Y Weather Video Added

Great looking work Eliot.  

Thanks for posting
 Mike

Eliot,

I like it, great first attempt.

Little more than your goal but a learning experience.  Great thing about airbrushing is you can always do it again.

Thanks for the pictures.

I like it!!! Nice work!

Just a suggestion, but you really should have researched what N&W steam locomotives looked like in the prime of steam, i.e. late 1940s thru early 1950s, especially color photos. There are many, many, books with color photos of N&W steam power.

A few "pointers", based on my experiences with N&W steam power, and color photos:

1) The N&W seemed to have very good water and water treatment practices, thus one really didn't see lots of mineral deposits all over their power.

2) What with the heavy loads that N&W Y Class locomotives handled, there was generally lots of sand residue down low on the drives, which tended to appear heavier the further rearward on the running gear.

3) Even in regular service, the N&W kept their steam power pretty well wash and cleaned prior to every run, so there really was more "black areas" on the boiler jacketing than one would think. Again, research color photos for those affects. 

Looks good.  You are far braver than I am.

My thanks to all of you.

Hot Water, many thanks for your comments and for being specific.

I am embarrassed to admit that I did try to research the N&W and, specifically, the Y6b class. I looked at the Winston Link photos and those locos were quite clean, generally. I then went to the Railphoto site on the net and could not find many photos.

The over weathering is certainly not the result of doing a good job from prototype photos. Obviously, I did not do a good job there. I think, as a first effort, I did not know whether to use the powders first, the air brush first or what colors, exactly, would give me that in service look.

As Hot Water said, the N&W kept the machines clean and my effort does not show that. Well, the critique will certainly help me. Hot Water, many thanks. If I can, I will e-mail you prior to starting another job and over doing it. Being subtle is difficult.

Those of you who chimed in, many thanks. I now have a loco that I no longer need to worry about. Whatever it was worth before, it ain't any more LOLOL.

Eliot

Eliot forget about "worth" your layout is pristine, no weathering on the Munoz station that I recall, nor your many maxi stacks, or Passenger cars so why this engine?  Oh the humanity !

Eliot, I think you did a nice job. You have more guts than me doing a large loco like that. One hint I would give you. Under weather first. I take the cars I weather outside after I've done a little airbrushing. If they need more than I do more. It's easer to add weathering than to have to start over. Don

quote:

 Whatever it was worth before, it ain't any more LOLOL.

Welp...they don't call him "Scrapiron" for nothing. 

Don, Many thanks ! Seriously

On the lighter side . . . . . 

Don says take the loco OUTSIDE.

Don lives in MAUI

In Maui it is 80 degrees

I live in Carmel, NY

Carmel is 8 degrees

You CANNOT take a loco out in 8 degrees

Eliot

    I am no expert so only an opinion can be offered. The bragdon black powder may bring some of the color back on the engine. Usually when you seal the powders with a dullcote, they fade some. Congratulations on trying something new.

Ray Marion

A real man would take it out in the snow.  Don

Eliot

Nice job. and its photographs really well

Eliot,

Very nice work.. Thanks for posting!!

Very good looking.  I like the airbrushing you did as a final step.  Nice.  Sort of intimidating the first time you take a really nice loco, in pristine condition, and start down this road, isn't it?  I also over-weathered, too, on several early occasions, but yours isn't really overdone.  It's simply a loco that has had a hard week's work and hasn't been through the wash yet!  Its great!

Thanks to all of you for the kind comments. The truth is I am

almost OK with this first attempt, but I prefer to be hard on myself and

find ways to improve. I can probably feel comfortable with the loco but

when I look at the tender, I cringe. OK, perhaps a step back and then something to make that tender less of an eyesore.

My plan today is to try to remove what I can from the tender without making the situation worse. I will then try to airbrush some smokey grey to eliminate what looks like "oil" but really bare spots. In attempting to tone down the rust streak, I really made it worse.

