These three are now finished.

Here's a pic of the two mill roll wagons;

I first gave all the wagons a coat of red oxide primer from a car aerosol. Then I mixed up some Humbrol Leather and Precision Dirty Black (I used acrylics throughout) to spray them a dark rust colour. The next stage was to give them a light coat of Leather on its own. After leaving the wagons to dry I varnished them, using Precision matt airbrush varnish with a little matt grey mixed in to give a dusty feel. Unfortunately I mixed in too much grey and this spoilt the finish somewhat. So, after letting the varnish dry thoroughly, I went over again with the Humbrol Leather, which did the trick. Then I broke out the weathering powders before re-varnishing.

For the rolls themselves I first grey primered them before spraying them Dirty Black, which gave a good base for a light coat of Leather. Ends were retouched in Dirty Black to suggest grease. The finish hopefully gives the impression of a couple of rolls that have been stored outside and are being moved to the machine shop for re-working.

The blocks that the rolls sit on were primered grey then painted with Frame Grime. Then I drybrushed them with various shades of brown and grey to represent oily, greasy creosoted wood. I'm not sure if its been succesfull.

A couple of pics of the third wagon, loaded with empty scrap boxes;

The scrap boxes were primered, red oxide again, then sprayed with Dirty Black followed by a very light coat of Leather. Weathering powders finished the job off.

I took inspiration for the finish from this film clip of Shotton Steelworks. (This film has been linked to before on the forum, but I'll include it here in case anyone missed it, and because its very good!).

The scrap boxes are left loose on the wagon, partly so I can run the wagon empty and partly because I like the thought of them rattling around when in motion.

I'm reasonably pleased with these three, although my finishing and weathering skills still need improving. I could quite happily build another five loaded with scrap boxes!