Big Blue has inspired some purchases

[TMo]

I've been weathering my pair of SD45s in the last couple of weeks.  I included a picture of the finished Erie Lackawanna unit in "Weekly Photo Fun" for the past week.  Before I tore into the Reading Unit, I wanted to refine some basic "fade" techniques.  The Reading unit's yellow and green paint is much too bright to reflect the dilapidated look I want to create.  The EL unit got a good blast of gray from my airbrush, and I wasn't left with a result I really liked.  Ran into a good tip from YouTube (Boomer Diorama) who sang the praises of brushing on Tamiya X21 flat base with a little isopropyl alchohol added. You brush it on, let it dry to a crusty white and rub it off to get instant fade. The base coat then makes it really easy for washes to "stick". I am really stoked to try this technique on the Reading Unit. Just bought some X21 and it should be in my mailbox this week.

Video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAY3DBxHF1w

I then started searching for a prototype weathering that I'd like to mimic.  Found this shot in an Akron Model Railroading site. Love this look!  And guess what's riding shotgun?  An EL SD45, and this is August 1976...