weathered 16t mineral wagon

[michl080]

Just finished a MMP kit of an plain 16 ton mineral wagon.

 

 

 

hope you like it...

 

Michael

 

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Needs to be on the 16t mineral thread too IMHO.

 

Mike.

[Torper]

Very nice....Are you going to tell us how you did it? (I've got a dozen waiting to  be done!)

 

The 16T mineral thread is just too big now - it would be nice to follow the procedure (if Michael is prepared to share it) on one specific wagon.

 

DT

[michl080]

OK,

 

I took a couple of pictures while I weathered the wagon, so I may give some ideas about how I did it...

 

I took some of Paul Bartletts pictures. Search for B221316 and you will find an example that I liked a lot. I will not insert a picture to comply with Pauls copyright rules.

 

This is where it starts. The kit has a grey basecoat with etch primer.

 

 

I have about 15 different shades of Vallejo red, brown orange, tan etc. that are all somehow looking like rust. I put a little drop in my airbrush and spray some dots onto the primer. As soon as the paint is empty, I take another drop from another bottle and continue, etc. The paint should not be covering the surface. My idea is that the paint is slowly building up in many shades. The more shades we get, the better the result. Don't be afraid of some very bright orange spots and some very dark browns, it should all equal out to a general tone.

 

This is the result.

 

 

From here, I used the "salt and hairspray" method to create the worn painting of the wagon.

Take your girls hairspray, collect a little bit in a small beaker and apply the hairspray on the surface, but only where the rust should appear later. Take coarse salt and let it trickle onto the wet hairspray. Make sure that you apply enough salt to prevent the later appied grey paint to reach the rusty surface. Let it dry.

 

 

That's the result. Apply grey paint, but make sure that the airbrush won't blow the salt away.

Sorry no picture of that stage. After the grey paint if dry, but not thoroughtly cured, take a soft brush and wash away the salt and the hairspray with warm water. Don't overdo, or all grey paint will be gone quite quickly.

 

That is what we get.

 

 

If you take a close look, you may see that the paint is loose at some edges which looks like peeling paint.

 

I didn't take much more pictures from here on, so I try to explain what I did and try to show some effects at the finished kit.

 

I masked the position of the white stripes and painted some spots of white onto the rust layer. This can be done easily with a very small brush and only a little amount of paint. Try to get a result as on one of Pauls pictures.

 

Next step is to apply a glossy varnish and then apply the water slides.

 

 

I tried to simulate the rust effect on the decals, but you can see that the colour doesn't match very good. Also see the effect of the white band.

 

I think that the wagons were loaded in a very dirty environment full of coal dust, so the whole wagon was evenly covered. However, assuming the the wind and the rain removed the dirt wherever it had access, I think that most of the plain panels were rusty, but not dusty. The dust collects in the corners where rain and wind have no access.

 

 

See the grime at the upper profile where the rain has no access.

 

I am using powder pigments in dark brown and black to simulate the coal dust. I am using a very weak binder that barely holds the pigments in place. The brush is dipped into the binder and then into the pigment. Apply the wet mixture with a lot af pigment. Clean the brush in the binder and wipe the pigments vertically upwards to simulalte the rain streaks. I don't know if this kind of pigment binder is available in the UK, I think water will do as well. If the mixture is dry, take a wide hard brush and wipe off most of the pigments, not so much in the corners, but take away most on the plain surface.  Always wipe in direction of the rain streaks. This can be repeated as often as necessary. If there are any recesses, fill them generously with pigment/binder and let dry. Take the hard brush to remove the mixture after it is dry. The pigments will stick in the corners where we want them.

 

 

The underframe of the wagon is also very dusty with coal, but there is also a lot of ferrous dirt that is more like orange and red. I appy that with my pigment/binder sauce and remove most of it as with the coal. The framework can be very dirty, but as these wagons had only hand brakes, the brake dust was probably not as extreme as today.

 

 

The pigments will sit very loosly, so take care that you don't touch it too much or the work will be transferred to your fingers

 

As a next step I apply a VERY matt vlear varnish. I am using AK interactive Ultra Matte Varnish AK-183. This gives an almost mineral like surface.

 

It may happen (and happened in my case) that the varnish will brighten up the pigments, so that it looks more like limescale rather than coal. In that case, you can apply a very diluted black-brown wash in the white spots o tone them down.

After the final varnish, I apply some Vallejo Engine oil stains at the axle boxes. This will give a shiny appearance as if the oil would be leaking form the boxes. A small touch of black oil paint to simulate the buffer grease and that is all.

 

I hope you like it.

 

I have no connection with the manufacturers I mention, but I like their products.

 

Have fun,

Michael

[Torper]

Thanks Michael - from my point of view a novel, but extremely effective, way of applying a relalistic weathering effect to this type of wagon.   I'm most grateful to you for taking the time and trouble to go through this precedure in such detail.  I shall give it a go after I've done some shopping for hairspray (may draw some smiles at the checkout as I am somewhat challenged in that department) and a few paints. 

 

DT

[Fat Controller]

That's a cracking bit of work; those are all model photos, aren't they?

[lightengine]

I achieved a very similar look a couple of weeks ago using rust colours, chipping medium and Humbrol 63 over the top and then rubbed back.

I need to work on my underframe and over all technique though.

[michl080]

39 minutes ago, lightengine said:

I achieved a very similar look a couple of weeks ago using rust colours, chipping medium and Humbrol 63 over the top and then rubbed back.

I need to work on my underframe and over all technique though.

 

Let's see! Preferably with some description...

 

Michael

 

[michl080]

1 hour ago, Fat Controller said:

That's a cracking bit of work; those are all model photos, aren't they?

 

If they look like the prototype then because the kit is extraordinary. Take a look at David J. Parkins site

Honor is due to him.

Michael

[Fat Controller]

43 minutes ago, michl080 said:

 

If they look like the prototype then because the kit is extraordinary. Take a look at David J. Parkins site

Honor is due to him.

Michael

You're too modest, Michael. The mouldings may well be top-class, but it's your finishing that makes the différence.

[hmrspaul]

B221316  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brmineralweld/eb3139c4

 

Paul

[michl080]

14 hours ago, hmrspaul said:

B221316  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brmineralweld/eb3139c4

 

Thanks Paul, I couldn't figure out how to link your picture directly

 

Michael

[hmrspaul]

On 11/05/2019 at 07:45, michl080 said:

 

Thanks Paul, I couldn't figure out how to link your picture directly

 

Michael

 

All computer users are supposed to understand all of the recently introduced icons - so a squiggle over the photo replaced the simple word "share". [Goes along with the three bars appearing everywhere to tell you that there is lots more available to do - I think it is all to do with the down grading of the internet to make it readable on tiny phone screens]

 

Paul

 

[turbos]

I like what you’re doing, I do the same thing with salt to get the flaking paint effect. I don’t have a thread yet but you can see some of my finished wagons on my blog.