5 Minute Weathering Technique Using a highlighter and chalks

[Herc Driver]

Hi Guys...

I got an email sent to me by a fellow "gauger" that mentioned using a highlighter as the base coat to apply chalks. Since I had five minutes and a highlighter I thought might work, I thought I'd try it out and ask what y'all thought.

As you guys know...Nscale is a bit challenging to weather as effectively as some of this hobbies larger models. I'm not that great at painting, and I've found that at this scale, it's very hard to avoid leaving a paint brush mark or brush line. So I've gravitated to using chalks, since I can get a consistent weathering effect. But I wondered about using the highlighter as suggested by another modeler. So today, I thought I'd try it.

I used a regular orange highlighter and some orange chalk dust, applied with a wide stiff bristle painting brush. Since this is Nscale, I went with a small version of a wide brush normally found in pastel painting kits...so this isn't your best silky smooth paint brush. Rather, I wanted the inconsistencies and lines that might be associated with a heavily weathered but not abused or neglected look. The orange marker adds a good rust color to the silver top of the car, and generally darkens the sides. (But I can already see that I added too uniform a coating of the marker in these close-up photos.) By blotching the marker, a deeper rusty color can be approximated. The bristle brush added lines, but repeated brushing with the chalks muted them. Overall...it's not a bad look for a "5 minute job," but with added colors more attention to the individual segments of the cars, I think a better overall look can be obtained. On the other side of this car, I'm going to use some white to bleed the lettering down, and some deeper red and yellow chalk to give a more varied rust look around the door slides and hinge areas that would of course get more wear and tear. Also, the ladder should get more attention with highlights on the top of the rungs. The roof ended up looking pretty good overall, but I need some prototypical pictures to figure out how these silver colored roofs normally weather over time. And I think I'm going to give a light wash of india ink prior to the process to add some black highlights before dulling it down with the highlighter and chalks.

Before...with a very light coating of white chalks:



After...with orange highlighter applied over the white chalk, with added burnt orange chalk applied.

[Charlie B]

Hi Mark.
That makes a very realistic weathering job. Subtle is what we look for most times and this is a great way to achieve it.
Charlie

[Herc Driver]

Considering it took no more than 5 minutes...and not that taking longer wouldn't have improved the overall look of the car...I don't think it looks that bad considering how quick and easy this way. There is definitely areas to improve on, and they're easy to see. And this technique may not work on all applications, but it certainly does a passable job on cars colored this shade or red. I'm going to try other cars and other corresponding highlighter colors, then different colors and see what works and what doesn't. Also, adjusting the paint brush to apply the chalks would possibly make some interesting and subtle weathering changes. It's a "work in progress" that's for sure......

[Mr Fixit]

Well there you go. Who would have thought to use a highlighter and chalk.

Thanks for the tip Herc.

Why do I suspect that you peruse the inside of your 'bird' and dream of filling it full of a layout???

Mark

[Herc Driver]

If I'm gonna dream about flying layouts...I'll go back to what I used to fly on active-duty...the C-5B Galaxy. You could fit a lot of Nscale in that thing. About 121 feet by 19 feet of room...and that's just on the lower cargo floor. Don't forget the upper deck in the rear with seating for 77 and two galley areas plus two bathrooms. Take those seats out and you have a lot of floor space for another layout.

A stupid but true story...I called the Illinois Railroad when I got the C-5 assignment and asked them what weight in coal cars would roughly equal the max takeoff weight of the C-5B. After convincing the guy I was really being serious...he worked the math and said a fully loaded C-5B could takeoff with roughly the same weight as four fully loaded 50 ft coal cars. I don't know if that's accurate or not...but it makes for a good story.

[Mr Fixit]

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it

You could certainly fit at least a tripple decked layout downstairs in a Galaxy, but save some of the upstairs as an operators lounge.

Mark

[Charlie B]

Hi Mark
4 loaded coal gons would weigh in at a gross of 1,144,000 pounds (572 tons)
Charlie

[Herc Driver]

Wow...that's way heavier than the max load on a C-5B. We could block out at 772,000 lbs and take off at 769,000. (Yes...we'd burn 3000 pounds of fuel starting up and taxiing out for take off.) With the new engines and wing box strengthening, I think it can lift more now. So I think that estimate from the mid 90's I got was a bit off, or maybe he gave me the number on how much coal (minus the car) weighed.

Thanks for the number! That's a lot of weight. Amazing an engine can pull a string of those cars...