ok... so i'm happy with the underframes and bogies i've done so far... i just sprayed them with a light dusting of slightly thinned down 'frame dirt' paint that i bought, and then i have used carr's weathering powders to add any brake dust or rust as i feel... i'm just trying to lightly weather these coaches so they don't have the black plastic look...
my question is how to weather the coach sides and the roof?
for the roof - do i need to use masking tape on the coach sides and then just add a dusting of 'roof dirt' paint? (i am concerned not to get the roof dirt paint on the sides...)
sides: what do people suggest?
cheers
tim
Personally I would say the roof dirt would appear all down the coach sides anyway as our lovely wet climate would ensure that :hmmm:
I would try Google to see if you can find any pictures of coaches.
There must be a few that have been taken from a height to show the dirt ;)
cheers John.
It depends a lot on period I think. If you look at modern coaches they tend to be very clean on the body side and roofs.
How the roof weathers also depends a lot on period (steam v diesel) and more importantly on the roof construction method.
If you look at real coach roofs you can also see how the dirt settles and runs. Good example here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pics-by-john/6907987271/# (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pics-by-john/6907987271/#)
and look where the dirt sits.
Roofs also go patchy with light/dark patches that have a very thin line of rust around the edge between the two.
http://www.rvp-ltd.org.uk/collection.php?vehicle=93579 (http://www.rvp-ltd.org.uk/collection.php?vehicle=93579)
I was also looking into this. Want to apply it to my GWR collects. but was just going to weather the frame
cheers for pics ep
weathering the frames i find easy now
might leave the sides alone, spray light dusting of roof dirt, then try and add extra dirt with powders in the areas where dirt seems to accumulate. i think patchy roofs / rust etc. is a bit much and requires better techniques than for a beginner.
cheers
tim
As above, depends on era
From my experience of working on InterCity services in the 1990s, dirt always worked its way up towards the cantrail stripe, very rarely was there dirt above this
This was due to the rain keeping the roof clean
Hence why white roof stock was rarely cleaned on the roof (and was only cleaned once a year)
There are plenty of photos of roofline views of trains, so refer to these
Being train specific now
HST coaches had black roofs, so rarely showed up the oil, and where oil had been expelled by a HST power car it would normally streak down the sides from the roof to the underframe
Coaches operated under wires would also be relatively clean
Finally, the amount of dirt would depend on the season and condition of each coach
I remember seeing a rake of Mark 3A coaches which were all very dirty except one of the First Class coaches which had been reinserted into the rake after overhaul
I think rather than spraying the roof - I would use a thin grey/brown wash around any raised detail and let capillary action bring the paint along the cantrail. This should low light the panel lines and around detial like roof vents whilst not really discolouring the roof..
Remember when weathering - less is more...
yes that's a very good point to remember - less is more...
it's kind of hard not to get carried away... but it only has to be very subtle, especially in n gauge...
tonight i am going to weather some containers... will try some coach roofs at the weekend...
tim