Model Train Forum banner

Weathering a white boxcar

4K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  downunda 
#1 ·
I'm wanting to weather a white boxcar. I don't want extreme weathering just something to show that the boxcar has been on the rails a few years perhaps.

I saw a video that showed a blue boxcar being sprayed very lightly with white to make it look somewhat faded and it worked a treat.

How could you do something similar with a white boxcar, what else would I do to a white boxcar (I am a weathering novice which I'm sure you alrady figured out)?

Thanks,
 
#3 ·
I agree with using light gray paint to do the "fade". Its not just the white paint you want to fade, but also the lettering over it. The other things I would do is use a black "wash" to mimic grime in the crevices of the car. I'd also consider a very light coat of brown on the lower portion and underside of the car to mimic dust and dirt kicked up from the rails and ground.

Mark
 
#5 ·
Weathering white can always be a bit extra challenging. As was already mentioned, a black wash is a good start to highlight the details and mute the color. Introduce browns and grimey blacks along the lower edges. Rust spots and streaks are really obvious on white cars as well. One example ....



Mark.
 
#8 ·
Mark and Shaygetz, your weathering effects are amazingly realistic. Well done! :appl::appl:
 
#13 ·
I would recommend using acrylic paints. That way if the finished product isn't what you had hoped for, you can just wash it all off and start over. The paint job won't be permanent until you seal it with a flat clear spray paint.
 
#15 ·
I've been painting with acrylics for many years now. They are as permanent as any other paint once dry. Water will remove them when still wet (2-3 minutes), and alcohol for about 15. Windex (the kind that contains ammonia) works up to about 24 hours, but after that you're using a stripper. Like other paints, full cure actually takes about a week.
 
#16 ·
Weathering a white box car

Thanks again for all of the suggestions, here is my current status:- the box car in the kit is a white-Lehigh Valley model.

I haven't weathered the box car yet but I've been doing a little testing to produce a faded white effect for the box car body.

1) I test sprayed some patches (of my very pale grey paint) on a black sheet of art paper to gauge how far from crisp white my paint mix was. The effect was pretty much what I wanted.

2) Then I removed a page from a colour catalogue and sprayed a swathe across the page to see the effect that the grey paint would have on the text as I didn't want the text on the box car to be obliterated. That test also worked well.

3) The Accurail kit had two spare doors so I sprayed one of them to do a comparison against the actual colour of the box car. That also came up well proving that I had the slightly faded effect I was after.

So the next step is to paint the box car itself, then follow up with detailed weathering. I'm learning a lot and having fun, what more could I ask for!
 
#17 ·
Weathering a white box car - continued

1) I sprayed the box car with ultra pale grey and got the faded white look I was after... that was a good tip.

2) I sprayed the undercarriage with a rubber black acrylic (I think I mentioned that elsewhere) then brushed dirt coloured weathering powder on it. It looks pretty good.

3) Back to the box car body... I gave it a light coat of hair spray (picked this tip up on youtube) then tried dusting it with weathering powders. I was most unhappy with the result and couldn't seem to fix what I thought was an unrealistic job so I washed it all off with a warm detergent mix.

4) weathering attempt 2:- I've just given the box car body a light spray with gloss varnish and I'm going to add a few graffiti xfers and try applying weathering powders again.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top