First try on a locomotive

[faraway]

I did my first try on an old CF-7 now owned by the (fictional) CSTR. As a former AT&SF without repainting it should show some severe rust.

The hoods and cab got a light black wash. The roof around the stacks got pure flat black. The trucks and the lower part got a black and brown 1:10 deluded (not as much as a wash). After the brown/black has been dried I wiped the trucks with Q-Tips soaked in cleaner. The rust are small Tamya flat brown spots that got worked on with a semi dry brush and some Tamya thinner.





The forgotten brown spot at the end of the cab on the last photo has been fixed....

[Puddlejumper]

Looks great!

[viperman]

Looks nice!

Did you get inspiration from a picture in another thread here? That looks like a loco posted in another thread about reporting marks

[cn nutbar]

Excellent job Reinhard---obviously you're a multi-talented modeller when one considers the excellent work you've also done on your beautiful layout

[faraway]

Thank you for the kind words. I will go ahead with that technique on my other AT&SF CF-7 and two caboose. I will try do do also smaller rust patches.

Did you get inspiration from a picture in another thread here? That looks like a loco posted in another thread about reporting marks

I did not get inspired by a specific picture but after I learned yesterday to have the option to run an older engine with none or minimal changed reporting marks on my layout a new option has been born for me.
I love the CF-7 and prefer the old AT&SF colors. But that does not match my layout. With the information from yesterday I could reuse the AT&SF CF-7 with a little sticker of the fictional CSTR class 3 railroad on my layout. Because the CSTR runs the CF-7 in the original AT&SF paint some severe weathering and rust is justified.
In parallel I did find lots of older CF-7 in the internet. Lots of them are in bad shape the could be used as an example for me.

[andersley]

Super job on the CF7! - I always rather like the looks of them.

[Gary S]

It did turn out well. The rust spots look good, and the wash made the vertical posts on the handrails look good too. Are you finished with the loco? I'm thinking it could still use a bit more overall "fade" through some lighter colored diluted washes. However, I wouldn't blame you if you left it as is!

Glad to see your courage in attacking a loco. I have yet to attempt mine.

[faraway]

... I'm thinking it could still use a bit more overall "fade" through some lighter colored diluted washes.....

I thought about it as I did it with a white wash before on some boxcars. However the results on the boxcars have been very mixed and I did not understand why some come out well and some not. That is the reason I did not take that risk on my loved CF-7.
Because the white wash for fade out must be the fist step (black wash for dirt, rust etc. comes later) this engines are finished.

[faraway]

What the heck, I gave it a try....





The white wash settled preferred in the grooves and around the black stack. The engine looked like bombed with flour. It got another black wash to run into the grooves (where the dirt houses and no faded paint) and the stack area got a new black layer.
After that the blue part is "acceptable" but not more. The yellow cab is the problem. The large planes are not weathered but look like painted with milk. That is what I was afraid of. It happened to some modern boxcars with large unstructured planes too.
The overall impression of the engine is much more run down than the others.

I think there is a problem in my concept. A wash tends to run into the grooves like dirt does. That is the effect we need for the black wash. To have faded out paint the light wash shall stay on top of the solid paint on the planes. What is my mistake?

Update:
A test on the engine from yesterday got better results. The white wash looks like milk if it is mixed like milk. A new setup with much less white color and three layers of highly deluded wash on the yellow cab gives much better results.

[Herc Driver]

Very nice job - I especially like the rust spots!

[doctorwayne]

Reinhard, I think that the weathering job looks much better with the fading than without. It only stands to reason that a loco which is rusting through the paint would already be faded, possibly quite severely, by the sun.

While a wash can be useful for simulating a build-up of dirt and grime, I find airbrushing more effective for fading, as it won't result in excessive build-up around raised details. Thin the paint severely - at least 90% thinner. If a single application doesn't give you the desired results, repeat until you get the effect which you desire. It's much easier to add more than it is to remove "too much".

Wayne

[faraway]

... find airbrushing more effective for fading, as it won't result in excessive build-up around raised details. ...

Wayne, that is the key. A thin layer applied with the airbrush does not run into the corners etc. as it happens with a brush. Next time I will start with fading first and do it with the airbrush.

ps. I did also some black wash yesterday evening under a lamp. That is not a good idea. The sunlight shows much more details and shows ugly brush strokes I did not notice under the lamp.

[Gary S]

I think it turned out well. What kind of paint are you using for the washes?

Although I have been refusing to get an airbrush for myself, I may have to if I am going to fade my locos. I have been experimenting with water based craft paints thinned with water and Windex lately, but not enough to make any conclusions.

[faraway]

...What kind of paint are you using for the washes?....

I use Tamiya paint and Tamya thinner.
Tamiya does not work well with alcohol and PollyS black creates a gray wash. I did not find "indian ink" in Germany (Remark for German readers: Pelikan Tusche did not work with alcohol) .

[faraway]

I did get another CF-7 and did weather some boxcars and a caboose.







This time I did not forget to apply the white wash first. The black wash is very light only. I wanted boost the bleach out effect.
It is also the first run of my new camera with all setting in automatic position except dedicated set macro mode for closeup.

And yes, all this done on the new computer!