Sunday Scenic Showcase August 3, 2014

Real nice Alan. I like the valve/pump house.

 

 I have not been doing very much. I took a small corner of the layout to experiment with sawdust ground cover. On a prior post, members talked about dying the sawdust and then drying it. I just glued it down and when dry, I sprayed it with dark green Rit dye. I then sprinkled some burnt grass over it.

 

 

Tried my hand this past week at using colored pencils for weathering details.  Here's my first attempt...a Weaver Jersey Central 2-bay coal hopper:

 

Joey,

 

Excellent job!  Can I ask your technique in using the pencils?  I use chalks, but I really like the depth and color or your attempt.  Thanks!

Alan; great job on the tanks as usual.

Joey A; nice weathering.

Thanks, Chessie and Spence!  Chessie, I did a little bit of on-line research before giving colored pencils a try.  No surprise there are multiple methods (e.g. you can use them wet or dry).  I tried both, but settled on the "wet" method. 

 

I dipped the tip in Windex (yes, the window cleaner!) for about 30 seconds or so until it softened a bit, and then applied to the car.  You only get a few strokes before having to dip again, but now only for a few seconds.  Similar to chalks, once applied you can use a brush or swab to blend/soften the colors.  Since the pencils are water-soluble, if you don't like what you've done, it can be easily removed. 

 

When I was satisfied with the car's appearance, I applied a coat of clear, flat finish (Testors Dull Cote).  I noticed that the colors did not get muted (like chalks tend to do) after the clear finish was applied. 

 

One big advantage I can see over chalks is that you can keep the pencils sharpened to a point to get into the really small detail areas.  I still feel that chalks are the way to go for broad areas, so I will probably incorporate both methods from now on.

Nice experiment Joey.

 

I find that alternating colored pencils works best on anything that contains wood grain boards.

I don’t see any advantage using them on steel cars unless you want to drag them over textured areas and rusted surfaces.

I did numerous cars with them on the link below.

 

Here are two I blasted this week for K.M. a NJ Hi Railers member....

 

 

Nice Joey!

i like the white chalk marks, they look very real.

For a first attempt looks fantastic!!

AG.

Really nice job on all the cars. They look like they have been out for a long time!

Very nice work, Joey.

Great work everyone, Should start posting pics of huge harbor scene being built for TMB Model Train Club

Just mounted my new nike missile and launcher on a 50' flat car. Needs some more detailing but so far it looks great IMO. 

2 cents…

 

Joey, just remember, anything that is done, can easily be re-done. Even oil paints.

Hopefully as I experienced, you don’t have many to do over.

Don’t over think the process; just learn the do’s & donts.

Knowing this builds confidence.

This car is good but you may need to know this rule for something down the road.

I see timid weathermen on here and it shows because they are afraid to mess up and ruin something. Most of the time, I can't really see what they called weathered.

So why bother. Most have used an air brush which is really better for H.O. scale.

 

Not all cars – engines are treated with the same process. You will see that as you continue.

I’ve headed more toward the paint side vs. powers following Master INDY. Don S. advice.

Don’t use chalks, air brush and in general, I don’t read much material out there, it just over complicates everything.

Art work comes from with-in, not something you can reach by reading an instruction book.

What works for one, may not work for others. I tried your colored pencil wet tip and for me it was a mess and time consuming. I use sand paper to de-gloss colored pencils. That works for me.

 

Just look at a real photo until its understood why rust, soot, sun fading or other things are in a certain area. That’s the part most don’t see. There is a reason for the way something looks or the position of it.

Others just grime up or mist something with an air brush and think it’s weathered. Not so.

 

You will also find 3r wheels look better in black. I don’t like their shape & size vs. 2r wheels and try not to draw attention to them.

Others make them rust color which you will not find for the most part on roller bearing trucks. Again, not understanding the correct look they could have had.

Also MTH & Weaver cars are set too high using 3r trucks so you have to learn factors such as that to deal with. Artists concepts draw attention to the are they want the eye to see. So 3r trucks would not be one of the areas for the eye to focus on.

 

So as you can see, there are many more factors to learn than just dirtying up something as I see others do often.

Another rule, if you spent more than 2-3 hours on something, you may be over doing it.

 

Again, nice work!

S.

 

 

Earth tone colored pencils with a grey thrown into the mix make nice wood boards!

 

 

 

 

 

Nice work everyone, great job on the hoppers their Joey.  Here is a couple of our weathered cars that I used water based oils and powders.  I 1st fade the cars with watered down acrylics and a airbrush, the rust is done with oils and brush same as the powders.  Like SIRT says don't be to timid.     Nick

Steve, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to share your thoughts and advice in such a detailed response.  I truly appreciate it!!

 

Those three trees are from Scenic express, I have many others. 

Fantastic work and fantastic information here. Thank you to all!

 

Peter