It has been an interesting return to this hobby so far. One observation I have to make. There are some very beautiful layouts out there,finely detailed,brilliant landscapes,photo realistic backdrops etc. They are a million miles away from anything in my Railway Modeller's magazines of the 1980s. The one thing, thats stick out in these truly beautiful landscapes is the ex-works locos and stock.

 

From a military modelling perspective I wouldn't dream of building a diorama of the battle of Falaise with a bunch of ex works King tiger tanks even though they would be quite new at that time.Weathering of your stock is the finishing touch.Come on be Brave you've built and moved moutains lets blend your stock into the landscape.

 

Bachmanns BR Vans are the focus of this blog. These half-timbered tudor boxes on wheels are a thing of beauty and an inexpensive weathering exercise too.(As a footnote here don't forget to add the the tie bars between the wheels it does make a hell of a a difference)

 

My reference recommendations for this project are:

The Art of Weathering by Martyn Welch a fine tome and a good introduction to weathering and a source of inspiration for me.

British Railways Wagons the First Half Million by Don Rowland all the diagrams and plenty of inspirational photos. Wagons of the Early British Railways Era: A Pictorial Study of the 1948-1954 Period by David Larkin

Railways in Profile No. 3: British Railway Vans. by Geoff Gamble.

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/paulbartlettsrailwaywagons should be all you will need..

http://www.scalemodelguide.com/painting-weathering/painting-guide/all-about-paint-brushes/ Full of excellent advice, I will try and crossover some military reference when its appropriate.

 

The base models for this project.

 

 

 

BR Planked sided/Planked door vent van.

 

 

BR Plywood sided/Planked door vent van.

 

 

BR Insulated Van

 

Wood is an excellent material for weathering.Its ability to rot,warp,shrink and shed any preservative has be captured in model form.

Since this is once again mainly a painting exercise you should try and get some painting reference. Rotten pieces of unpainted timber will help capture the tonal quality of natural wood.Grain,patina and the effects of erosion from the elements can be found in driftwood.If you can lay your hands on some decayed timber for your workbench reference it will make the task much easier.

 

These are some of my examples

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again i have chosen to mask of the original numbers,tare weights and lettering,maskol is excellent for this and shows up as the pink patches in the photos.

Firstly we need to roughen up the surface texture of the planks/plywood. Some fine emery or wet and dry paper on the plywood should give it a much more careworn realistic appearance.Down ward strokes with the emery nice and light gives some patina to the otherwise plain surface.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the planked van a a horizontal motion to try and create some grain I resorted to a scalpel blade to get real wounds in there. then a rub over with the emery to soften things up a bit.

 

Now for some drybrushing. Raised area with always take the paint first so your nicely roughened areas will be highlighted in bauxite and the a run over with Freight stock Brown.The lighter roughed represent the worn original paint and the two drybushed colors the various stages of patch painting and fading/chipping.The overall variance is what we are looking for here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A thin wash (size 1 brush) of weathered black into all the nooks,crannies framing Chains and hinges,wipe the the first attempt with some tissue or a cotton bud 59p locally.

Then reapply the thin wash and remove again. another repeat should build up enough debris where it would normally catch and stay. A thin wash like this, way more thinners than paint with always form in the nooks etc,It will form rings round bolt heads and rivets.So as you can see Drybrushing for raised detail,dip brush wipe 90% off. Drybrushing will pick out the detail and bring it forwards. A wash will find all the corners where dirt and debris would collect,It will also add blend and tone to the surface paint if you have grain in that wood a wash will find it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

by far the quickest van to do so far was the Insul van for all the stages listed above this was the result after an hours work on it drying times aside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since my Patron the penguin of doom is using his insul vans for fish traffic the addition of corroded framework wheels and chains is what really sets it apart. All unpainted ferous metal will corrode in a very short time. I work in the motor trade in Scarborough and even brand new vehicles can have rusty looking brake discs in no time at all.Fish vans on the quay side at hull,subject to the salt air,water ice and anything else would rust away quite happily its tell tale streaks then leaves (dry brushed) stain streaks on and in the paintwork.A very light wash along the bottom edge of the body highlights the dripping nature of this rusty water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Underframes would suffer in these hostile conditions.Some dark rust with talcum powder stippled on the wheels,springs and morton gear is a start,/dry brush in some lighter rust shades in streaks and pickout the bolt detail with this light rust shade since in the damp it would be fresh rust.in the midst of all this rust some oily steel can be added to the framing to highlight the constant wearing down of the paint,rubbed,knocked areas etc.Less is more with oily steel though so go carefully. A light dusting of frame dirt with an airbrush or a careful wash should tone down the lower half of all these vans the Insul van the had some gloss varnish streak down its underframe to further highlight its damp world environment.a top down wash of roof dirt or careful spray withe airbrush should then blend in the top half of the vans. A further thing to note.the doors on vans appear cleaner than the rest of the vehicle.due to there being open and pinned back whilst unloading they didnt quite suffer the filth of the rest of the vehicle.New doors were sometimes fitted,freshly painted in complete contrast to the rest of the vehicle so at this stage you could lighten up the doors with some fresh paint or just a wash fresh paint,alternatively clean thinners will lighten these areas up nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final van was quick half hour light/traffic weathering using the above techniques.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have plenty of Van stock you may wish to try another little one off project,a peeling/split felt roof.

The method for this quite simple scribe some parallel lines into the roof with a sharp scalpel or Stanley knife.Roughen up this area with emery to put some grain into the wooden roof.Paint the created planks a with nice coat of grey/beige mix paint.leave to dry then a wash roof dirt in the newly created furrows.Leave to dry for 24 hours then mask over your to be peeled area.Leave again for at least 24 while the Maskol dries.Then a good daubing of Roof dirt around the edges of you Maskol and paint the remainder of the roof as you would normally. 24 hours later carefully pick off the maskol to reveal your rather (a)peeling roof. with you 5/0 brush puts some dots in for nail heads and further wash over/airbrush spray over with roof dirt and your done.All this covered in Martin Welch's book,this then is my interpretation and hopefully inspiration for you all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you have some lovely vans for your pickup goods too.

I'm very happy with the results this far.I hope,I have inspired you to try some of this.

 

 

 

If you are interested in having similar work done to your stock please contact me at :

https://www.facebook.com/groups/356502814462332/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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