D&H 29511

This car is one of 4 sister cars that I purchased off eBay some time ago that I've finally gotten around to assembling.   It's an E&C shops car (assuming they are out of business, I've never heard of them) which I would describe as roughly similar to Accurail in terms of detail but a little more crude.

The car was given a coat of dullcoat and allowed to dry overnight.  Using a large soft brush the entire car was given a coat Doc Brown's Grungy Gray powder.  Grimy black was applied with an upward stabbing motion with the same brush all along the bottom of the car.  Grimy Black was also applied with the large brush to the roof and car ends.  A small stiff brush and grimy black was used to create streaks down the side of the car as well as above the wheels on the car ends.  

The car did not have a thick enough coat of dullcoat applied as the chalk went on in a splotch pattern.  I think this is  because there is not enough "tooth" on the model where the dullcoat did not cover sufficiently.  

The trucks were dipped in denatured alcohol and then painted Rail Brown with a Floquil Paint Pen.  With a small stiff brush the trucks were weathered with white chalk, the springs with some brown rust, and then the entire assembly given a coating of grimy black.

The wheels were painted Rail Brown and followed with rust and black powders.

IC150043

This Accurail kit was prepped with a heavy spray of dullcoat (learning from my last mistake) and allowed to dry overnight.  Using a large,soft brush a mixture of brown and black chalks were applied over the entire model.  With a medium sized brush extra powders were applied to the ends of the door sills to create additional vertical streaking.

Using the large brush again additional black powders were applied to the bottom third of the car to simulate some additional road grime.

The wheels and trucks were weathered with the same technique as the previous post save a reddish rust was used instead of a brown.  The results on the D&H trucks were superior to this one.

LV7165

This car was assembled from an Accurail Kit.  After an application of Tamiya Flat Clear (doesn't seem any different than dullcoat in this application) I masked the build dates on both sides of the car.  Polly Scale Flat Clear was applied in several spots with a small brush.  Rust colored chalks were applied to the spots using a salt shaker and allowed to dry for 15 minutes.  

The car was then tipped and shaken over a wax covered paper plate to remove excess powder from the model leaving just the rust on the PS flat.  A large soft brush was used the create streaks in the rust spots.  The remainder of the car was weathered using a medium sized stiff brush with brown and black weathering powders.

The trucks and wheelsets were weathered in the same manner as the D&H car. 

This car was weathered using a prototype photo on Fallen Flags.

RBBX79536

My favorite of the bunch so far.  Another Accurail kit which was given a healthy dousing of dullcoat.  Using two index cards I masked off weld seams, ladders, door mechanisms, etc. and gave them a healthy dusting of black powders.  

Using the same small brush white powder was pulled down from the "B" in "BREX" to simulate some subtle chalking in the lettering.  The car was finished with a large soft brush and a light coat of grimy black and brown.

Wheelsets and trucks were weathered in the usual fashion.

This car was weathered from a prototype photo on Fallen Flags.

I spoke to soon...

Rich,

Fantastic job on the weathering, give me your address and I'll ship over the entire motive & rolling stock fleet of the JL&T and you can get started right away for me, then I'll re-take the photos of the module with everything weathered... 

Seriously great job, would "love" to see a short how to video or MRH article on how you did it, because I'm thinking the exact same way of using powders.

Jas...

Wing it!

Thanks for the kind words Jason, layout progress is going to hopefully get moving again after the Thanksgiving holiday here (Thursday).  On any technique let me just say try it.  This is something I was so worried to try out but after screwing up 2-3 cheap cars (I assume you can get the same junky stuff at train shows we can get here for $5 a piece) you will get the hang of it.  

My only advice if you are going the chalk route as I did is make sure you have some kind of base coat on the car with tooth to it.  It could be a wash or mist from an airbrush used to fade the car's paint.  Since these cars weren't that old I just gave them a heavy dullcoating.  

Make sure it's enough that you ​just ​start to see saturating the surface and you should be good.  If you're more patient several light coats would be just as good if not better.  I have no patience.

After that just take a picture off of fallen flags and think about how the car ended up that way.  Start with the really heavily weathered places and then finish the entire thing off with a light brown/black grime coat to tie it all together. The key is a wide, soft brush and a way to get most of the powder off the brush before you start.  I use paper plates with wax coatings on them since the powder won't adhere to it very well and there is less wastage.  

Just go for it!

~rb

a great contribution

A great contribution.  Thanks. I hope this becomes a a regular feature.  Each car description is short but complete and clear.  The technique results in realistic looking cars - not looking abandoned as so often happens with over-kill.

