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About this blog

A record of weathering work, intended to show both good and bad results, including explanations of what is used and how.

Entries in this blog

Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

The cab roof comes off!   Heart in mouth moment when I removed the engine from its wheel-spraying cradle - something fell on the floor. Only the roof, though, not being held in place by the two small magnets any more. This gave me the idea of adding some grime to the easily accessible cab interior, so out came the MIG Dark Wash again and some was applied to the brightly coloured pipework. Not covering the whole assembly with grime, but just hinting that there had been some work going o
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

Out of the box this locomotive has a rather shiny smokebox, much more so than I would have expected. Before going any further I decided to apply a layer of Testor's Dullcote to that area so that pigments could be applied at a later date and that I could be sure that they would stick.   Dullcote dries very quickly into a usable state. These photographs were taken only two minutes apart.       My masking wasn't very good, so the Dullcote has landed on part
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol o Gauge 14xx No. 1444

It's the turn of the airbrush now. The inderframe will be discoloured using Railmatch Sleeper Grime, applied with an Iwata Eclipse SBS. The driven wheels are turned while the paint is sprayed, to prevent there being a patchy finish to the rims. With N Gauge and OO/HO Gauge engines this can be done with a PP9 battery, but this doesn't work with O Gauge. I use two pieces of scrap OO Gauge rail screwed into place through a piece of wiring terminal block set at the width of the wheel treads and bent
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

The chassis of this model includes a representation of the inside motion, visible in the gap 'twixt boiler and running plate. It's bright red! I didn't want to hide this completely, so decided to add a layer of wash to the parts that were visible. The rigger brush was ideal for this task, enabling just enough wash to be deposited.    
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

Buffer beams get dirty. They're not alone in that, obviously, but this aspect of weathering doesn't always get the attention it deserves, and I include myself there.   There is much opportunity for detail weathering in O Gauge, so I decided to put a little more effort into this subject by applying a wash to the varied protruberances on the buffer beams. A straightforward process, involving a rigger brush, white spirit and MIG Dark Wash.   The brush bristles are first loaded w
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

The Sharpie is indeed used for removing the bright shiny finish of the wheel rims, and the coupling rods, too. I have found in the past that airbrushed paint on these bare metal surfaces can rub off too easily, and even flake off  if applied too thickly. I read, many years ago somewhere, that this could be prevented by blackening the surfaces before applying the paint. At the time I didn't fully understand the term, 'blackening', and used a marker pen. That looked blue to me, rather than black (
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Dapol O Gauge 14xx No. 1444

A full story for this subject - I remembered to take photographs with my newly serviced camera while doing it. The plan is to weather it in a used but serviced condition, working from a photograph in a book from my reference library.   I'll be using a selection of materials from my usual stock and will hopefully remember to introduce them as the steps progress. Being a small engine it sits quite comfortably on the painting turntable.   Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll b
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

It's Another Peckett

Just can't resist them. Can you?   This one started off with a layer or three of water mixable oil paint (black) that was left to dry for three weeks. Not because it needed that long, but because I was doing other things. Each of the three layers was disrupted slightly by rubbing gently to remove that area of paint between edges of panels.     The next step was to use an airbrush to apply a layer of AMMO by MIG Rust Wash, thinned with white spirit, across the upper
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

A Pair of Bulleids

Two recently completed tasks, one rebuilt Battle of Britain and one unrebuilt West Country.       The camera has gone away for a jolly good seeing to so, with any luck, normal service will be resumed soon.   The same colours have been used for both of these locomotives. See if you can work out what they were.
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Hornby Class 60 Colas Rail Freight. Step 4 - Airbrushed Underframe Completed.

Problems with my camera (or maybe the lens) have disrupted progress recording with this subject. I have managed to salvage one shot of the airbrushed underframe, though, and here it is.     Once the main colour was finished, an application od MIG Dark Wash was run into all the detail areas with a rigger brush. This served to highlight the shadow areas and bring out the intricate details of the bogies.
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Hornby Class 60 Colas Rail Freight. Step 3 - Underframe Airbrushing.

The three colours are mixed in the airbrush paint cup, but thinners (white spirit) are placed first. That is because  the first thing to reach the nozzle is then thinners rather than unmixed paint. The latter will block the nozzle before you even start the weathering. When mixing colours, start with the lightest and add the other colour(s) using small amounts at a time. In this case the orange was added to the thinners first (a small drop), the leather was added next (one brush load) and the bla
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Hornby Class 60 Colas Rail Freight. Step 2 - Underframe Preparation.

The underframe is where I invariably start with any model because everything that follows can be done with the model on its wheels.   I was introduced to foam cradles, that originated as worktop edging protective covers, by a friend who liberated some from a skip. I use them for most models that I work on now. Having exhausted the supply that I, in turn, liberated from waste disposal receptacles, I decided to buy some direct from a manufacturer, but had to order a minimum quantity. I n
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Hornby Class 60 Colas Rail Freight. Step 1 - The Plan.

