CF7 Roof Weathering

[Steve Williams]

All completed. The dark stains down the sides seen in a lot of the prototype photos, are actually more pronounced on the model than would appear in the photos. just a case of the lighting bleaching them out a bit.
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[nachoman]

very convincing!

[torikoos]

I like it, also like the extra details like the antennae platform etc.

Nice job!

Koos

[cnw1961]

Very good job . This engine really looks like it is earning its keep.

[faraway]

All completed.....

I watched you carefully and will try to copy your skillful weathering on my FCEN CF7 some times later. Thanks a lot for the perfect inspiration.

[Paulman]

Great results! Thanks for posting your photos.

[Steve Williams]

Thanks for the positive comments fellas. It is always nice (and useful) to get feedback, especially if positive . One has an idea about what one is trying to achieve, but there needs to be independent assessment as to how successful the attempt has or has not been. Self-delusion can be very convincing!
Once again, many thanks.

[sailormatlac]

Steve, you did a wonderful job on this locomotive. What did you use exactly to fade the paint in the first step? It's quite effective.

Matt

[Steve Williams]

Steve, you did a wonderful job on this locomotive. What did you use exactly to fade the paint in the first step? It's quite effective.

Matt

Thanks Matt. I just gave it a wash of pale cream. It was Humbrol 121 which is 'Matt Pale stone'. Then washed most of it off with a flat brush and white spirit. it later got another wash of Precision 'Dirty Black , again with most of it removed, but it remained in the detail areas and the paleness of the red still came through the darker wash. The sooty stains were done with weathering powders.

[dwight77]

Hi Steve:
I go between Ft. Myers, Fl and Orlando periodically and noticed the Florida Central locos just south of Winter Haven
in an industrial area.
I was finally able to take a picture....it wasn't what I had hoped for as in previous trips they had
two locomotives out near the highway where great pictures could be taken. I will be going back in about
10 days and will try to take some more pics.
But what you see and what you are modeling are very very very close.....you are doing a great job.
dwight77

[Steve Williams]

Hi Steve:
I go between Ft. Myers, Fl and Orlando periodically and noticed the Florida Central locos just south of Winter Haven
in an industrial area.
I was finally able to take a picture....it wasn't what I had hoped for as in previous trips they had
two locomotives out near the highway where great pictures could be taken. I will be going back in about
10 days and will try to take some more pics.
But what you see and what you are modeling are very very very close.....you are doing a great job.
dwight77

Thank you. That's very much appreciated.

[Steve Williams]

As a postscript, I had a second CF7 to weather. There didn't seem to be many photographs of this livery, and those that I did find showed it in pretty clean condition. As Chris wanted it to be really filthy, I had to resort to photographs of the FEC and also looked at photographs of locos with a similar paint scheme to see what they looked like when grubby. The attached images show the final result. I am afraid the images aren't too clever as it is as murky as Hell here today, so I had to use flash which isn't ideal.
   

   

   

[faraway]

I find it more difficult to weather a dark/black engine. Your "trick" worked very well to first light it up to simulate bleached out paint and dust and than apply black from the stacks. The engine looks very good!

[sailormatlac]

I find it more difficult to weather a dark/black engine. Your "trick" worked very well to first light it up to simulate bleached out paint and dust and than apply black from the stacks. The engine looks very good!

Reinhard, that remembers me an old folk who always told me to NEVER use real black. Almost impossible to weather. What applies for steamers applies for any other balck carbody. Steve's technic works nice because you get at least 3 color hues: the original paint, the faded paint and the darkened paint. Add rust and dust and you've got a 5 tones color variation bringing life to the model. When I was doing model figure, it was habitually recommended to use 5 different tone to make a realistic flesh color.

Matt

[Steve Williams]

I find it more difficult to weather a dark/black engine. Your "trick" worked very well to first light it up to simulate bleached out paint and dust and than apply black from the stacks. The engine looks very good!

Glad you like it, thanks. I agree, they are a right pain to do. It helps if you can put a nice layer of dust or rust on the roof as well. It doesn't show too well, but there is evidence of that on the Florida Midland roof. The muck around the stacks has an element of Humbrol Metalcote to give a bit of a greasy sheen, but right by the stacks I put in weathering powder whilst still tacky to try and give a more matt sooty effect.