Getting Down and Dirty

[Gwiwer]

The Heljan class 57 doesn't see a lot of use as the only train it can run with is the sleeping cars.  However as it was outside for photography, and in honour of the annual SWAG beano to Staplegrove, it has also gained a light weathering.  These locos have been generally rather well kept by First Great Western at Penzance so don't often appear in traffic with anything more than a light coating of grime.  As they are also fitted with modern lower emission engines there isn't a great deal of roof clag from the exhaust either.

Front end, showing a faint gradation in weathering on the roof vents from darker at the top to none where they meet the body sides.



And the other cab end showing also an unweathered Hornby vehicle in the matching coaching-stock livery coupled for comparison.  Also showing too much dust for my liking!



The other side which also shows the sloppy application of the yellow warning panel by Heljan and - upon careful inspection - the fact that the radio antenna is missing from the centre of the cab roof.  This can easily be replaced with a short piece of scrap material.  Also apparent is that the leading end (with no coupler fitted) has the snow-plough unit fitted which is not the case at the inner end coupled to the train.



And amidships showing underframe detail and the nameplate; all four of this class are named after west of England castles though haven't gained the appellation "Castle Class" as their steam forebears did.  A couple of grease spots show up as blotches of black which I'm happy to keep as they are; they seem realistic to me.

[Gwiwer]

Next to the workbench is the first of the fleet of 4Cep units destined for operation on the new layout in due course.

 

Cab end including a light bodyside weathering:

 

Motor bogie detail:

 

 

And a side window showing the rust streaking which these units often displayed:

 

[Gwiwer]

Back on the workbench the "GWR150" DMU in chocolate and cream livery has been lightly treated.  I shied away from this one for some time as it's in a special livery but anyone who remembers seeing the unit itself may recall it didn't stay clean for too long!

[Xerces Fobe2]

Now that's down under & dirty a Maidenhead destination on a Cornish layout in Aussie!

 

XF

[Gwiwer]

Now that's down under & dirty a Maidenhead destination on a Cornish layout in Aussie!

 

XF

 

And with the addition of a touch of mapping pen to remove the evidence of Hornby's mis-spelling of "Marlowe" as well.     Shame it's not as easy to correct "Southhall" on the green ones

[Gwiwer]

Some more of Hornby's finest have been through the reverse-washer and gained dirt

 

In fairness the 35 and 47 are factory-weathered but have my own "overcoat" on top to make them both more realistic than an even spray of grime allows and to show the condition in which some WR locos were allowed to run in traffic.

 

The streaked effect on the van roof is done with a coarse-bristle 1" house-painting brush - not something one often associates with the finer points of weathering small models!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2013 by Gwiwer

[Gwiwer]

With winter firmly upon us it is time for indoor jobs.  That includes further batches of rolling stock being weathered.

Some of these have appeared before in one topic or another but all have had weathering applied or added to recently.  

One of the green Heljan Hymeks 



D804, the Mainline-style, Bachmann-branded Warship which has been revived after a major failure using the guts of another machine

 

 

 

With track and ballast weathering also on show

 

 

Some of the blue-grey Mk1 coaches have been treated (but with many more left to do!) including the Gresley buffet car.   

 

A maroon Heljan-built Western weathered here as opposed to the Dapol-built ones weathered by the factory.  The maroon first class sleeping car is a new arrival.



Detail of the ends which also shows some unusually sloppy application by Bachmann of the yellow first class band on the sleeper.



 Varied application to some 45' vans



This angle shows one end of the white-dusted van and the difference in application of grime to its neighbour which may be compared with the one coupled at the other end seen above



The Hornby class 50 which is factory-weathered in NSE livery has had a more realistic application of grime on the bogies and frames which were previously a strange shade of ochre.  The rake of NSE coaches has also been dealt with.

 

Different treatment on adjacent roofs and different levels of bodyside grime.  NSE repainted a number of these Mk1 coaches for use on commuter trains from Oxford and Northampton to London which were often presented in very poor external condition with dirty and faded paintwork.
 

Tailpiece: I suspect the "spots" on the side are the result of the carriage at some time being parked near to a leak in the roof or even a PVA spray but I'm not unhappy with the result of the weathering which shows them up.
 

 

[HealeyMills]

Rick,

 

Some superb pics, thanks for sharing them.

 

How do you weather your coach roofs?  Do you start with Railmatch Roof dirt and work from there???

