I stumbled on the most thorough freight car weathering presentation ever. The below link is a 2016 NMRA 125+ slide deck for easily and cheaply weathering all types of freight cars. I've not ever seen a more thorough presentation for weathering. Many of the techniques I incorpoate, but some of them I plan to add soonest!
Even those well-versed in weathering can benefit from taking a peak. Fair warning: It takes awhile to load. Despite the load time, it's worth downloading and using: http://wnrr.net/Fleetweatheringclinic.pdf
Enjoy!
Thanks for sharing. What a great group of various techniques, detailed instructions and wonderfully completed examples, not to mention free download! Lots of good tips too, especially the ExactRail lettering caution.
I tend to think that using various techniques adds to the realism.
Wish I'd seen this before using too thick an acrylic paint wash on one of my fav old boxcars.
Thanks again and regards, Peter
When I did my 1st couple of cars, I def went overboard with weathering.
No question that doing different techniques makes for a more realistic car.
The site looks pretty helpful; the only downside I see with most weathering tutorials is they are oriented toward the heavy side and often with patches and tons of rust.
The period I am interested in seemed to have freight cars where weren't as extremely weathered - some were just on the dirty side from use. Still should be some useful info there.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
riogrande5761oriented toward the heavy side
Desiring the look of a car with a year or so service I used Joe Fugate's "Minimalist weathering" tutorial as a guide. And a plus was that the glass cleaner he uses as a solvent does a good job cleaning glass too.
Still, my BN cov. hopper model is a lot cleaner than the long string of similar color prototype 2 yr olds I saw sitting on a UP siding a couple summers ago in Idaho. Surprising how many of the walkway supports were already bleeding rust streaks.
Regards, Peter
The hardest thing to do weathering wise is to fade the lettering. Most try covering it up with light gray or white paint but most of the time it still looks like something is covering the lettering rather than fading it, IMO.
- Douglas
Doughlesshardest thing to do weathering wise is to fade the lettering
I agree, have tried Pan Pastels and chalks and they look better than my airbrush fades, but getting a satisfying fade to lettering has eluded me.
Kevin's method in the Fleetweathering clinic of gingerly wet sanding with fine grit paper looks promising. Have also seen some nice results with a fiberglass pen on another tutorial. But I think some experimentation would be prudent before going after a fav car.
HO-Velo riogrande5761 oriented toward the heavy side Desiring the look of a car with a year or so service I used Joe Fugate's "Minimalist weathering" tutorial as a guide.
riogrande5761 oriented toward the heavy side
Desiring the look of a car with a year or so service I used Joe Fugate's "Minimalist weathering" tutorial as a guide.
Yes, that is a little more toward what I would like to see since definitely most of the weathering guru's seem to show extreme weathering with tons of rust, patching and all that rot which is mostly useful to "modernish" modelers.
That BN is an excellent example of minimalist weathering - it looks "just right"!
Of course a lot of freight cars in the late 1970's were just plain dirty, but getting that right still requires something different than the extreme realism weathering approach. An even coat of grime seemed to be a very typical thing of freight cars which were more than minimally exposed to the elements for a few years.
HO-Velo Doughless hardest thing to do weathering wise is to fade the lettering I agree, have tried Pan Pastels and chalks and they look better than my airbrush fades, but getting a satisfying fade to lettering has eluded me. Kevin's method in the Fleetweathering clinic of gingerly wet sanding with fine grit paper looks promising. Have also seen some nice results with a fiberglass pen on another tutorial. But I think some experimentation would be prudent before going after a fav car. Regards, Peter
Doughless hardest thing to do weathering wise is to fade the lettering
Agreed. I find that removing the paint provides a better effect than painting over it. Usually, lettering is applied more thickly than the body paint, so it takes more effort to remove lettering.
Sanding or even light scraping works the best, but its difficult to get the removal evenly accross the lettering without invariably sanding too much off in places, or get into the body paint around the edges, or small lettering.
I think patience is the key. When you start getting bored or ansy, set it down and do something else for a while until you get the mojo back.
And have your touch up body paint mixed and ready to go.
One thing that ought to occur with weathering (regardless of car age) is removing the freight car shine. Making them dull gives off a more realistic impression.
I'm the first to admit going a bit overboard on some cars. They look like rust buckets. The amount of weathering depends on multiple factors, but I'm not afraid to admit going overboard. My wife reminds me that less is more. She should see what some real cars look like. They make my cars jealous and cause her tell the operators "can't you keep your things clean?!"
~Lee
kasskaboose One thing that ought to occur with weathering (regardless of car age) is removing the freight car shine. Making them dull gives off a more realistic impression.
Absolutely, a big difference right there. I've noticed that a lot of Accurail freight cars come, out of the box, with a duller finish; I think it is due to the way they paint and letter cars and it may not be intentional, but they almost seem just a tad weathered even when new!
I'm the first to admit going a bit overboard on some cars. They look like rust buckets. The amount of weathering depends on multiple factors, but I'm not afraid to admit going overboard. My wife reminds me that less is more. She should see what some real cars look like.
~Lee[/quote]
Sure, it all depends on what you are after and what is typical of the trains/time frame etc. you are trying to copy. Certainly during the past 20 years, there are a lot of very sad looking freight cars out there. Personally it makes me a bit nostalgic for the olden days of the 70's when freight cars were mostly just dirty, not all rusty and patched and yukky looking.
There are lots of realistic freight cars to copy - just depends on your poison. It seems a popular thing for many these days to be into the extreme weathering but a lot of it is also extremely realistic.
Thanks for sharing, that is really an excellent presentation!
I only light weather, and find that a Dull-Cote spray makes a huge difference, along with some mild weathering of trucks and couplers. I open a bottle of Testors rust and flat black, and a bottle of thinner. I then bounce my brush lightly from the 3 bottles and lightly wash on the couplers and truck sides.
It really makes a nice difference!
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
kasskaboose One thing that ought to occur with weathering (regardless of car age) is removing the freight car shine. Making them dull gives off a more realistic impression. I'm the first to admit going a bit overboard on some cars. They look like rust buckets. The amount of weathering depends on multiple factors, but I'm not afraid to admit going overboard. My wife reminds me that less is more. She should see what some real cars look like. They make my cars jealous and cause her tell the operators "can't you keep your things clean?!" ~Lee
Several years ago, a forum member pointed this out, and I agree: Real rail cars and locos don't wear evenly. Many times, there will be rust patches, or paint worn off, and other areas still having shiny gloss surface. Look closely at pictures.
Sometimes, applying a uniform layer of dullcote adds to the model look.
Hard to avoid the uniform application, but patchy sheen is a nuance that can be considered.
Another thing that drives the amount of weathering and it's location on a car is the age. Cars that are 20-30 year old from "away" companies are likely to have more weathering than new ones from a "home" operator. Again, it depends on how the car was used, its age, and location.
Those who worked on real trains (jealous of you!), can attest that some trains were left out for days/weeks/months before moving. During that time, they were exposed to the elements and possibly hooligans with rocks or spray bottles.