CSX Hopper Weathering Project

I've been practicing my weathering techniques for about a year now and have completed about a dozen cars to a level that I feel is pretty decent.  I'd like to get to the level of the guys on The Rustbucket website and would appreciate any constructive criticism that anyone may have.

This is a car that I kept toned down.  I was trying to recreate the weathering I observed on the following hopper I photographed in Kitchener, ON last summer:

Notice the dark fade/shading on the side panels.  And the rust spots are relatively concentrated.

I created the shaded lines with pan pastels and a micro-brush.  The rust spots are done with oils and then I mixed weathering powders with dull coat and applied it like a paste over the oils to give the spots a little texture.  The car was first faded with an airbrush and diluted white paint.  Some railtie brown was airbrushed around the base to give some general dirt and then some enamel washes were used for more specific shading and streaks.  It's a very multi-layered process.  Here is my finished car:

Great work

Steve,

I think you have done a great job creating the look of the prototype picture on the CSX hopper.  The only thing I can think of that would make it better would be to clean off the top of the side ribs a bit.  They usually stay cleaner than the rest of the side of the car.

Thanks Ryan

I know what you are saying about the side ribs.  I guess i could have lightened the ribs a little more.  With this colour of car, they probably would have faded to more of a light yellow.

Steve

Looks good

Looks good. The beauty with oil is you can make some nice "streak" with mineral spirit. A bit like gouache and water.

Any pictures of your layout and rolling stock?

Cheers

Thanks MLW

I have a short layout video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQjBHB3Rm5E

It was taken about a year ago.  I'm currently working on the warehouse building that's shown behind the pictures of the hopper.  I'll be taking the building to the NMRA conventions in Niagara and then in Cleveland.  Plus I'll be posting a series of pictures of the construction on this board.

What is "gauche"?  I've heard of a few modeler's using it but not sure what it's like.

Steve

appreciate any constructive criticism that anyone may have.

looks great!  put the stripes on it and that faint graffiti and call it done.(assuming some airhoses will be on there soon)...DaveB

Nice video

Nice video .Nice layout and quite well advance.  I Like the various building ,especially the double peak house (scratch built?) Yes, it would be nice to see more pictures of your layout and rolling stock

Thanks you for sharing

Syl

Gouache

Gouache? Water based paint. Non toxic, easy to mix and thin etc.It is available pretty much everywhere such as Michael's Art &Craft store, Office Depot, Wal-Mart, etc.

From the web:

"Gouache paint is similar to watercolour but modified to make it opaque. A binding agent, usually gum arabic, is present, just as in watercolor. Gouache differs from watercolor in that the particles are larger, the ratio of pigment to water is much higher, and an additional, inert, white pigment such as chalk is also present.

This makes gouache heavier and more opaque, with greater reflective qualities. Gouache generally dries to a different value than it appears when wet (lighter tones generally dry darker, while darker tones tend to dry lighter), which can make it difficult to match colors over multiple painting sessions. Its quick coverage and total hiding power mean that gouache lends itself to more direct painting techniques than watercolor"

I see

Thanks for the lesson on Gouache....kind of like a water based oil paint.

The hotel in the middle of the layout is a Downtown Deco kit (Adams Ave Part 4).  Downtown Deco are hydrocal kits.  It was my first hydrocal kit and I really liked it.  It went together really quickly and they look great when weathered up.

What is Gauche - Gouache

Steve: My wife s a water-colourist and has used gouache a few times. I took the liberty of gong to wikipedia to give you an accurate description of what it is.

Gouache pant is similar to watercolour paint but modified to make it opaque. A binding agent, usually gum arabic is added as in watercolour paint. Gouache differs from watercolour in that the particles are larger, the ratio of pigment to water is much higher, and an additional, inert, white pigment such as chalk is present. This makes gouache heavier and more opaque. Gouache generally dries to a different value than it appears wet (lighter tones tend to dry darker, while darker tones tend to dry lighter), which can make it difficult to match colours over multiple painting sessions. Its quick coverage and total hiding power means that gouache lends itself to more direct painting techniques than watercolour.

This should work well if you wish to cover the orignal colour in various layers or tones to give the under paint a faded or aging look.

Regards

Randy Saueracker

weathering

Hey Steve

GREAT WORK !!

My only comment, weather that ballast a bit!

Great job on your Layout and Car

I love all the superb weathering you have done on the buildings, and all the details that abound throughout your layout. On the main subject.. your car. It looks amazing! the one thing I see is the underside is a little to dark, and the air hoses. RT

Very Convincing Scene

I must have missed this in January (original posting) - absolutely brilliant !
A very believable scene.
Rob
Cornhill & Atherton

Beautiful work!

I love it!

looks great!

looks great!  put the stripes on it and that faint graffiti and call it done.(assuming some airhoses will be on there soon)...DaveB

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Turko

Great work and nicely executed. Can you explain how you accomplished the fence. See you in Cleveland.

Thanks

Wayne

Excellent work! I'll be

Excellent work!

I'll be copy catting you when I get the buildings up!

Turko Bros.

Steve; Fantastic! You did a great job on this building. I have the same horizontal tank that is in photo #3. I have been wondering what to do with it. Now I know. I would like to see more pictures of you buildings. GREAT JOB.

Thanks again. Bob Broadbent. Owner of the LM&LS building now. LM&LS stands for less money & less space. also known as the Cheap.

Thanks. Fence.....

The fence is laser etched brass from Micron Art.  I believe it is available through Walthers.  It comes with separate little pieces so that you can double up the posts, but I used some brass rod and soldered it to the post locations to give them more depth, and I also used them for mounting the fence.

The large tank is a Tichy kit.  All the small tanks are from a Walther's tank assortment.

I'll be dragging the diorama to the NMRA National convention in Cleveland and Trainfest in Millwaukee before it is permanently mounted on the layout.

Thanks for looking.

Turko Brothers Fine Furniture Factory Diorama

Steve

What is the lenght of the buildings in the diorama?

I have a spot on my O scale layout that is a mirror image of your track arrangement.  Even the siding is there.

I am guessing your diorama is about 4 feet long assuming the box cars shown are ~60 foot.  So in O Scale I am looking at less than 8 foot.  Also no kits like you used are available.  So I would have a scratch build there entire structure.  I need something like it for downtown area of Baltimore, MD near the water front at a place called Fells Point.

Keep up the good work.  Enjoyed all the photos and the video.

Jay Beckham

Great work on the entire

Great work on the entire thing, layout, cars, structure and the visible interior. One fantastic looking structure and scene.

Rob in Texas

Size of Diorama

Hey Jay,

Sorry for the delay in responding.  I was in Cleveland at the NMRA convention last week.  My Turko Brothers structure took third place in the kit built structures category and won a special award for "Most Photogenic Model".  I was pretty happy with that.

Anyway the structure is 39" long, 10" high and 2" deep on the right side and 5" deep at the loading dock.  That is in HO scale.

Regards,

Steve