Easy, Non-Permanent Weathering
I finally have got round to doing this small article on my easy, non-permanent weathering technique.
The request for further info followed my posting pictures of my weathered 9F on the RMweb forum in its previous incarnation (some two weeks after the Bachmann 9F was released).
Confessions first, I don't own a paint spray gun and at first did not have the confidence to attempt using permanent pigments, so I was looking for a way of weathering that would allow me to clean the loco up if the results were disastrous.
At first I simply used talcum powder and real coal dust, but these were too delicate even for just home use, any touching and the dust was rubbed off, it did however give me the confidence to try weathering powders scraped from artist's pastels.
The materials required are shown below:
Pastels (picked up cheap from art discount stores), a selection of stiff cheap paintbrushes, for this purpose stiff cheap synthetic is better than expensive badger or sable, a receptacle for the powders (I use a jam jar lid), a small amount of water, and of course the stock to work on.
Once you have decided on the loco to be weathered get as many pictures of it as you can, in colour if possible, study the pictures before starting and keep the pictures to hand for reference as you work.
Sometimes it can be helpful to decide before you start how heavily you wish to weather, on the other hand sometimes it's fun to just see how it looks as you progress, with this method it's easy to go back by simply rubbing off any effects you don't like.
This is the loco I will be working on:
This is a really nice OO model from Bachmann, but inevitably it has that plastic sheen of a new model.
Scrape the pastels with a pen or Stanley knife into your jam jar and you have your selection of weathering powders.
If, like me, at first you lack the confidence to use water with the powders, simply use the powders dry, any mistakes can be brushed away with a clean paintbrush and tissue, and it will at least get rid of that new plastic look:
The above picture shows a basic pass of dry powders as a basic very light weathering. The powders are applied with the dry paintbrushes.
Now look at your photos of the real thing and see where particular stains, streaking etc. are, and if you have the luxury of colour photos or memories of the real thing you can replicate the colours by mixing your powders, if not you will have to make an educated guess from the black and white.
To replicate small areas of different colours you will have to dab your powders with a slightly wet brush, practice will tell you how wet the mixture of pigment needs to be, but don't worry, any mistakes can be removed with a damp cloth and clean damp paintbrush.
I almost always end up removing some areas I am not happy with and re-doing them.
In the picture below I was not happy with the heavy application on the cylinders and messy look below the chimney, these were brushed with a dry brush to remove or tone down and then if necessary re-done.
The pictures below show where I decided I was happy with the effect:
Further enhancements can be done with a touch of silver acrylic on well rubbed handrails and rungs. I will also be replacing the plastic coal for the real thing.
The final job is to clean the wheel treads and all areas of electrical pick-up and ensure all valve gear is still free moving, one of the draw backs of weathering powders is they can get where you don't want them.
This method is probably not suitable if you transport your stock to exhibitions or the like, it's simply not permanent enough, however the most important part is gaining the confidence to have a go, it's not expensive and any mistakes can be removed easily and as your eye for detail develops so will your desire to move onto more permanent pigments and even the expense and learning curve of a spray system for that finer, more professional finish.
This article was originally published on RMweb, and is used by permission. Copyright © 2007 Mike Friedman.
