Weathering Black Locomotives

[Anonymous]

i have a black Atlas NW C30-7. i want to weather it, but i'm not sure what to do with such a dark color. does anyone have any suggestions?

thanks

[Anonymous]

To weather a dark color, you need to use light and dark browns, and medium and light greys. If you model in an area with much red clay then that color should be used as well. Much of your weathering will appear on the trucks and lowest parts of the engine frame. I doubt the fans would show any signs of weathering when the engine is black. One word of caution; it is not too hard to get carried away when weathering as some of my earliest attempts demonstrate. I would definately take it easy when weathering a black engine.

Good Luck. - Ed

[Anonymous]

One thing to keep in mind is that colors appear lighter as distance fromthe object being viewed increases. A "pure" black such as Floquil or Polly Scale enigine black is too intense. If your are going to repaint before weathering, you might try a mix of black and a dark grey, such as grimy black for a base coat. I use a 50-50 mix for to represent a recently painted loco. For one that been out of the paint shop for a while, I use a larger percentage of grimy black. The top of the locomotive is more directly exposed to the sun than the sides, so the paint fades quicker. I use an slightly lighter shade on the roof to simulate this. Biggest thing is to take your time and work slowly. It's easy to add a bit more weathering,but depending on your method it can be hard to remove a little bit.