So how do you get a stuck loco out of those little holes? Ya know Pete, I haven't had much contact with N scalers over the years but I recall asking a guy once long ago how he cleaned all the tiny stuff and he said he just sprayed the layout with water ocassionally! Sound like a plan? ....dave
Well, I finally got around to it, and pulled out the beercan train. The weathering is all wrong at a close-up view, especially the tanks under the ladders. In many places it's light where it should be dark. Tough cookies. It's OK with me for now, as it probably took 30 seconds to smudge up each car. But it's the kind of lightly weathered effect that I like, and works for photos. Some of the top dust is the naturally acquired kind.
Not sure I understand what you mean by little holes. The stalls themselves? No problem that a dental pick can't solve. I can usually pop off a roof section. Not only is old plastic brittle, but old plastic glue bonds are pretty weak too! Before I moved this monstrosity, it worked really real on the previously layout. The only time I had troubles inside the roundhouse was when I tried to load a loco into a stall that was already occupied. It's pretty dark in there. Yes, it's wired for lights, but hooking them up is about 787 on a 10,000 item list. I have actually bathed some structures under a stream of water before setting them anew. I'm not sure I could flood my garage. A stream of air works better than a stream of water, I think!
Hi Pete, Yeah the stalls look pretty tight for big fingers. I remember the SP roundhouse at watsonville. It was funny but it looked better filled with diesels than it did with steamers! The light thru the tall windows just brought out the true beauty of the SP paint scheme. After hearing that story about cleaning the N scale layout with water I'm thinking I'll build in a scale underground drainage system for my next layout. That way I can spray away and know the water will run off( as long as I do the drainage calculations correctly!)....dave
While I fully respect those who don't weather, I fear that many people don't do certain aspects of the hobby they would like to try due to being afraid to even try to learn how it's done. I started weathering cars a few years ago, perhaps even over-weathering the first few. I use an airbrush on all of them, but am getting ready to give a try to Bragnon Industries powders to weather a few undec's I've got on the bench to be painted. Let's take a gander of those project cars keeping in mind that my layout is somewhere in the late 1970' or 1980's (I backdate and update as I please. Artistic license under the heading of it's my railroad...I'll do as I wish.): 1. 2 Micro-Trains AAR 40' single door box cars: Willl be heavily to very heavily weathered. They old and running their last miles. 2. 2 Micro-Trains double door 50' box cars: Moderate to heavy weathering. Fairly new...but used and seen some milage. 3. 2 Atlas 60' auto-parts plug door box cars: light to very moderate weathering...more to the rusty trucks and dust side of weathering. Relatively new. 4. 2 Atlas 50' foot plug door box cars: Moderate weathering. Ready to be shopped and rebuilt or scrapped. Everything should be relative to age and era. I try to work from photos on any prototype equipment. Freelance equipment is my imagination at work. IE; Perhaps a shortline never washes their cars...etc. Recently I acquired an Atlas U23B undecorated cheap and found a wonderful picture of a C&O unit in my era on Fallen Flags web site. The battery box doors had the blue C&O paint worn away, and it just caught my eye...so I modeled it. This picture was also in Toledo, so at least I know it could have seen time on the Toledo Terminal, for which my railroad is loosely based. I also just finished a pair of SD-50's in Chessie System paint and decided to leave them only moderately to lightly weathered as they would be fairly new in the early to mid 1980. There is definately a learning-curve to the technique of weathering, but if you're afraid to do it...give it a try. You'll probably do a better job than you think. Just weather your trucks to start out. Then work your way along toward the whole car. I saw someone refer to how easy it would be to overweather in n-scale as opposed to larger scales. I don't believe scale matters. The techniques are the same, you just use less paint or chalk, or powder. If you're concerned...under-do everything and then add to it. Always stop short of of what you think you want the end product to look like. In offering clinics I have found that most people respond well when I pull someone who has admitted that they are affraid of "technique X" up from the audience to do the work while I instruct them...and poke fun at them too. This breaks the ice and tension for most people. Then they see this person can do it and they figure they can too. You won't know what your capable of until you try it. Give it whirl. Greg
I certainly agree with Greg about this. I don't know why, but initially, weathering seems to turn out well no matter what you do. This may not be true of soldering, track laying, etc.
