Little help, please: First weathering attempt

[OldEastRR]

In case you want to renumber one of the cars so they aren't the same, weathering is a good cover in case you don't get the re-numbering patch exactly same color as body.

[chicken45]

Get a wider brush for your wash and let the car dry vertically.

[MVW]

Thanks for the advice, guys.

I actually kept the car in the upright position the entire time I worked on it, and did try to keep the strokes vertical. I think much of the problem is with the wash itself. I had added nothing to it to break the surface tension when I did the first wash. Afterwards, I added a drop of detergent, whiched helped with the surface tension but I think contributed to leaving non-vertical traces. So I toned those down with a small brush dipped in 91% alcohol, then added alcohol directly to the wash for the second and third applications.

My wash is probably still a bit thick. I'll thin it with more alcohol (that's my solution to everything  ) and maybe add a drop or two of brown and/or black paint for the next go-round.

Josh, in regards to a wider brush for the wash: I applied the wash with a pipette, followed by more water from a pipette. Just letting it flow. Maybe not the best approach.


Jim

[chicken45]

...yeah I wouldn't use pipettes.
If you need more of a tooth, hit it with dullcoat first.

For me "wash" means " apply tiny water based oil paint on a pallet, have a small saucer or distilled water nearby. Dab brush in water, dip the tip (phrasing) in the paint and thin. Apply to model with brush.
I play it loose and free and do not use an exact ration or strength. If it appears thick, dab your brush in more water. Too thin? Use more paint.
What I wouldn't do is mix a large of quantity of paint and alcohol in a jar.

I'm pressing you about this because using those oil based water soluble Windsor & Newton paints are worth it.
Get 3 tubes: ivory black, burnt sienna, and burnt umber. Maybe some raw umber, too. $5 to $7 a tube. Lasts a lifetime.  I heard someone say that the oil pigments are finer than other acrylics and look better because of it.

I'm no expert, but I learned from the best.

[MVW]

Don't worry about "pressing," Josh. I appreciate your time and advice.

I will definitely try the paint you mentioned ... as soon as I get a chance to hit a hobby shop. The method you described is what I did the first time around. But I didn't take the time to do it well enough.

For now, I'm just playing with the materials on hand. Hopefully I can get better material to work with shortly.

Thank you!

Jim

[basementcalling]

Breaking the surface tension is a good step. Something I picked up from someplace here is that weathering is all about adding and then subtracting color. When I add a wash now, I dry my brush and then go back along the ridges in the surface, like the ladder and grabs, and let the dry brush suck up the excess wash. Keeps it from collecting where it wouldn't on a real car.

[Santa Fe N Scale]

Jim, thanks for posting your first attempts at weathering, you're on the right path. You're getting some good info here. 

Don't try applying any mediums to the bare plastic car surface. Give it some tooth first.

I like using cheap craft paints from JoAnn fabrics and the water soluble oil paints the chicken45 referenced.
Keep the washes light and build up to the desired effect in layers.  Always go light to darker in color tones. Use black with caution!
Mop up excess with a brush as basement calling said.
I like to use a brush about as wide as the individual car panel I'm attacking.
I rarely use an airbrush anymore for fades etc. just diluted washes with the cheap craft paints.

Practice on some cheaper cars. 

Keep slinging away and have fun!

Craig

[chicken45]

I found those Windsor and Newton water soluble oil paints at Michaels.

I second the careful use of black. I usually cut in a little burnt umber or sienna.

You can Dullcoat in between wash layers if you find yourself undoing a previous layer.

Keep up the good work! Try different things an see what works for you.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Jim I'm with most of the guys. Definitely spray from a rattle can a light spray of Dullcote first. I use a range of oil paints and odorless thinners. First, Vandyke brown in a light wash and let it dry using a brush about 5/8 ths inch wide. Then around the areas where the door is a light streaking (wash) of burnt umber and burnt sienna again let dry.
I paint all my wheels ( insitu with a fine small brush)and couplers using Tamiya acrylic Red Brown. Make sure the streaking is vertical. One way to hold the body of a car is using an old cardboard toilet roll. Squeeze one end so the car fits and then just let it stand and the wash will just flow to the bottom of the car. Wick away any excess with a corner of a torn paper towel.
One of the best ways is to follow a picture of a prototype and you will get great results.
Best of all have fun.
Rod.

