25 Bucks, and Three Evenings Later...

[rs2mike]

I have that kit as well.  Got it at hobby lobby on sale for 10 dollars and while I was there I got their last 4-6-4 they had.  I think that kit is discontinued.  I built the 4-6-4 and a small diaromma for it.  Here it is slightly less weathered.  Good tip on the alachol and clear coat.  I will have to try it. 

[river_eagle]

Cool! Want to do mine next?? What color did you use for the smoke box? (and what for the over all black?) The side rods look really great!

PolyScale Engine Black for the smokebox, siderods, and firebox/ashpans, drybrushed overall with UP Harbor Grey, and White.

Cab interior Dark Green, piston rods, bearings and cylnder covers silver

Overall loco was painted with straight gloss black before decaling.

So far, pretty straight forward, right?

Here's where we go outside the box, not really trade secrets, but may seem counter productive.

At the point that I have the loco ready for Dullcote, decaling finished, Solvaset applied, cured, excess washed off, and dried, I cool the loco and the can of dillcote either in the fridge, or set near the AC register, it is summer afterall, for about an hour.

I take it outside, or into heated garage in the winter and immediatly spray the dullcote on the cold model, and the quick temp. change causes the dullcote to blush, (attract moisture causing a whitish, dusty appearance in the dullcote) something you would normally try really hard to avoid.  For this application it creates the perfect effect.

  

The water scale is the last step in the weathering job on this model, and is one of the little known "stupid lacquer tricks", after the dullcote has set for a couple of hours, break out a paintbrush and your rubbing alcohol, and "paint" the alcohol onto the model in the areas that you want scale.

The alcohol reacts with the laquer, and creates the "blush effect" to the extreme, go slowly, you can go over the same areas to add more scale, if you go too far, just brush on more dullcote, and the scale disappears, ready to start again.

 

[loathar]

Cool! Want to do mine next?? What color did you use for the smoke box? (and what for the over all black?) The side rods look really great!

[river_eagle]

Far from Shiny

and this loco is at home base, Green River, WY.

[gmcrail]

Great job, well done, probably a hundred things you can incorporate this into a layout, super job on weathering (moderation IS the key), A steam locomotive only had 1 day of  a shiny black appearance, that was the day it came out of the locomotive builders factory to have it's picture taken. So all those shiny, polished, new locomotives ripping around your layout are prototypically 1 day old, oops.

 

I beg to differ slightly - not with the Eagle's work; he did a great job - but with the comment on the condition of locomotives back "in the day".  Every time a loco went into the roundhouse at the end of its run, a team of workers known as "engine wipers" went to work on it.  When they were done, it was as shiny and clean as the day it rolled off the builder's shop floor.  Most healthy railroads made it a point to keep their equipment in good condition.  After all, the locomotives were rolling advertisements of the quality and reliability of the railroad's operation.

So while some weathering may be appropriate,  excessively-done weathering reflects poorly on the railroad which owns the equipment.  Someone who lets their appearance go downhill doesn't give a good impression to those they meet.  

There is a story (probably apocryphal, but nonetheless instructive) about a young man who went to work as an engine wiper in an SP roundhouse in southern California.  The day he started, his first engine came in for service.   He went to work cleaning it off, and discovered that using kerosene as a wiping agent resulted in a beautiful shine.  So, he slathered the engine with the stuff.  The road crew took it out the next morning, and brought it back covered in soot, which had adhered to the kerosene residue.  The would-be wiper was fired on the spot.

Railroads liked their engines clean.

 

[Robby P.]

$25 bucks........thats good money spent.

[tatans]

Great job, well done, probably a hundred things you can incorporate this into a layout, super job on weathering (moderation IS the key), A steam locomotive only had 1 day of  a shiny black appearance, that was the day it came out of the locomotive builders factory to have it's picture taken. So all those shiny, polished, new locomotives ripping around your layout are prototypically 1 day old, oops.

[Lillen]

As a Big boy nut I must say that this is very beautiful.

 I'm gonna ahve to start weathering my Big boys, yours look truly great.

 

Magnus

 

[OzarkBelt]

Great weathering job! I have been eyeing up those static revvel kits for sometime, for the same purchase. Very cool!

[river_eagle]

On a whim, I picked up a Revell Big Boy kit on ebay for $19+postage, and figured as a worst case, I could just shove it into the roundhouse, or spread it's carcass and remains around the scrap yard.
As I looked through the bag of shiney black plastic parts, the scap yard seemed more likely.
Well, as I started assembly, I noticed while most all the details are molded on, and the few free standing railings were big, the kit may yet hold some promise.
The cab, for one, has exellent detail, So I stopped, backed up to the beginning, and treated this kit as if it were a fine scale loco kit.
So, I broke out all my tools and paints, and over the course of three evenings, an actual BB rose from the pile of parts originally destined for the scrap yard scene.
At this point, what I had was a shiny, clean loco that looked like it belonged in a park scene, but since I have no park, I broke out the weathering supplies, and below is the end product, which I now think will end up front and center on the layout under the coaling tower.
Three days from trash to treasure.