Getting Down and Dirty

[Eric & Gripper]

Accrurately captured Sir!

 

I also like the weathering on the VDAs nicely done

 

Best regards

 

Eric & Gripper.

[Gwiwer]

The first parcel of the new year arrived yesterday and contained the first two of four Polybulk grain / powder wagons.  Two each are coming from Hattons and Kernow MRC.

These are factory-weathered in all-over light grey which itself looks reasonable.  Craig (Winterbourne) is running his straight from the box on Sandy Hill where they look perfectly good.

These wagons could often be seen with varying degrees of rust so I've had a go at mine to vary the look a bit.



One has been given a fair degree of rusting plus black and brown grime on the under frame and all body panels.



The other is less severely treated but still looks well used



A close look at the rusted one



And the top side of the slightly cleaner (!!) one



While weathering these I also made a start on the "silver bullet" clay slurry tankers which have remained "out of the box" until now but are starting to gain underframe weathering.  I'll leave the shiny tanks as they are since these wagons were famous for this mirror-bright appearance for a number of years.  On the left is a weathered one compared with an untreated one on the right.

[Gloucester Road]

Some brilliant and informative work here.

[Gwiwer]

During an "open-house" running day on Saturday a fair number of visitors commented on the weathering on show.  Not just of the rolling stock but of the structures and ballast as well.  

 

Roof work on a rake of BG and POS vans was especially mentioned so here is a sample of what caught people's eyes

 

 

And also showing some of the ballast

 

 

Those dreaded Bachmann roof ribs can be a blessing of sorts - they offer a little purchase for weathering powders to grab and help allow quite subtle effects to be created.

 

 

Also on parade was a heavily-weathered 37521 "English China Clays" which looks as though it's been through the loader more than once since its last decent wash!

 

 

 

The technique used to achieve the ballast weathering which proved so popular is to brush a blend of brown powders over the main part of the formation - a coating which can be varied in colour and density according to location - followed by careful application of black either down the centre as oil / ash spill or along the rails themselves.  Again the density can be varied to create far greater staining where locos might stand and wait compared with higher speed sections of running line.  

 

The applied powders are then brushed quite vigorously with a 1" paint brush to blend them together and blur and sharp edges.  Then the job is given a light spray from the wet water bottle which has the effect of binding the powder and turning it momentarily into liquid pigment.  It wicks down over the granular ballast though not to the extent that a coat of wet paint would.  The momentary wetting helps settle the powder and eliminates any pick-up by trains as well as further blending in the various colours to achieve the effect shown.

 

Once the application is complete the rail heads are thoroughly cleaned before running anything.  I use IPA sprayed onto a soft rag for this with the IPA not affecting the weathering work one bit if the two should meet.

 

Different colours of weathering powder can be used to suit needs.  On my goods branch I have green slime applied to the sleepers by the same method and in the china clay areas white has been used.

[bgman]

I've just picked up your posts ( so many to look at on this site!) and I am very impressed with all the models which have received that "lived in" look. It can be an emotive subject but I am looking forward to unboxing my stock and giving it the once ( or maybe twice) over when the time comes. Very well done.

Grahame

[Gwiwer]

Thank you Grahame

 

A timely reminder then to myself to also revisit this fairly quiet topic and show the latest arrivals.  A pair of SR bogie vans and a new-issue Heljan class 33 have received attention on the weathering bench in the past couple of days.

 

 

 

 

The front end of new (right) and old (left) style 33s both carrying my weathering and with the vinyl headcode stickers replaced with numerals of my choice.

 

[bobster]

First class weathering Rick, an Inspiration to all.

 

Cheers, Bob.

[bluedepot]

very interesting thread and great work!

 

I can't decide if powders or airbrushing is the way to go - or maybe using both.

 

have you ever washed off the powders and started again in cases where you have made mistakes or disliked the result?

 

 

tim

[Gwiwer]

Thank you Tim

 

Have I ever washed it all off and started again?  In a word - yes.  Not very often though.  Powders are more flexible than paints in that respect - you can brush them about, wipe them with a cloth or dab them with a cotton wool bud and they will look different.  And different again every time you do something to them.  

