milocomarty

It's always a bit of a struggle weathering cars. The hardest part is where to stop. In this case I wonder if I didn't go to dark on steel beams on this car. After fading with a mixture of clear matte varnish, airbrush thinner, white and rust wash I made the decision to darken all the beams and other lines on the car with a dark grey wash. Maybe I should have used a lighter tone, maybe not. Maybe I can enlighten the overall appearance with some filters or try it with some oil paints. Well I finished these base layers with an overall spray of varnish and it's ready for the accents, streaks and other funny things that appears on boxcars used for quit some time. We see how it works out.

Already weathered a couple of German boxcars in 1:32. Untill now all of these had a different year of build, slightly different design but do look almost the same. Plywood walls, aluminium or PVC roofing. Now on the bench a type Gmhs 53, what else, first year they build and delivered them hmmmmmmm let's say .'53 ? And with the Europ codes on the side it's not that old. Changed it in '61 to RIV codes I believe, correct me when I'm wrong. So let's say this one slipped through and didn't get the new codes. Customer rides between '55 and '70. Faded yeah , red-brown paint fades in 11 years time. Heavily rusted , guess no. Well maintained but never been painted again..maybe a small touch here and there but we'll see how that turns out. For now I painted the frame with 2 primers, AMMO trackrust and rust, nice dark brown, brownish colors like all the soot and dirt that goes on a boxcar frame. Added a couple of acrylic washes with a mixture of dark grey and rust thinned 50% with acrylic thinner just to darken it and enhance the details. Gave the springs a light rust wash, can't remember but I think around 5 layers. Remounted the upper body and started fading it, mixture of mat varnish, white and rust wash thinned 50% and spray painted layer over layer in random patterns. For todays last treatment I started with a grey acrylic wash and added some shadows and darkened the seams and the roof a bit. I'm a lucky guy for this one, can go as far as I want the customer says.. Same story on my blog https://dirtystuffbymartinwelberg.wordpress.com/2016/08/20/a-german-gmhs-53-boxcar-in-scale-1/

Thanks Shoey !! Well guess I figured out the white balance thingies. Use an Expodisc 2.0 and must say not cheap but a great tool, and some white, grey and black cards. Did run these pictures through Lightroom and most of the time the white balance is pretty good but I just had to increase the exposure.With that set it's time to concentrate on the models again. Added some streaking grimes to the roof and a couple of pinwashes to enhance the details, bit of wheel splatter too..let the fun begin.

Some thoughts. Well this white balance issue still bothered me so I decided to download the trail version of Lightroom CC and I must say I really like it. Still had an ongoing O scale project and I decided to work a bit on it and take some pictures afterwards.Can't tell too much about all the steps I took because of my publisher but I can show a couple of pictures taken in RAW and edited with Lightroom CC. Added the yellow boxcar as some kinda bonus with one of the featured settings used. Think I can make the copyrights a bit smaller..

For a couple of days now I have this struggle with setting the white balance good for the new Nikon D5300. For years I do use the pre setting on my D60 and never had trouble like this or at least I can't remember that. So uesed to the camera that I layed down the grey cart, pointed shot and measured the white balance for decent pictures. Now with the upgrade in hands I can't find the right settings or not used to the camera I oversee something in the menu or the settings. Well for now I found a setting with 2 stops overexposed when shooting farder away. But see for yourself and make a comment how I can improve..I added 3 pictures one with the white balance setting and the exposure the meters in the camera says, and 2 with one stop overexposure each. And to stay into the weathering stuff, these are shots of a new project on the bench. Scale 1 , or 1:32. Started to unscrew the undercarriage from the box and removed the wheels. The frame already has its first coat wich is a mixture of 2 brands primer, both Ammo by Mig and AK interactive make a good darker brown color primer wich I prefer to start with. Oh yeah, they are both named tracks primer..

Still ty to figure out how and what with this white balance. Gonna take some shots more I think to find out how and what to do about it. When I take the pre mode and measure the white balance with a grey card on the subject the color changes when I step back. The AF-S 60mm f/2.8G ED Micro is a fixed distance lens so I need to step back to get the whole subject. Well it's almost weekend and I'm pretty happy I shoot RAW to. Couple of shots to show the problem, and picture worked on with PS white balance done with "auto"mode. Pictures taken on a pure white piece of drawing paper with 2 softboxes loades with 4 105W daylight bulbs each.. Last shot is an original camera Jpeg.

So used to the Nikon D60 for years just with the original 18-55 kit lens that it's a though job goin through the menus of a D5300 and have the choice between a 60mm micro lens and a 18-105..but I start to learn..adjusting WB and so on to my prefered settings.

Thanks ! Well, let's make a decent post again. Maybe it's easier to link to the blog but you all deserve it to have it posted here. First as described in the blog I struggled with these smokestacks on the building. Is there a reason for it ? Well figured that there could be a boiler inside that uses a good pair of stacks. Gives me a reason for more piping from one to another building and maybe somekinda oiltank somewhere along or besides on top of the building..started rusting the and glued it to the roof. Added a touch of color by painting peeled paint with a fine tipped brush followed by a overall rust wash..

https://cardiganbaycoastalrailroad.wordpress.com/2016/08/06/prototypical-or-not/

Well time for more, added the roof to the staircase tower, finaly. Just plain paper grey Canson MIteintes coated with a couple of thin coats dark grey acrylic primer with the airbrush. Made a small mistake and added Ammo African dust to all the seams tossing the bottle. One complete mess. Toss the lid they already warned me often..big luck for me I work on a big A2 sketchblok, so only the paper soaked. Back to business, added this nature effect to all the seams and feathered it with odourless thinner. After that I went through my pigment collection and picked a few, Europe Dust, Industrial City Dirt, Factory Grey and Dark Mud all from Mig Productions. Placed, feathered, moved finaly touched down with odourless thinner blown dry with just the air from the airbrush. That's where the double action comes in handy. On the sloped roof I painted a couple of streaking effects before I went over with pigments. Pigments also had a light streaking motion. Finaly I speckles on some dark earthtone wash and a light dust wash wich I feathered with a damp brush and gave a streaking motion on the sloped roof.

