P icked up this Model Power N Scale tank car at a train show the the day:
Cheap, chintzy and toy-like don't even began to describe this thing. But for two bucks I figured I could turn it into a somewhat respectable-looking model. So I weathered the ever-loving crap out of it. and here's the end result:
First I hit the thing with two coats of light weather wash (India ink added to a bottle of rubbing alcohol). Then I mixed up a batch of darker weather wash to do the domes and create streaks running down the side to simulate spills. The I sealed it with Testors DullCote. My next step with to brush the entire car with a mix of yellow and white chalk dust to kill the plasticy shine and fade the lettering and spills a bit. One more shot of Dullcote and I called it done.
I think it looks better than it did but it's still a very low-end car and still looks a bit chintzy. Also I do see a few areas where I blew it with the weathering.
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
Cost means nothing. If it was free would it still be chintzy? How does it look from 5ft away? Other than yourself, who is really going to notice it's not a high end craftsman car? Did you have fun working on it- if so, then what does cost or quality matter in this case? It looks good to me, so I give you a digital thumbs up and a pat on the back.
Back in the cave-man days when I was a young modeler we made do with what we could afford. We would take toys and modify them to be more realistic and paint/weather them and we had a lot of fun. We even, gasp!, had to scratchbuild detail parts and sometimes even entire rolling stock and buildings. I still live in those neanderthal days, I refuse to evolve into a modern rtr over the shelf modeler. The bizzare, unbelievable and odd thing is, I still have fun.
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
I agree, maybe you overdid a little bit the weathering, but I think the idea behind this experiment is meaningful.
tangerine-jack Cost means nothing. If it was free would it still be chintzy? How does it look from 5ft away? Other than yourself, who is really going to notice it's not a high end craftsman car? Did you have fun working on it- if so, then what does cost or quality matter in this case? It looks good to me, so I give you a digital thumbs up and a pat on the back. Back in the cave-man days when I was a young modeler we made do with what we could afford. We would take toys and modify them to be more realistic and paint/weather them and we had a lot of fun. We even, gasp!, had to scratchbuild detail parts and sometimes even entire rolling stock and buildings. I still live in those neanderthal days, I refuse to evolve into a modern rtr over the shelf modeler. The bizzare, unbelievable and odd thing is, I still have fun.
In the last two decades, I tried to get rid of my old toy trains. Still I kept them, but bought better model over the time. Then, people started to give us a lot of cheap Bachmann trainset cars. I needed cars, the prototypes weren't available in HO or too costly (CNR, I hate you!!!!). I repainted them with brown Krylon primer, used old decal leftovers and weathered them. Some enjoyed a little bit of superdetailling. You can't compare the fun I had and the joy I have to run them on the layout. Honestly, I don't feel that proud about my 30-40$ highly detailled cars... Probably because I don't feel I build them in my "shop".
Never underestimate what a motivated man can do with Bachmann, Life-Like, Model Power, etc... Recently, I reconverted a batch of hoppers and gondola, about 20 of them and I expect more to build up my large 50's fleet. At most, I spent 12$ on all of them... which means 60 cents per car which is quite an interesting price. The advantage? I don't feel guilty to make weathering experiment on them. About 20% of my actual roster is made of these low-budget cars and no need to feel ashame in front of visitors.
Matt
Proudly modelling the Quebec Railway Light & Power Co since 1997.
http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com
http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com
GP 9 Man I think You did a great job weathering tank car..I am with You most of my rolling stock came on the cheap...I just can't do 30-40 $ cars...This is a tank car I picked up in a junk box deal...I mask data and painted with $ Store grey primmer and weathered with craft paint...Couplers are Atlas that I pick up from modelers that pull them to put M?T's on...
Jerry
Decided to take a few pictures. Most cars received a good weathering just like the real prototype pictures I had. They are grimy, but not overdone rust bins. I guess Doctorwayne will cry at their unprototypicalness (just kidding! ;-))
Here are my repainted cheap cars. The drop bottom gondola follow closely a CNR prototype built in the 30's, believe it or not, it is based on the fairly unprototypical Bachmann gondola (each cars have over 500 hand made styrene pieces added, brake details are from Accurail). Cost? Does Krylon Primer count?
The gondola is from Model Power, to be specific the horrendous "Recycled" logo version. One must say the heavy metal underframe make them reliable runners. Brake wheels were added to replace the cast on ones and brake details are also from Accurail. They don't follow any prototype. Cost? About 4$/car, the LHS was trying to get rid of them. Details came from the junk box.
