Hey all,
Just wondering what you all do for fading rolling stock, without using an airbrush. Since I've stepped up my game in terms of weathering, I just wanted to know what you do to make the paint fade really well, as it seems to be the hardest thing to get right.
Personally I prefer to mix a very thin white (sometimes light grey) wash and apply it in around 3-5 coats, til I get the desired fading effect. I've also tried drybrushing on some light colored cars, but I tend to stick with a wash.
Another method I have heard about, and am anxious to try on some of my too-dark-green BN cars is to mix up the color you want the car to be, then apply it in a wash similar to the first method.
But what do you all do? Post below, I'd love to hear!
I use diluted acrylic craft paints, often called 'washes'. It usually takes two or three applications until you get the right look. Depends on how diluted the wash is, of course.
I use the wash, as well. Most times, I'll rub the car down with a scubby pad, to dull the shine, and fade out lettering, then the wash.
I have some old, out of service trainset cars I practice on.
Mike.
My You Tube
A method many years ago in MR was called a bounce method. You used a spray can but aimed it below the car onto a sheet of paper. Just the outer edge of the spray pattern hit the bottom half of the car. It did pretty good job
This all sounds very interesting, but also very challenging. As a novice, you better have a lot of crappy rolling stock to practice on, instead of risking your more valuable rolling stock.
I remain interested in weathering both structures and rolling stock and even motive power, but I just don't know if I can ever bring myself to actually do it.
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrain but I just don't know if I can ever bring myself to actually do it.
I get that Rich! I have two of the first Kato locos I bought, at hobby shop prices, and they remain untouched, as far as weathering.
I've gotten a few NOS Kato and Genesis off Ebay, I started with those.
Not a very clear photo, that's my fault, not the weathering job!
Pan Pastels are a good medium for fading, mixable and somewhat reversible.
Regards, Peter
1. Just an application of DullCoat alone can produce a certain amount of fading
2. Pastels or chalks on top of that DullCoat produce more - the instinct to use white or light gray however looks less good than an application of the same basic color but a lighter shade, so a ligher red or brown on a plain boxcar, a gray on a black hopper, a lighter green on a Penn Central or NYC boxcar, that sort of thing.
3. Isopropyl alcohol in a spray also causes fading but it is unpredictable and not controllable - you take what you get. Even if some india ink is mixed in it produces some fading
4. Study prototype photos - in my "patterns of weathering" clinic I show photos that indicate where on the side of a freight car the fading seems most pronounced.
Dave Nelson
Another positive vote for DullCoat. You ought to spray that outdoors or in a well-veintlated place. It removes the new-model shine on cars.
I get the worry about ruining cars, so practice, practice, practice on cheap ones.
I don't know whether you own an airbrush but I would call buying an airbrushing outfit "stepping up my game." Harbor Freight Tools offers both single action ($10) and dual action ($20) airbrushes and inexpensive pancake or hot dog air compressors ($55). Yes, you can achieve acceptable results using washes and weathering powders but I don't think either will duplicate the results you can achieve with an airbrush alone (although I usually supplement my airbrushed weathering with Pan Pastels). Yes, I will likely be flamed for recommending the HFT airbrushes but I own and use both models with such good results that I find no need to spend more for a name brand airbrush. The pancake and hot dog air compressors can do a lot more than just power an airbrush, too. Either will power a brad nailer you can use to construct benchwork, fill auto tires, blow dust off/out of whatever, and lots of other jobs. The air tanks also mean you won't get pulsing air flow through your airbrush for a more consistent finish.
Hornblower
I originally weathered my rolling stock using a spray can of grey primer from the local Canadian Tire outlet. It was easy to control, including the output. Simply place the car on a hard surface and roll it back-and-forth while spraying from a low angle...
I later learned about washes, and the car below shows that combination with an airbrush...
As mentioned, pastels are also useful for weathering, but learning to use an airbrush isn't overly difficult and can be a very useful too.Depending on the particular item, I may use any or all of those options.
Wayne
I have been using dull cote and acrylic paint washes, but recently discovered pastels and weatering powders and am really happy with how it dulls the car or locomotive without going overbord
I faded the paint more on the GP30 using Tamyia weathering powders
Both the MP15 and WC boxcar are faded using the same method. It is very light on the MP15 as the prototypes are usally still shiney and new looking...where I like the rustbucket look
With the powders, you can find them cheap and easy, and weather to your discretion. as light or as heavy you want to go. I've only been using them for a month now so theyre might be others to add information about this method.
What ever you do, HAVE FUN!
I apply a black wash to all of my rolling stock. It is super easy to do and it removes the toy look of a new car.
Simon
hornblowerYes, I will likely be flamed for recommending the HFT airbrushes but I own and use both models with such good results that I find no need to spend more for a name brand airbrush.
I won't flame you. When I got back into MR after 20 years, I was hot to paint something and my Badger wouldn't work, a teflon washer was missing and maybe I didn't do a good job cleaning it the final time.
While Badger fixed it up, for the cost of parts, I bought a HF and used it with my little Badger compressor. I would not recommend the Badger compressor, but it and HF airbrush did the job. I like my Badger better. I like my 5 gal pancake even better.
