Weathering Advice

@Ponz posted:

I've decided I want to try my hand at weathering.  I bought an airbrush and a set of inexpensive matte finish acrylic paint.

The PRR body is from the Hobo Camp and the Katy is a scale Pecos River.

I've already cleaned off the Katy the best I could to redo with less weathering.

So far, I feel I'm overdoing it.  Any thoughts/advice?

Ponz

IMHO, the PRR is very good - it's probably on the edge of being overdone, but it's still excellent.

The Katy is overdone to me. You have to be careful about what colors you use to weather and consider the base color of what you are weathering when deciding on which weathering colors to use. The PRR, for instance, being brownish lends itself very well to a lot of rust colored weathering. The Katy, being yellow, lends itself better to darker weathering colors like washes, blacks and browns with just a touch of rust.

It's also wise to take a step back and look at your work every once and a while before adding more and see how it looks. Keep in mind that sometimes "less is more" and it's easier to add than to take away.

For what it's worth, when weathering model railroad equipment, it is EXTREMELY helpful to acquire, and carefully study, books with color photos of railroad equipment of varying ages. Plus, practice, practice, PRACTICE!

Chalks work very well when learning to weather, as you can built them up gradually and if you don't like what you see, you can wash them off and start over. Once you like what you've done you can set them with dull coat or similar product. They do lighten up when over sprayed to set them. Many of the pros use a combination of chalks and paints.

I agree with Hot Water, have a picture (color preferred) handy of a particular car you like to guide you. 

OK - what do you guys think?  I washed that Katy car off and redid her.

What do you think about hitting the cars with a rattle can of Flat Urethane to help keep the paint in place when handling?

@Ponz posted:

OK - what do you guys think?  I washed that Katy car off and redid her:

Looks better now, in my opinion.

Much better!

Much better! As Hot Water suggests, & you'll hear this frequently, practice, practice, practice, and less is more. It's a lot easier to add more if you prefer. Sometimes harder to undue what you did, when you went too far, especially with paint. One reason why pastel chalks are good when testing the waters. As stated, Dull coat will seal the pastels & will tone down the effect some. Pastels also stick better to a surface that has been dull coated which can be used to an advantage.

Yes, finding colored photos on the internet may be the easiest way to start. Believe it or not, ebay is a good source for colored photos of weathered rolling stock, try a search for: "Weathered O scale boxcar". I download the pictures that I find appealing.

BTW, check out Forum member, Norm Charbonneau, & I hope he doesn't mind being referenced as a source for excellent weathering technique & execution. His weathered engines, rolling stock, & buildings, are in a league of there own, & is a great place to start for ideas. I suggest you check his YouTube page & numerous videos of his layout. There are also plenty of other skilled hobbyists out there. Don't be afraid to study other types of model weathering for techniques on achieving various effects, paint fading, rust, dust, age, etc. There are many military modelers who use multiple techniques to achieve various results. A lot of which may be too extreme for our model trains, but the point is, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Weathering is very subjective & rarely will 2 people agree on what looks best & how to achieve it. Try starting with dust & dirt, which is almost always visible on all rolling stock & engines, on the running gear & lower bodies. You can achieve this initial weathering relatively easy with an air brush, even pastels.

While practicing & learning, start with the less expensive models you have or even buy some beat up models to experiment on. Even when you come up with your perfect solution, it's almost impossible to take 2 of the exact same models & weather them to look exactly the same. Not sure why anyone would want to, since variety in weathering will add more interest.

The most important thing is what looks good to you. As you become more proficient & comfortable with the tools at your disposal, weathering will become easier. It's just one more aspect of our hobby that turns that toy into a realistic replica of your world.

Have fun & enjoy!

Joe

Here are a few cars I only used pastel chalks on. The weathering is fairly subtle overall. At some point I'll airbrush some dust on the lower surfaces. The pastels I used are only black, beige & white. The cars didn't need dull coat.

@ironman1 posted:

Here are a few cars I only used pastel chalks on. The weathering is fairly subtle overall. At some point I'll airbrush some dust on the lower surfaces. The pastels I used are only black, beige & white. The cars didn't need dull coat.

Nice. Very subtle.  I need to get out of my head that everything need rust! I just thinned out some gray for the 'dust look'

Ponz

Thanks!

For some freight cars, more rust is appropriate. The nice thing about the weathering on these cars is the simplicity of the application. I just grind some chalk on a piece of sandpaper & apply with a stiff inexpensive bristle artist paint  brush, see attached.

