Help with weathering the Walther's Ice House

[mecovey]

I am almost finished with the construction of the Walther's Ice House but I think I killed it with the Bragdon Weathering powders. The Ice House sits next to a busy double track mainline and is supposed to look like it's been there for 30 years or so. Does anybody have any pictures they can post of how they weathered this particualr kit? I wasn't able to turn up anything on the internet to check the prototype.

[Otis]

I finished mine about 2 weeks ago.  Will put up a photo tomorrow as it is late pm here.

I didn't want to go heavy on the weathering of this, so I just gave the main house a wash of india ink to make it look rather dingy off white.  It came out about the same as if I had rubbed a little graphite on it.

I sprayed the roofs metallic/sheet metal and added a slight bit of the Bragdon light and medium rust to some seams.

I sprayed the gangway structure a medium brown and left it looking rather clean.  I mght add a little yellowish dust to this part.

I finished the ice house just after trying the Bragdon powders on a Model Power Blue Coal Station. And yes, I found it was very easy to overdue the effects (on the rusty roof at least) and had to wipe off some of the powder with damp cloth before respraying with matte on the coaling station.

(I really went to town with the soot on the coaling station, however, as it was one of those awfully garish Model Power kits.  I find I really want to heavily weather those horrible "modelled in up to 8 colours" kits or I will just throw them in the trash.  Now it looks rather good).

[mecovey]

Thanks Otis I look forward to seeing the pictures. I recently finished the Walthers 200 ton Coaling Tower and the diesel fueling facility and the weathering came out fine with the Bragdon powders. I guess I just got a little heavy handed on the ice house. I googled "ice house" and got a lot of hits, some of which show similar structures to the kit. Most looked fairly clean except fot those that were on their last legs. I like your choice of colors. I used grimey black over masking tape for the ice house and it's OK but I think shingles would have been better. I'm not real pleased with the platform roofs either. The metal color is probably better. I'll decide after you have had a chance to post the pictures.

[Otis]

Weeeelllll, don't go by me.  I see you have been around a long while and you must know a great deal more about the weathering business than me.  This is only the third structure I have built and the second to try weathering.  I have been doing lots in the past two weeks when my controller is out for repairs and I can't do any DCC conversions.

I hesitantly include these photos not as exemplary, but as amateurish stuff.

I am also not the most accurate builder or patient weatherer.  I feel behind in my layout work and want to get a lot of scenery and structure work out of the way so I can begin running the trains.

I was timid about doing much to the big white surfaces of this, so I left it pretty much alone.

 

 

This Model Power Blue Coal Depot is my first weathering attempt.  It was a good choice to start because I could go heavy and nothing could be worse than the original colours of the kit.

 

Here are some other things I have been working on in quick succession with some painting and the Bragdon colours.

I have some WS lump coal and some WS cinder ballast that I am going to spread around and glue over the ugly base of the coaling station.

This is one I nearly tossed out after I opened the box (got it cheap on Ebay). 

 

Didn't think I could improve/cover those gawd-awful colours.  But I managed to repaint the cart, and all the little tools in detail and wash the structures with india ink and it now is presentable alongside the track, I think.  I did throw out the silly pastic track bit shown on the box.

[mecovey]

You did good! I was able to tone down the Ice House some now it looks like its been right beside a dirty sooty double track mainline for 30 years. Since that was my original intent, I guess I can live with it. I redid the roofs on the platform in metal lightly rusted and then sooted over. I'm making a decal for the platform roof that gives the location. This was apparently common in the era before IFR so pilots could get their bearings by reading water tower, roofs etc.

I'll post some pictures whn I get it finished

[bearman]

I'm working on the ice house right now and am weathering it by using an alchohol/india ink wash.  It's pretty light so I have applied the wash five times todarken it a bit and I think it is ready to assemble now.  I'll do one more when it is put together.  I'm also using a metallic silver paint on the roof and will add some touches of rust at the end before I spray the whole structure with dull cote.

[MisterBeasley]

  I'm making a decal for the platform roof that gives the location. This was apparently common in the era before IFR so pilots could get their bearings by reading water tower, roofs etc.

I'll post some pictures whn I get it finished

I recall seeing "Mail Pouch Tobacco" ads on the walls or roofs of barns.  Here's a Wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_Pouch_Tobacco_Barn

Strictly speaking, these were put on barns only, not ice houses, and most were painted on the walls, not the roof.  Their purpose was advertising, so they would be placed where they could be seen from nearby roadways.  But, you could always use a bit of modeller's license and put one of these ads on your roof.