Weatherd Covered Hopper - GWIX 4088

[ednadolski]

Hi All,

Here is a weathered HO scale covered hopper that was inspired by an article in OST on Weathering an O-Scale Hopper by Rich Divizio.  The MTW site also has an online version of the article (http://modeltrainsweathered.com/index.htm).  I wanted to do something a little different, so I added some rust streaks/spots/gashes plus graffiti and patched reporting marks.  This is a stock Atlas car with no superdetailing parts added, but I upgraded the couplers to Kadee #58 semi-scale couplers.

I couldn't find a proto pic that was exactly what i wanted, so this is an amalgam of several proto pics.  I mostly used water-mixable oil paints with some gouache, and Micro Sol as a solvent/thinner.  I also used some powders on the trucks/wheels/couplers.  The graffiti is hand-drawn, using fine-tip gel/paint pens, and Reefer White Polly scale paint applied with a very fine brush.   The photos were taken outdoors on a small test diorama that I built, on a partly cloudy day, not in direct sunlight.

Please let me know your comments and criticisms!

Thanks,
Ed

[RockGp40]

Nicely done, believable scene. Where's the Y track?   

Brian

[tom mann]

Say, that looks really nice.  I like the streaks a lot. 

I would like to see a close up of your graf.  I could never get gel pens working right - what brand are you using?

Excellent tree - we need photos of that too. ;D

[GaryHinshaw]

Say, that looks really nice.  I like the streaks a lot. 

I would like to see a close up of your graf.  I could never get gel pens working right - what brand are you using?

Excellent tree - we need photos of that too. ;D

Ditto!  Very inspiring.  Do you think your graf technique would work in N?

[ednadolski]

Thanks guys, glad you liked it.

Tom, I'll work on getting some better pix of the tree & graf, unfortunately it's snowing outside today....   The tree is a sagebrush armature from www.petitepinesnorthern.com, plus some of their foliage mats.  You have to tease the the foliage out really thin, and I add a little extra light-colored, fine ground foam for highlights.   You can probably ask them for armatures in the 2"-3" range for N scale, or cut apart some of the larger ones.

I used a couple of different pens: The Pigma Micron 005 (IIRC you had used these, is that right Tom?), plus Y&C Gel Xtreme GX101W White, and Permapaque 1.0mm fine point.   While there is a limit on how fine a pen line can be made, I don't see why they wouldn't work for N scale, at least for some kinds of graf.  (For really fine lines in N you probably want to make your own decals anyway.)

Brian - what's a Y track?   Do you mean like as in a wye?   Or is that more like a henway?   

Ed

[superfleet93]

Excellent job on the car! What did you use for your scenery? I would like to know what type of ballast and grass you used. If thats static grass, what brand and color is it?

Perry

[up1950s]

If it weren't for the thick brake wheel I would have thought the car and scenery were real .

[railbuilderdave]

Looks really nice and I also like the scenery.

Dave

[ednadolski]

What did you use for your scenery? I would like to know what type of ballast and grass you used. If thats static grass, what brand and color is it?

Perry

Hi Perry, the ballast is a mix of AZRM, Northern Pacific and CSX/Wabash.   That is static grass flock, it is a blend of Silflor 2mm and 4mm, in the Spring and Summer colors, plus some Woodland Scenics in the Light Green and Burnt Grass colors.  I applied it with a home-made version of the Noch static grass applicator, aka the "grassinator".   However with mine I used the AC version of the negative ion generator -- you have to be careful with that, to make sure that you properly ground it, otherwise you can create an electrical hazard.

Ed