Weathering Flat Cars (TOFC)

I am weathering some trailer on flat cars. One area that truly needs weathering is the flat car decks. On the Athearn blue box kits the decks are the same color as the rest of the car as shown below:



Since they look very out of place this way I decided to weather them. I will be using Folk Art acrylic paints.

First I brush paint the decks with unthinned Barnyard Gray.



Next I drybrushed Burnt Umber. I brushed in the direction of the wood grain.

 

Next color I drybrushed was Raw Sienna



Next is Raw Umber



Last color is Asphlatum



Now the deck is done. The cars are ready for the rest of the weathering process.

Other color variations could use different tans, grays, browns, and even some reds.

 

Cool! Thanks for the tutorial. I love these acrylic paints - I get Anita's Acrylics in a 2 oz. bottle for 57 cents from Hobby Lobby. Michael's has similar brands for about the same price.

 

Great How To!
I need a few flat cars, too. Thank you for the ideas.

Wolfgang

 

I use Americana acrylics. I'll be referring to these pics very soon for some upcoming work. Thanks for posting.

 

Thanks everyone!

Here are some of the trailers weathered.

I weathered them with a wash of Folk Art Charcoal Gray (1 part) and Blue Windshield Washer Fluid (6 parts). I brushed the wash on heavy and then with a dry brush I removed most of it. The trailers were sealed with Testors Dullcoat.

 

Nice job Tom!:thumbs_up:

 

Thanks to Ralph DeBlasi showing me your thread, I'm going to definitely try this out, as I have several flat cars waiting to be decaled and weathered. Nice work! Thanks for sharing as well!

 

I'd like to know how this type of weathering is done on modern-ish Trailer Train TOFC flats. It's obviously going to be different since the decks are made of steel, not wood, are colored yellow and do not have the same texture.

 

Good technique on weathering flat car decks!

 

To be painted right, well used pig flats get alot of "skid" marks from the truck tires.