Something a little more modern, just for a change.   My reference library doesn't contain any photographs of this locomotive in this livery, so I looked through one of Strathwood's "Looking Back" series and found a Transrail liveried example that was depicted in a fairly well used but cleaned state. Sides and roof looked fairly clean, but the underparts were not.   The tools and materials list:   Iwata Eclipse SBS airbrush - not a large volume of paint to be used, b
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

A Pannier

There's no step-by-step account for this one, just a summary of what's been done with what. My close-up camera is off for servicing, so these were taken with the standby.   Underframe airbrushed with Railmatch Frame Dirt, then sides with a mix of Frame Dirt and Weathered Black. Top surfaces and cab front and back airbrushed with a darker mix of Frame Dirt and Weathered Black. Wheel centres and coupling rod joints were given a quick waft of Weathered Black.   The tank and cab
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

A Busy Weekend

This weekend has been taken up with some weathering in unusual circumstances. Because the Missenden Abbey Railway Modellers Autumn weekend could not take place at the Abbey, an online event was arranged to provide some small compensation. This event included a little bit of weathering:   https://www.missendenrailwaymodellers.org.uk/index.php/virtual-missenden-recordings/
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Accurascale HUO Hopper

This isn't the only place you can see examples of weathering. One of Accurascale's HUO hoppers has been worked on and the account of it can be seen here:   https://accurascale.co.uk/blogs/lets-get-involved/wagon-weathering-with-mick-bonwick-lets-get-involved
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Weathering

Something Agricultural for Christmas

Back in the days of Summer I had a go at a 1/43rd scale Ferguson TE20 - a Little Grey Fergie. I had found a couple of these, after much searching, and wanted to work on one and leave the other pristine, just to show how much of a difference could be made with just Dullcote, washes and pigments. Unfortunately I didn't do a particularly good job when using my smartphone to take the photographs!     This will keep you going until January.   https://www.flickr.com/phot
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick in Weathering

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Hornby Peckett 0-6-0ST 'Westminster'. Step 12 - Final.

To finish off the dusty look I have continued to use the MIG Productions Industrial City Dirt. Small amounts have been taken from the inside of the lid of the pot and placed in areas where dust.would have built up in normal use. Where is that? Reference to photographs will provide the answer and I have been using Gordon Edgar's photographic books about industrial railways to help me in this task.   Study the photograph below and see where the differences are between the original model
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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Hornby Peckett 0-6-0ST 'Westminster'. Step 11 - Pigments.

The cab roof has now had some MIG Productions Black Smoke pigment brushed on to represent the build-up of grot ejected by the chimney/funnel, and random applications of the same pigment and Industrial City Dirt have been made to parts of the running plate. This locomotive is to be portrayed in a quarry environment, so a layer of dust is needed to reflect that. The Industrial City Dirt is also applied to areas of the wheels, steps and areas where crew's boots would take the stone dust.  
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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Hornby Peckett 0-6-0ST 'Westminster'. Step 10 - Airbrushed Dirt.

Reference to many photographs of working Pecketts  has indicated that there are several areas where dirt seems to accumulate more than others. I have continued to apply the dark mix of frame dirt/weathered black to areas such as the leading edge and corner of the saddle tank, the upper corners of the coal bunker and the join between cab and tank. A simple waft was all that was needed, just to hint at the discolouration.   I also applied a small amount of this same colour to the wheel c
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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Hornby Peckett 0-6-0ST 'Westminster'. Step 9 - Upper Surfaces.

The upper surfaces of a steam locomotive receive copious amounts of grot from the exhaust and, sometimes, the surrounding environment. This locomotive is intended for use in a quarry, so there will be some dust added to represent that. Later!   To begin with, the soot from the chimney will be represented by a predominantly black mix of Railmatch Frame Dirt and Weathered Black. Application is from my trusty Iwata Eclipse SBS, with successive light coats aimed roughly at the top of the s
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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Hornby Peckett 0-6-0ST 'Westminster'. Step 8 - Wash Part 2.

Continuing to use the MIG Productions Dark Wash, a deliberately random application to the pipework and other equipment 'twixt saddle tank and running plate will result in a depiction of grime build-up and general dirtiness. A 'stain' has been left on the top surface of the running plate to add to the end result.      
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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Hornby Peckett 0-6-0ST 'Westminster'. Step 7 - Wash Part 1.

Many areas of the locomotive accumulate dirt (says he, stating the obvious), and one way of representing this is to make use of a suitably coloured wash that will be attracted to corners and edges by capillary action. There is a vast quantity of washes available from many manufacturers, but I have been using MIG Productions Dark Wash for several years, still the same bottle as when I first started this weathering lark. I apply it by wetting the brush (a rigger) with white spirit and then dipping
Mick Bonwick

Mick Bonwick

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