 

A typical weathering job with the powders will take me just 10 minutes to achieve the results shown in this thread.  I don't pretend I do everything (or indeed anything) "by the book" as I am self-taught having only read a couple of articles and looked at the work of others for learning.  I do have a turntable - two in fact of different sizes - which is a great help on the workbench though typically the job is done with nothing more than a couple of soft brushes and an old T-shirt.  The shirt goes between my hand and the work piece.  Streaking and blurring is done with nothing more specialist than a wipe of the fabric or a deft stroke with a 1" house-painting brush!  

 

Powders and paints require slightly different skills to apply.  Paints take longer and are less easily removed if things go wrong.  There is next to no clean-up with powders as the brushes stay dry and get used time and again.  Any spill stays on the dirty area of the workbench.  An airbrush must be thoroughly cleaned after every use which doesn't have to take a long time but must never be overlooked; you can't just drop an airbrush and walk away as you can with powder brushes.

 

Each medium achieves different effects.  Powders give very effective overall weathering.  Paint can do the same but also can be used for very precise detail such as oil streaks, rust spots and such like.  I find a blob of black acrylic applied to buffers with a cotton wool bud gives a perfectly good representation of accumulated grease but I can achieve the same effect with a small squirt of cheap hairspray (my normal fixative) and a dab of dark weathering powders.  The powders always dry flat and dull.  Paint can take on a sheen over time even if a top coat of dull varnish is applied.  Light coloured powders don't always stay as applied and can fade almost to nothing if unsealed but then sealing can turn them momentarily to liquid risking harm to the work just completed.

 

There are pros and cons to both methods.  But until you try you will never learn how the mediums work for you and how to work with them.

 

Edited April 1, 2014 by Gwiwer

[bluedepot]

hi cheers for the reply.

 

are you worried that powders might get into the mechanism?

 

I will practice with both. powders seem more subtle and accurate than airbrushing to me - although that says more about my airbrushing skills.

 

best wishes

 

 

Tim

[Gwiwer]

All sorts of stuff gets into the mechanisms in the normal course of events.  Household dust, pet hair, the occasional piece of vegetation and no doubt weathering powder as well.  The same will be true for many of us as these are mostly naturally occurring issues.  I probably get more dust on things because my layout is open-air (though under cover) outdoors.

 

If rolling stock is reasonable well cared for and serviced these nuisances can be minimised.  I generally don't leave anything outside on the layout for extended periods; I do clean and inspect the power bogies and pickups regularly and remove anything suspect.  Locos soon show if there's anything amiss - a momentary hiccup in running might indicate a speck of dirt on a wheel or pick-up wiper for instance.  It takes a few seconds to inspect them and deal with any problem found.

[Gwiwer]

An unlucky bout of laryngitis has forced a day off work today but with the benefit of being able to weather up some more stock in decent light and dry conditions.

47612 wears an early version of BR Inter City sector grey livery - one that was never adopted fleet-wide - and is among the former Western Region locos which carried "classic" names almost from day one. Titan is applied by decals on this loco with no etches in the box unlike one or two other similar purchases. The original nameplates were kept through several repaints from green into blue and finally grey meaning they have the serif-style font used back in the 1960s for this 1980s livery.

First the leading end



Some detail of the body side 



The large yellow area on the cab roof was not practical and soon got rather dirty in traffic. Streaked dirt is shown here along with small aggregations around the radio antenna and warning horn compartment mouldings.



The inner end coupled to a BG (full brake) leading a rake of matching-livery Inter City Mk1 stock. The full rake comprises 11 vehicles and weathering of these is progressing.



Back along the train the FK (corridor first) coach has been weathered. This has been previously used as a test-bed for fitting of seated passengers. While they look OK and add to the overall realism the job is fiddly, time-consuming and not without some risk. At this stage I don't propose to take it any further but maybe one day. Bachmann's own paint application of the white band has also flaked slightly in a rather realistic way.



And that's as far as the rake has been "done" up to now - here's the comparison between the weathered FK and the untouched RUO restaurant car.

