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| Recently upgraded white elephant find |
While making sure that any cars added to the roster of my model railroad are set up with metal wheelsets, checked with an NMRA standards gauge, continues to be a part of my standards, I haven't always paid attention to weathering the wheels. Having purchased a box of shiny metal wheelsets, I made sure to include the wheels in my weathering procedure by mixing some brown and rust acrylic modeling paints to paint the fronts of the wheels with a micro-brush before installing them. By cutting slots in the edge of a scrap of cardboard, I had a quick and dirty jig to hold the wheelsets. Another addition to my weathering procedure seen in this shot is to commit to at least attempting to find a prototype photo to use as a reference.
This older, Walthers Trainline ready-to-run reefer, lettered for the Swift Refrigerator Line, was slightly underweight according to the NMRA RP-20.1 and came with horn hook couplers. So, I removed the body of the car to attach the weights that had come loose and add an additional quarter ounce weight. I also removed the trucks and opened the coupler boxes. While the reefer was apart, I went ahead and brush painted the underframe, which had been a shiny, light brown plastic. I used a Vallejo Dark Grey, Oily Steel, and Dark Rust Wash. The Oily Steel Model Color is one of my favorite colors right now!
After the paint dried overnight, I installed Kadee #158 Scale Whisker Couplers in the coupler boxes. I had dry brushed the trucks with the same Dark Grey Vallejo paint and Dark Rust Wash as I used on the underframe. After fitting in the metal wheelsets, I reinstalled the trucks. In tightening the screws, I try to have one truck just loose enough that it turns freely side to side without rocking or swiveling. In what I call my "cinderella" technique, I loosen the other truck just a bit more, so that it can swivel as well as turn side-to-side. Having the trucks either too loose or too tight can lead to train car derailments, wobble, or lean. After press-fitting the car body and undercarriage back together, it was time to tackle weathering this Swift Reefer.
Having seen some some really nice results from using Vallejo Washes, both in a recent Division 12 clinic by Rob Bennett and in a MRVP episode, "Cody's Workshop: Episode 27," I had ordered several and wanted to try them. I used a Dark Grey on the sides of the reefer and a layered combination of Oiled Earth, Dark Rust, and European Dust on the roof. This photo shows the roof after just one or two layers of wash. I ended up using three or four as well as some Bragdon powders. The sides did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. Initially, I felt that the Dark Grey was too dark on the original Aluminum. I applied a light tint PanPastel color over the wash after the wash had dried, but wasn't happy with that either. At that point, I moistened a makeup sponge with water and removed some of the PanPastel and some of the wash under it as well. Basically, I was then in a very painterly mode, working with different materials in a wet-on-wet environment and hopefully knowing when to stop! While my color choice was not ideal for the sides of this car, I will continue to use the Vallejo Wash colors, and I know not to fear tuning up and weathering rolling stock simultaneously.
This older, Walthers Trainline ready-to-run reefer, lettered for the Swift Refrigerator Line, was slightly underweight according to the NMRA RP-20.1 and came with horn hook couplers. So, I removed the body of the car to attach the weights that had come loose and add an additional quarter ounce weight. I also removed the trucks and opened the coupler boxes. While the reefer was apart, I went ahead and brush painted the underframe, which had been a shiny, light brown plastic. I used a Vallejo Dark Grey, Oily Steel, and Dark Rust Wash. The Oily Steel Model Color is one of my favorite colors right now!
Having seen some some really nice results from using Vallejo Washes, both in a recent Division 12 clinic by Rob Bennett and in a MRVP episode, "Cody's Workshop: Episode 27," I had ordered several and wanted to try them. I used a Dark Grey on the sides of the reefer and a layered combination of Oiled Earth, Dark Rust, and European Dust on the roof. This photo shows the roof after just one or two layers of wash. I ended up using three or four as well as some Bragdon powders. The sides did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. Initially, I felt that the Dark Grey was too dark on the original Aluminum. I applied a light tint PanPastel color over the wash after the wash had dried, but wasn't happy with that either. At that point, I moistened a makeup sponge with water and removed some of the PanPastel and some of the wash under it as well. Basically, I was then in a very painterly mode, working with different materials in a wet-on-wet environment and hopefully knowing when to stop! While my color choice was not ideal for the sides of this car, I will continue to use the Vallejo Wash colors, and I know not to fear tuning up and weathering rolling stock simultaneously.
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