I decided to do a posting with more detail on haw I am weathering my freight cars so here it goes.
I'm starting with TLDX 7415. This is an Athearn blue box kit from back when Dinosaurs walked the Earth. This might be an old Bev-bel custom car, could be stock Athearn, I really don't know. I applied some weathering with an airbrush years ago. A little on the body, but mostly on the trucks but the stock wheels have since been swapped out for metal Proto wheels which didn't receive weathering. The paint I used in the airbrush was Floquil, so I'll have to work over it because I can't remove it.
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It's not a bad looking car, certainly looks better with some weathering than with none.
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With the trucks removed you can see how nice and shiny the wheels are. The truck side frames are pretty bland, mono-color and lack detail.
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| After separating the wheels from the trucks I soaked the trucks in Dot 3 brake fluid to remove the paint. Then I washed them in warm soapy water and let them dry a few days. Then I applied small strips of masking tape over the axle holes on the inside of the trucks to keep out paint and anything that could fowl the axles. What you see above is the trucks with a coat of flat black automotive primer. the primer will improve the adhesion of the weathering powder to the sideframes. The wheel sets were also painted with primer. |
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These are the three Acrylic colors I will use to add rust to the car.
From left to right Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, and Burnt Umber. |
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| The first color I apply is the Raw Sienna. It is a very good color for what you see when rust is discoloring paint from underneath. On the lower right of the car is a black stripe in the space between the airline and the bottom the the car side. I made the stripe with a fine tip black Sharpy marker. Unfortunately the marker was old and didn't apply an even layer of ink. I had to buy a new one to finish the job. |
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| Here we have the layer of Burnt Sienna applied. |
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| The next three images show the application of Burnt Sienna over the Raw Sienna then Burnt Umber over the Burnt Sienna using the dry brush technique. When I apply the darker color I start in the middle of an area with the Raw Sienna and work my way outward, blending the two colors and fading out with the darker color leaving the lighter Raw Sienna around the edges of the rusty area. I have a set of three brushes that I use exclusively for dry brushing. The brush handles are the same color but different from all the other brushes I have. |
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| After the acrylic paint has dried I seal the car with Dulcoat to preserve what I have. |
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| In this view I have added a thin wash of black using water mixable oil paint thinned with Windex then then dry again sealed with Dulcoat |
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| I think all rollingstock looks best when photographed in it element. |
I realize I don't have any images or information on how I weathered the trucks. I lost the images I had taken of the process so I'll have to do that again another time.
