Weathered wooden wagons

[Ben Alder]

A long time ago, on another RmW, someone commented kindly on some wooden Parkside wagons I had weathered, and asked how they were done. I promised to do a few more and show what I did to get the required finish- this good intention got as far as building the wagons and using them as workbench receptables for odds and ends from other projects- but, as a fish van session ran out of components recently, I turned to these as a nice little fill-in job. It also gave me a chance to work with some Lifecolor paints that I got the other week- three sets, Weathered Wood, Dust and Rust and Rail Weathering. These are excellent paints- easy to apply, nice and liquid, and dry to a matt finish, saving a hit or miss matt varnish attack that rarely ends well in my experience.

 

Weathering old wood is more an art than a science, and has been covered far more throughly before than by what follows, but I will go through my approach to it. Firstly, work from a photograph- wooden wagons were very individual in their degrees of neglect, and are far more subtle than bauxite or 16T minerals in their finish. I have assembled scrapbooks of snippets of wagons etc, taken usually from background details that had no interest to the original photographer as a rule, but are gems of information to a modeller. These came from the usual monthlies, and as time passes and memories fade, they are ever more essential. This applies to present day modelling as well,- history starts sooner than one thinks.

 

Anyway, the basic kit is primed, Humbrol acrylic grey in my case, and a section of the underframe removed for weighting.

 

 

I do the inside first- a rough base coat of weathered wood base coat for two and a cold light shade for a cleaner wagon.

 

 

This was applied with an old brush that gave a poor coverage, but left some of the primer showing, which is what I wanted. Then a layer of Games Workshop black wash was put on generously, which lifts detail at once. This,and their mud shade, should be part of every paint shelf- giving a instant matt finish, and can be as subtle or gungy as required; apply with a brush, and lift off excess, again with a brush, to get shades of dirt into corners and crevices easily. A very fine brush can be used for running down door hinges and the like. This is the wagon with its wash.

 

 

Once a suitable wgon has been found, I put the basic colours on the sides and ends.

 

 

One wagon is going te be a painted grey, and the others a mixture of planks of varying vintage and finish, as gleaned from real images.These wagons appear to have received whatever was lying around the works when repaired, and as they were being scrapped in their thousands latterly, I guess that it was easier to fit existing planks from scrapped wagons than waste time and money on something that had a very finite life. Certainly, photographs suggest this , which makes for plenty one-offs to model.

From now on it is a case of dry-brushing layer after layer of shades of suitable colours, again working from photos, till the required distresed effect starts to come together. I used most of the wood and rail weathering shades here, along with some of the rusts on strapping and hinges. Unfortunately, all this doesn't reproduce well coat by coat, but after a while this stage was reached.

 

By using a brush the width of a plank, it is easy to apply specific shades to each one. The iron work was picked out, and rust and dirt blended in over it. BTW, don't use black or white at all on 4mm stock- its far too stark, and doesn't occur as such in real life anyway.After further work, this is more or less the finished article.

 

 

Transfers are next, and the underframe given a treatment of greys, browns and shades inbetween to finish as needed.Here are two pics of the finished bodies, albeit with underframe work needed, and an interior shot- they were treated the same as the bodies. Its a bit blurry, I'm afraid.

 

 

 

Lastly, on the layout in running order- the S&W hooks have to be fitted at one end, but that apart they are ready for service.I have posted this here rather than away in my blog or layout thread, and I hope that whoever I promised this for is still about. Sorry for the wait

 

 

Richard.

[sb67]

They look great Richard well done!

[Guest Max Stafford]

Fine work as usual Richard. The ways you can use these paints are as varied as the finishes they can produce!

 

Dave.

[Graham_Muz]

Richard

 

A very informative and usful thread although similar to the techniques I tend to use I am yet to really get stuck in using acrylics so this will tempt me to do so.

 

many thanks they look great.

[Jamie]

Those look excellent, I must get my mitts on those paints for a play - if nothing else, the insides and floors of my wooden bodied stock could use a 'facelift'.

[Bangor Lad]

Great stuff!

 

BL

[Rumblestripe]

Fantastic work there!

 

Can I just add an other endorsement to the use of acrylic washes? Of all the techniques you can learn to give an instant dollop of realism to figures, buildings or rolling stock it is this. And it is DEAD EASY. I haven't used the GW washes (I make my own with ink, W&N Flow Enhancer + Water) but they have had rave reviews on wargames sites. Worth a couple of quid to give washes a go.

[Ben Alder]

Thanks for all the kind words re. the wagons. Distressing these poor creatures is one of my foibles, and have been doing it for years now, but with the advances in acrylic paint quality, it has become an easy task. In my Humbrol enamel days doing one of these could take me a week, along with that heady aroma of thinners that made life take on a different appearance, but by using acrylics, a couple of evenings sees some done. I have used most of the usual ranges available successfully, although I tend to steer clear of Tamiya's range, mainly because of the smell, but I must say that the Lifecolor paints are some of the best I've come across. I haven't had them long enough to see how they keep once opened, but they are a treat to work with as they come. Highly recommended.

 

Richard

[Grant Newhouse]

very nice, but one question whats weathered wood base ?

[jwealleans]

The base coat is the one you put one first and 'weathered wood' was the colour used.