Anyone ever fade a black car to a dark purple/blue? After looking at many NW black cars it appears that they fade to this dark purple-blue. I'd like to replicate this color. Anyone do this? Something like this one:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nw/nw053949f21.jpg
Your link is now clickable.
Photographing black is hard as is reproducing it. You've looked at more pics than I have, so given they fade to purple blue, I don't know how you would do that and preserve the white lettering.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Hmmm, well on my monitor it still looks black with a slight tinge of rust at one edge.
If you have actually seen such a car and know that it does fade to a dark purple/blue, then I would take the black car and DullCote it which fades the black slightly. Then I would take a wash of isopropyl alcohol and india ink over the car. Don't panic if some parts look strange. Then I would carefully mask the white lettering (or work around it if you are very sure handed) and get some artist pastels of a dark purple ( a very nice set of 36 pastels at Michaels craft store sells for $5 and each Sunday newspaper has a coupon for 40%, even 50%, off any one item) and using a Q tip or makeup wedge, brush over the black with the very dark purple. Remove the tape and DullCote once again. At most there should be a vague tint to the black, nothing more.
Dave Nelson
I'm not so sure those black boxcars are faded to purple/blue, different ambient light can play tricks on the eyes. I'd be tempted to go after it with Pan Pastel raw umber extra dark for a more dark greyish look. Keep as much of the pastels off the lettering as possible and remove the rest with a damp toothpick before any sealer coats.
Granted it is in coal service, but referred to a prototype photo to fade this black GN hopper with Raw Umber extra dark Pan Pastels.
Regards, Peter
Just leave your cars out in the sun for 15 years or so! That's how the big guys do it!
Seriously, if I were to attempt such a project I would start with a thin light gray or white wash to fade the black, and then do a very thin dark purple wash over it. Since you will be covering the white wash with a darker colour you would want to make it a little 'whiter' than if you were just fading the black.
I couldn't help but notice the distorted walls on the boxcars. If you could figure out how to model that you would be a real hero in the modelling community! Some manufacturer needs to produce unpainted versions of banged up rolling stock!
Sorry, not trying to hijack the thread. If anyone has ideas on how to model uneven walls like those shown in the OP's photos, please start another thread.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I've noticed that a lot of photos from that time frame have significant color shifting, let alone the ambiguity of the digital display color configurations.
I see the odd NW black boxcar every now and then, and at close range. They're definitely still BLACK black, but often with a rusty brown film.
hon30critterI couldn't help but notice the distorted walls on the boxcars. If you could figure out how to model that you would be a real hero in the modelling community!
You started to see that interesting effect on steel boxcars about the time they started to use Cor Ten steel.
There is a way to replicate it, but it isn't for every car and might not be to everyone's taste. The old Athearn metal kits (reissued by Menzies in the 1980s) with actual steel (or perhaps tin) sides. It isn't too difficult to introduce that slight distortion - it isn't really denting -- into the sides.
The similar vintage Varney cars with the beautiful lithographed sides are constructed in a similar way and for a time, Bowser reissued those in unpainted brass.
It MIGHT be possible - I have not tried this and it would take practice, meaning lots of failure (that's what train set cars are for) -- to use the methods Tony Koester and other use to introduce bulges into the sides of plastic gondolas. You put a soldering iron (Weller "pencil" for example) into a vise. Hold the car on wood blocks so the hot tip is into the car. If you watch carefully you can see the moment when the plastic starts to soften and you can push it out or in with a rounded end of a dowel, or paint brush, or handle end of a hobby knife. You do not want to gouge the car with the soldering iron itself. I have gotten the hang of it for gons. I also have photos of covered hoppers and tank cars with dents and damage that I might try the method on. I never thought of the far more subtle appearance of those box cars but I think it could work. You'd want something less "pointed" to push at the softened plastic.
I suppose perception of color is in the "eye of the beholder", human or camera. While looking at those faded black NW cars again this morning asked my wife her opinion as to color of the cars and she sees some blue/violet.
Was also looking at a couple MILW "Chinese Red" boxcar prototype photos, both faded, but one had a pronouned orangishness to it while the other more brownish.
