Weathered K-27

[kstrong]

Just finished this up for a friend. No cosmetic mods, just a straight weathering job.



The weathering is mostly a wash of dilute black and brown paint, then some Bragdon powders here and there for the look of dust and soot. If you recall my GR Basics column on repainting locos, the techniques are illustrated there.



If you're painting Bachmann's valve gear, you owe it to yourself to get a jar of Badger's Accuflex Dull Coat. This isn't the spray stuff, this comes in a little jar, goes on kinda milky-white, and dries to a dead flat finish. It does a GREAT job of toning down the bright shiny metal of the valve gear. You can then weather it with powders, washes, or whatever. It appears to be quite durable on the metal. At the very least, if it flakes off, it's easy to reapply, unlike paint that's been weathered, etc.



The paper window shades had to go. I replaced them with cloth first aid tape.



Here's #453 with my TRR #10.

Later,

K

[dwbeckett]

I got dirty just looking at the pictures, nice weathering look's very realalistic.

Dave

[ttrigg]

kstrong

The paper window shades had to go. I replaced them with cloth first aid tape.

First Aid Tape!  What a concept!  How does it hold up to weather? and other such abuse?  What type of paint? Do you have any thoughts as to using it for "canvas" covered cargo?  I like the "grain of cloth" showing through.

[Great Western]

 The loco does look wonderfully and aesthetically weathered.  I am sure the owner is delighted with your efforts Kevin. 

[kstrong]

It's the "Ace" brand first aid tape, 1.5" width. I'm not sure how it would work for canvas-covered cargo simply because of the width issue. For that, I'd look to something like a linen cloth or something like that, then drape it over whatever's simulating the cargo beneath it, then saturate it with a diluted mixture of white glue to harden it in place. If you didn't mind it turning yellow, you could use Titebond II glue since that dries waterproof. (You can always paint it, too, but that takes some of the naturalness out of it.) You could also use white glue, weather it a bit, then hit it with a clear matte finish (Krylon or such) to give it some measure of waterproofness. I don't know how long it would stay waterproof sitting outside on a freight dock, but as a flat car load or such it should be quite good.

For the shades, I'd imagine the tape should prove at least weather-resistant, capable of getting wet so long as it never got totally saturated and stayed that way for any length of time. I wrapped the tape around so it's stuck sticky-to-sticky surface on the underside. So long as that adhesive stays good, it should work well.

The paint is Folk Art acrylics. This is the stuff you find at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc. for around $1 per bottle. Great stuff, really. It even holds up outdoors fairly well.  

Later,

K