Best Way to Weather Blue Rr Rolling Stock
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| Posted by dknelson on Sunday, April 17, 2016 6:45 PM This has been an ongoing debate ever since John Allen made weathering a standard practice. The late Paul Jansen's photos of brass steam locomotives that used to grace the Pacific Fast Mail catalogs often showed engines painted gray, in part because the details tend to disappear when things are painted black, particularly gloss black. That is why prototype steam locomotives and rolling stock were often painted a special shade of gray for original builders' photographs. The late John Gascoyne used to use various shades of black and gray to highlight details on the steam locomotives he custom painted or scratch built. When he was accused of over-weathering he pointed out that it depended on what he was modeling -- if it was a C&O 4-6-4 for the FFV passenger train it was dark and glossy. If it was a C&O 0-6-0 that never was sent through a wash rack in its career, it looked pretty rough. But I have seen photos of steam locomotives, such as SP, MoPac, NYC and Pennsy, where the engines did indeed appear gray or at least not very dark, due to the paint being aged, or perhaps for SP, due to sandy terrain or salty air. By contrast for whatever reason Milwaukee Road steam locomotives, even when shown on a dead line or meeting a scrapper's torch, look very black indeed. Locally, when Wisconsin Central boxcars were new, or newly painted, the paint was not only shiny like a new car, but was a beautiful deep rich red. As the cars aged the paint first got chalky and lost all gloss, then lightened in color more and more. Some eventually looked nearly pink. The C&NW had some covered hoppers in a beautiful dark green - as they aged not only did the gloss go away but the paint faded in such a way as to turn the cars a shade of blue! And I have seen gondolas get loaded with scrap where the railroad crane with a magnet drops the scrap from quite a height - and the gons have side panels that bulge out between the side ribs and top chord. One also sees boxcars with bulging sides (and roofs) where various fork-lift jockies have done damage - not enough to send the car to the RIP track but enough to alter its appearance. This kind of weathering is rarely modeled. Some weathering is grossly overdone I agree but on balance I suspect the majority of model railroaders do not weather at all. I was talking about this just today at an NMRA divisional meet and the guy I was talking to said he would never weather a freight car -- all his cars are MicroTrains N scale collectors cars and he was afraid weathering would ruin the value! Dave Nelson
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| A few thoughts: The farther away from the real train you are, the less obvious its weathered condition is - unless of course it is just a pile of rust. At three feet, in HO, you are 261 scale feet from the model. That is my guide for how stuff should look. I don't spend much time with my eyes 12" from the model..... Much of today's detailed weathering is based on up close viewing of the prototype - 20, 30 feet away. My feeling is that always leads to an over weathered model when viewed from layout operating distances. Railroading is dirty business, more important to me to add some of the dirt, not so much the deterioration......... Some stuff should look nearly new - the railroads do have car washers, steam clearners, paint shops, etc. I've seen color photos from the 50's, a lot of stuff was in very good condition..... From what I have been able to figure out, steam looked its worst during WWII and right before it all went to the scrap line. Other than those times in history, they were generally kept clean and painted within reason. Even right after WWII, steam was cleaned, painted, repaired as soon as war traffic levels slowed down - but then maybe not much else done as diesels started to take over. I like very light generic "dust and dirt" weathering, with just a few hints of rust here and there, very subtle. A lot of my stuff is unweathered right now, simply because of time being spent elsewhere. I do like passenger trains and some locos to be nearly perfectly clean...... Sheldon
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| Posted by doctorwayne on Sunday, April 17, 2016 10:34 PM
While I'm "Forbidden" from viewing your first link, most, if not all, of the others are wartime photos, which generally support Sheldon's statement:
Each modeller has their own preferences for weathering, from none to "way too much" for all but the ones who like it that way. I paint and letter all of my locomotives and almost all of my freight and passenger equipment, and everything gets some weathering. I prefer my locos well-maintained but weathered (the initial weathering done within the paints chosen for the "new" paint job, then supplemented with additional road dirt and grime applied over the paint job). ...and the 7780, brand new (not yet weighed), but already somewhat weathered: ...here it is again, in a photo taken just minutes ago: I also weather my passenger equipment, but usually just a bit of road dust and grime on the underbody and a bit on the lower portion of the sides, below the beltrail. The paint still has a semi-gloss not always apparent in photos: My weathering will seem too heavy to some, and too light for others, but it's pretty much how I like it. I do have some more heavily weathered cars, too, like this Santa Fe reefer due for re-building into a steel car: ...or this NYC car, also destined for re-building as a single door steel car: Both of those cars were built based on prototype photos. This one got a little more weathering than intended, but was brought back, somewhat, with additional paint. Gotta have a few bad apples in the barrel, eh? Far from home, this one likely wouldn't see much of the car washers: Wayne