I have used several methods over the past couple of years.   I am doing about 2 dozen H21a Hoppers that will run together in a single train and wanted reasonably consistent look on the coal hoppers.  Really trying to have them look used and weathered, but not abused !

I have had really good luck on the red oxide cars mixing a thin acrylic wash,  about 75% water, 25% craft paint, and a few drops of 91% alcohol.  I ended up mixing 2 colors -  Burnt Umber (50%) and Nutmeg Brown (Apple Barrel #20521E). 

The wash when dry leaves a flat finish with a fine texture. The other nice feature is you can fade the lettering by just applying the wash over the lettering.   I haven't felt the need to go back with pan pastels, or chalk powders.  On one car, I decided to deviate from my written down formula and didn't care for it, so with a toothbrush and some mild dishwashing soap I removed most of what I had done, and went back to the original formula.  I did these cars 3 years apart and its tough to tell them apart, the last 2 photos show the new batch, the hoppers done earlier have the wood blocks in them so I could see how well I was duplicating the weathering.

Dark washes & dry brushing with a lighter shade of the car color are certainly other non-airbrush techniques that work well. I like to use an airbrush for dusting the lower areas & trucks. It doesn't take much to overdue it.

@chris a posted:

I have used several methods over the past couple of years.   I am doing about 2 dozen H21a Hoppers that will run together in a single train and wanted reasonably consistent look on the coal hoppers.  Really trying to have them look used and weathered, but not abused !

I have had really good luck on the red oxide cars mixing a thin acrylic wash,  about 75% water, 25% craft paint, and a few drops of 91% alcohol.  I ended up mixing 2 colors -  Burnt Umber (50%) and Nutmeg Brown (Apple Barrel #20521E).

The wash when dry leaves a flat finish with a fine texture. The other nice feature is you can fade the lettering by just applying the wash over the lettering.   I haven't felt the need to go back with pan pastels, or chalk powders.  On one car, I decided to deviate from my written down formula and didn't care for it, so with a toothbrush and some mild dishwashing soap I removed most of what I had done, and went back to the original formula.  I did these cars 3 years apart and its tough to tell them apart, the last 2 photos show the new batch, the hoppers done earlier have the wood blocks in them so I could see how well I was duplicating the weathering.

Airbrush or paint brush?

Soft bristle brush 1/2 inch wide

@chris a posted:

I have used several methods over the past couple of years.   I am doing about 2 dozen H21a Hoppers that will run together in a single train and wanted reasonably consistent look on the coal hoppers.  Really trying to have them look used and weathered, but not abused !

Ahhh, Now ANOTHER Irrational purchase goes on the list.. I DO Love a very KEWL repeating pattern consist! Calm, COOL, and That's why MENARDS should sell a 12-pack of cars in the size I am running (and I have NO idea what that is) roflmao, Beautiful job, thanks for sharing.

Check out this airbrushing work!

(1) Аэрография на мотоцикле.черепа с узором - YouTube

Impressive.

Recently, I have been using Mission Models Railroad Tie Brown for a lot of me weathering; you may want to go check it out. It's a nice color, not too dark or light in shade and produces some great effects. Make sure you their thinner if you end up trying it!

Greg

A couple more before and after:

Looking good! Keep it light, you can always add a little more.

You’re doing a nice job with the weathering. Nice to see the layout is still providing you some enjoyment.

@DoubleDAZ posted:

You’re doing a nice job with the weathering. Nice to see the layout is still providing you some enjoyment.

Thanks Dave!  You were a great part of my beginnings.  You designed my track layout.

I've outspent myself on engines, rolling stock, etc....  After some consideration I've decided, since my trains are not collector items, to occupy more of my time weathering.  A friend told me to NOT weather because it would hurt resale value. Heck, I'm in this for enjoyment not profit!

I hope you and yours are well!

(1) My 8'x8' 'O' Gauge Layout - YouTube

@Ponz posted:

I hope you and yours are well!

(1) My 8'x8' 'O' Gauge Layout - YouTube

Same with you. We are doing well, got our 2nd vaccination last Sunday with no ill effects. We’ve been pretty open throughout, just wearing masks and businesses controlling numbers of shoppers, so not that much has changed for us. Heading to Lake Lanier in Georgia at the end of the month. We went last September, so we’ll see what changes there are for travelers. Biggest change was having to eat some fast food lunches in the car.

Atlas car fresh out of the cradle

Brushed with green and yellow chalk dust.

Rust color dust added.    John