One for the Hitop.....

 Next up on the workbench is the other Athearn Genesis car mentioned previously, the RBWX refrigerator car. The car again right out of the box is shown below right in the series of photos. This car I was trying to simulate not one particular reefer of this class and road name, but a combination of three separate cars I have photos of. I wanted a fairly dirty, worn car, especially one with an older Great Northern logo. I started on this car yesterday, but have worked about half of today on it. The roof has three mediums on it: rust texture, rust pan pastel powder, and a watered down oil paint wash of burnt umber, then blended together, with quite a bit being taken back off with Q-tips to give the appearance you see below.

The car sides have a very watered down oil wash of burnt sienna to give the appearance of a bit of fading, with brown dirt color pan pastels streaked down the side while the wash was still just a bit wet. After all this was done, I lightly sprayed Vallejo dirt over the sides and ends to tie everything together. I’ve put the first sealant coat on the car, and will probably work on the underside tomorrow. I also will put ACI panels from BLMA on the car sides. I’ll of course post more photos as I progress, but for now, here is the car as it looks today. Note the spotted, dirty, grime look of the door in the middle row far right! The car is now finished, and is also shown below.

Walther's Mainline Series boxcar.....

Here is a Walther’s Mainline series boxcar done for a friend and client based on my original car shown below. Although it’s almost never possible to exactly duplicate a previous car, I can come pretty close, or something quite similar. First, here is my original car:

Here is my friend and clients car right out of the box, shown on the left below. On all my cars, I always do the couplers, trucks, and underside of each car. I use Vallejo Model Air paint exclusively, as I found imo they cover well, have a fine pigment, and are fast drying, plus have a wide range of colors. The next or first step I do is to mask off any heralds and/or lettering that needs to be either patched, or left intact. The masking in this case is to protect the lettering from the fading I’ll do on this car. For the fading, I’ll pick a color close to the original car color, then mix it with either white or off white that Vallejo carries, until I get a good faded color. I’ll then spray this evenly over the sides and ends of the car.

After the tape is pulled off, I went over the lettering and herald on the top half of the car with a dirt colored Pan Pastel and blended it in to the faded coat. The bottom half of the car was gone over with Vallejo rust texture diluted with water to make it a wash. The roof was done with a combination of rust powders, rust texture, and acrylic oils. Individual rust spots and patches are done with Vallejo rust texture, which again, looks like rust and feels like rust when dry. Photos of the rest of the process on this car are shown below:

I recommend......

 In these difficult times, while we’re all on some sort of lockdown, it’s a good time in some respects for the hobby of model railroading. Even though we cannot have operating sessions, or enjoy our train clubs or train shows, we can still work and operate on our layouts.

In doing so, it’s a good time to support quality hobby shops and retailers. Again, even though most if not all physical brick and mortar stores are closed, mailorder is still an option. I strongly encourage those in the hobby to take advantage of these quality, well stocked shops, especially those independent shops.

Please notice I said quality, well stocked shops. I can’t think of a better shop than where I have done most of my past business, and that’s Spring Creek Model Trains in Deshler, Nebraska. I urge those in the hobby to especially support them at this time, as part of their income is made traveling around the country setting up at train shows. Of course with shows being canceled, it has to have an impact.

The great people at Spring Creek will gladly take care of you, their customer service is bar none, and they’re most always stocked with what you need. Add to this they ship by Priority mail, so you’ll receive your supplies quickly. Also, if you need two small detail parts, they’ll package it accordingly and charge shipping accordingly. In other words, they won’t charge you thirteen dollars to ship two small detail parts.

Here you’ll find Spring Creek: https://www.springcreekmodeltrains.com/

Notes on my weathering....

 

I thought I would post this to give a little bit of an insight on my weathering mediums, and perhaps a few tips. Also how I got into weathering to begin with.

I guess it helps to be a railfan for decades, observing what the prototype looks like, and from working on the prototype and seeing cars and locomotives up close. It also helps to take slides or photos of the prototype to use as reference. There are also great websites for prototype photos of both rolling stock and locomotives such as http://www.rrpicturearchives.net, which is a resource I tend to use. Whatever the source, it’s good to have a reference photo on hand of the car you’re replicating, or a similar car.

As far as weathering mediums, I tend to concentrate on only a few now. I’ve tried quite a few mediums, including watercolor pencils, but never got good results in earlier weathering projects. They may work for others, but not for me. I used to use chalks long ago as well, until I found Bragdon powders, which I still use occasionally. They have, along with powders by AIM, have a self-adhesive quality. The more you rub these on, the more they stick. I really only use these powders now on couplers for a rusted effect, and this sometimes on top of a rust colored wash.