I will post whatever happens to the tender today. I guess, worse comes to worse, I can always repaint the tender N&W black and start over . . . .  Ayyyyy

Personally, I think for a first attempt on a really nice engine, you did pretty good. Maybe it doesn't fit prototype, but it still looks believable to the eyes of most uneducated people who don't know.

Weathering is very intimidating, so I applaud anyone for trying.  Many modelers go through the hobby always wanting to weather, but always being too nervous to jump in.

As for the value, well, it's only money anyway.  If any of us are in the hobby as an investment, we should seek better investment advice, because this is a money pit, nothing more.

So kudos and cheers to your new weathering adventures, it will only get better with each attempt.

Eliot it came out fine, weathering is a matter of taste.  If you want photos the best place to go is the NWHS, follow the link and look at what ever ya like. Here are a few photos of a Y6b for ya....

One way you can alter the overall light effect is to take grimy black, and dilute it to a 25/75 consistency, then lightly go over the engine. This is very diluted but will bring it back somewhat if you want it altered from the overall look.

Wow that was fast Eliot! I think it looks good. No two " in service"Y6's look alike.

Heres some more Y6 color footage if your interested:

Looks nice. Achieving the desired degree of weathering would seem to be an art needing practice.

To answer your "Y Weather" question I think that even very light weathering really brings out the details much better than the usual black paint on steam.

Scotie

Once again, thanks because you have all been quite kind.

I can see now that my "in service" Y6b is really not very close to prototypical but, truth to tell, I need to do better research as well as better weathering.

Thanks to those who give me credit for being brave. There is a VERY fine line between bravery and stupidity. After I looked at the engine and tender prior to taking photos, I felt quite stupid. Now, I have been able to convince myself that my weathering shows a Y6b at the end of service. If I was brave, that is a bonus. Now, if I weather my Vision Challenger, you can call the shrinks in.

^This. I over did it a bit on my SD60 and spraying some grimy black (I'm using an alternative, MM Aircraft interior black) really helped tone it down. I would wager a nice black spray would fix it right up.

Eliot,

Nice job for your first project. We all learn by doing, not by listening to someone tell us how to do it. I agree with some of the above guys, airbrush. lightly, with some grimy black and I think it will end up right where you want it.

Worse case scenario it ends up too black, and you'll have to weather it more (May or may not be speaking from experience) 

Scrappy I think it's a great first attempt. Like many others have said, I haven't had the guts to weather one of my steam engines yet, but you dove right in. KUDOS!

I'll throw in my 2 cents.

1. Overdoing weathering is the most common mistake by anyone/everyone, especially when you first start. It's starts by "under" weathering, standing back, and saying to yourself..."well that's not dirty enough"....then comes the "too much"

2. If you want to do prototype weathering, it's best to have a photo/s right there in front of you.

3. I use the airbrush 1st, then powders. Whether you spray a flat finish first, or a light dusting of color of your choice, that gives the model some "tooth" for the powders to stick to.

4. Powders do NOT have to be applied dry only...you can add a dab of moisture (water, alcohol, dull-cote, etc) to apply streaks or spots, or the powders can be added to a liquid wash to give it some grit. When I brush the pilots on my diesels with powders, I have the airbrush loaded with Dull-Cote, spray the pilot, and while it's fresh I brush on some more powders, then hit it again with the airbrush.

5. I always try to use at least 2 different colors if not 3 when weathering. Looks like you have used 3 on there. Steam you'll have black (soot), grey (ash), and white for the calcium, and maybe a touch of rust on a couple spots.  

I really like the looks of the engine, although it's not prototypical for N&W its has a good look to it. Most people wouldn't know the difference. The tender had some blotches on it but you fixed without having to start over.

You could opt to leave the whole thing alone, or keep going with some weathered/grimy black paint or powders to darken it back up. Then again, don't listen to what I said because I haven't had the guts to weather any of my steam engines.  

Don't feel stupid.  Maybe that Y6 just finished a day of pusher duty.  I have a bunch of archival footage of the N&W and I can tell you that they had plenty of power that got pretty dirty at times.  I would do what others have suggested, hit it with some grimy black.  Here are a couple other photos of Y6's...