Off to a great start

Mike, as usual, is great at explaining his techniques. All you fence sitters, now is a great time to join TMTV !

Michael

Already learning!

Yes, Mike is a great teacher.

He explains the materials, tools and techniques very thoroughly.

A self proclaimed 'wire-nut', I am not artistically inclined at all, so art supplies and artists brushes tend to make me nervous at the best of times.  More so, when my 'canvas' is a high quality, costly model with a great paint job.

Mikes confidence in his methods, relaxed manner and plain speech help to put even me, just a little bit more at ease with the idea of taking a brush and color to an expensive DCC locomotive.

This promises to be a very educational video series on TMTV!

Thanks Mike, and TMTV for bringing it to us.

Best regards,

Thank You...

I watched part 1 and I can't imagine how much time it takes to put this all together. Again, thanks to Mike for taking the time and effort to bring this to the TMTV viewers. And thanks to TMTV for bringing it to the TMTV subscribers.        John

The real fun starts next week

Yes, this introductory segment gets a lot of up front "housekeeping" out of the way, but the real fun starts next week with the first freight car. It's a yellow Chessie covered hopper - here's the before and after. If you know anything about weathering, yellow cars can be challenging to get right, and Mike tackles that right off.

BEFORE

AFTER

Perfect...

I have several Chessie System covered hoppers and yellow RailBox boxcars so will be looking forward to the first in series, will be interested to see a different technique and how it compares time wise to the current one I use.

Know anything about weathering?

Nope, not much right now but I hope that is about to change!

Is yellow more challenging than white or are they about the same?

Regards,

Teaching and relaxing too!

Thanks Kevin. I appreciate your comment about teaching. I'm hoping that folks find this informative and easy to follow.

I also hope everybody finds it relaxing to watch and listen to. I'm known to be an intense guy, but it seems that weathering relaxes me, puts me in a different place. There's little to no frustration with these methods. They always seems to work out nicely.

Let me know how you like the first tutorial, which I believe should be up on TMTV Monday.

Mike Confalone

Actually ... Tuesday-Wednesday

Just a Thought...

Joe, why not make this post, or any post you want to draw attention to, "Sticky". I have seen on other forums if the administrator what's  a topic or subject to remain as the first post on page one it's called a "sticky" post. In this case  it would be the first post read and let the current TMTV subscribers know there is a new episode up for viewing. You may get some new subscribers that way...always on page one.    John

I love it!

I have my Lamp Black and Burnt Umber Washes made up, brushes selected, Pan Pastels and Soft Pastels at the ready and a yellow covered hopper selected as my first victim. I have also acquired Transparent Orange Oxide and Titanium White oil paint to use with Gary Christensen's series. Let's do this!

Like Mike, I find weathering a relaxing activity. I think it is because it is creating an effect not being exact as in building a model. For me, making scenery is much the same.

Drupal doesn't do sticky

Rust effects for your Cargill hopper

Ken,

With that Cargill salt hopper, you'll want to utilize the streaking rust technique I demo in freight car project #1. Easy to do. A salt car like this would have a LOT of rust streaking. Check prototype photos. To me, salt hoppers are among the most fun to weather.

Mike Confalone

Next week's Chessie hopper

Rust effects for your Cargill hopper

Mike,

I'm looking forward to it! Thanks for the tip. I still need to find a prototype photo to use as a guide.

Your hack might have triggered a bug

Now, I see this post at the top with 3 new posts every time I go to recent posts, but they are the same three each time.

I concur

RS11

Years ago Mike weathered an RS11 for his original short lne that was impossible to tell from the prototype, Now if we can get him to model and weather steam era rolling stock., Even so I can't wait to see  his videos.

                                                                                                                                        Ray

Suh-Weet!

Been looking forward to this.  I have my techniques, but always willing to learn. 

Thanks Mike and Joe. 

Jeff EL 1964

Weathering Supply List

Mike, just watched your TMTV Weathering Video, great start!

I've reviewed your list of weathering supplies and compared to my list and I agree with all your products except for two,  the Turpentine and especially Turpentine. Both these product in my opinion,  seem to extend the drying time of the oil paints. The exception, Turpenoid, is man made and with model manufacturers being what they are don't all use the formulation on styrene plastic or paint and in my experience have found the Turpenoid can, on occasion, attack(soften) the existing paint and the styrene plastic. 