I discovered the medium of pan pastels right when they first came out, tried them, and love them. They have a quality all their own. They go on easy, cover well, and are easy to work with. Just be careful with their use, as they are so fine, they’ll go everywhere, so have some newspaper down under your project!

The two mediums I mainly use the majority of the time now are acrylic paints, and water based oils. Why water based? Being water based, they’re more forgiving if you do make a boo-boo. They’re also easy to work with as well. You do however have to dull coat each layer of weathering you apply. Another advantage of acrylics? They’re inexpensive, plus they, along with oils, are available at any craft store. One other advantage is the wide range of colors.

For sealing everything, I used to use dullcoat liquid by Testors.  This product though you really have to use carefully, as imo, too heavy a coat can ruin a model. Dullcoat in a rattle can is really not the way to go. The medium I love to use now instead is matte varnish by Vallejo. This product is a milky, thicker product that thinned with water goes on very smooth and even.

Btw, all of my weathering is done with an airbrush, or at least the base coats. I then apply as many coats and mediums as needed to get the desired look. I started out only using powders applied with sponges and brushes, but nothing beats having an airbrush. Best investment I ever made. However, shop around for the equipment you need. I first purchased a full set including a spray booth, airbrush, and compressor at a discounted price. The airbrush and compressor both however turned out to be inadequate for the job. I pretty much immediately had to purchase a better quality airbrush and larger compressor to get the job done. Another important piece of equipment to invest in is a commercial grade respirator. Whatever paints and sealants you use, be sure to protect those lungs!

Finally, I use two more mediums which for now I’ll keep a secret. Last but not least, accurate, prototypical weathering takes time, an eye for detail, and patience. Also, I usually take two to three weeks to complete a car, as I tend to take extra care between mediums and layers, usually sealing each layer. I do the tiniest of detail work to insure a prototypical looking car.

The Nitro turn....

 Yesterday I was able to chase the Nitro turn going about its work from Nitro up to Spring Street. I started from the parking lot of Campbell Manufacturing, then moved over to the parking lot of Allied Chemical. As this is a highly industrialized area, I had to shoot from a distance.

I first caught the usual power, S2 9806 pulling empties out of Campbell Manufacturing, 84 Lumber, and Kanawha brick and block as shown below:

The turn then started shifting some cars around inside Allied, before departing for Spring Street:

I followed the turn down the valley and caught him in Spring Street where he sorted his cars for the inbound Spring Street turn:

The turn had cars already there from a previous Spring Street turn to take back to Nitro, so I watched him put together this train of tank cars for Allied plus a load of coal for Kanawha brick:

After the Nitro turn departed for Nitro, I followed him again back to Nitro and snapped a few more photos as he spotted his cars:

The turn then pulled cars out of other industries to start another run up to Spring Street. I'll cover this part next time....

It's not straight.....!

 Yes, that’s correct. Not everything in the real world is straight up and down, nor should it be on a model railroad. For example, the ground sifts and settles. People run into barriers. Sometimes something just isn’t built in a perfect straight line. The photo below on the Hitop illustrates this. The second pole up in the photo is leaning slightly. Notice the guardrail, someone has obviously backed into it at some point and knocked it out of line. Even track will sometimes be linked a bit, especially industrial trackage and particularly some lesser Penn Central track. Notice the kink in the track on the right between the second and third power pole. Elsewhere on the layout, there are a few signs that lean slightly, where drivers may have backed into a sign, or kids pulling on a sign. Another detail I’ve never seen modeled are road signs with bullet holes, as you see a lot out in the country! Always keep an eye out for how things appear in the real world, then transfer these to your layout!

Coordination....

 

Yesterday, we started out thinking we were just going to follow the Spring Street turn from Dickinson yard and return. We actually got more than we bargained for. We were surprised when we got near Spring Street yard that the Valley turn was in the yard awaiting the Spring Street turn.

The Valley turn had started earlier in the morning, headed up the valley to pull several cars out of Kanawha Valley Feed and Seed and Snow Hill fertilizer. It was awaiting the turn from Spring Street to exchange these cars for loads. These loads were headed for Armitage Furniture, Kanawha Feed and Seed, and Davis Wholesale, plus two cars were coming up for the Nitro turn to deliver to Allied Chemical plus Holsum Baking.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll start with catching the Spring Street turn putting its train together in Dickinson yard. The boys in the yard have basically commandeered PL&E GP38-2 2058 for local use. Below we see it putting together its train, plus departing:

We then as usual split up once we found the Valley turn was working. My partner caught up with it before departing Spring Street, then followed it up the valley to Kanawha Valley Feed and Seed and Snow Hill Fertilizer:

I took photos of the consist of the eastbound Spring Street turn while the power was running around its train for the return trip:

We as usual followed the Spring Street turn back to Dickinson yard where we caught it arriving below, plus took a photo of the yard job waiting to work the inbound cars: