Weathering is one of those things where less is more. You are showing dramatic improvement in your second attempt. One thing to think about: photograph your subject in natural sunlight (the sunnier the better) and study those photos to see where you want to improve next time. Natural light really brings out the details, but you’ve probably already noticed that.
I agree that less is more. Many modelers tend to overdo the weathering, so the car looks like it should be sitting in the scrap yard awaiting the cutting torch. But, sometimes, a very weathered look is what the modeler is going for.
Yeah, I way over did the first one. I was trying to follow a prototype…but not having the first clue as to do how to do it, I messed it up. I feel I did much better on the second car. Just an expensive lesson. lol.
I’ve been trying to fix the first attempt car, and it was just so dark there wasn’t much I could do. I got the panels weathered the “grimey look” that I like, but it’s still just too dark. I’m going to try something else on the other side.
Here is the first attempt car(on the left), next to the second attempt car. The second attempt car doesn’t look weathered compared to the other one. lol. I wish I would have brought out a new un weathered car for ever a more comparsion, but I didn’t think of it until the sun went down. Anyway…
Close up shot. Not what I wanted, but not as bad as it looked. Just hope it looks better in motion. lol.
I still need to get the wheels/trucks done. Hopefully this weekend. I still have more cars to do!
And this is just for a comparison to the side I did. This is the original first attempt side. I may try something different on this side to see if I can lighten it up a bit.
What kind of paint did you use?
I wouldn’t bother trying to lighten the first car. It looks okay and you will probably find a real one that is that dark anyway. I think they look great!
The second attempt at car one looks better than the first attempt. The colors are more blended, actually like your fixed version of car one. Car two looks great but I think to fix #1 do what you did the second time.
That’s my 2 cents. It is subjective. Maybe graffiti it. I know that can be a controversial subject but in my opinion it is prototypical and could help make car #1 better.
Burl, it’s not paint. It’s chalks, charcoal, and fine dirt. All brushed on with multiple coats of krylon clear flat.
Andrew, after I did the second car the first one just didn’t look real to me. I did one side of it and that’s the pictures. The other side I started on last night and I’m trying something different. Maybe it won’t be as dark.
Thanks Devon! The next coal porter will have some small graffiti on it. Nothing drastic. And it will be weathered similar to the second car I did. Probably just a shade darker.
Ugh, I just screwed up the other side. I had just sprayed what I was calling the final coat of clear. I decided to pick it up and admire it. I grabbed the inside of the car by one of the supports and it came loose. Car crashed down landing on the freshly coated side. And it picked up every bit of debris where I was working. Ugh. I’m calling it done and I’ll just run it one way. Moving on to the wheels and trucks.
Down the road I may strip this one and re-letter it.
Matt Russell said:
Ugh, I just screwed up the other side. I had just sprayed what I was calling the final coat of clear. I decided to pick it up and admire it. I grabbed the inside of the car by one of the supports and it came loose. Car crashed down landing on the freshly coated side. And it picked up every bit of debris where I was working. Ugh. I’m calling it done and I’ll just run it one way. Moving on to the wheels and trucks.
Down the road I may strip this one and re-letter it.
Well guess you can say it truly picked up some road grime. . .