More Things to do to Weather Rolling Stock

By Bill "Ruined Trains" Rutherford and John "Grunge" Drye

You've washed your boxcar (or whatever) to tone it down and discolor it. You've dutifully drybrushed the thing to highlight details, roofwalks, etc. you've even drybrushed the running gear in various shades of brown and gray to dirty them. What next? Chalk!

As mentioned last month, looking at prototypes is the best way to discover what you're trying to do. Note how, after cars have been in use cross-country, they pick up a faded, dusty look - in grays and tans - along their sides and front. Note also the dead, sooty, black and gray deposits on top of a diesel after it's run a bit. These are the effects we're after.

Chalk, for the purpose of this article, includes a number of substances, ranging from common blackboard chalk, through the various artist pastel chalks, right up to various arcane formulations sold in little jars by sinister people at train shows. They all work, to one degree or other, and with similar techniques, but this article will stick with oil-based pastel chalks such as can be bought in sets at your local art supply store. The sets come in themes - earthtones, grays, brights, etc. - if you don't mind the expense ($10 - $20), buy a set of grays and a set of browns, as well as a stick each of black and white. If you just want to experiment, just pick up a stick each of white, black, and brown.

First, apply a flat coat such as Dullcote™ to your victim to seal any previously applied weathering, decals, etc., and to ensure a good working surface.

Next, take a piece of sandpaper and tape it to the inside of one of the plastic boxes your cars came in (one of the several hundred such you likely have in your closet). Sand the end of a stick of chalk against the sandpaper until you've a nice pile of chalk powder in the box. Oh - use reasonably coarse sandpaper for this or you'll be at it awhile. You see now why you're using a box - the powder gets everywhere. Repeat this process with each of the colors you plan to use, each in a different box.

Use old, worn, brushes (you'll never paint with them again after this...), cotton swabs, and even bits of sponge (the fine-grained type that sometimes pads model trains) to apply the powder. Keep everything dry. Dip your brush into the powder and note how it clings to the brush. The oil base helps with this.

Now, apply chalk to your rolling stock. Working from pictures, you can do a number of things. Apply vertical strokes of light gray and lightly dust them out with a clean brush to represent dulling and fading. Lightly brush the lower body with light browns and tans to give it a roadworn look. Brushing them gently with a clean, soft, brush or cotton swab will spread and remove the chalk. A very light dusting of red-brown over the running gear, immediately flat-coated, makes it look as if it needs a paint job. By the way - we've chalk-dusted our running gear without ill effect, but if you want to be careful, remove the truck frames from your locomotives before trying this (the chalk dust mixes with any oil in the gear to make a nice gooey slurry that probably isn't good for things...) This treatment works well on boxcar roofs, too. The chalk's easy to apply and if you don't like it, wipe it off and start over (that was why you applied more flat coat again).

The key's to know what you're trying to do - use references! The chalks mix well with one another and you can get specific shades of road dirt with a little experimentation. Applying several dustings of different shades of dark gray and black to the tops of your diesels (and to the cars immediately behind) will deaden them nicely. Coal hoppers benefit immensely from this as well. Heavy-handed light gray and white chalk, dusted onto the sidewalls below the hatches, will do a good job of weathering a covered cement hopper. Use other colors for various chemicals.

After you've applied a protective flat-coat layer, you will notice that what was almost garish is now muted. Maybe too muted. Apply another layer of chalk dust and more flat-coat and see how the weathering and dirt slowly build up!

This is only one tool in your weather-box. Washing (as described last month) over chalk (after you've applied flat-coat) gives, for little effort, a very nice effect.

Drybrushing chalked areas with contrasting dirty colors, with lightened body colors, etc., can all lend depth to your weathering job and make it more realistic.

If you're feeling particularly dirty, mix a bit of chalk (or talcum powder, for that matter) with your favorite dirt color and lightly drybrush the running gear or sides with this. The dirt now becomes three dimensional. Do this with rust colored paint and your rust spots will look really corroded... The key is to keep an open mind and experiment. There's very little you can do to a model boxcar that hasn't happened in prototype somewhere...

Next we'll deal with damage and dings, clutter, repaints, and other signs of old age.