Here are some covered hoppers I finished about a month ago. I finally got around to photographing them the other night. Rail Runner/Athearn kit Rail Runner/Athearn kit Bev-Bel/Athaern Weathering: Drybrushing: Polly Scale Grimy Black Wash: Polly Scale Grimy Black thinned with blue windshield washer fluid at 1:5 Sealer: Testors Dullcoat
Nice work again Tom! Will look forwards in seeing more! Any loco's done and all? On a side note, I don't get the blue windshield wiper fluid, what exactly does it do to the Polly S paint????? Being its an alcohol base or something????? I normally usedistilled water for my Polly S or well Polly Scale paints! I missed the fine print someplace.....
John, Thanks. I do have some Manuta cars that I just finished. I need to take some photos of them. Once I do I will post them. I have not worked up the nerve to do a locomotive yet. I have a couple of old ones that no longer run that I will be practicing on soon. I am not sure why the blue windshield wiper fluids works. I tried distilled water but for some reason the paint job looked chalky. The windshield wiper fluid was recommended to me when I asked some people on what they used. I was having all kinds of problems with airbrushing with Polly Scale at the time and thought maybe it was the thinner. As it turned out for me it was not and I gave up on Polly Scale for airbrushing. For a time I still used it for weathering but lately I have been using the "craft" paints for everything.
Tom, You wouldn't bu chance have a older Mantua/Ulrich covered hopper that had something to do with sugar on it. It was all white, I can't remember the lettering to the car. Altho, I do remember it was an operating car. I need one or 2 of these to make into ballast hoppers for on my MOW train. I have a pice of one I got in the topic I made up of "The Train that made me famous" or something or other... Its car number 15. I need at least one more of them! Or if I can get more I can use 2. If someone had one or 2 of these an were willing to get rid of them, I'd surely trade some cars for them! Or buy them if need be! I don't care if they're missing the trucks/couplers (they had talgo mounted couplers anyway) and the roof being it was a covered hopper. I need the body an the little hopper doors that hand down from the bottom. And if the hatches are missing, I can have them casted if need be. I just wish I could find a few of these cars....
Speaking as a person who has worked at both building of new, and repairing 1:1 rail cars- A grump that I often have with modelers, is with the painting of wheels, (too close to an orange for their "rust"), and weathering colors of underbodies. I really like what I see here. This is an excellent representation of used, yet maintained rolling stock. Very nice job! Boxcab E50 [ 13. April 2003, 05:19: Message edited by: BoxcabE50 ]
Boxcab (Ken I believe), when I weather wheels, being I don't normally weather my own stuff, I use rail brown and lighten it with some white an add alittle rust to the paint an it comes out pretty good! Then alittle dry brushed oily black, and grimy black does the trick! As it doesn't turn out so "orangish" and not rust looking being dark an oily with road grime. But I don't do this to my own cars or anything.... just the loads on the cars if they need weathering... As I only weather the loads I put on cars an not the car itself. I'm hell on having fresh new looking rolling stock an loco's.... [ 13. April 2003, 22:46: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]
Yup. Tis I..... Even when we'd unload the new wheels from open gondolas, all machined, and ready to press on to axles, they were not orange. The corrosion was possibly closer to a brown. You've got it exactly. Grime is the key to it all. Wheels will be coated with anything they pick up along the way. Pumping ties will splash up mud. Dust will coat. Leaking bearings will smudge. Even the residue from a loco sander being used will attach. Once that coating is on, you'll not see much corrosion at all. Only on wheel tread areas, will you see a small amount of orangish discoloration. And that soon darkens when the cars sit idle for any length of time. Boxcab E50 [ 13. April 2003, 06:50: Message edited by: BoxcabE50 ]
Ken, I tell ya, I never got into weathering wheels at all.. I never cared for it being the "rust" color as we both said is to "orangish" looking an not rust colored... And to consistant in color as well... Every wheel face is different in color.. so the consistancy really took me away from weathering wheels. However, if I make a wheel car (Which I am for my MOW train) I'm going to rust up the load. Not the car itself nor the wheels the car rides on! What it is with a weathered load on a car, an not the actual car itself, I don't know, I like "new" looking cars, or "newly-rebuilt" cars.... with next to fresh paint.... But I do paint the trucks on my cars, when I remember too! As I don't like the shiny black plastic, or the off color dark brown metal trucks from being chemically blackened. So, I paint them all when I remember to (as I'm known to forget every now an again) flat black.... With no dullcote, being I use a good laquer based enamel paint for this....
i've been using a dark brown craft paint to paint ALL of mine. Then for every 5-8 cars or so i may do on axle or maybe all of them in a light brown to simulate the "New" Wheels. I see Coal hoppers roll by all the time, with wheels half light brown and half dark brown, or even light "Orangey" brown when it's a pretty new wheel. The other day I saw a (Rare find for around here) Tankcar with wheels that had a different "profile" wheel, and they were a graphite color with specs of rust and lightly rusted wheel tread.
Some very interesting observations on wheel weathering there Those hoppers look very realistic, with just the right amount of weathering. Great work!
Thanks everyone for the comments. Boxcab E50 I agree about weathered wheels looking too orange. The first sets I did look like pumpkins going around the tracks. It took me awhile to get them looking the way I like. I spent several railfanning trips looking at just wheels and trucks and then doing some experimenting. I found that Polly Scale Rust straight from the bottle, no thinning works. Now that I am switching completely over to craft paints I am using Americana Burnt Sienna (1 part) and Folk Art Bright Peach (3 parts). John, sorry I can’t help with the hopper. Most of my older stuff was damaged in one my moves about 12 years ago. What wasn’t damaged my five year-old son has claimed for himself. I found that as long as he has his own trains he stays away from the good ones. [ 14. April 2003, 15:32: Message edited by: Tompm ]
Thanks Tom! I appreciate that! I've been on a hunt for those cars for awhile as I can stand atleast one more..... and more then 2 if I can get my hands on them! As I'm trying to keep alittle "uniformity" in my MOW train that I posted a topis of an a ton of pictures.... Why must I pick the odd, hard to find cars ..... one will never know!
The same reason I model the LNE, Reading, CNJ, Penn Central, and PRSL. We love a challenge. It is also why I got into painting and lettering custom cars. There is very little selection in my modeled roads.
What an interesting way of describing the visual effect! Sitting here and trying to picture this scenario, I have to agree that's exactly how it appears to me. Boxcab E50 [ 15. April 2003, 17:36: Message edited by: BoxcabE50 ]
I hear that Tom! I'm all about Challenge! If it ain't got no challenge..... I loose interest! But then with me, I always seem to pick the odd hard-to-find cars thats no longer made an start something with them! Broken or not. I rebuild them an end up later needing a few more.. As it always seems a never ending story of hunting the exact type cars an not a substitute! I don't knoiw why I keep that consistancy in the trains that I redesign an build but it sure looks good when I'm done! Theirs alot of things made for the B&O an Western Maryland, when years ago it was all hard to get if you could even get it an not have to make it yourself. but thats the highlight of the challenge.. making the stuff yourself! I want to build a Western Maryland J-1 "Potomac" 4-8-4. Just finding the loco to do it is the trouble.....With out of going to Brass (of course) All in time tho!