You're right I guess Chaz. There's more to be added on several doors and windows. Not finished yet, wear and tear around the handrail should be more bare metal then rust IMO..

Maybe I'll try that Andrew. Slow progress on the Verne Niner Fresh Fruits buildings, spend a lazy sunday painting and playing with the airbrush. Adapted the Chuck Doan technique for weathered and peeling paint planks a long time ago and I did want to try something different. That's why I started painting wood like it's a styrene based building. Finishing the weathered woods I added a couple of coats of AMMO heavy chipping fluid to the walls of the building. Let it dry for a short time and gave it a coat of aged white. It's like the hairspray technique. After the aged white has dried wet the surface with clean tap water and start chipping with a brush. Used the same technique on the doors with the difference that I used scratches effects from AMMO for this one, just to get smaller chips and scratches. But first I did paint all the doors with several thin layers of different rust tones, very thinned paint, splatter with a brush and so on. After that three light coats of the scratches effects followed by a coat of faded light green. Tap water and a brush for chipping and scratches. For the windows I rely on the old chipping technique with different colors of rust colored acrylic paints, they are to fragile for the chipping technique with the AMMO fluids..

Been a long time that I did some work on the layout. For one of the newer stuctures on the wharf of Mara Harbor I tried another approach. This time no stains to start with but from the beginning various coats of acrylics. Started with spraypainting all the seams black followed by a light coat of white primer to highlight the middle of the planking. After that a overall coat with a sandcolored primer.Varios planks spraypainted using a indexcard with a concrete color followed with a dark grey wash. Handpainted, highlights with several other woodlike colors followed by another wash of dark grey.As this building will have an heavily chipped off white color I do like the dark tone the wood has right now. I think it adds more contrast to a building placed in the background of the layout and it will atrack the eye that way..

https://dirtystuffbymartinwelberg.wordpress.com/

Brush and sponge Mick, use flat or angled brushes, this so called deerfoot wich is somekinda brush for pastels. And these sponge applicators they sell with the Panpastel..Oops and yes a big soft flat brush for blending..

Slow progress on the coal hoppers. Drying times are the modelers worse nightmare. Added a bit of spotty rust on one of the black, now more greyish cars. The redish one I just had to try some basic fading and other soot and grimes with Panpastel only. Sealed inbetween with AK ultra matte varnish..

Gene https://www.megahobby.com/categories/paint-store/ak-interactive.html , USA but lot closer I guess otherwise you should ask Ralph Renzetti, he´s Canadian to I think..

Next project on the bench, only 4 to do..

No problem mate, like all kinda weathering. Most military stuff is a great example how things could be weathered if you take some time. Gene, the UK is still part of the EU. AK offers free shipping with orders over 70 euro..http://ak-interactive.com/v2/?page_id=22295

Rust and a couple of grimes will do.. Consider this one done. Couple of pigments to the roof, mixture of Ammo, AK, Vallejo and stuff from the artstore. Bit of dust on the underframe with Panpastel en some streaks more with dark brown for green vehicles from Ammo. Funny how the camera changes color with the same studio lights but a different background..

Well, guess I did have the same problem and bought them all..

Thanks Mick, gonna try a bit more also using powders and Panpastels..

Thanks Jonas ! Rust, rust, rust, well somekind of it. First time ever I used plain artist oilpaints for this. Dabbed and streaked, and well here is the first result. Paint still wet and I have no idea used to acrylics how long t takes to dry ? What I do like that it is ery forgiven like the enamels and you can create very subtile paterns with it..just used burned umber and burned sienna. Could use a bit of raw umber and some yellow raw sienna perhaps ?

Simple weathering with pinwashes, used an Athearn RtoR boxcar for this that I bought cheap on an expo. Although the car had a nice green finish I'm a strong believer that paint fades rapidly oer time. So to start the fade. Step 1: Used a mixture of Vallejo wash white and olive green to mix a light green color to fade, applied it with nd airbrush in several thin layers using the air out of the brush to speed dry the wash. I own a couple of double action brushes. Step 2: Overall finish with a satin varnish (also Vallejo in this case) Step 3: Start to pinwash on al the cravets, rivets and other deeper parts with a dark wash, used Ammo wash for Nato camouflage in this case. Step 4: Remove the excess wash with a damp brush dipped in odourless thinner and dapped on a paper towel to remove the excess thinner. Clean the brush on the towel when needed Step 5: Add streaks already by using a wide flat damp brush and wipe it gently over the surface. Car is ready for more weathering steps..

Slow but steady progress, first layer on the sides is on, just a little detail to be added. Its a company car so it will be dirty but not neglected..just have to figure out what roof cover they used on a German G30..