I think the OP maybe one of our younger members and young or not, if you don't have the money, you don't have the money. I have that t-shirt too. Like 40" curves, 20 amp boosters and 2800 sq ft of railroad, it is something to aspire to.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BurlingtonNorthern2264Rich, I have plenty of "el cheap-o" cars I use to practice on, don't worry :)
I heard the same advice for learning how to use an airbrush, but would never waste even a cheap car for learning. If you have lots of cheap cars, learn how to make them into better ones.
That can be done by weathering, of course, but it can also be done by upgrading their performance, or by adding free-standing details to replace cast-on ones. I'd still suggest acquiring and learning to use an airbrush, though. Why be more afraid of it than you would be of anything else you've not yet tried?
I was doing brush-painted diesels for a nearby hobbyshop after I had shown a couple that I had done for myself. They were for a somewhat local prototype, but at that time, there was no model paint available for the proper colours, no lettering that was even close to prototypical, and no kits or r-t-r examples.
After hand painting several dozen (they were selling faster than I could produce them), the shop owner suggested that I buy an airbrush, and offered me a Paasche double-action brush at a good price.
The first thing I learned was that airbrushing paint schemes in multiple colours requires masking. My second lesson was that masking requires lots of time to do it properly.Up until then, I had needed to do only minor masking, as I had very steady hands and very good brushing techniques.
Rather than give up, or try my hand on cheap rolling stock, I opted to first read the instructions which came with the airbrush. (Many people don't read instructions, and then complain about what a crummy product they bought when they don't get the results they wanted.)
The first suggestion was on disassembling and re-assembling the airbrush - pretty easy when you have an exploded view in the instruction book.
The second lesson was on basic use of an airbrush - make a dot of paint on a surface. I picked up some cardboard cartons from a nearby supermarket, and flattened them, then cut them into individual sheets...free for the taking, and re-cyclable after I was through with them.The goal of the dot-making exercise was to teach control of the paint application and amount, and the process was to learn to make the dots smaller and smaller, and less and less spattery.
When that process became easy, the next instruction was to make the tiny dots into a grid pattern (you could draw it with a pencil and ruler if you wished) but I opted to skip that step and do it free-hand.
I did get a very neat looking pattern of dots, but the next step was to connect the dots with lines as thin and as straight as you could possibly make them. I did pretty good on my first try, but by the third or fourth attempt, the entire piece of cardboard looked as if it had been done with a ruler and pen, with the spacing uniform throughout.I'm not saying this for accolades (I doubt that I could achieve the same results nowadays, 40 years later) but am suggesting that there's no need to fear learning new stuff, and learning to use an airbrush is well-worth the effort. It also doesn't stop you from using washes or learning to apply pastels, either.I did get around to doing more of those locos with the airbrush, but was relieved when Atlas came out with a r-t-r version, soon followed by one from Proto/LifeLike.
Learning to use an airbrush allowed me to paint (and letter) probably 90% of the rolling stock on my layout, along with all of the locomotives, steam and diesel, and many structures, too. I still do custom painting for several close friends, and am grateful for that shop owner's suggestion, even though I had doubts about my abilities to learn something so otherwise foreign to the methods I knew.
Years ago, I practiced on old Tyco cars, including the famous Purina car that I got for Christmas when I was a kid. I regret that now. Sure, I can probably find another one - but not the one I got from my parents some 45 years ago.
A white or black wash isn't always the "cure all" for fading. Sometimes using white, either through an airbrush or hand brush, leaves a "frosted flake" appearance. A mix of the car's base color with a lighter color is sometimes necessary, or some other complimentary colors are needed, depends on the prototype or look you are trying to achieve. It may take several passes with a thinned solution to build up the desired fade. Green sometimes fades to a yellow, orange sometimes gives a brown appearance.
Practice, Practice, Practice......yep, we all got old cars just dying to be the next lab experiment. If not, plastic picnic plates or plastic "for sale" signs (or other inexpensive signs) from your local store makes great practice pieces.
Terry
Inspired by Addiction
See more on my YouTube Channel
The April 2020 RMC has an article by George Dutka titled "Simple Options for Fading Paint". He talks about spraying Proto Paint "Flat Haze" as one method, and hand brushing PanPastel "Colorless Blender". The colorless blender is usually used for mixing with other PanPastel colors to lighten them, but he notes it works well to lighten/fade the color of model engines and cars by just brushing on a light coat over them. "Of the two techniques, PanPastel colorless blender is by far the easiest to work with and the quickest."
I hasten to add I haven't tried either, but both sound interesting.
I'm a fan of working with 91% Alcohol. A wet Qtip rubbed vertically along the entire car wiorks pretty well. Produces some natural weathering streaking too in variable places. Also, as the color builds onto the qtip, it can rest onto the lettering, making it appear that the lettering is faded/wearing off and the body color is showing through.
Might sound scary, because straight 91% alcohol is used for stripping.
But the stuff isn't acid.
It takes a lot of rubbing to wear off the paint. Like anything, it takes practice but even the first couple of swipes has visible results, IMO.
Fade paint and lettering with the qtip and alcohol. Then a fine point aritsts brush to add rust or grime along some seems and rivets. Then dry brush dab a light cover of mud along the sill and some rust color along the roof, and that's pretty much my weathering technique.
- Douglas