[Andrew P]

Hi Rick, I've just had a look at your Grain Wagons, I have a MINT Pollygrain to tone down this weekend in a weathering demo at the Club.

 

Yours are spot on and I like the two variations you've done.

 

Very nice.

Andy

[Gwiwer]

Thank you kindly Sir.

 

There are now four Polybulks here all with different styles and degrees of weathering.

 

 

Including "spatter"

 

[bobster]

Great work Rick, as always they look superb.

 

Cheers, Bob.

[Gwiwer]

These wagons have appeared in the "How Realistic" thread but for anyone not following that here's some recent work on a trio of what started out as bauxite mineral wagons.  They've definitely seen better days!

 

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2014 by Gwiwer

[Intercity 125]

Hi Rick, nice weathering, top job. I wish I had the courage to weather some of my stock. Comment about the Bachmann mk1s: they would look so realistic if they had close coupling. They would look great! I used cranked couplings on my Bachmann MK1s, and I think you could probably do the same with the MK2s?

[Gwiwer]

Hi Rick, nice weathering, top job. I wish I had the courage to weather some of my stock. Comment about the Bachmann mk1s: they would look so realistic if they had close coupling. They would look great! I used cranked couplings on my Bachmann MK1s, and I think you could probably do the same with the MK2s?

 

Hi and thanks!

 

The issue of which couplers to use raises its head all the time.  I have some Smiths Instanters and three-links which were intended for the goods wagon fleet but which are mostly still in their packets having (at the time of purchase) proven a challenge too far to fit in terms of wagon modifications.  I need to look at that again as the standard hook / loop couplers don't do the weathered stock any favours.  For coaching stock I may need to invest in a job lot of Kadees at some time in the near future though the Hornby close coupler as supplied with their push-pull set have proven surprisingly effective.

 

For your own weathering - and for anyone contemplating starting out on this road - there is only one way to begin and that is to take a first step.  In my case it was a 0.1mm mapping pen used to ink in the door frames and wagon plank gaps to give greater depth.  I still routinely do this.  That progressed to then using the same pen and a cotton-wool bud to apply black marks in a few places where dirt would gather and then rubbing and smudging the wet ink with the bud. From there I gained confidence and invested in both paints and powders though I still consider myself very much a learner and certainly no expert.

 

My advice is to go boldly (to borrow a phrase) where you have never gone before.  Pick up a wagon and give it a go.

[bobster]

Nice work as always on those wagons Rick.

 

Cheers, Bob.

[Intercity 125]

Hope you don't mind the hijack, sorry, but here are my close coupled Hachette MK1s which are the same as Bachmann ones.

Hachette MK1 SK coach by firstbusphotos, on Flickr

That is with cranked couplings from Bachmann (not the ones supplied with Bachmann coaches. The pipe coupling also allows close coupling but are for fixed rakes.

Edited April 27, 2014 by Intercity 125

[Gwiwer]

Today a package arrived from Camborne containing a further six of Bachmann's 4-wheel clay wagons with the earlier flat tarps. These are perhaps better known with the bright blue "hoods" but those were used only for a few years from 1974. These are the limited edition ones representing the 1960s - 1974.

These are supplied "weathered" with Bachmann's light and fairly even coating of pale grey which does not extend to the tarps themselves.

My existing rake of 15 has had the tarps weathered and a little extra dirt added to the wagon bodies, under frames and wheels. I have determined that this batch shall start the process of improving on that.

The existing rake with the new arrivals coupled behind:



First the tarpaulin was removed and the gaps between the wagon planks inked in. Here the lower right-hand section has been done while the rest is in out-of-the-box condition



I have not until now really played with painting of rolling stock but the even colouring of the "bauxite" planks doesn't represent the way wagons often appeared in traffic. Planks were repaired and replaced as necessary, spot repainting was sometimes done and of course their everyday use caused them to weather. 

So I have acrylics in brown earth, raw umber and black randomly mixed without dilution and a 5/O brush to apply them. Random planks have been painted and the metalwork also darkened.



