now a pair

The second car underway is a car repainted into the 1961 noodle scheme.  I also added tack boards based on photos.  CN didn't seem to have any standard location for these on any of the slabside cars.  

For the TLT lettering on these cars it only takes about 2 minutes of scrubbing to remove the lettering.  I cut the toothpick into a square end which lets me get into the nooks and crannies without affecting the surrounding lines and lettering.  If I do nick a line I'll chalk it up to wear and tear on the cars.  I'm toying with using this technique to do some weathered lettering on factory painted cars as I think you can get some nice ghosted lettering effects with this method 

Marc Simpson

Mark, those look great!

I don't remember seeing any Canadian railroad cars here in So Cal.  I first saw Canadian locomotives in the early 2000's and later with the increased use of lease power all over the country.

Fleet renumbering on going

 The fleet renumbering is ongoing.  3 cars renumbered, 3 to go.  I'm going to try some weathering techniques on the lower left car and if it works I'll do it on the others.  I used Solvaset and a toothpick on the lettering to get a ghost lettering effect.  After I get the numbering done I'll dullcote it and use washes and Panpastels.  Since I have more time than usual these days (doesn't everyone?) this might take less than 4 years to finish.

Marc Simpson

Filling out the hopper fleet

Half the cars in the renumbering program are done.  I'm starting to fill out the hopper fleet.  Only need another 2N+1 hoppers to complete things. 

Marc Simpson

Start of weathering

I decided to play around with a couple of the slab sides and weather them fairly heavily as these cars saw rough service hauling cement, lime and salt among other commodities.  

The red paint on these cars tended to take the brunt of the weathering, often peeling and eroding off the cars.  I used Solvaset and a blunt toothpick to scrap off parts of the lettering to get the effect.  It will be muted once the weathering goes on.

I applied Tamiya dark brown panel line accent colour to the rivets and nooks and crannies of this car as a starting point.  A few more applications to the trucks and other spots that accumulate grime and I'll move onto the next phase on this car.

I am going to try a couple of different techniques on the various cars so they don't all look the same.  

Marc Simpson

Ooh. Very nice. I didn't even

Ooh. Very nice.

I didn't even know about panel line accent colour.

I'm tempted to remove one of my hoppers and make it into a car for my 1974 collection.

before and after

I played around tonight with some Vallejo dry pigments and washes to see how I could age one of the hoppers.  First I applied brown, grey and black washes over the entire car, followed by rust washes that were selectively streaked down the sides.  I used some grey dry pigment with some matte varnish to represent cement spilled on the roof and washed down the sides of the car as well.  I'll follow up tomorrow with some Pan Pastel chalk to further blend things.  I'm pleased with how it is looking so far.

I know which of these cars I prefer.

Marc Simpson

CN 352200 is done

Marc Simpson

Superb. You have really

Superb. You have really captured the look of the wear and spills on these cars.

CN 353627

Another one to haul cement to points north.

Marc Simpson

rustbucket

CN 353567 will be a rust bucket relative to the previous couple of weathering jobs.  Looking at prototype photos, the level of weathering and distress on these cars varied wildly.  In my time frame (1981-83) they ranged from freshly painted, to lightly rusted to having more cement and lime on them than paint.  Plenty of fodder for additional projects.  

Marc Simpson

CN 353567

Another rusty car to add to the roster.  This car got mostly Vallejo washes and a few dabs of Pan Pastel.  I was trying to have a different look to each weathered car.  Only a few hundred more to go!

Marc Simpson

Great results! A few hundred

Great results! A few hundred to go?

Probably his whole fleet

I see three boxcars in the background that need some treatment....

Keep up the good work, Marc!

Scott Chatfield

Whole fleet needs weathering

@Deemiorgos: Scott is correct, I've got somewhere in the range of 400 freight cars on the layout, so I have my work cut out for me getting them weathered up.  Most of them will get light road dust etc. but the covered hoppers (have about 10-15 more to weather up at some point) need a heavier weathering job to reflect their rough service hauling cement and lime.  The passenger cars will be in generally good shape, boxcars will range from new to ready to scrap.  Everything else will be somewhere between the two extremes.  In the early 1980's CN still took care of their equipment and graffiti was a rarely seen thing.  

Marc Simpson

Wow! That's a lot of cars.

Wow! That's a lot of cars. You're on a roll. I'm somewhat too, but with much less rolling stock; some that I want to enhance and some not weathered yet.

I have only one prototypical CN passenger car; the other one is a stand-in for a heavyweight coach.

Do you have the TLT reddish hopper? I have one, but haven't decided if I want to keep it for my 1956 layout or make it like this one for my 1974 collection.

I'm literally weathering that car now - CN 355001

Deemiorgos: I did a blog post about CN 355001 (holy grail - I have photos of both sides from the same time frame).  Decided no time like the present to get this one underway.  Funny how great minds think alike...

Marc Simpson

more progress on CN 355001

   Basic spilling paint is done. I used thinned Vallejo 70.820 off white to paint the spills based on photos of both sides of the car.  Now to move onto washes for the sides and ends.  

Marc Simpson

Go figure! Damn; you inspire

Go figure!

Damn; you inspire me to redo my three slab sided hoppers.

This one would be only 5 years old in my era so I won't fade it.

I forgot I have one for my 1974 collection already.

Tasty!

Fine work here!  That CN noodle still looks cool today.. especially with that weathering!

jeff

Getting closer.

  Second pass  of the weathering process.

Marc Simpson

Outstanding! Marc. Nice depth

Outstanding! Marc.

Nice depth and texture.

2nd pass second side

Tonight's progress on the second side.  A bit more Panpastel and it will be ready for dullcote.  The trucks also got their first round of oiled earth applied as well but I didn't photograph that.    

Marc Simpson

CN 355001 is done

I posted this as well on the original "holy grail" thread.  Added it here for completeness.

Marc Simpson