Cylindrical Hopper UNPX 120253

[ednadolski]

Hi Guys!

Here are some images of an Intermountain cylinder hopper that I've been working on as a background project for a while, and now it's finally reached completion.  This has the latest photo-etched coupler boxes with the Bowser Z-scale couplers, along with BLMA 100T trucks plus wire grabirons and stirrups.

Weathering was done mostly with water-mix oils, with burnt sienna and burnt umber for the rust streaks.  I also used some powders on the wheels/trucks/couplers.  The graffiti is water-mix oils, hand painted with a really tiny brush and some strong magnification 























Here are a couple of proto pics that I used for inspiration:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures%5C35181%5CDSCF5966.jpg

http://www.railcarphotos.com/pix/1/UNPX%20120262_Tillsonburg%20ON_Luc%20Eyndhoven_2006-07-22_1264.jpg

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy! 

Ed

[Scottl]

Good grief, that is superb.  I'm otherwise speechless.

[peteski]

WOW!  Are you sure that it is N scale?!  I wish that I had talent for weathering.... 

[mirage]

Great work, it looks really beautiful.

[JanesCustomTrain]

Great job, thanks for sharing. 

Jane

[GaryHinshaw]

Beautiful work Ed!  The overall effect is so natural looking, especially the rust & graffiti.  The only thing I've managed to do with a cylindrical hopper lately is to drop one.   


Gary

[ednadolski]

Thanks guys for the kind words,  this one was a lot of fun to do.

I had thought about doing wire grabs on the end cages, but I was afraid that the plastic would be too delicate to drill out.  Those discharge gates are pretty delicate too, as I found out the hard way...

Ed

[Ian MacMillan]

Very nice Ed. Any more cars you've been working on?

[wazzou]

Ian's trying to raise his post count.   

[GaryHinshaw]

Ed, could you share your brush technique for getting the rust streaks to diminish in width so nicely?  Just lift the brush off gradually?  What size brush?

Thx!
-gfh

[ednadolski]

Ed, could you share your brush technique for getting the rust streaks to diminish in width so nicely?  Just lift the brush off gradually?  What size brush?

I use a pretty small brush, like an 18/0 or smaller, sometimes with some of the bristles trimmed away.  I start with the lightest tones and thinned paint, 'drawing' on the streak with the very tip of the brush (a curved surface can be a bit trickier than a flat one).  Once that's in place, I refine the streak by running the corner of a (clean!) dampened flat brush along the length of the streak on either side.    This removes any waviness, feathers out the edges, and thins and lengthens the streak.  If it comes out heavier than I want, then I can also run the flat brush lightly from the bottom to the top to remove some of the paint.   I then let it dry, and repeat with subsequently darker rust tones, keeping these centered and shorter than the previous streak.

It definitely takes some practice, and you have to find a paint consistency that works for you.  The water-mix oils are somewhat more forgiving than acrylics, since they take longer to dry so you have more working time.  You also can 'erase' any streaks that you don't like by going over them with a wet brush before they set up.  The one caveat there is that if you do that too many times, the oils will start to stain the underlying car color, esp. on a lighter car like this one.

Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks Ed.  I picked up some water-mix oils yesterday and I'm going to try to tackle an ARMN reefer like this:

http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=63055

with all those streaks under the door track.   Wish me luck.   

[jagged ben]

Ed, tell us more about the technique for the graffiti.  I can't believe that's done by hand.  What kind of magnification and do you use any stencil or projection?

[ednadolski]

Thanks Ed.  I picked up some water-mix oils yesterday and I'm going to try to tackle an ARMN reefer like this:

http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=63055

with all those streaks under the door track.   Wish me luck.   

With closely spaced streaks like that you have the option of doing them individually (more time consuming) or using some kind of flat or comb type brush (could be tricky to make it look right).  You could also combine both methods.  Any way, getting them straight and parallel will be key.   This might be one of those cases where those rust streak decals might come in handy, if you could find them in the right size/scale/color.

Speaking of color, for those lighter tones you might want to try some raw sienna along with the burnt sienna.   On a white car like that, restraint is important IMHO.

Ed, tell us more about the technique for the graffiti.  I can't believe that's done by hand.  What kind of magnification and do you use any stencil or projection?

I used a tracing of the outlines to get the general size/shape/position, but the rest is by hand.   It's actually similar to creating the streaks: start with an initial line, and then shape it to the desired thickness with the very tip of a damp brush.  Work in layers, with sufficient drying time in between, as it would be hard to do all in one go.   For magnification, I use an Optivisor with one of the stronger lenses (x10 or such, IIRC).  I also have one of those Ott Lites, so that I can get pretty close and still see what I am trying to do



Ed

[gary60s]

I'm impressed with the talents shown here with rolling stock. I can design and build almost any building, but with rolling stock I wouldn't know how to start. My compliments Ed.