Art.

Thanks Art!

I wanted to try and keep track of different techniques I've tried for future reference.  As I said in my initial post this was a "selfish post" more than anything but if others get use out of it them I'm doubly happy.

As you said I think people tend to weather the extreme/unusual a little too often however keeping things reasonable presents another challenge altogether.  Having moderately weathered cars that don't all look monochromatic is tricky.  While not in the batch I'm about to post with future works I'm going to need to work in some additional color variety.

D&H28124

An older project I wanted to add to the list before I forgot my techniques, this is a RTR Athearn boxcar.  The car was given a light dullcoat and then weathered entirely with black powders.  A small stiff brush was used to apply powder to the rivet seams.  The brush was heavily loaded and the powder was applied in 1-2 passes wit hthe brush pressed firmly on the surface.

Weathering along the door sill was done with a makeup eye applicator in a rubbing motion working from the sill upwards at the base ad downwards from the top.  Especially along the base I think this left the weathering too blotchy and unevenly applied but this may be a product of the dullcoating and not the tools used.

Wheels and trucks were weathered in the same fashion as all others.

Off to a Good Start

I like the overall look you're achieving with these, in particular the BREX car and the last D&H car.  They have a nice, subtle weathered appearance.

Looks Good

Looks good to me, Rich. Keep us posted on your various techniques. They make for enjoyable reading and viewing.

Roy

PC578268

This Gondola was weathered with AIM weathering washes.  This was done as I wanted to ensure powders settled into the low spots on the side of the model and didn't stick to the high spots on the waffle sides as I feared powders would if applied with a regular brush.  This process yielded some interesting findings.

The Interior

This was the part of the car I was most concerned with getting right so I started here.  After contacting the people at AIM I didn't dullcoat the car as they assured me that the washes would adhere to the car body without the need for a flat coat.  ​EDIT:  [After a couple of passes I decided that the car did need something to give it more "tooth" so I stopped and applied a dullcoat and let the car sit overnight].  I started out with a sponge but soon switched to a large soft brush "liberated" from my 2 year old's paint set (don't tell her or I'll never hear the end of it!).  After applying heavy coats of the colors New Real Rust, Rusty Brown, Dirty Brown, and New Real Rust (again) I ended up with the following which I was ecstatic ​about:

All that was left to do was dullcoat the interior so that the little bits of loose powder didn't end up on my tracks, in my locos, etc.  After letting the car sit a few days I sprayed in some dullcoat and to my horror ended up with this:

Honestly, it looks way better in the picture than it does in person.  The entire car turned into monochromatic mud and the "dullcoat/alcohol frost" appeared along the edges of the car.  I'm still puzzled as the car was given ​at least ​a week to dry if not 2 before I sealed it so I don't think there was any alcohol left on the model for the talc in the dullcoat to react with.  A second overspray did nothing to help.  

However, rather than give up I went back and reapplied my rust colors as before.  I followed this up with a large soft brush and some rusty brown powders (Doc Brown's Rusty Brown and Rusty Red) which I worked over visible white patches and any remaining loose powder.  I left the car free of debris as it won't jsut be use in scrap service on my layout; I'll probably have it moving steel coil on cribs as well.   Call me lucky but I ended up with the following that I think was better than what I wanted to protect in the beginning (sorry about the wire cutters and lens cap, took the picture quickly):

The Exterior:

I used the same dirty brown wash and cheap craft brush to apply to the exterior of the car (over a dullcoat, but no frosting here interestingly enough).  I did each side and end with the car laying on it's side/ standing on it's end so that the wash would flow into the low spots between the waffles.  After applying several coats I ended up with the following:

I wasn't happy with the look of things as I though the dirty was too splotchy and looked more like I rubbed the ar in dirt in my backyard as opposed to having coats of grime build up through miles of traveling down tracks.  I took a small stiff brush and blended the dried wash (basically brown weathering powder at this point) into the surface of the car.  

After doing this and then coming back with my large soft brush and some grimy black over the entire model I declared this one done.  I'm still trying to figure out what caused that frosting effect that I had on the interior.  I know the washes have alcohol in them (you can smell it) but why it reacted the way it did after it was dried I don't get.  I'm open to any ideas!

Thanks for reading!

Dull...

I often get frustrated with Dullcoate - well I used to. You spend all this time weathering up a car, looks great to your eye, and bam - it's all gone once the dullcoate hits it.

Argh!