This is your classic Bachmann hopper relettered in the late 50's CNR scheme. They are inspired from the 3-bay hoppers... completely unprototypical, but good enough for our operation sessions. Cost? Nothing. I even went as far as to save the car data! and make them look like repaint!
Good luck with your cheap modeling! I also canadianized a Bachmann GP40 into a CN one from 1966. The model was a broken toy with ladders missing and almost no surviving handrail (as if I care!). I change the classification lights, headlight and added a few details. Repainted and relettered. I just need to replace the handrail... and it will be ready to work as a dummy in MU consist. Cost? So little it's not worth a 1$. You can see it lost among the other cheap cars.
You'll hear no complaints from me, Matt. I think you did a great job with those cars, and I especially like the drop-bottom gondola. Also, your painting skills go a long way in making those cars look believeable.
Wayne
Credits to everyone! That is my kind of modeling. I have a lot of RTR cars which I really like but the stuff that pleases me most are the ones that I have done some real work on. The RTR will fill in the back of my yard. The reworked stuff will be front and center!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Nice work .
One lesson here is that train set quality rolling stock often has more than decent detail cast on -- but we don't always look beyond the garish lettering and/or overly thick paint jobs and cheap trucks.
There have been some wonderful models built from the Tyco train set gondola and the similar old Mantua plastic gondola. Also the Tyco train set flat car with separate deck.
Dave Nelson
I like what I see here!!
A couple of photos of a few hopper cars that I found at a goodwill store awhile back...somewhat patched and weathered a bit...
In the foreground is a truck weighscale I bashed together for the Sims Mill...
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Nice job. Regarding chalk weathering, Dullcote marries into chalk dust and turns it nearly invisible. Rolling stock gets handled enough to rub of just plain chalk, you need the sealer to keep it on the car. One other thing you could do, paint the trucks rust red. It looks better than glossy black plastic and it's prototypical too.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
You did a great job. Weathering is one of my favorite things to do on the layout. We still have some Tyco, Varney, Marx, Globe, Gilbert, Lionel and Model Power rolling stock around our HO layout. Give em a good dusting of weathering powders, and they look much more prototypical. Here's an old blue box Athearn boxcar that was lettered for the Grand Trunk with that big GT on the side. I painted, decaled and weathered it in a day.
Just have fun, that's what it's all about!
-Stan
I think recycled "toys" are more common than modelers care to admit. Somehow over the years it's become a stigma to have a "cheap" piece of rolling stock on a layout. The way I see it, the "cheap toy" trains are literaly a dime a dozen and there are untold millions of them out there. It sounds to me like they are just the source of building materials needed to populate a miniature railroad and use for kitbash stock.
tangerine-jack I think recycled "toys" are more common than modelers care to admit. Somehow over the years it's become a stigma to have a "cheap" piece of rolling stock on a layout. The way I see it, the "cheap toy" trains are literaly a dime a dozen and there are untold millions of them out there. It sounds to me like they are just the source of building materials needed to populate a miniature railroad and use for kitbash stock.
No stigma here for cheap cars: in fact, the first place I look when visiting my local hobby shops is the "used" section. My favourites are the old Train Miniature cars, as they're most suitable for my late-'30s era, but Athearn, Tyco, LifeLike, and many others can be had cheaply and provide many hours of modelling enjoyment.
Here's a re-worked Athearn boxcar, with new ends and details, and its roof lowered 6":
An Athearn tank car, new and unbuilt in the box, for two bucks:
A Central Valley stock car, one of two such kits picked up for a couple of bucks:
Walthers undecorated 50' boxcar - at $4.00 each, I bought all nine which were available:
A Varney tank car, bought new in the '50s and upgraded not too long ago:
A Roundhouse 36' wood reefer, converted to a MoW boxcar, just a buck, new and unbuilt:
I could fill a couple of pages here with re-worked cheap cars. For me, the satisfaction in making them suitable for use with more up-to-date models is an important part of the hobby.
dknelson Nice work . One lesson here is that train set quality rolling stock often has more than decent detail cast on -- but we don't always look beyond the garish lettering and/or overly thick paint jobs and cheap trucks. There have been some wonderful models built from the Tyco train set gondola and the similar old Mantua plastic gondola. Also the Tyco train set flat car with separate deck. Dave Nelson
You're quite right about these low-end cars having a lot of cast-in details. In fact, I finds that just one good coat of weather wash really brings them out nicely. What I like about these cars is that they're great for beginners. If you mess it up, so what? It only cost $2.