 

Cheers

Lee

[Gwiwer]

Techniques vary because the base material (i.e. the composition and finish on the plastic / metal of the rolling stock) differs.  Some accepts weathering readily, most will do so with some reluctance and some will simply not co-operatea at all.

 

I can't get hold of Railmatch products in Australia.  I could order them online but shipping restrictions mean they wouldn't get here - well not legally though I once did receive a surprise package of Humbrol paints as a gift in the mail!

 

I currently use blends of AIM, Carrs and Humbrol weathering powders which are mixed in plastic tubs on the workbench.  Roof dirt is a mix of Humbrol "smoke" with AIM "black" and - sometimes - with a little of a Carrs light grey as well.  These are brushed on and generally hold well enough to endure careful handling without a fixative.  

 

Some panels - Bachmann roofs among them - can be notoriously stubborn and powders are very reluctant to grab.  Most will if brushed out lightly from an end or mid point.  Those few which won't allow any grab at all are first sprayed with my trusty $2 hairspray which wets the surface.  Powders are then applied quickly and brushed as required since the product dries quickly and only allows the powder to be worked as semi-liquid pigment for a few seconds.  Over-brushing with stiff-bristle brushes can then create streaks and lines to remove the otherwise homogenous effect which sometimes results.

 

I always work powders over an area of workbench set aside for the purpose.  That way spill and surplus which is brushed or rubbed off falls onto the bench and becomes a nondescript "dirt" blend handy for underframes.  It's easily picked up on the brush and applied to the next job!

[HealeyMills]

Hi Rick,

 

Thanks for that insight.... very useful.  I have never used weathering powders, but perhaps it's time I gave it a go

 

Cheers

Lee

[Gene]

GWiwer....do you use powders exclusivly or do you also use paints...brush, airbrush???

[Gwiwer]

I use powder most of the time though I also use mapping pens and acrylic paint as well.  In the final shot above the door frame of the Mk1 has been inked in with a 0.05 mapping pen which gives greater depth.  The ink can be rubbed whilst still wet to create subtle weathering effects.  I'll have to dig out a shot or two.  Also in the view showing the Gresley buffet and Mk1 BSK the BSK has had Testors "Grimy Black" applied to its frames and bogies while th eGresley has only had a light powdering of those areas.

Edited August 11, 2013 by Gwiwer

[90rob]

I must say Gwiwer I am getting more and more impressed with your results - truly superb.

As a matter of interest how do you store your stock when not in use, and do the powders stay put over time or do they need an occasional 'overhaul'?

 

Rob

[Gene]

Gwiwer...just reread this thread from the beginning...love your work...I find weathering lots of fun....I find its most important to be careful around the running gear, don't want to muck up the wheel treads and pick-ups. I use my airbrush,without paint to give my vehicles a good blow to get rid of excess powders that refuse to brush of...just a thought.

[Earl Bathurst]

Hi

Superb results with powders, I only use them after I have air brushed the item but after seeing the results you have had I might just try a loco with powders. My only question is do you use varnish of any kind? As you mentioned Bachmann is a nightmare to get powders and even when airbrushed the paint rubs off so with them I normally matt varnish then airbrush.

 

Scott

[Gwiwer]

Most and possibly all varnishes and fixatives I know of can attack glazing units.  I don't varnish or seal at the moment for that reason though do have an airbrush and could do so if a suitable product giving a flat finish was known to be safe on glazing.  OK I could take the glazing out or mask it off but one of the benefits of powders is that they can be brushed onto and around the glazing giving dirty window effects as seen on the real thing.  For parcel vans the grime was caked on - for most passenger stock you would only find thick grime in the very corners but there was usually at least a film (sometimes thicker than other times) of brake and "road" dust over the windows.

 

Here's a selection of sleeping cars which have had varying degrees of powder applied, along with compartment-side window blinds and in some cases passengers watching the early-morning world reveal itself through the steamy windows which Mk1s often had after being slept in all night.

These pictures were taken under fluorescent light on the workbench which has burnt through some of the bogie and sole-bar weathering though enough is shown to retain the effect.  Some evidence of window grime is also shown.

 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Weathered Bachmann SR motor luggage van

 

 

 

 

 

And a few brush-strokes of rust on an otherwise factory-weathered Dapol Western with the gangway end of an SR Maunsell set which is parked on the siding following its own visit to the weathering bench

 

[Gwiwer]

Never tried weathering road vehicles until now but in their glossy liveries they are starting to look as the sore thumb against weathered trains and buildings.