The trade off to me though to not using it, is that I can handle my cars without worrying about the finish. That's kind a big deal (not sure why, but I just prefer it).

So like you, I've found myself going over a car, again, after the first dullcoate coat. Finally, I'm starting to get the right amount of weathering powder to use so it still shows up under the sealer.

Keep at it, they look great. On your next gondola, how about some distressed sides? Solder gun treatment anyone?

Dullcoat

Rich-

The finished product looks fantastic- great job. I don't know what specifically is in the AIM washes, but I have had issues in the past applying washes of Microscale Microsol and artist's acrylics over Dullcoat. I've gotten to the point where I won't apply anything over Dullcoat without letting it cure for at least two weeks. I have also used 70% isopropyl alcohol to remove and streak acrylic weathering that I've applied, and I can tell you that it will quickly remove the weathering and the Dullcoat. If the AIM washes have alcohol in them, that's probably what's frosting the Dullcoat. I've used the AIM powders on the inside of hopper cars and haven't bothered to seal them. It doesn't appear that you sealed the exterior of the car after the last application of powders- is this correct?

Tom Patterson

Nice Weathering

Rich -

Nice car! I wish I could have one for my layout (too modern). I think the solution to your Dulcote problem is this - Try hairspray. I've read that it works just as good, plus the fixative properties are of course obvious. Also, may I suggest using a mix of artist oils and chalk/powders, to give the "crusty" look of rusty patches.

Ralph

A "Dull" Reply

The lamest pun in a subject on the MRH forums ever?  Maybe...

Anyways, thanks for taking the time to look at things and reply guys.  Let me tackle this in no particular order:

Scarpia

I've found the best way to combat the "Dullcoat blues" is to use the weathering powders that are made specifically for model railraoding.  I used to "roll my own" by rubbing pastel chalks against sand paper but found as you said most of it disappeared when I sealed the thing.  For whatever reason the Doc Brown's stuff (sold by Micro-Mark and cheaper than Bragdon's or AIM) stands up well to the top coats and loses little or no color.

As for the dings and dents from loads going in and out I hear you on that but I've yet to see a technique that yields convincing results yet.  I've seen guys use the soldering iron but to me the car just looks stretched, not dinged or dented.  If someone has done it to their satisfaction I'd love to see it as I'd love to do something that I think will give me good results.

Ralph

The harispray is noted; I'll have to pick up some Aqua Net (but I bet you North Jersey guys can get me a GREAT deal on it! ) as I've read the cheaper the better for our applications.  I've also tried the oil paints for rust spots but have never been happy with the results.  It may be my paints are too cheap (pigments aren't fine enough) but it looks too thick and out of scale when I do it.  The one thing that doesn't come through well in my photos is the powders did settle in the corners of the car very well giving me that rusty, crusty powder look along the edges of the car.

Tom

The washes definitely have alcohol of some kind in them (the label warns about it and it's flammability) but what else I don't know.  As to your question about what I did here are the steps in brief as I realize in an attempt to make it flow reasonably well in my post I've taken things out of sequence making the issues a bit unclear.

1.  Applied 2-3 initial rust washes to car interior before realizing it was too "smooth" to hold it in place.

2.  Over sprayed ENTIRE car with 2 moderate coats of dullcoat (just BEFORE it starts to pool in low spots but enough that the entire car is shiny) and let it dry overnight.  I failed to mention this in my initial post (I lost my initial draft 90% of the way through last night so rushed through when I retyped it and omitted key points for this discussion) and will have to edit it.  There was no frosting at this point. 

3.  The interior was then weathered as seen in the 2nd photo.  

4.  After sitting for days (at least 10, maybe 2+ weeks) I came back and weathered the exterior of the car as outlined above.  

5.  Figuring job well done I then sealed the car with dullcoat.  The exterior was unaffected but the interior turned into mud and the frosting appeared. Keep in mind the interior of the car had not been touched for at least a week (alcohol had to evaporate in that period of time, no?) so I can't figure how the frost came to be; the dullcoat was applied OVER the alcohol wash and not the other way around which traditionally produces the affect of chalking.  

6.  Subsequent applications of dullcoat did nothing; washes of rust etc. toned it down but this may simply be the weathering solution masking it.  Tamiya Flat Clear fared no better.

7.  After several coats of wash and dry powders I ended up with the 2nd to last photo in the post.  Iv'e resigned myself to the fact that however well I was able to adhere the chalks by pressing them in with the brus is the best I can do.  I just won't rub my fingers around the inside of the car is all...

Thanks for the thoughts guys!