I'd agree with you Flash! Everything has a learning curve, but I would hope everyone would try at least...TRY each technique. Practice makes you better...and don't expect perfection on the first try. Getting frustrated is okay. Keep after it though. I just get a bit down when people say..."Oh! I can't do (fill in the blank)!" How do you know? Soldering and track laying, making scenery is all about doing it until you learn how. Sometimes people work themselves up into a lather thinking they can't do anything, and thus they don't try. That being said, there's nothing wrong with working with others on your weakest areas to either learn how to do "IT"...or if you find you're just plain hopeless at "IT" then getting help from others for the task. At least you tried! Greg
Gregg, I am a big fan of your concept: you have chosen a loose time period and area and adjust your equipment to realistically fit it. I think the only other input for weathering is by location, as others have already indicated, there is that southwest dirt, mountain snow and winter grime, etc. In urban areas, even a new boxcar or piece of rolling stock ends up getting tagged (look at all the nice new, bright red, CP hi-cube boxcars with the golden gopher that are so shiny, but covered in graffitti). As for the learning curve, I found that if I started with india ink in rubbing alcohol, I could spread it, than dab with a rag leaving only a dull black light residue, its "safe" as a starter! And much like Pete, I have weathered cars that I think look great, than take a macro photo and look again before saying, wow, that looks- well-not so good! the 3 foot rule definitely applies! all in all, I think weathering is a lot of fun, leaves you satisfied with an sense of accomplishment, and adds a lot of character to your stock and layout. all my best to everyone, Jan
I'm also with Greg all the way, and Flash too. I'm lucky that I've been into both fine and graphics art literally all my life. But it wasn't until I "loosened up" my techniques that I got any good. Many people without an art background feel, when first starting out, that they have to paint every leaf in the forest. In weathering, they feel they have to apply every speck of rust individually and, if they make a mistake, they've ruined the piece. It's simply lack of confidence in a new endeavor. Hands-on experience, as in Greg's clinics, let people learn and gain confidence in the tools and techniques. I've done a few in-house clinics for scientists who want to illustrate their concepts. They'll say, "Well, I can't draw a straight line." I'll answer, "That's what a ruler is for." That's what chalks are for in weathering. Make a mistake, wash it off. It's why I don't use an airbrush that often for weathering. My layout is pretty large, and my time recently has been pretty lacking. So a 30-second or less weathering job is just ideal--for me. It is fun to get my hands really dirty, and stroke, poke, and shimmy with a soft brush filled with chalk dust. The three-foot rule will rule until I retire, and it may rule after that.
I weathered a few cars tonight. Here are some before and after pictures. Before: After: Before: After: I airbrushed on a thinned mixture of Polly S Grimy Black and US Earth Brown using an Aztek dual action airbrush. Like Pete, I don't like to spend more than about 30-60 seconds weathering a car. I was especially pleased with the results on the Seaboard offset side 40' hopper. It's a Bachmann piece that originally looked pretty toy like. The weathering really made it look much more believable. There are more pictures in my N scale rolling stock / motive power album.
I think the thing that makes the weathered cars stand out is their uniqueness.I personally weather all rolling stock and locomotives.Keeping in mind the dates of the cars in a consist (and the era modeled )helps define the amount of weathering.If you model the 1970's and have a car from the early sixties in your consist,it should be more weathered than a car from 1974.I agree it is easy to overweather.I find that at the point I think "just a little more", is the best time to quit.Using different weathering techniques gives your rolling stock variations of severity just like the prototype.
