with on this car, brown, white, and black. The water is distilled too. In the jar I add 3 drops of white and a half of black drop, fill with water and mix completely. I will also use my wife's hair dryer, don't tell her . I start by applying a dusting of the spray then use the dryer ON LOW!!! things can warp and melt real quick. Repeat this step many times, for this model I counted up to 20 applications, after that I ran out of toes and fingers. You spray a quick pass then hit with the dry, real quick. It sounds like this is time consuming but its not, about 15 minutes for this step. When you are satisfied with your fade I add a few more drops of black and brown plus more distilled water, mix well and work on the underneath of the car. I did highlight the lower sides of the hopper and the ends where their will be some wheel spit ( another step in the fade process).
Now if you are happy with your faded look its time to seal again with dullcoat, let dry. This next step is something I tried for the 1st time. Out here I see a lot of hoppers with the wheel spit and grime on the ends. So with a piece of cardboard I mixed brown and black for a greasy color. I place half of the hopper over the edge of a box, PUT ON SAFETY GLASSES. and took out the dremel. I turned on the dremel and moved the greasy looking paint on the end of the cardboard and let the dremel splatter it. Be sure to keep the dremel straight up and down, the 1st try was at a funny angel so I had to clean it off with water and redo. I think with practice this look will get better. If the splatter looks harsh I will fade it out when I get to the powders. When done with this step I seal with dullcoat.
That is as far as I got on this sled today. So stay tuned for Wednesday, same Bat time, same Bat channel and I will be adding some graffiti (AH MAN I know most folks don't like that). and I should be finished up on the weathering and rust for this car. Nick
