Greenfield's Weathering Tips-1

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Model railroading is an area where a lot of different weathering techniques and materials come into play and a collection of tips can be a real help.

Many model railroaders in particular feel no structure, engine or piece of rolling stock ever makes it on the stage in of their basement empire unless it has been grunged, rusted or otherwise had its "new" look killed.

1. Weathering Rock, Stone and Concrete walls:

Begin by dry brushing a liberal coat of mud coloring along the bottom which represents years of rain splattering. Give your walls a warmer look by dry brushing with Earth. In the case of concrete loading docks dry brush with Grimy Black in a few spots on the vertical face of the loading dock, using vertical brush strokes and applying it mostly near the top to give the appearance of grease or oil which had run down from the dock. India ink dripped into half a film canister of alcohol makes a good wash to bring out depth and texture of wall surfaces.

2. Simulating The Results of Rust:

When applying rust to model railroad cars, metal ships or vehicles, figure where your gash, dent or scrape might be. Remember, forklift operators will sometimes use their forks to open or close the box car door, thus creating big scrapes along the sides of the doors. Anchors also will cause scrapes and gashes, but remember ships are better maintained than rolling stock. With a fine tip brush, apply in a downward motion from your gash, scrape or dent with your rust color. Make multiple passes with different shades and colors of rust to achieve the right result.

3. Streaking:

(1.) With various brush sizes, apply in a downward motion from the top of the car, use thinned Polly Scale paint, and work it into the grooves and such. It's best to have a few shades of grime thinned to give you a better look. The acrylic Polly Scale paint can be thinned with water giving you some real nice shades. Thinned India Ink makes a good wash to bring out depth and texture of car braces, grills and seam lines.

(2.) Your car should look dirty and you should now have streaks. There will be some streaks that are lighter or darker than others if you did the streaks using different shades. If all of your streaks have the same opacity, then it will not look realistic.

(3.) Try to break up the pattern of your streaks so that it looks random. "The more random, The more real."