Large Scale Central

Weathered my first car.....be gentle. :D

Modeling Rolling stock
#21

Both sides look good to me. Now will you dare to do another?

How about adding a bit of graffiti first.

Using a rattle can to get the desired results isn’t easy. Tips I have found out through practice is to not start on the model but you want to make a pass by starting the spray off the model then continuing over it and don’t stop spraying until you are off again. You can also experiment with distance of the can to your model which will give you different effects but keep the can moving. Don’t start and stop the spray while you are on the model or it can lead to splatters.

I use easily removable foam coal loads in my hoppers and they often run empty so dusting the inside with flat/satin black works well for me. I give the floor a good blast and the sides get a dusting of the over spray.

Keep experimenting. I have used boxes for practice before moving to the model.

Happy RRing

#22

Sure looks better than that one fresh out of the paint shop!

#23

Yea, I like weathered cars. You said that the car is aluminum so you didn’t use rust. Some of the rust tone you see on cars is from the spray off the wheels. In fact, if you were to look at the ends of well run hopper cars, you will usually see 2 distinct streaks of rust on the end slope sheets. This is from the spray coming off the wheels. Steel rails and steel wheels rust. Also you said you used charcoal. I, myself, prefer charcoal over black. Black tends to look too stark.

I think you did pretty good for your first attempt. I would suggest that you coat your cars with a clear flat before you weather them. That helps the weathering take evenly over the cars. And, as had been mentioned, weathering works from the top down, so downward streaks tend to look the best.

As others had mentioned, I build up my weathering in light coats. A light spray of rust, dust, or charcoal, and then I let it dry a bit. If I want more, then I add more. Creeping up slowly on the effect you want is easier then trying to get it in one pass. Besides, weathering builds up in layers naturally, so a little grime, a little rust, a little dust and repeat till you get what you want. Referring to photographs of the real thing will certainly help to guide you to where you want to be.

#24

David Russell said:

Perhaps HJ and Craig could show us some their weathering work since they seem to be opinionated on how it’s done?

I thought that the purpose of the forum was to share ideas? My intent was to give the original poster constructive criticism. Oh well, I’ll keep my mouth shut next time. Nothing gained if your not willing to listen to other opinions. At least that’s why I make the threads that I start, to have another set of eyes catch something I didn’t notice.

#25

Todd, I plan on some graffiti for my other cars. I’m just going to make the coal cars dirty. I probably won’t start on another car until this weekend. I found out I had to spray the cars first too. When I first tried weathering it wouldn’t stay. So, I sprayed it then weathered. Then repeated that process about 20 times. lol. I think I had about 3 hours of weathering in that car.

Thanks Lou!!!

Thanks David. I did my ends like that. I should have taken a picture. But, the online photo I was using made it look dark. Come to find out, like you said, they are more of a rust color on the ends. Oooops.

Craig, your comment was welcomed. I was looking for opinions. This is my first time weathering and I have no idea what I’m doing. lol.

#26

Todd, I plan on some graffiti for my other cars. I’m just going to make the coal cars dirty. I probably won’t start on another car until this weekend. I found out I had to spray the cars first too. When I first tried weathering it wouldn’t stay. So, I sprayed it then weathered. Then repeated that process about 20 times. lol. I think I had about 3 hours of weathering in that car.

Thanks Lou!!!

Thanks David. I did my ends like that. I should have taken a picture. But, the online photo I was using made it look dark. Come to find out, like you said, they are more of a rust color on the ends. Oooops.

Craig, your comment was welcomed. I was looking for opinions. This is my first time weathering and I have no idea what I’m doing. lol.

#27

Matt, for having “no idea” I would say you did pretty darn good.

I am a tech, and so I care most about results. If person A gets there one way, and person B gets there another way, and I get there buy a totally different route, but we all end up with good results, then neither of us did it wrong. So I didn’t see anything wrong with Craig’s nor H.J.'s suggestions.

#28

Oh, Oh, please don’t promote graffiti by imitating it on your stock. I know most of us like to model what we see. Isn’t that the reason we weather our rolling stock? I have a personal grudge against graffiti and it’s makers. I can’t help it, it’s just the way I feel about it.

#29

Dan, yes I agree that defacing property that doesn’t belong to the defacer is wrong. But graffiti is so commonplace, that I cannot see where it would be wrong to model it.

I would like to try my hand at it, but since I do not know what some of the more colourful graffiti means, I do not want to copy something offensive onto one of my cars.

I could do, Killroy was here. :wink: But I think that one has been overdone.

#30

David Maynard said:

Matt, for having “no idea” I would say you did pretty darn good.

I am a tech, and so I care most about results. If person A gets there one way, and person B gets there another way, and I get there buy a totally different route, but we all end up with good results, then neither of us did it wrong. So I didn’t see anything wrong with Craig’s nor H.J.'s suggestions.

Right you are David, it’s all about suggestions. As far as weathering goes, it’s somewhere down the list for our LS stock and there is no hurry, since the RhB runs clean equipment, even the freight cars.

As far as general weathering goes I’ve done my fair share in HO - complete fleets of cars for certain customers. But darn, I just didn’t get around to take all those pictures back in the analog days.
As a matter of fact I had a hard time to suppress my snickers when one of my competitors - in the machine tool service business - showed me his well documented rebuild albums. Frankly, I never felt the urge or need to do that since I had lots of jobs strictly by referral through the grape vine within the industry.
But to each his own.

Back in the 90s I built a few micro series of scratch-bashed cars - this was long before they were available from the big guys. Of the five tank cars the four axle car came “weathered” from the factory, I weathered the shorties using reference pictures from the prototype.

A case of a lot less was decidedly more. The engine had a very slight weathering job, too. The diorama found a home down in Florida.