I’ve finally finished weathering my Accucraft EBT #12. Here’s the before–certainly attractive in its own right, but definitely not indicative of the workhorses these locos were.
In terms of prototype fidelity, the model is very accurate. I didn’t have to do much to fix wrong details, but boy did it need a date with a bucket of mud… After:
Some techniques of interest:
As delivered, #12 had a plannished iron boiler jacket. I have two techniques I typically use to simulate this finish; one is to use blackened brass sheet wrapped around the boiler, and the other is to use Testors’ “ModelMaster” buffable Gunmetal spray paint. Neither was an option on this model, since I wasn’t about to disassemble the locomotive. Instead, I rubbed powdered graphite on the boiler. This is the stuff you get in a small tube for lubricating locks, etc. I use the “Victor” brand as it’s a very fine powder. Anyway, I swabbed it on with a Q-tip, and used a soft pencil along the edges of the boiler bands and places where I needed a hard line. This was then clear-coated with diluted Future floor wax (clear acrylic). It’s held up very well to to the heat. (Like the prototype, the jacket is insulated from the boiler itself, so it doesn’t get quite as hot as the boiler. It still gets hot, though. Nothing like self-baking paint finishes.
Once that set up, I washed the boiler in a grimy brown/black acrylic wash (diluted Folk-Art paint). I’m very unscientific about this. I paint it on. If it’s too thick, I thin it. If I want more color, I add it. It’s very much a “feel your way through” process. Paper towels and Q-tips help clean up excess. Then I go through and add some “soot” to the top of the boiler (flat black paint dabbed on with the end of a stiff brush. A sponge would work similar.) Then some Bragdon’s weathering powders to add highlights and tonal variation.
Initially I left the pressure gauge alone, but it stuck out like a sore thumb in photos, so I toned it down with an acrylic wash when I did the windows. The windows are ink-jet or laser-printer clear sheets that teacher friend of mine gave me when she upgraded to computer projector for her classroom. These are great because they stand up to the heat of the cab well enough. On the other hand, there’s something about them–maybe microscopically porous to retain the ink/toner–that made it harder for me to “wash” the windows clear the way I can with straight clear plastic sheet. But given a choice between that and the windows curling up due to the heat, I’ll take a few more streaks in the windows.
If the wheels and side rods look oily and grimy, it’s because they are oily and grimy. That’s real steam oil coating everything. Sometimes you just let nature work its magic.
The flags are made from toilet paper. I loosely held them in place on the brass flag poles, then brushed dilute white glue on them and shaped them. The pilot was washed with my usual acrylic grime wash, then followed with Bragdon’s powders. I did this while the paint was still a bit damp, so the powders had a little more tooth.
The tender got more of the grime wash, with coal dust glued in place behind the coal bunker. The coal load was a slurry of crushed coal that I spread in place. Had I to do it over again, I’d have poured the coal in place then glued it. It looks a bit more natural that way. This was an experiment. The “good” news is that the top of the tender comes off to access the butane tank and water reservoir, so I anticipate accidentally dropping it at some point down the road, which will give me an excuse to re-do it. The mud spray on the tender is “okay.” I did this before I discovered the rotary tool trick here, which will definitely be employed on future endeavors.
One of these days I may get around to putting the truck retaining chains on the tender, but I’ve got too many other projects on the workbench at the moment, so this will do for now… Later, K