After applying paint and allowing it to dry a coat of white weathering powder was brushed over using hair spray as adhesive and sealant. I found that applying the hair spray first did not disturb the paint so long as the powder was brushed lightly with my usual very soft brush. The cotton wool bud is used at all stages to remove unwanted markings and to rub in wet ink / paint to the corners of the moulding.



A little application of mixed brown, rust and white powders to the under frame and wheels. Not looking too bad ..... 



The still-pristine tarp is refitted:



This is then also brushed over with a mix of dirty weathering powders. The wagon is then inverted onto the weathering bench where the tarp picks up streaks and spots of powder. The now-weathered wagon is inserted back into the rake.



The difference between today's weathering and that on the existing rake can be clearly seen; the tarps on the latter have faded slightly over time and the wagons are not as extensively weathered. The untouched ones on the right will be dealt with in due course as will the wagon bodies of all the rest. One down - twenty to go! Then there's another twenty in the hooded rake ........ 



Finally a close-up view of the wagon in traffic.

[bobster]

Very nice Rick - Top work as usual.

 

Cheers, Bob.

[Gwiwer]

Several SR units have arrived here recently.  Not for operation on the current layout but more out of personal interest and for possible future use somewhere.

 

Firstly 2-Bil 2090 stepped up to the weathering bench to receive:

 

 

 

 

I'm not entirely happy about some aspects of that job and there's still some surplus powder (and dust) showing in the photos but it's a start.

 

Then 2-Hal 2630 was treated to a light weathering.  The green used by Hornby for this and their green 2-Bil units is nowhere near the right shade to my mind - it's far too blue and pale - so I had some difficulty in applying weathering which didn't exacerbate that.  In the end the body sides were done using a dark green (!!) powder with grimy colours confined to other areas.

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Twin Peaks.  Not the TV series of that name but a reference to the two "Peak" locos which have recently visited the weathering bench here.

 

45053 is a fairly recent Bachmann loco and represents the largest of the three classes generically knowns as "Peaks".  Class 45 was split into 45/0 and 45/1 according to whether or not they had electric train heating fitted and within both sub-classes there was a lot of variety; body panels and headcode variations were among the more obvious differences.  The 45/0 ended up on freights and summer relief trains once electric heating became standard.

 

46045 is a much older Mainline-badged loco issued as one of Bachmann's first UK releases.  It represents the final development of the type which began with class 44 (originally numbered D1 - D10 and carrying names of England's ten highest peaks, hence the nickname) and finally numbered 193 broadly similar locomotives across classes 44, 45 and 46.  Class 44 was regarded as non-standard and were withdrawn well ahead of all the rest.

 

Despite being younger class 46 didn't last as long in traffic as some class 45 locos and in their later days could sometimes be seen in quite woebegone condition.  Those allocated to the Western Region also suffered from paint erosion in the mechanical wash plants just as their hydraulic contemporaries did and, like some of them, could be seen in faded, patched and almost stripped paint at times.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 1, 2015 by Gwiwer

[surfsup]

At opposite ends of some sort of timescale a couple of recent visitors to the weathering bench have been the Hornby class 153 DMU cars and the A1X Terrier loco.

 

Streaked dirt applied to the side panels of a 153 in addition to dirt worked into the panel joints and clinging around the rivets

 

 

A subtler approach on another of the class in a "vinyl" promotional livery; lighter weathering has been applied so as to not detract from the excellent job Hornby did of replication the photographic artwork of the original.

 

Very nice work there with the 153s - A trick certainly missed out with most of the RTR 'Weathered' models is of course the dirt deeply ingrained in the joints and around the windows, particularly on units like the 153 with it's unique riveted panels.

 

One thing I did with my Sprinters was allow a very fine mist to go over the windows, then very gently scratched some of it off again I think with the back end of a paintbrush to give the impression of a dirty unit brushed by the usual lineside vegetation encountered on branchlines and some mainlines.

 

Sorry the pictures are not as high res as id like them to be, they were from my now departed camera. The Northern unit on the right destined to become one of the Wessex additional 153329/369, with Ex FNW/Northern/ATW 153361 also in my fleet.