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Feb 2, 2006
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PC Boxcar Weathering by Rich Yourstone
The project started as a Micro-Trains 60' car in factory paint. I just added ACL and lube labels. I love the way PC green looks with rust! After all they are complementary, for those who know color theory.The weathering technique is the same I've been using for the past year and half. First, the car was lowered and the couplers body mounted. I wanted to use the boxy truck mounted couplers rather than MT 1023's or 1015's, but I had to trim off the rear "latch" so the trucks would clear. (I actually installed both other couplers types and just didn't like the result). The car as-is can just barely negotiate a 12" radius with the flanges scraping the underframe lightly. I wouldn't use anything less than an 18" radius.
I worked from a protype photo of a similiar car in Morning Sun's PC Color Guide. The underframe/trucks were airbrushed with a mixture of PollyScale Rust and DRGW Depot brown with a little Roof brown. Funny how new cars often have brighter rust on the underframes, without years of accumulated grease.
I masked off the roof with Tamiya tape (this stuff is awesome) and sprayed Flat Aluminum. The body itself got a very heavy airbrushed fade coat. I used something like 12-15 coats to turn the bright grass green to a dull mint green.
The first wash was a mixture of Burnt Umber and Black. I applied several heavy coats on the roof, ends, ladders, and doors, wiping off the excess with another clean but damp brush as I went along. I didn't apply any wash to the sides, as I didn't want to darken the faded paint. The trucks also got a coat of this dark brown wash.
For the scratches I used a very small brush with the same paint mixture above, just with less thinner. Put some paint on the brush and wipe off two sides on a paper towel. This gives a chisel type edge that can paint very thin lines when dragged sideways. I just followed the prototype to place the marks. If one went on and didn't look right, I just erased it with a clean wet brush. This also added a very light wash effect to the sides (Yes, I meant to do that.)Here is where I tried something new. Previously I've used a lighter rust mix of paint to represent runoff from darker rust marks, by applying a bit and dragging it down with another brush, paper towel, or finger. It always gets a smeared look though, actually runoff is very gradiated. So I tried some dull yellow/orange chalk it and looks much better! I put the chalk streaks on with a very small brush, then used a large soft brush to blend them.
And that's it.
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