Coach Weathering

[Rowsley17D]

Due to photos disappearing, there's few photo of people's weathered coaches to give me some guidelines. I wanted to take the newness and plastic look off my coaches' underframes. I tried painting with RailMatch Frame Dirt and after this was dry I brushed on Humbrol Dark Earth weathering powder to take off the shine of what should be matt paint. Here's my attempts, not good photos as my camera doesn't do macro shots. Do they look "right" and what should I do with the wheels? The roofs need tackling too.

 

A Hornby PIII Stanier

 

This coach by Larry "Coachmann" Goddard (a 60th birthday present to myself) was just treated with the weathering powder as it will wash off without ruining Larry's handiwork. Larry has painted his coach roof grey.

[brossard]

They look OK to my eye Jonathon.  I think everyone develops their own techniques.

 

My first point would be that coach sides tended to washed fairly frequently so they would be pretty clean.  However, dirt would accumulate in the cracks and crevices.  For this you could use a wash.  I like Tamiya Panel Liner enamel wash.  Apply the wash, let it sit for a day or so, then use white spirit or domestic thinners and rub the excess off with a cotton bud (ear 'ole cleaner).

 

The underframes would be pretty dirty.  I find an airbrush very useful for this.  I start with acrylic earth (Tamiya or similar) the follow up with a light dusting of black.  Black on earth tends to enhance detail.

 

For wheels a track dirt colour looks good.  Never black.  A mix of black, earth and rust makes a good track dirt colour.

 

I finish off by applying umber and black powders to the bogies and solebars.  I find this gives texture.

 

I'm careful to say this is what I do.  There is no one right way to do this.

 

This is my 7mm Kirk kit of a 52' Gresley BG:

 

 

John

[Paul H Vigor]

In my experience, when it comes to loco and rolling stock weathering: less is often more. I prefer a light touch.

[Rowsley17D]

13 hours ago, brossard said:

They look OK to my eye Jonathon.  I think everyone develops their own techniques.

 

My first point would be that coach sides tended to washed fairly frequently so they would be pretty clean.  However, dirt would accumulate in the cracks and crevices.  For this you could use a wash.  I like Tamiya Panel Liner enamel wash.  Apply the wash, let it sit for a day or so, then use white spirit or domestic thinners and rub the excess off with a cotton bud (ear 'ole cleaner).

 

The underframes would be pretty dirty.  I find an airbrush very useful for this.  I start with acrylic earth (Tamiya or similar) the follow up with a light dusting of black.  Black on earth tends to enhance detail.

 

For wheels a track dirt colour looks good.  Never black.  A mix of black, earth and rust makes a good track dirt colour.

 

I finish off by applying umber and black powders to the bogies and solebars.  I find this gives texture.

 

I'm careful to say this is what I do.  There is no one right way to do this.

 

This is my 7mm Kirk kit of a 52' Gresley BG:

 

 

John

 

Thanks, John. I'll give my coaches' underframes a dust over with black powder and see how they look. I tried RailMatch Dark Rust on the wheels but they don't look right so I'll give them a coat of RM Frame Dirt. Some I'll do with RM Sleeper Grime for a slight variation. Coachmann, when on here, said he used acrylic black wash with a drop of red and washing-up liquid for coach sides. I agree with @Paul H Vigor I don't want to overdo things.

[brossard]

It's all very subjective of course, if you like what you did, it's right.

 

That Coachman method looks interesting.

 

John

[Rowsley17D]

Some results on various coaches.

 

 

 

[Hal Nail]

I always thin my frame dirt colour so it gives a slightly different finish depending on the original surface and allows lettering etc to show through.

 

I give wooden foot boards a coat of light grey primer first as well to look more like sun bleached wood.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Hal Nail

[31A]

I like to weather coach underframes separated from the body where possible.  It makes it easier to control how much weathering paint goes on the body.

 

The underframes will have been sprayed Matt Black from an aerosol, then my weathering paint is applied as a thinned wash with a soft brush.  The weathering paint is a mix of Humbrol Enamel Matt Black 33 and Dark Earth 29, the proportions varying depending on how 'brown' I want the weathering to look.

 

I then assemble the coach again, and paint more of the same mixture onto the ends.  Having done that the same mixture is used to weather the sides, but I usually do so very sparingly and try to keep it to the lower panels and 'door lines'.  In the past I have applied the weathering to the whole side and then washed most of it off, but I find even doing that quickly (before the paint has had a chance to go off) and using clean thinners, it still tends to darken the body colour.  Before weathering, the last part of the painting process will have been a coat of Humbrol Acrylic Satin Varnish (aerosol) and will probably have been dry for a couple off weeks, but even so the weathering coat seem to discolour the base colour.

 

I put some greasy / oily marks on the underframe, mainly around the axleboxes and on the buffer heads; just thinned Matt Black really.  I don't usually put any rust on coaches, but may do sometimes a bit around the brake shoes and springs.

 

The roof has usually been painted dark grey (Humbrol 32 or 67, or occasionally Railmatch Roof Dirt if I'm feeling flush!), then I go over that with a thin wash of Matt Black, brushed out with a soft brush, trying to avoid obvious streaks.

 

Here's a couple of examples; ex LNER Brake Third using brass sides on a Hornby vehicle, and ex LNER 52ft BG made from Comet parts.

 

 

 

 

 

[Barry O]

I do very little to my coaches.. a bit of watered down black ink on the roof.. a bit of watered down brown ink on the underframes then some powders (black for the roof and track muck for the underframes)

 

Apologies for the poor picture I will get a replacement later tomorrow

Full Brakes especially those use as general parcels stock are given a coat of "filth"  - heavier ink on the panels sides with a fair bit of powder added

 

 

Baz

Edited July 7, 2022 by Barry O