 

EFE Bristol LS with a blend of grey, brown and "smoke" powders applied

 

 

 

And a Base Toys Bristol LD which is certainly not a toy and is pretty fair representation of its type.  This has only had the "smoke" colour brushed on.   I have taken a black felt pen to the route number which shows up in the image but not to the naked eye.  WN renumbered their Cornish routes into the 500-series during the 1970s (and back again in the 1990s) but I prefer my 1960s buses to show 1960s route numbers.  There's also an adjustment needed to the driver's mirror

 

 

 

I like the way the powders grab just about where road grime does - every panel joint and around the doorways for example.  Tyres no longer look like new plastic.  Some of the gloss is also taken down a little particularly on the front of the 'decker.

 

Edit : attempting to remove the "corrected" American spellings

Edited September 15, 2013 by Gwiwer

[Gwiwer]

Weathering of the rolling stock fleet continues as time and other tasks permit.  Recent work has seen the entire Mk2/2a rake dealt with (12 coaches) and a start made on the air-conditioned rake of later Mk2 designs.

 

 

 

The coach below is one of several in my collection which are from the Airfix "Great Model Railways" range and are not painted as crisply as other brands usually are.  The underframes are also in a toffee brown plastic rather than black which has been toned down with weathering.

 

 

 

 

The last Warship class loco not yet weathered has also been dealt with; D809 now carries a fairly light weathering including fly spatter on the ends.  The first image below also shows some recent track weathering.

 

 

 

 

[BRealistic]

Very nice Gwiwer... as per usual!

[Gwiwer]

Some recent weathering applied to the CDA rake and 37207 which is sometimes in charge of it, also to the sharp end of a 45.

 

All of this is just powders brushed on though the CDAs have had hairspray used in places to liquify the powder into paint momentarily.  This is then quickly brushed around before it dries again.

 

 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

And for good measure today's effort which involved the renumbering of 37506 to 37674 (OK - I know it should have a head code panel and not plated doors but ……… it was cheap!) and the application of dirt.

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Today's project involved the ballast train.  This is a rake of eight Hornby wagons of which four are of the type "Sealion" and four the slightly larger "Seacow".  All are in BR engineering sector grey and yellow which, because of its close resemblance to Dutch State Railways livery was always referred to as "Dutch" livery.

These wagons already have a squirt of weathering applied by the factory which gave an even coating of beige-brown to the lower panels.  The wheels are (unusually for a factory job) evenly coloured but the wagon ends missed out entirely meaning they were unweathered!

Some time ago I added ballast loads.  These are actually scrap ballast off the layout topped with just a little new from the jar to keep that "new " look on top without significant expense.  The loads are secured by having the ballast soaked in dilute PVA.

Today the wagons gained more and individual weathering including the ends with each one a little different to its neighbour as one expects to find on a real train.  Black, grey, brown and rust powders have been used and blended in different configurations with the results shown here.  The on-screen enlargement shows a few spots where surplus powder still has to be removed.

 

 

Late this afternoon I also started work on the rake of cement wagons .......

[Gwiwer]

Today's project involved the class 108 DMU which has featured in numerous pictures over the years and currently heads up the Facebook page featuring the layout.

This was in for a check on its performance and lighting which had both been slightly erratic.  The need to take it apart to check the contacts ensured it was next to the bench for populating and dirtying.  

The contacts were found to be slightly dirty and were wiped over with a cotton wool bud dipped into IPA.  That had the desired result on performance and the lighting.

Taking my assortment of (mostly not very realistic Chinese) people from the workbench drawer I first fitted a number into each carriage.



The cab unit was teased out of its locating lugs and a driver in suitable pose was located in the Bachmann 1950s Locomotive Crew pack and fitted.



The unit was reassembled and tested which meant I could progress to the weathering stage.  A comparison of the two inner ends:



The trailing end driver's cab:



And the leading cab:



Some of the roof work:



And some of the body sides and underframe - those who knew these units might recall the exhaust was often a delicate shade of rust:



Finally after a light brush over to remove any excess powder the unit was placed in context back at Penhayle Bay where it looks better for having some passengers on board and being a little work-stained.

[Gwiwer]

Having previously applied fairly heavy weathering to two of my green class 47s I have now completed the trio with a much lighter weathering of the third.












This contrasts with an altogether filthier appearance I applied on the two "namers" Thor and North Star of which the latter shown here also has factory weathering beneath my own.