[chicken45]

I just realized you two Santa Fe guys are different people.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Hi Josh. Yep I'm in Melbourne Australia.
Check out my blog address below.
Rod.

[Santa Fe N Scale]

Yeah, Rod is having summer while we enjoy with a mild winter in Seattle. 

[Santa Fe Guy]

Yeah, Rod is having summer while we enjoy with a mild winter in Seattle. 

Been really hot the past few weeks up to 40C+ on some days, no rain and we are just about done with it.
Love Seattle. My wife and I spent quite a bit of time with some of the N Scale guys from the Mt Rainer group along with Kirk Reddie. 2005 if I recall.
Regards
Rod.

[Santa Fe N Scale]

Been really hot the past few weeks up to 40C+ on some days, no rain and we are just about done with it.
Love Seattle. My wife and I spent quite a bit of time with some of the N Scale guys from the Mt Rainer group along with Kirk Reddie. 2005 if I recall.
Regards
Rod.

Small world then, I know Kirk and some of the others.

Craig

[robert3985]

It's a big leap to start weathering cars and engines.  Making our investments look old, used and weatherbeaten changes them from toys to models and it's good that you're "graduating" up to start learning how to effectively turn your cars into better looking "models".

Although weathering is something I haven't done extensively to my car fleet yet, I have done quite a bit to my motive power, and I model the UP in the late forties through the middle 50's when labor was a lot cheaper than it is today, so the railroad took pretty good care of both rolling stock and engines.  You'd seldom see a lot of rust on cars during this era, but you would see accumulations of grime, soot (steam engines generate a LOT of soot!) and fading.

The advice I read here (as usual) and in other weathering threads is mostly good, and I will join in and say that Tom Mann's book is essential, so get it.

I'll add that what helps me tremendously, is finding prototype photos to work from.  Instead of "guessing" what a weathered car is supposed to look like, find as many reference photos of cars and engines in your era as you can for a few days and copy the files for reference.  Since your car is a model, weathering it should be treated just the same as choosing the road, the paint, the lettering scheme, the numbers, the correct trucks...etc., etc.  Weathering from prototype photos will greatly enhance the prototypical appearance of your cars.  Weathering by guesswork is chancy at best...until you get some experience under your belt by weathering from photos of the real things.

When rain, dust, soot fall on a prototype car, different effects of these elements make themselves evident in different ways and in different places on the carbody.  The roof isn't going to be weathered the same as the sides of the car...and since water runs downward, the carbody is going to be affected differently from top to bottom also...usually collections of various weathering elements collect more noticeably towards the bottom...and road dust also accumulates more towards the bottom, and is almost always a different color and texture than soot from the top.

Cars of the era (1940's and 50's) that you're weathering often had galvanized steel roofs, and the paint would often come off, revealing the galvanizing as irregular silver splotches.  The steel running boards were also often galvanized, so their top surfaces would often be silver, or partially silver.  Streaking was caused by water washing the roofs and was almost always perpendicular to the edges of the roof, just as streaking was on the sides of the cars too.

My main criticism of your weathering is that it is too even, not varying enough from top to bottom, which is generally very visible in prototype photos.  The cars got a lot dirtier towards the bottom, and rust accumulations usually started at either impact points along the carbody sides, or where the doors scraped the paint away as they were opened and closed.  Also, your running boards need to be "washed" so they are darker in the crevices, not darker on the top surfaces.

Washes go into crevices, dry-brushing and powders hit the tops of details...airbrushing is especially good for applying an even "faded" look...which on the prototypes would also be about the only overall "even" effect.

I think it helps to realize that your weathering attempts are telling a story about each car...how long it's been since it's been washed and/or serviced, where it's been, what kind of weather it's been through, what color and texture the soil and dirt of the environment was it mostly went through and the era it ran in, experiencing artistic vandalism or hobo signatures or chalk marks made by vendors or yard personel...or mostly steam or diesel or both.

Anyway, keep up your efforts!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore