Weathering techniques

[TimMeese]

I’ve started this new thread in response to Green Arrow’s question about the weathering techniques used on my stock posted on Tom Quayle’s thread ‘Annersley. Hmmm where’s my hammer’. (Also see Colombo’s weathering job on his turntable; Page 2 of ‘Photos of Colombo’s layout’).

I thought I would say a few introductory words about my techniques here (entry level words), and then perhaps others could share their methods, no doubt improving on what I have to offer. (Sorry, all examples are in BR livery; I just haven't got around to photographing my LNER stock yet.)

The short answer to Green Arrow's question is that I follow the methods suggested by Martyn Welch in his book ‘The art of Weathering’ (Wild Swan). This is an excellent book and I never tire of rereading it; reminding myself of what I should be doing and looking for inspiration. But here are a few comments of my own; some inspired by MW, others of my own invention.

1) I find that an airbrush is essential. (If I had to do the under frames of an entire express train using a regular brush I’d probably look for another hobby!). Dry-brushing is also an essential technique, particularly for wagons (a good way of learning; and if you botch one side irredeemably, you can always run it the other way around; though personally I tend to use the different sides for pre- and post- war liveries) and finishing off on locos. My first serious weathering job on a loco was on an 8F, which I dry brushed from top to bottom. Initially I was quit pleased with the results (it took hours), but eventually I had to admit that it looked, well, as though someone had brushed it with a dry brush (and I’ve seen published examples that look that way). Perhaps some people achieve greater mastery of this technique than I can manage, but my point is that even with a gentle touch and a lot of patience, this technique still reveals its origins (at least in my hands). This prompted me to buy an airbrush, and redo the 8F. A big improvement, and much quicker to do. I think it takes a great deal of skill to use an airbrush in the way a real artist might, but for serendipitous stock weathering, it doesn’t take long to master what’s needed.
2) Having commented on the speed of airbrushing, I have to add that care is needed; and it still takes me several hours to do a complete job on a loco. I usually do several locos at a time, that way I stick with the same paint mix for longer. I usually start with an overall muck colour mixed from Phoenix framedirt, and Humbrol Gunmetal metalcoat (this is very matt) and Gunmetal53. I add only a few drops of 53 at this stage – the idea is to add just a touch of sparkle.
3) After several coats of airbrushing – dirt, rust (I always start more intensely orange than it will end up), soot, brake dust, ash etc – I add weathering powders, a build up of talc and matt varnish and dry-brushing to do the following: generate a cracked paint look on the smokebox (best done before the initial airbrushing); ash spills, oils spills, and water leaks. For example, I usually do the white boiler streaks on a 9F using a mix of talc with a touch of yellow weathering powder applied to matt streaks of varnish (Fig 1). This is followed by dry-brushing (no paint, just a dusting) and further touches of paint as appropriate. Dry-brushing with 53 really brings the whole thing to life (on black locos) on both body and motion, but it is easy to overdo this. The aim is to mimic the way light reflects of the (gritty) surfaces. I usually finish with a final light coat of grime, which helps to take any sharp edges off the dry-brushing.
4) Another example of where I start with very bright/light colours is burnt smokeboxes (there is an example in the ‘hammer’ thread). White and pink work well. This is then toned down with dry brushing and weathering powders. BTW, the chalked smokebox numbers (which close-up photography is not very kind to) were done using white paint with a touch of yellow and a very fine brush. But this looks terrible. I much sharper look is then created by cutting/scraping away the unwanted (blurred) bits of paint with a scalpel – this really is quite easy to do.
5) Most of my express locos receive a coat of grime first, which is then rubbed off the boiler and other parts, leaving filth in the cracks and boiler bands etc. Then I coat with one or two sprays of either satin or gloss varnish (sometimes with a touch of dirt mixed in), with the aim of mimicking the effects of the oily rag. I find this looks much more convincing with the grime under the shine. Oddly though, it’s difficult to convey this effect in photos. Fig 2 is an attempt (and disgracefully, that Pullman looks as though it hasn’t been under the ‘brush’ yet!). I usually finish these ‘shiny’ locos with a final dusting of smoke deposits and road dirt.
6) Another technique, good for gunky oily bits, is to mix very small amounts of different shades of paint on the model. Most of my wagons start this way (Fig 3 is an example, though individual planks have been picked out for special treatment). I also use the paint-on rust product available from model rail on wagons. And of course a dust over with the airbrush.
7) I usually use matt varnish to make weathering powders stick. Typically this is for detailing (thick gunk, rotting wood, ash, anything that needs texture really), but I have used this method for entire locos. This produces a lovely gritty look. Fig 4 is an example of an austerity 8F done this way. Once you have done a complete coat of weathering powder, it’s easy to add additional touches without the varnish – weathering powders adhere to weathering powders very well! This is also dry brushed with 53, particularly around the frames, but also the boiler.
8) I always work from photographs. Fig 5 is my rendition of Salmon Trout. This was copied from a widely published photo, and appeared in model rail a few years back. However, for me this is quite unusual. I usually start with half a dozen photos (often of different types) of the effects that I’m looking to achieve, and then make it up from there. I care more that it looks right, rather than it actually is right (and sometimes looks wrong!), but quite understandably others will have different philosophies on this.
9) I almost forgot: Contrary to some advice, I never use cheap or really old brushes for dry-brushing. This is because of the havoc that ensues with hairs left stuck to your artwork. I find I get the best results using sable (or an artificial substitute). But this technique does muck them up, so I give them a good bit of conventional use first!

cheers
Tim.

[Tom Quayle]

Nice, like the A3

[GeoffB]

Very good, Tim! Most impressed - like the coal wagons and the A3 best.

I must get round to doing my J71 sometime, although I'm a little nervous about making a mess of the finish I have got to now - although I did weather the chassis OK (see Geoff Byman's J71). I'll probably practice on the N2 I bought recently and work from there. I have done a few fish vans with some success - following Martyn Welch's excellent book.

Keep up the good work - by the way, the layout looks good too.

GeoffB

[50A]

Most excellent pictures and the weathering work.

I too cannot praise highly enough Martyn Welch's book. My copy has been well thumbed, I have considered buying another copy to preserve one for the future.

Andy

[LNERandBR]

I generally use an airbrush to weather my rolling stock. However I find that if you want a loco to look as though it has rained reacently the best technique is to use a wash of roof dirt colour. This gives a more streeky look. It works best for diesel locomotives as a steam loco would very quickerly have ash etc settle on the wet serfaces.

[TimMeese]

Hi Geoff - yes, I came across your J71 just after posting this thread - very nice job on the chassis. What was your method? - I'm guessing this is talc/weathering powders stippled with a stubby brush while wet and then dry-brushed with the rust colour. Did you do that before assembling the wheels?

Andy - yes, my copy of Martyn Welch's book is, er, well weathered!

Tim.

[GeoffB]

HI Tim,

Thanks for those kind words. The loco is the first I kit I have built - and definitley the first I've painted, let alone weathered!!

Yes the technique was as MW describes and I used talc and a mix of colours as per the book suggestions - and completely knackering a brush to do the stippling! The wheels were removed and a roll of masking tape was pushed into the bearing holes to protect them.

The dry brushing technique was used for the ashpan area and on the brakes, etc. No weathering powders were used as I had been given to understand that they are not really permanent and since it will be running in the garden, I shied away from them. I have since heard - via the 7mm Yahoo group - that there are some super powders available that are permanent. Bragdon Enterprises, apparently, sell them, but they are on the US side of the pond! They are reputed to stick to anything.

I have attached a piccie of the weathered fish vans.

Regards,

GeoffB

[TimMeese]

Hi Geoff - I look forward to seeing the final weathreing job - best of luck with it.

The wagons look wonderfully neglected. I particularly like the torn roof felt. It as been on my list of projects for years now to have a go at that, but I've still not got around to it. I've found that a single ply of tissue paper works well for roof felt on outbuildings (I can't remember what MW recomends for vans) - soaked with poly it sticks to plastic very well and has a nice subtle texture once painted. The poly also makes it stiff so you can get a very straight edge if you trim it after gluing. But from what I've seen from prototype photos, the stuff used on van roofs looks smoother than that, though its difficult to be sure. What did you use?

And were those roof part of the kit moulding, or did you add them?

[richard]

Both sets of weathered images look really great.

As an administrative-aside, it looks like some "tweaking" earlier in the week re. image size is actually working (I didn't think it did at the time). Unfortunately I'm really busy for the next 10 days or so, but will try to find out what I did and post a "policy" in a week or so.

Basically images larger than a certain size should have a link and not be inlined. Large inlined images were affecting the readability of the pages.

Richard

[GeoffB]

Hi Tim,

It will take a bit to explain, but here goes. The technique used on the roof before painting - where the torn section is to be - was to score reasonably deeply to represent the planking and is done so as to trail off as it goes under the felt area. Afew extra scratches in the direction of the planks also help. This was done on the brass van, but will work equally well on the plastic ones - just don't have to press so hard!

The area was primed (sprayed - in this case with etching primer - from a car paint wholesaler in aerosol form) along with the rest of the roof and where the rumbled up felt across the top of the roof was to be, the primer was applied fairly thickly with a brush. Martyn recommends tippex for this but as I didn't have any and wanted to get on I used the thick primer method. The results look OK.

The area of bare wood was painted in various tones of mucky wood finish - to be honest, I didn't have a wood colour paint, so I mixed and matched as ness, until I got the finish I was after.

When that was well dry, I applied blobs of maskol (fairly thickly in the middle of the blob so that I could grab it with the tweasers) and let that dry.

The roof was painted with a brush (in cellulose), working along then across to get a weave pattern and the lightly brushed over to reduce the high points of the stipples and the liberally dusted with talc and left to dry. The excess talc was blown off, leaving a mattish finish and a nice felty finish to the paint. The maskol was then gentle plucked away, leaving the edges of the torn felt to "blow in the wind" so to speak.

The rest of the van was painted as per normal in cellulose from a car aerosol mixed to a sample of bauxite I had supplied. After a few days to let everything settle and harden, I then colour washed the whole van with a mucky mess of blacks, greays, gunmetal, browns, etc and then washed/wiped them down with a tissue wetted with thinners and continued to repeat until I got the grime in the right places and looking sorry for itself.

The muck was then applied to the chassis/solebars and on the axles and wheels, front and back. The axle boxes and the door runners were treated to some orange and rust and then washed down to get the effect of rust running down the sides from the steel areas. The whole lot was then trated to a dry brush dusting to bring out the rivets and highlights, but carefully and not over done.

The chalked "leaking roof" was applied with a fine brush barely wet with a well toned down off white, as were the "return to" chalkings.

It takes nearly as long to explain it as to do it - just using artistic licence - as you are well aware from the look of your excellent piccies of your locos.

Hope that long reply answer the question - it was fun doing it and pleasing to see the end results.

Must remember not to leave it out in the rain!!

Regards,

GeoffB

[50A]

Although I have not tried if for the torn canvas roof effect, another method of putting canvas on the roof is to use masking tape. This is very quick and easy and produces reasonable results. In 7mm I use 50mm wide tape, lay it on a piece of glass to cut to length, then transfer direct to the roof. The tape then need to be sealed, either with a wash of diluted pva, or a good coat of paint. The roof can then be weathered - dry brushing works best - and the texture of the tape/canvas is brought out. I have treated a Saxa Salt wagon in this way, I will get a photo and try and post it later.

Andy

[50A]

Hopefully these will come out ok.
2 shots of the Saxa salt wagon with the masking tape roof. Body weathering is by running a wash of dirty thinners to dampen down the yellow colour, and then by dry brushing to add the highlights. The worn effect on the lettering was achieved by attacking the transfered side with a large fibreglass brush - very gently - to slowly remove the brash colour and expose a little of what is underneath.

The wagon is not yet finished, it need more work on the underframes and buffers, and need couplings adding.

Andy

[TimMeese]

Geoff, Andy - thanks for those thorough descriptions. Nice jobs on the under-frames too. I like the masking tape idea. I wonder weather it might be a little coarse for 4mm, but I have several RTR salt wagons, all let down by their roofs, so might be worth a try.
Best
Tim.