This is only my experience, and like you, I fee it's all about sharing. I can't wait to see more, I thrive on watching and learning new techniques. As I said in my video, "my method is not the only one" so when I put on a clinic I try to challenge the participants to taken my methods, expand on them and make them your own. 

Ralph Renzetti (CN6401) 

Trainmasters Backshop Clinic

Turpentine

Hi Ralph,

Thanks!

Interesting observations. I've never had a negative experience with actual Grumbacher turpentine on plastic models. I've weathered hundreds and I use it exclusively. It's more expensive but to me, it works with the oils much better than odorless mineral spirits or Turpenoid. And for the critical oil wash, it works superbly.

I'd encourage people to give it a try. Again, I've never had an issue. Maybe I'm just lucky, but then again I didn't win Power Ball..!

Mike

More info on turpentine vs. mineral spirits

From an art discussion board regarding what solvent is best for use with oil paints.

First, these are all solvents, and one can use just about any one of these effectively for the simple task of washing brushes. 

However, you should be a bit more discriminating when using a solvent as an ingredient in a painting medium. It is a good idea to avoid the cheaper, bulk quantities of solvents sold in hardware stores, because, while they may be quite suitable for washing brushes, they are usually not pure enough for mixing into oil paint for fine art work.

"Paint Thinner" can literally be anything, but it is usually a form of Mineral Spirits, and usually not very "odorless," when purchased in a hardware store. Cleaning brushes, yes, but not for including as an ingredient for painting mediums. However, "Mona Lisa Paint Thinner" is a brand of art quality, Odorless Mineral Spirits, and is quite suitable for use with oil paint.

That being said, here is a list of the characteristics of the various solvents, that are suitable for use as ingredients in painting medium.
 

Turpentine: Strong odor. One of the most compatible solvents for oil paint. Fast drying. Relatively aggressive in its solvent action. It is the distilled sap of a pine tree.

Odorless Mineral Spirits: Low, or no odor. Good, but not quite as compatible with oil paint as Turpentine. Slower drying than Turpentine. Not as aggressive a solvent as Turpentine. It is a distillation of petroleum.

A question or two which then turn into requests...

I seem to recall seeing mention made (though where eludes me) that there are differences that should incorporate in one's weathering technique based on the era one is modeling.  Wooden freight cars during the steam era would presumably have less rust than modern equipment and not wind up wearing graffiti; such cars would however have a lot of grime from contact with soot.  Steam engine/steam era weathering would be a wonderful follow-up after Mike's diesel weathering presentations.

Having watched the intro to this series I wonder if the palette should be amended for those of us who model steam?  I would dearly love to see Mike (or someone similarly gifted) do a few segments on weathering steam engines and freight cars from that era and, for those who model transition-era equipment, how they might tweak things to better represent how their equipment should look.

Part of my frustration is my lack of color photographs that would be helpful to steam modeling.  Anyone who might have suggestions of good places to find useful photos should please, please step in at this point...

Morning Sun Books

I just finished reading the WM and L&HR books and both have full color steam photos. Especially in the WM book, there is lots of weathering. As I recall, any Morning Sun book that extends back into steam with a specific railroad company, contains color photos.

Charles

Steam/diesel transition-era freight car weathering

I'd agree with Charles. Morning Sun has a ton of color books that cover the steam era and the steam/diesel transition era.

Generally speaking, many of the techniques covered in the weathering series can be used for steam-era, or steam/diesel transition equipment, but the colors of steam-era freight cars were largely in the boxcar red/brown tone, so some of the effects seen on a bright yellow Chessie covered hopper will show up differently on a boxcar red boxcar, or maybe not show up at all.

One of the freight cars in the weathering series is a boxcar red Milwaukee Road 50' boxcar. it might be the third or fourth in the series. Check out the techniques used to fade that car and some of the layering techniques with artist oils to create rust effects on top of that. The techniques used on that particular car would probably most applicable to many steam/early diesel era freight cars, which were reddish/brown with white graphics like this car.

Here is a before and after photo comparison of that car.

Mike Confalone

@ Mike

I'm stunned!  The Milwaukee Road boxcar looks fantastic.  I'm going shopping at the art store today!

I hope I can find the right turpentine here in Canada.

Looking forward to learning from your examples.

Being a rather intense guy myself I can relate.  I hope I will also find weathering to be relaxing.

Best regards,