Dirty boxcars

[spitfire]

Howdy folks!

Gotta little question for you. I want to dirty up my boxcars. I've already done a fairly decent job of rusting them and now I want to get that effect where a light coat of dust and dirt has been thrown up from the ground.
I have an airbrush, which I think I'm going to need for this. What colour paint should I use? What ratio of water to paint? Or thinner to paint? Is acrylic best or enamel?
Thanks in advance!

Cheers
Val

 

[Gary Pfeil]

Val, Floquil has a color they call dust which will do a nice job for what you want.

Gary

 

[Blake]

Use an acrylic enamel thinned about 50 : 50 with the proper thinner. Use a color that is light and similar to that of your ballast. Hold the car upside down and spray lightly from the bottom. Vary the amount of weathering you do on each car so that they don't all look like they were weathered at a factory.

 

[Matt Probst]

Spitfire--
Since I don't have an airbrush, I use pastel colored chalks with good results. I use a combination of burnt and raw umbers, burnt and raw siennas, black and charcoal gray. I scrape with an exacto knife to obtain a fine powder, then brush it on my cars with a bairly damp make up brush I swiped from my wife. Once I'm satisfied with the coloring, I spray it with Testors Dullcoat to afix in place. Here's a pic of a heavily dirtied up car with that method.

Matt--Hershey, Pa.

 

[Tyson Rayles]

I'm with Matt, I use chalks also. They are more forgiving, if you don't like the way it came out a damp cloth removes it and you can start over. One good set of chalks will last most people a lifetime so it's cheaper, no airbrush to clean when you are done either. And because you don't have to mix then clean the gun to change colors then mix, then clean the gun to ................................................. it's a heck of alot faster.

 

[Vic]

A cheap set of pastel chalks in "earthtone" colors from the craft store will give you all the colors you'll ever need for weathering cars, buildings and etc. Floquil has a whole line of weathering colors, dust, rust, mud, grime, earth and etc. for airbrushing but I quit using them when I tried the chalks...much faster and easier.

 

[Jim de Bree]

I too hjave converted most of my weathering to chalks. It takes a little practice, but the results are great. And the part about not having clean the airbrush...that may be the best part of all.

 

[spitfire]

Thanks all. Glad to have an option to airbrushing. Like I say, I have one, have used it for illustrations in my other life, but I hate cleaning the damn thing and now maybe I'll just forget it and go with chalk.

cheers
Val

 

[alkcnw]

Hey Matt, How did you get that car to float in the air like that? Spitfire, I like the chaulk method too!

 

[marty w.]

Val,
I have airbrushed Floquil mud, dust, and grimey black.
I mix it about 40%paint/60%thinner. Nice lite coats along the bottom and trucks.
Cleaning the gun is a pain so, I wait until I have about 7-8 cars to do.
Marty

 

[Matt Probst]

Andy.. You wouldn't believe the mental strain it takes to levitate boxcars!
Actually, I just stuck it in my scanner
Since I don't have a digital, it's quicker than even the " 1 hour photo" method w/ my 35 mm.

Matt--Hershey, Pa.

 

[pcentral]

Hi Val,
I use a weathering system from Bragdon Enterprises. It's not chalk, but is applied the same way. It is 100 times finer than chalk, and does not rub off with handling (no dullcoat needed). It is available in 16 colors and I think alot easier to use than chalk.

 

[alkcnw]

Matt, Would of never thoght of putting a car in the scanner, seems to work great. Maybe I'll try one of my engines since I don't have a camera either! P.S. You might want to run that car threw the washer, It's kinda dirty!!

 

[Dave Harris]

I first tried a scanner type approach to photos when I wanted to scratch build a brass long haul tender. I wanted to photo etch the rivets & other detail ,so I took a Riverossi 2-8-8-2 tender to Kinkos & asked them to make a copy of it on a transparency, the guy looked at me , turned & went & got the manager. The manager told me " This is not Star Trek, we Don't have a replicator". After a bit more explanation I got them to make a picture of each of the four sides ,on transpariencies, which worked nicely to do my photo etched parts.

Dave

 

[kettlestack]

Val, I go along 100% with Matt on using chalk for weathering.
The main advantage is, if you foul up with paint you really got a problem, with chalk you simply remove it and start again. The pic here is my fiest attempt of weathering with chalk.

Matt, thanks for the demo of direct scanning of 3D objects, I just tried it and it's great! I also go along with your choice of the chalk colours.

Errol

 

[Wolv33]

Hi,

One thing you might want to try to get a car weathered is spray the whole thing with dullcoat...let it dry for a day.

Then, apply 70% alcohol to it in certain areas...the chemical reaction with the dullcoat gives a fine weathered look.