I have one of those! If you are going for the weathered stained look, most people stain before building, but since Alexander used a lot of metal parts, that doesn't mater as much. In your case I would grey primer the whole thing and come back with ink washes.
I built a Campbell kit water tank, and found that black Rit clothing dye worked well. I used alcohol to dissolve the powder, and strained the solution before I put the strip wood into it. After 5 minutes I took it out and wiped it down. When dry, it looked very much like gray weathered wood. (Before I did this I etched the strips to get a weathered wood texture.)
Here is my coaling tower built from the "classic" Campbell kit which follows the D&RG towers at Chama and Durango. I used Floquil Reefer Grey first, then a dark wash (greatly thinned grimy black). I would think that it might take some time to paint such a tower after construction, as it might be difficult to get paint onto the interior surfaces of the framing. Its been a long time, but I think that I painted the sub-assemblies of mine before overall construction, but applied the dark wash after assembly to blend things together.
Bill
This is a plastic coaling tower model I finished to look like old weathered wood. I used Polly Scale Earth and then a wash of india ink in 70% alcohol. Just for color reference.You might try one of the weatherd wood finishes available commercially.
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
Look at the selection of Min-Wax stains at your local hardware store. I have several that I have used for fresh creasote, older weathered wood and other similar needs.
Good luck,
Richard
If the railroad had abandoned steam in recent years, they would not have kept up the exterior condition of the coaling tower, and sun and rain might have rendered it somewhat greyish, long since treated with creosote to keep the bacteria and worms from it. i would paint it a very light grey to start with, and even consider white seriously. Acrylic craft paints. Then, some black wash staining, or some light India Ink staining for that sun-bleached fir or cedar look.
If it is a working coaling tower, near the end of steam, it would still be pretty darned molasses coloured. If it had been painted at some point, and still worked, it would have much of the paint showing, but a lot of black coal dust would have settled on any surfaces exposed to the coal dust near the chute.
Crandell
I have just completed building a 100 ton Fairbanks Moss coaling tower and pump office. It is an old Alexander Scale Models wood structure. I would now like to paint or stain it. I think that weathered wood finish would probably be prototype. Can anyone please give me some guidance?