Weathering... Seeing a positive trend.

[larrys.basement]

The weather has cooled and train shows and events are in full motion.

This past weekend I attended a train show in metro Detroit and was personally pleased to see more weathering of engines and rolling stock in layouts and these events.

I even noticed a vendor selling exclusively weathered G-Scale rolling stock… Nice.

Don’t get me wrong. I just love seeing these layouts and admire the painstaking work in making everything look realistic and attention to detail. But sadly thought, the realism disappears as a clean unrealistic engine and cars run through. Maybe it’s budget issue in not wanting to degrade a highly priced engine or something else. It’s like an unfinished product.

I’ve toyed with the idea of taking part of my inventory of rolling stock and start weathering them.

I’m interested in what others have add to this subject.

Thanks,

Larry

Larrys Basement

[ginzokid]

I weather my structures with dust and dripping rust at pipes, sills etc. but not overly so. George Sellios of FSM weathers his stuff to the extreme so that everything looks old and unkempt. I'm sure we have all seen his work. Depending on the local of the structure it is either heavily or lightly weathered. I find a dry brush over coat of linen colored paint to be the key to a dusty look. Industrial areas get a heavier coat of light rust, traditional alcohol/India ink wash and dullcote on the windows. Not all structures are dirty. Some may have been just painted in residential areas for example. It all depends on the circumstances.

As for rolling stock and locos, again the amount of weathering depends on the use and loads. Coal hoppers get a lot of coal dust, gons get rust and dirt, boxcars get debris inside if doors are open and rusty roofs if metal along with rust streaks down the sides. Some get fading paint and lettering. Again it depends on usage. I personally do not like heavy weathering, but I have just about destroyed some cars for our club layout. My locos just get a little dusting of soot and some very light rust in places. Maybe some calcium deposits where water has dripped. Nothing heavy.

I have a friend who weathers everything so much you aren't sure of the original color and at times it is hard to read the car numbers even. Strangely he does not weather his locos at all.....yet. His structures are weathered to the point of looking like the slums. Too much for me. Then there is another friend who keeps everything pristine as though it just came from the paint shop and that is his reasoning for not doing any weathering.

Final thought. It's my railroad and I like it my way.

[dl85vette]

For those that don't see trains in real life, then they will think shny new is best. Otheres such as myself frequent trackside quite often so we see what real trains look like. And no ike you mentioned, you don't seee a string of 100 shiny clean freight cars.  Anything from re-stenciled, to rust, faded paint, grafitti (personal opinion for preference on that one). As Pete mentioned, think about what the car is used for. Vegetable oil tank cars are usually nice and clean. coal hoppers filthy,

grain hoppers see their share of rust. Gondolas are beat up.

I llike to have varying degrees on weathering on my locos and cars (for ones that I got to weather) and it is amazing how some weathering can make things much more realistic looking.  ANd like the #1 rule, it's your layout, you can do what you want, you;ll never be wrong.

[ginzokid]

My layout is in the basement like most. My workbench is under one portion of the high-line. My paint booth is nothing but an old sheet on the floor where I spray paint my structure kit parts with grey primer from a rattle can. I do not have an air brush, but paint with acrylic water based paints for finished colors. It is the primer that I want to talk about briefly.

Since it is sprayed in the air and not a paint booth, the overspray in the air seems to float up to the layout and settle down on the tops of buildings, rolling stock and locomotives. Its probably in my lungs too as I sometimes forget to put on a paint mask. The point is that everything on the layout seems to have a fine dusting of, well, dust. Natural weathering! All the shine is off even the non-weathered cars, etc. Oddly it doesn't seem to settle on the rails. Maybe that is because I run my trains almost every day and I have two Aztec cleaner cars that get run with regularity in the trains.

One trick I read somewhere and have used is to take a soldering gun on low heat and melt the sides of gondolas to look like dents from loads. Also by using a heat source, you can soften the plastic sides of gons and bend them outward a bit.

On flat cars I usually purchase those wood overlays that glue down on top of the plastic deck. These can then be gouged, scraped, stained and generally distressed. Nothing looks more like wood than wood no matter what you do to that original plastic deck.

Happy New Year !!!

The Codfadda

[taz-of-boyds]

Pete,

Weathering like the prototype, makes it sound like a plan, instead of the dust and stuff just collecting...  

Happy New Year too,

Charles

[taz-of-boyds]

Pete, (and everyone else,)

Since you mentioned your high tech paint booth (the old sheet on the floor), I might be building a paint booth in the next couple of months.

So here's a question for everyone else:  What's your paint booth like???

Thanks,

Charles

[dl85vette]

I can't right click to copy the images so just go to attached auction link to see what I use. (quicker this way than to take photos) as auction listing shows it folded up etc.  The hose and narrow nozzle  extend to my basment window which slides horizontally so I can slide the window against nozzle to keep it in place to blow fumes out the window.  This thing is the cat's ass. I was going to build a booth but time and effort and costs involved for fan, hosing, plexiglass which isn;t cheap I went this route and am thankful I did as it can be packed away quite compact. The difference in cost vice building one wasn't an issue with me so I went this route. Plus the design allows me to see my work  as I can't have dark areas in booth for some of the paint finishes I do.

Keep in Mind what I paint with.  I do a LOT of 1/25 scale plastic car model kits and I use everything ranging from automotive spray primer (such asPlastikote in spray cans) to Tamiya spray can paints which stink, airbrushing Alclad paints, nail polish as well as automotive laquers and clearcoats. This booth sucks the fumes and overspray out really good, but I l still wear a professional grade respriator from 3M.  I airbrush my share of Tamiya acrylics  on smaller parts so not creating the cloud of overspray.  With it being acrylic and and no massive cloud of spray, no  respirator needed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Airbrush-Spray-Booth-Kit-Paint-Craft-Odor-Extractor-Hobby-Crafts-Figurines-N...

