I was contemplating what I wanted to do for the next two days prior to leaving for Texas.  Tomorrow is Independence Day.  I model the summer of 1976, and last year I bought a pair of CNW 40-ft trailers to place on my 96-ft flat cars to simulate TOFC trains.  They are Walters units decorated for the Bicentennial and they are absolutely PRISTINE!  

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It made me think.  Were these trailers brand new in 1976, or were the trailers just repainted?  Personally, I'm trying to weather most of my rolling stock to reflect the era - 1976 was NOT a good time for railroads, and I model early Conrail when stuff was held together with bubble gum and a prayer. I really wanted to find some grimy trailer examples.  Time for a web search...  Found this one....

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So, the one on the trailer looks like the bicentennial paint was applied after years of trailer use, which was really what I was hoping for.  The prototype also has corrugated sides versus the flat sides on the Walters version.  I think I'll just ignore that difference. I figure that I'll tape off the red, white and blue stripes and other markings and apply most of the weathering treatments to each trailer and then give the stripes a dusting...  More photos of the process coming.

So, let's get to some explanation and pictures.  I masked off the stripes, the CNW markings (they also looked new in the proto photo)....
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Then I made up a gray acrylic wash.  A dab of white, a drop of black, and then I drizzled water into the container until I had a runny, milky mixture.  I removed the box from each trailer and applied the wash liberally to all surfaces.  On the top I went from front to back, everything else was from top to bottom.  Hit the trailer frame, wheels and tires at the same time.  Plastic has a shine that a wash takes right away.

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Of course, I wasn't quite happy with the wash, but that's the beauty of acrylics.  I wet my thumb and adjusted the depth of the paint, pulling paint off the trailer in certain spots - to simulate how either stainless steel or aluminum panels oxidize - it gets filmy in spots, gray in others.  I then added some brown to my wash and hit the frames for the onset of rust.  Again, if I didn't like how it looked anywhere, a little water and pressure.  Hit the trailer frame and wheels with this too and then dabbed some black acrylic paint over the washes.

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Then I got out my PanPastels and my makeup brushes.  Started with a small stiff brush and worked black into the crevices and panel edges and then got a big brush out to hit the top passenger side corner, which if you were a trucker in the 70's you knew you'd always have diesel exhaust hitting that corner of the trailer.

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Then a stiff eyebrow brush to work rust into the same crevices.

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It was time for the unveiling - took off the masked areas.

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And then I had to put them on a flat car and check out the finished product. 

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Happy 4th everybody!

Those look great and they are a great addition to your wonderful scenery. Have a good trip and we will look forward to more action from you.
Charlie

They both look Great!!! Nice Work!!

Looking good

Yup, just right. Thanks for the step-by-step too,

The problem with weathering - you stick these two on an unweathered flat car and you realize there's much more to do!

Nice work!