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| Posted by AntonioFP45 on Monday, April 18, 2016 5:29 AM DocWayne, outstanding work as usual and excellent advice! IMHO, Tatans sums it up well. Only tidbit I'm adding is for modelers (newbs or long-timers) that are curious but hesitant to give weathering a shot: Go light! Back in the 90s my first weathering job, a bluebox PFE reefer, was a disaster! Made the mistake of trying to achieve a "Penn Central" effect. Didn't attempt weathering again for a stretch until I eventually realized that I was trying too hard. Weathering should be a relaxing, enjoyable activity. A very safe route to take is to lightly weather your locomotive's or rolling stock's underframe. I was amazed at how much more a unit stands out by lightly applying thin coats of earth tone colors on the truck sideframes, brake gear, tanks, stirrups, and couplers. Only takes a few minutes. Cool factor with using acrylics for weathering is that if you go overboard, it's easy to wash off on the spot (but don't wait too long). Here are two identical units. Walthers Budd Baggage-Dorm cars. The top unit's underframe was weathered, the bottom was not. You can clearly see which underframe stands out.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
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I'm not remotely interested in arguing the merits of various levels of weathering, but I will take just a minute to explain my statement and what Wayne was commenting on. Historicly, the teens and the twenties were big growth periods for the railroads, they had lots of money and were very image conscious - paint schemes were fancy and well maintained. The depression, despite the modeling of some, did not really take hold of the whole economy until about 1933, so fact is, people still painted their houses, repaired their buildings, washed their cars, and railroads maintained their infrastructures and equipment. Railroading has always been a dirty business, I said that above. But allowing equipment to become dangeriously rusty and damaged was not really that common. Just as the country might have been coming out of the depression, war broke out. All the young men went overseas, railroads were called on to move men and machine, they were forced to make do with limited staff and limited resources - maintenance was defered. The war ends - railroads get the last of big payments due them from the government. A new type of suburban economy blossums as GI's return home. Railroads invest billions in updated equipment, repairs, last efforts at fancy passenger trains, and shinny new diesels in colorful paint schemes - for a while, just like the the early part of the century, the railroads look pretty clean and well cared for. Some steam hangs on while ALCO and EMD try to build enough diesels. Some in particular are noted for this - the N&W and the WM in particular - and both kept steam longer than others and kept them in good repair and always clean. Highways and airlines end any real hopes of rail passenger serice, outdated regulated tariffs choke railroads trying to compete with trucks, piggyback growth is slowed by bad government policy. Government begins cutting back postal service by rail. Railroads begin to look to merger and consolidation to remain competitive. The economy slows in the late 60's and the railroads fall into some disrepair, begining what is likely the worst period in thier history regarding the condition of their equipment and infrastructure. So, time period, locale, type of railroad, type and age of equipment, and much more play a role in how equipment might appear. But there has always been equipment in every "stage" of wear and tear - you model the ones you want, I will model the ones I want. Those dirty, coal dust covered cars in those urban freight yards likely looked very different just days or weeks later as they traveled through the open country side and got a good bath from a heavy rain - away from the dirty city. And yes, they would get dirty again in some coal dust filled freight yard, and would at some point make it back to their home shops for paint and service, just like several of the cars in those photos. Cars that look to be 10-20 years old, but are freashly painted....... The two cars you linked to are very artfully weathered, however, as I pointed out in my original post, that sort of weathering looks very real up close, but looks very overdone as you stand and view a train moving past you from three feet away. Dr. Wayne's cars look much better than those from a normal viewing distance..... Sheldon
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| Posted by Doughless on Wednesday, April 20, 2016 8:54 PM A few thoughts: I think weathering of models looks heavier in photos than in the flesh. The camera seems to bring out the weathering, but maybe that has something to do with the photography than the model. I agree with the post that talks about NOT creating a uniform dull sheen over the entire model. Paint fades differently and some places might have worn paint, even rust spots, where other places still have plenty of sheen. I like to weather by first blending paint in an attempt to match the body color. It will never be a perfect match. I then apply that paint with a fine brush to the rivet points , doors, creases, etc. The difference in sheen and slight color variation brings out the details and gives a hint of a weathered look without giving that "paint over paint" look that is common with our models. I like to use a curved bladed hobby knife to gently scrape the lettering. If done gently, it will scrape just enough paint to look like faded lettering (because the body color is starting to poke through), then a wash over the lettering with the blended paint color (see above) adds more to the faded lettering look. Trying to represent faded lettering by simply painting or airbrushing over it does not look good, IMO. You have to remove some of the paint. Its harder to do if the lettering is a decal. Edit: The weathering of the boxcars in the links provided above is very good. I think the StMary's boxcar looks better than the D&H. JMO, but the D&H looks like brown paint was applied over the white lettering, but not much if any of the lettering itself was removed or thinned. OTOH, the faded lettering of the STM car looks more realistic. I don't know the technique used, but I suspect he airbrushed a very thin coat of white paint over the lettering to give it that faded look. Its very helpful that the car body is white itself so the spray does not stand out, which it would if it was applied to a dark colored car. But I could be wrong. - Douglas
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Source: https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/256128/2865082.aspx
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