If you were to go the Pan Pastels route they have a large color selection and can be mixed.
Pardon the off topic, but maybe the distortions on the car sides that Dave mentioned are the "oil canning" effect from welding. Yarmouth Model Works produces some Post War 40' boxcar kits with the "oil canning" effect.
I'm trying to picture what your doing with the wood blocks, Dave. I get the soldering iron in the vise, but ?
I've way overdone some gons by using the soldering iron against the plastic.
Dr. Wayne has a way of residing his box cars with metal tape, to get a more "steel" looking finished product after paint. I wanted to try and do with with a gon, leaving a bulge in the tape. Of course this means repainting and decalling everything.
Off topic, but we used old forms for below grade concrete walls, and they had the bulge between the supports, and the walls looked like that box car.
For fading, I use an airbrush, and keep applying very light coats of a wash, like Dave (critter) suggest.
Mike.
My You Tube
This is the process which Mike mentioned, although rather than applying it to an available model, it was my first attempt at scratchbuilding a steel boxcar.
Here's a panel of tape applied to the car, but not yet burnished in-place...
...and, after burnishing...
I probably should have used a more suitable tool than the butt-end on an X-Acto knife for burnishing, but the marks aren't visible on the painted car, which is meant to represent an almost new car (an early example of an advertising slogan on a car still appropriate for my late-'30s era layout)....
Wayne
For the car the OP posted, I would first use a very thin wash of a deep dark blue.
Then I would use a fade coat, of very thin white. (Or, my preferred method, a thin coat of light grey PanPastels) followed by a coat of flat clear.
The catch will be keeping the blue off of the lettering. The fade coat won't affect it, but that blue wash will show brightly.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
To simply fade the car, mix a lighter black - add some white or grey, or perhaps even the blue, then thin it 90-95% with an appropriate thinner.Apply it with an airbrush using quick passes from a normal distance. This not only changes the blackishness of the car, but also cuts the contrast of the white lettering, making the car look as if it's been in-service for a while, but not yet overly weathered.The same procedure can be used on cars of almost any colour: simply mix a colour similar to that of the car, lightening it if desired, then thin it severely and apply in the same manner.For new-ish cars, I usually add a little road dust to the trucks and lower body, but this is an easy first step to any weathering project, even if the car is going to end-up looking like it's at the end of its service life.
mbinsewiI'm trying to picture what your doing with the wood blocks, Dave. I get the soldering iron in the vise, but ? I've way overdone some gons by using the soldering iron against the plastic.
I hear you. The tip of the hot iron should not touch the plastic (or the gondola floor) but it can happen particularly if you are trying to hold the gondola yourself.
If done right both the interior and exterior of the gon are realistically dented but not gouged or otherwise in contact with the hot iron.
The reason for the wood blocks is simply to make it a hands free process - blocks hold the car up to the correct height so the tip of the iron held in the vise is near but not touching the plastic, then you plug in the soldering iron held in the vise, and you have both hands free, which is good because when the magic moment happens that the plastic starts to sag, you can act fast: you have the dowel or knife handle ready to go, grab the car, and start pushing out the dent.
It strikes me that part of the effect on boxcar sides is not just bulging slightly outwards, but also inwards. And for that maybe you'd let the heat of the soldering iron start to soften the plastic, it sags in, and then stop the process instantly with a spritz of cold water in a spray bottle and moving the car away from the heat source. Then you'd start again to capture the outward bulge.
Mind you: for boxcars all these "wonderful" insights of mine are things I have yet to try. Vapor ware par excellence. But they give me an idea ..... gotta get me some more trainset quality boxcars I guess.
HO-VeloWhile looking at those faded black NW cars again this morning asked my wife her opinion as to color of the cars and she sees some blue/violet.
I also asked my wife last night, she saw faded black. I would call it slightly lighter black. Unfortunetly I prefaced the photos with "Do these look black to you?". Some might say I psychologically predjudiced the answer...
Does the OP have any other photos for comparison?
I was thinking some sort of wash, but the trouble would be preserving the lettering.
Looking at that photo the OP linked to, I think the blue tinge is a reflection of the sky around it.
Eric