A couple boxcars

I didn't get a shot of the roofs of these.  I played around quite a bit on the Railbox roof with several different techniques and am mostly satisfied with the final result, but it was touch and go for a while.

A basic flatcar

Again, not the best angle to show the deck, but I'm not entirely happy with it anyway.  I'll probably play around with it more another time, but its OK to go on the layout as it is.

52'6" Gondola

This is one of those cars I was a bit afraid to touch because, well, it costs a lot more than the others I have done and didn't want to ruin it.  Now that I see the picture, again, it isn't the greatest, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out.  I'll likely weather the inside a little more, providing a bit more of a dry, rusty look.

Testing

Last year I bought a few Bowser C630M shells to use as practice for weathering, and if they turned out, I could make a few different models of the C630M simply by switching shells.  First, I wanted to grime up this CP unit.  I'm fairly happy with it, actually.

And

The CN Zebra stripe C630M.  I find the CN black models are the most challenging to do, I'm just not sure how to get the effect on the black that I want.  Rodney Walker has the best CN weathering that I have seen, but I'm still trying to figure out how to best do it.

Nice!

They look Great to me Dave!!

Do you have some prototype photos of what you are trying to acomplish with the CN unit?

Well done!

One of these days...

Regards,

Subtle

Nice and subtle.  A little weathering goes a long way.

Lessons learned so far

So, a few lessons or takeaways I've had so far:

• As mentioned, I still find the CN black a tough one to do to get the right effect.  If anyone has some suggestions, I'm certainly open to them, though again, no airbrush.
• Pan Pastels are really great to work with.  Very forgiving and you can actually achieve a number of effects blending them together.
• A number of different brushes is a good thing.  Each has their purpose.
• When you think you've got the look you want and then you seal it with dullcote, you don't quite have the same look as the dullcote mutes things just a bit.  However, this also gives you the benefit of layering over the dullcote, so not all is lost.
• I could not get a wash I was happy with - I can't handle really strong fumes, like turpentine, so I had to work with other mediums and couldn't get a good mix.  I tried a few Vallejo washes with some success but not always what I was looking for

I'm sure I'll think of a few other things as well.

.

You are making real progress Dave. It's looking good, well done. For washes I used rubbing alcohol. I only use paint brush as well. 

Again well done Dave

Bill

This is one of the few I could find that shows the roof of the loco.

I can get the sides the way I want, but that roof effect is a bit of a challenge.  I think I just need to be a bit braver with the oil paints.  I've still got one "test" shell to try to achieve the look, so I'll try again to get it and see what happens.  Probably won't get to it for a few weeks now, but we'll see how things go.

Kevin

Keep making progress on tracklaying - you're far ahead of me now, I think!

Thanks, Dave

Mostly subtle is what I was going for, other than the CP C630M.  Past attempts have not been subtle enough...

Syl

I also like your CN models.  I've got the C630M, GMD1, FP9A and F9B to do and I hope they look as good as yours.

"This is one of those cars I

     If you use acrylics you can usually  remove them without hurting the factory paint. I've found a weak solution of ammonia cleaner will remove dried acrylic paint without bothering most factory paint jobs. If you don't like an acrylic weathering job right away you can usually just scrub it off with water or windshield washer fluid. Oil paints  can be removed with solvent for a few hours after painting them on so even they have an escape route for real disasters. Your weathering looks very good to me, I especially like the fade on the red boxcar and the grime around the plug door on the Railbox car....DaveB  

Great Stuff!

Great Stuff!

Great Stuff!

C.M.

I'll give that a try on the next CN shell.  Thanks for the idea!

DaveB

Dave, you are right - there is ultimately a way out of just about anything you do.  That's one of those "fear" things that was the topic of a thread last week.  I just went ahead and did it and it turned out quite well.