Couldn't stand the look of the new MTL SP GP35 so I gave it a once over: I'll do the other later but wanted to keep it clean until I get good photos (need the other camera next week). Need to put more rust spots on it and white wash. Also did one of my AZL UP SD70's in preperation for the expensive C44 I just ordered to go with these bad boys. Only get one chance on that expensive brass. It certainly looks better in person, more contrast. Need the other camera. One thing I've got to master is the Dull Coat overcoat washes out a lot of the contrast, especially the lighter chalks and also makes the black chalks run and spot. Take a look at Toltec Images from some great shots. They sell at most of the shows and are really sharp plastic laminated pictures. http://www.toltecimages.com/trains/spindex.html
Good job on weathering the Sp. Now it looks like the real thing. I dont think the UP went far enought. What kind of products did you use, and what kind of technique did you use.
Sweet work Jeff! Are these all done with chalk? I've worked with oils quite a bit, but I think I need to make a trip down to the art supply and give this a try. I have my SP's as well and they need to be buffed up a bit. Joe
Thanks everyone. I'll post quality pix so the detail will show better (need the camera from work). I used Bragdon's chalks but you can essentially use chalks from an art supply store. Sometimes the chalks stick OK, sometimes not. If you spray Dull Coat or a matte medium, they will "stick" much better. Dull Coat works well but I'm tempted to try matte medium which should be more sticky. However, no matter how thick or much you spray Dull Coat, it dries VERY thin so I trust it. Spray two tinner coats to get 100% coverage. TAKE THE PLASTIC WINDOWS OUT FIRST or cover them well with tape or they WILL fog !!! I don't know how thin I can get matt medium. I'm going to pick up some 50 cent car parts at the show this weekend to try the medium. I use various brushes, toothpicks and my finger to apply. The brushes are very stiff ("fabric" brushes with very stiff white bristles from Michaels art supply). Most brushes are made by Lowe. Trim the short to make the stiffer. They have flat and round. I use the round to make cancer rust spots or small area stains like the door handles and hinges. Dip the brush tip and tap it on the plastic or lightly rub that one raised spot. Toothpicks make good spots too. Use the flat brush to work into radiators grills, walk ways, roof tops (more in the middle and the front too from the loco in front). Bragdons doesn't have black-black, only sooty or grimy (sorta grey) so it's hard to get really dark. I need to get some artist chalk and try that, especially on the fuel tank. You can use a #2 pencil but that's a bit hard, use ladies eyebrow liner. Use other colors next to another rather than just putting on one color, you'll get better contrast. You need to seal it or it will get easily fingerprinted. Unfortunately Dull Coat takes the contrast out, nearly washes out the light colors and seems to make the black run or spot a bit. Eitherway, it looks MUCH better than factory. Use some HO rolling stock, auto or airplane models to practice on, they're cheap and easy to get.
Jeff has his weathering down. I asked him to make this kitbashed 4 bay look beaten down, and he got it right:
I'm always fascinated about weathered Items. It makes a big differece compared to shiny factory stuff. Here is a picture from John Cubbins Bridge Abutsment with cool weathering:
Here is a comparison between unweathered, weathered with paint, weathered with powder. 1: Unweathered. 2: Weathered with paint. This look`s pretty awful when you close up like this. 3: This one is weathered with powder. This look`s really good in close up!
I like the powder better too Henrik! I think because all you can do with paint is small scratches, which look big in the camera. With powders, the particles are so small that even the camera makes them look to scale. I vote powders as the best for weathering now! I would like to see what a mix would do. Can you weather over the paint weathered car with powders Henrik? It might look real good to mix the two kinds of weathering?
good illustration Henrik "less is more" ;-) when it comes to weathering at least in my humble opinion Chris
You are so right Chris. "Les is more" some times. And that is one off the most difficult tricks to do. In RL it looks rely well but up close with macro it looks so bad. One should perhaps use an enlargement lens when applying the weathering. That way it will show more closely how it would look with macro shots. But to get the weathering to look good in both RL and on pictures is almost an impossible task in these small scales I think. So everything is for its own use, one for home layouts and macro shots, and one for the Trainshows and the RL experience. And Hendrik, you are now beginning to get the hang off the weathering technique it seems. Nice photos and work.
I use pastels of which I make powder. With a brush and sometimes a little water I brush the powders on the models. For the trains I also use some paint for the trucks. With a coat of matt fixative I seal the weathering. But it also sprays away a lot of the powder.... So sometimes I have to do the models twice. I found out that especially HO models need a lot of powder!