Pete. There is acrylic primer available for airbrushing.

There are other ways to build cheap but effective booths. Anything from a cardboard box, to same box with an extraction fan, to getting a Plastic tote storage container box and cutting hole/installing extraction fan. Seen one design in car model mag of using a swardrobe closet to house moisture trap, hoses,fan, compressor, and using a shelf in it for booth.

Another great aid is a rotating jig. I have one I made using a ("lazy susan") carasel bearing assembly with the work surface being MDF with a gridwork of holes drilled 1" apart and then use sections of coat hangars (or metal rod) bent to suit the item I want to hold in place like a car body.

Mines quite big (built nearly 20 years ago) so it doesn't have clearance to rotate in booth, so I cheated and bought one of these which I like a lot.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tamiya-Tools-Spray-Work-Painting-Stand-Set-/272084160310?hash=item3f597acf36...

Much smaller and fits in booth.   I got tired of taping car bodies on top of can of spray paint. hehehe. not so good when off balanced and tips over.

[dl85vette]

Hobbies aren't cheap to begin with, having all the tools of the trade adds up too.   half the reason my models sucked as a teenager.

Tools back then consisting of;

testors tube glue, typically applied to parts right from tube.

tweezers with crappy points like you'd buy at pharmacy for pulling eyebrows,etc

wallpaper knife (retractable-blade)

paint brushes you got with testors paint.

testors bottle paints

and one portable work surface consisting of laying instructions on floor.

[ginzokid]

Well Dave, since I do not have an airbrush, I have no need for a fancy spray booth. Next problem is the lack of access to a handy window that the exhaust could go out. There is too much layout in front of them both. So, if it is not windy, I go out the basement door to spray the primer coat in the fresh air. You are so right about Tamiya paints stinking. Phew! If I do use the floor booth or sometimes the old cardboard box or big trash can booth, I usually open the window in the basement door and then leave the room for about 24 hours. Of course in the winter this is usually not done.

As for tools, Micro-Mark loves me. Yet one of my most used tools is still a toothpick. Good for applying that perfect small drop of CA or paint. Since most of my work is done in wood, I do a lot of staining rather than painting and use A-West Weather It or an alcohol/india ink wash. Then my next favorite tool is put to use; Q-tips. These are great for applying and blending weathering powders. I also use make-up sponges for the powders.

Dave needs a spray booth. I do not.

[dl85vette]

No what I meant Pete, was with airbrushing, it doesn't create the mess of overspray like an aerosol can. So hypothetically you could get an inexpensive airbrush to apply acrylic primer into a shoe box. no mess,  thinner application of primer (for things that contain finer detail) Plus not breathing in stinky/perhaps unhealthy fumes from aerosol primer.   🙂   that's all I was implying.

On a side note, I will decant tamiya aerosol paint into a container and then airbrush it.  I think the issue with aerosols, is the propellant just makes smellt worse because the the spray pattern is radiating out further than what  an airbrush produces. However there are solvents in the paint that create odor/fumes until they are gassed out during paint curing stage. Not sure what they use now for propellants so if it is something like nitrogen,etc, then the propellant itself isnt stinky.

 Less oversray to breath in means not blowing your nose later to have colored tissue (from the paint dust)

Fortunatley with the kits Pete builds, it is all from an era where houses, posts, fences,etc would be brushed on. or his stuff is done with stain.

Beings my stagnant railroad is modern era, prefab warehouses,etc would be spray painted.  Plus any undecorated locos or freightcars I obviously airbrush them.

Just don't do like a friends father did, paint his (real) car with housepaint......with a brush.  Use a roller instead. hehhehe.

[taz-of-boyds]

Dave,

That's a neat little spray booth, and table.  I will let you-all know what I end up with.  My N Scale stuff is smallish, but my G-29 Scale stuff is bigger, like a passenger car I have planned is about 28" long,

Maybe the guy used house paint on his car because cars cost almost as much as what we paid for our first house a long, long time ago.

All the best,

Charles

[ginzokid]

Best spray paint for cars is Testors.  I find that Tamyia just dries too fast and tends to drip. Just don't do it on a windy day which may cause "orange peal". Be sure to tape off the windows, headlights, trim and all signal lights. I would advise putting black plastic garbage bags over the wheels and tires too. Doing it in the shade of the old oak tree is advised also. Do not paint under any fruit trees or maple trees. They tend to drop stuff. I have found that brushes leave streaks and rollers leave some lint behind no matter how fine a nap on the roller. Oh, and most important, be sure to have a large cooler of your favorite beverage, preferably alcoholic, on hand.

[dl85vette]

Do you get drunk before painting your car or afterwards when you see the smashing job you did with a rattle can paintjob?

If you use acrylic, take it to the carwash right after painting it to remove any dust that may have settled on the newly painted surfaces. It's a pain sanding out dust particles after paint has hardened.

[barrysfp45]

You guys are strange, I'd hate to have you come and play in my booth, it takes real cars and no parking under fruit trees. Probably a little more expensive than any of you would pay out LOL

[ginzokid]

Responding to Dave, The alcoholic beverages are for the friends helping out. I never paint and drink at the same time or before. Only after the job is done do I really need to imbibe. I tired the car wash once and had no luck getting the roller fuzz and dust off. The better solution for cleaning the acrylic paint is a pressure washer. Really cleans the cars well.

Responding to Barry, Who's strange? Don't you use rattle cans at all? I know you can expertly handle a spray gun, those N scale cars you painted are still waiting for the decals to be put on by this procrastinator, but what about bigger jobs? Confess. You have done some experimenting with different methods of painting. Admit it. Go on.....rollers? Sponge pads?

Who started this thread?