Adequate words, escape me at the moment ! :o So, will have to do.

very nice.. the paint & lettering really make them stand out.

Thanks for the kind comments, guys. They should look a little better with some weathering, but I'm not sure they'll be done by the end of the Challenge. They're going for Dullcoting in a few minutes, and the ice service reefers will (Challenge Part 1) join them for Glosscoting, but there's a lot of lettering to be done before the initial weathering gets started.

Wayne

Well, after some delays, I finally got these cars lettered and weathered. I did have some airbrush problems, resulting in a lousy weathering job, which is quite apparent on 2384, the ex-CNR car:



All of the cars got spattered weathering (an obstruction in the air line was the culprit), so I experimented by applying some additional weathering, using artist's pastels. These are in stick-form, and I simply rubbed them on some coarse sandpaper and used a soft paint brush to apply the resulting powder to the cars' sides.
I hadn't realised that the material would stick so well, or I would have made the initial application nearer the side sills. Some of it wiped-off, but it is still heavier where first applied. I didn't bother to try washing it off, but I doubt that plain water would remove it, as the pastels are oil-based. If necessary, I can always apply more.
Once the excess has been brushed away, the remaining material adheres extremely well, and I didn't bother to Dullcote over it - I prefer to Dulcote after the initial lettering has been applied, then mask-off areas where "re-painted" lettering will be applied, weather the car, then apply the re-weigh and re-pack data, and add chalk markings. On these cars, the latter were done with a white charcoal pencil - the scribblings are quite distinct when made, but susceptible to handling, so I give each a downward swipe of the finger to "fade" them, and what remains seems permanent enough. When handling these cars, none of the powdered pastel transfers to the fingers.



For the two remaining cars, besides masking for the application of re-weigh data, I masked-over random boards and groups of boards in hope of representing cars with some of their siding replaced. This was a fairly common practice on wooden cars, one reason why many of them remained in service for so long. I also masked over the already-applied lettering on those boards, too, so a painter must've been around to fill in the missing lettering. It wouldn't necessarily have been unusual for a car to be rushed back into service with parts of the lettering missing, though, and I may try that on subsequent cars.
These two also got some pastel weathering:





This concludes Part 2 of my Challenge. My thanks to all who've followed along.

Wayne

It's hard to explain away success. Great job, as always...

A great challenge....

It's amazing the level of detail you're able to put into those cars....Just plain ol' GREAT..!!