Weathering with dummies

PaulRhB said:
True and Henri’s was more typical of good general use light weathering from the picture.
Wooden vehicles do weather to that state within a few weeks though as they don’t get cleaned so they reach a fairly standard dull finish with a light layer of dirt. Extreme weathering for a wooden van would be paint peeling leaving exposed wood, evidence of cleaner replaced timbers and and streaks of rust down from metal fittings. If they are fitted vehicles then you tend to get the brown layer of brake dust building over time.
These are fitted vans in the heritage train last summer and as they are stored outside weather exactly the same as they did in regular service ;)
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That peeling of paint is a tricky thing to replicate, I wonder if the salt method may work. A little salt on weathered grey wood, salt then the topcoat. Must give it a try. Works on my Shed ok, but that is just wood outside 24/7/365.
 
It’s all your fault Henri! After getting home from our daily exercise I had a couple of hours to spare before tea. I was supposed to be taking some photos of my layout, but the sun was shining and it was too nice to be indoors. So I dug out a couple of wagons, some dark paint, thinners, brush & rags and started weathering, just an initial wash. Once I had done them, I dug out two hopper wagons and did them too. Oops, tea was half and hour late, but who cares when you are enjoying yourself.

The photo below shows the first wagon, the right side has had the dark wash, the left side is waiting to be treated. The was brings out the joints and texture in the planks. Lots more work before its finished.


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ColinK said:
It’s all your fault Henri! After getting home from our daily exercise I had a couple of hours to spare before tea. I was supposed to be taking some photos of my layout, but the sun was shining and it was too nice to be indoors. So I dug out a couple of wagons, some dark paint, thinners, brush & rags and started weathering, just an initial wash. Once I had done them, I dug out two hopper wagons and did them too. Oops, tea was half and hour late, but who cares when you are enjoying yourself.

The photo below shows the first wagon, the right side has had the dark wash, the left side is waiting to be treated. The was brings out the joints and texture in the planks. Lots more work before its finished.


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That is the filthy beer that I used to drink in the bad old days of the East before the wall came down. Changed to being a great beer once the East got their hands on proper Hops etc. it was rumored that they used to use any old veg even spuds to make beer in the East, tasted like it as well at times.
 
ColinK said:
It’s all your fault Henri! After getting home from our daily exercise I had a couple of hours to spare before tea. I was supposed to be taking some photos of my layout, but the sun was shining and it was too nice to be indoors. So I dug out a couple of wagons, some dark paint, thinners, brush & rags and started weathering, just an initial wash. Once I had done them, I dug out two hopper wagons and did them too. Oops, tea was half and hour late, but who cares when you are enjoying yourself.

The photo below shows the first wagon, the right side has had the dark wash, the left side is waiting to be treated. The was brings out the joints and texture in the planks. Lots more work before its finished.


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It really is amazing such a small carefully applied bit of dark wash makes to a model. It's gone from looking at little plasticy to real wood.
 
My progress. I find it very difficult to weather ‘just a little’. It is so easy to overdo it, so my focus is on ‘just a little’. The rusty flat wagon was a piece of cake compared to the gray wagon.

Here is a first attempt:

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It is not to my likings, as in it looks way to ‘old’. So I resprayed it gray and started all over. Now it looks like...

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I almost didn’t touch the ‘wood’ but focussed on the ‘metal’. I am still not convinced...

It is extremely time consuming! I spend about 4 hours this afternoon and 2 last night to get the result in the picture.

I am open for suggestoins!
 
Henri said:
My progress. I find it very difficult to weather ‘just a little’. It is so easy to overdo it, so my focus is on ‘just a little’. The rusty flat wagon was a piece of cake compared to the gray wagon.

Here is a first attempt:

View attachment 266098

It is not to my likings, as in it looks way to ‘old’. So I resprayed it gray and started all over. Now it looks like...

View attachment 266099
I almost didn’t touch the ‘wood’ but focussed on the ‘metal’. I am still not convinced...

It is extremely time consuming! I spend about 4 hours this afternoon and 2 last night to get the result in the picture.

I am open for suggestoins!
Click to expand...
I think you are trying to apply the weathering to specific points. Note the door where you have a little wavy line above the bottom plank. First things first a wash over with the darker colour as you have then try washing all over with lots of water immediately after you have done that (assuming you are using water colours, replace water with thinners if other paint) then let dry. What this will do is push the pigment into the cracks and to the bottom of the wagon where it would naturally gravitate to. While leaving a little elsewhere. I think if you had tried this at the first weathering rather than starting again you may have come up with a happier result.

But all is not lost, any odd planks you do not like could be painted in bare wood colour to represent new or replaced ones. A little slop of that dulled down colour after will let the starkness down a little. Another thing I do is to spend 10-15 minutes weathering then leave and come back later with a different method. Weathering does not happen in real life all at once many different things come into play, a day near a cement factory say (light dust), general running for weeks on end (brake dust and dirt thrown up from the track) plus of course being dragged around by a smoky steam engine ( black smoke colours), some rust thrown about from the wheels and rail.

You are getting there but I think that you may be overthinking things by looking at it for extended periods.
 
Tonight I finally got it the way I had it in my head. I sprayed the body gray again and started all over. What did I do different from the previous attempts? Well, first I wet the surface. Initially with water, but as this doesn’t spread nicely, I added a drop of detergent. That works like a charm. Then, I dropped the ‘wash’ onto the wet surface immediately followed by a touch of a wet brush, dilluting the edges with water. That looks like a big mess, but with a slightly dryer brush you can easily remove any wash and get nice, small area’s. The final trick is to use a really dry brush, I prefer with stiff hairs, to brush into the left over wash to merge it seamless into the surface.

Okay, nobody can follow this, but this is what it looks like:

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Looks like you have made a really good start, Henri. I promise that it does get easier with practice.

Rik
 
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Taking from the book "Your Case is Hopeless" by Karl Sabbath, about The Boy's Own Paper. A very good read, even if quite shockingly impolitically correct.
 
Well you’ve certainly started something Henri, I‘ve spent an hour or so every day recently working on my stock, adding rust streaks, grease stains etc. I’ve spent all day finishing them off, underframe dirt, roof dirt etc then a quick spray of matt varnish. I’ll post a couple of pics on my HSB goes indoors thread.
 
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