Amongst the many facets required to successfully weather your stock,paint fading has to be a high priority.These are my observations and my method of depicting it,before the paint specialists and chemical experts eat me alive.

All railway liveries seemed to fade over time.Sunshine in particular is extremely harsh on the colourful embellishments of our beloved railway stock.

The Sun has particular dislike of the colour red and its variants.Maroon,Crimson and Bauxite.Though Yellow,Blue and Green also fade to varying degrees. The weathering and fading of paint is dependent on a number factors including but not exclusive to,

What vehicle its actually painted onto loco ,coach or wagon,Departmental stock is particularly good in this regard. Those lovely Steam cranes went very pink, very quickly.

The service interval of said vehicle; years for wagons months for locos.

The actual usage and availability of the vehicle.Again with the Steam Cranes in mind long periods of inactivity focuses those harmful UV rays much better.

The application and priming of the original paint.Thin paint fades quicker than many coats of the same colour.

The numbers of varnish/lacquer layers applied over the painted surface.

The best way I have found to replicate faded paint is in fact very simple.We were all taught to mix paint at school to produce different colours and shades.As long as you try and keep it within the same paint manufacturer you should have no problems.So Railmatch with Railmatch and so on.I have successfully mixed other manufacturers paint together in the past but can I can only recommend trial and error here.Keep some empty yogurt pots to use as mixing pallets the harder plastic ones are best since thinners doesn't play well with the softer stuff.

Since you are fading the base colour of the livery, you may want mask off any areas you wish to keep in the original finish.The doors of coaches are and vans are an excellent example here, having often been replaced without the rest of the vehicle receiving a matching repaint.

The method is very simple by adding white or grey to your base colour you will gradually lighten the shade. How you apply this new shade is a matter of choice Brush or Airbush being the two most likely options.If aerosols are your weapon of choice Halfords have a lovely aerosol mixing department in many of their stores.You may need to do some research and take some colour samples with you,but they are usually happy to help.

Remember paint never fades in a uniform pattern. Planks and panels generally fade from the centre out to the edges.So your lightest shade should be toward the centre with increasing amounts of base colour toward the edges.Many an 03 and 08 shunter can be found in such a state.Here are my examples.

The other thing to bear in mind is shading.If the vehicle has had a long period of inactivity the light hitting will have come at fewer angles causing shading which in turn retains some of the original base colour. Brake Vans are good example here and i would of course point you in the direction of :

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/paulbartlettsrailwaywagons

My own example here illustrates what I'm waffling about.

Some Paint Fading rules.

1, Faded paint is dead paint and lacks varnish so a Matt finish is required.Areas with remaining base colour may still retain some sheen.

2, Fading paint is rarely uniform and often gives a strange other worldly look to a vehicle.

3, Build up the fade look from the edge to the centre of panels and planks.Exposed edges corners may also be effected by fade.

4, As usual with any painting project paint what you see not what you think you see.Good reference is essential.

5, Some good liveries that faded well BR Blue,Departmental Red and the later Yellow version,the Dutch departmental livery.BR Bauxite,BR Freight Brown,Railfreight.

One final thing to ponder Dr Beeching - ICI - Paint - BR Liveries - Fade - Run down railways - Dr Beeching.

Best regards and good luck with your Vic Berry collection

Eric & Gripper