Painting and weathering Peco 16T kit-beginner seeks help!

[tnorthy92]

Decided to have a go at kit building and some weathering. Ordered a couple of Peco 16T. What I'm unsure of is how to go about weathering them. There are some great examples on here, but not so much on the 'how to' side of it from finished kit to finished product-(Especially for the artistically disinclined!)  Some sort of break down of the terms used would be great too!

I don't know what 'dry-brushing' means or how to apply powders etc. In my head paint is wet! 

Any help much appreciated. The work on here inspiring to have a go!
Cheers

[NeMo]

It somewhat depends on whether or not you have an airbrush.

If you have an airbrush, the basic process I use is very simple, essentially just two steps. Something to mimic brake dust for the underframe (matt leather is often used) and then something to mimic diesel or steam muck for the roof (gunmetal metalcote is a favourite, but anything greasy dark grey will work nicely). The art comes from blending the two colours, and what's important is you look at some pictures of the real things to see where you need to apply each of them. Brake dust sprays from underneath, so inverting the model and spraying it that way would be ideal. Diesel or steam grime might streak would the roof from the front to back, rather than side to side, so turn the model right side up and spray from the front towards the back.

A fine once-over of some sort of mucky brown or dark grey is often employed afterwards to blend things, and you can airbrush or dry brush spots of rust as required. Go easy with rust though; it's very easy to overdo it, resulting in something more appropriate for a scrapyard than a working railway.

If you're not using an airbrush, then one approach that works well is dilute dark colours (or inks) so they run into crevices as lowlights, while dry brushing light colours so they catch on corners, mimicking highlights. Choose a darker version of the main body colour for the lowlights, and a lighter version of the body colour for the highlights. This approach makes models look much more three dimensional. But if you overdo it, it can look a bit cartoony, so experiment a bit by all means, but go slowly.

Dry brushing basically means you dip the brush in paint, rub almost all of it off on a scrap piece of plastic or card, and then gently stroke what little paint remains onto the model with very light strokes.

Powders are another way to add highlights. By default they're a temporary addition because they come off quite quickly (not necessarily a bad thing while experimenting). So when you've added them and want to keep the model weathered, you'll want to spray it with matt varnish to keep the powders on the model. Used correctly they're a good way to add streaks (for example where painty has been bleached away) and rust patches; but if you're heavy handed powders can make it look like you've dipped the model in talc, so again, go easy.

A 12T van is a good subject for a first try at weathering. Assuming this is a wood-bodied wagon, think about what you're trying to achieve. Is it a basically sound wagon that's simply been exposed to steam or diesel muck? In that case, brake dust and other pale weathering on the underframe would be present in small amounts, and a bit of dark weathering on the roof. The body itself would just need the mildest dusting of dark grey to take the shine of the enamel or acrylic paint you used to finish the model. On the other hand, a really old wagon might be bleached a bit and have certain planks replaced (so painting one or two a slightly different shade would work here). You'd be wanting to make the wagon look faded, so using slightly lighter shades of powders or dry brushed paint would be the basic technique you're after.

Cheers, NeMo



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[tnorthy92]

No airbrush (I am but a poor student!), thanks this is very helpful. The kit is a Peco KNR-44 Butterley steel type open wagon kit. So I'm guessing more about rusting. Planning to model (early)-late BR steam (late 1950's ish). Or some sort of fictional preserved line.