WEATHERIZING PRODUCT

Hi

 I found that the best thing to do for wethreing is when your at a show you can find cheap ho cars for about a buck or so. These cheap cars are great to trie defernt ways to wether cars. you can then figer out what workes for you.

jpc,

not sure what you mean by "ordering products"............

I am only aware of Weaver offering factory weathered O gauge rolling stock.

I have some of their factory weathered tank cars, which are very nice.

"my concern is matching or blending products from different suppliers".......

If you have some items weathered and some not, well, yes, the differance will stand out.

Most 3 railers do not weather any trains. Some do , but most do not. If your worried about one weathered item next to another weathered item, nothing to worry about there. Just look at the real trains. You'll see anything and everything next to each other.

I do not have the skills at this point to do it myself....................

Take it from me, it's not that hard. I got myself a book or two from my local Hobby shop that specializes in HO, watched a few videos and I gave it a shot. Start simple, perhaps a simple chalk set and some brushes. that'll get your interest peaked. Ask your local HO hobby shop or visit a local NMRA meeting, they are always willing to teach.

is best to give up the authenticity and run it "out of the box new"...........

That's something only you can answer. Doesn't hurt to weather a few inexpensive cars (or purchase them) and see what you think. To me, my collecting days are over, I'm all into not building a "layout" but building a "railroad". Meaning that the railroad will have meaning in the design, serving a purpose as a real railroad would, so, shiny new out of the box stuff doesn't look good on my railroad. Everything gets weathered. Most things very light.

Sometimes even a simple spray of Testors Dullcote on a shiny new car can tone it down to an acceptable level.

Here is an example of weathered next to out of the box

Another example of a Lionel Standard O car, weathered -vs- out of the box

Something to think about is that most trains are made of of cars old and new, recently cleaned or maintained and not, so in the real world, the 'weathering' on cars and locos won't always match. so you will have a mix of differently weathered and worn cars on a real train.

I recall being intrigued/concerned in the mid 50s when our family boarded the Super Chief for Los Angeles on vacation.  The lead A unit's red paint was slightly faded and chalked in places, while the the B units, being mostly silver, looked okay, and the rear A unit looked brand new with glossy, shiny paint.  For some reason, at age six or so, that really bothered me a lot - a memory that has stuck with me all these years, too.

I use a lot of the dry powders to lubricate.  They are easy to use and can be applied very subtly and built up as you need, and they are removeable (although they stick pretty well) if it comes down to you willing to wash and scrub a bit.