Rustbucket Basement Work

[basementcalling]

Sharing a few more in progress shots. Feel free to critique or offer advice, especially on fading the logo on the UP boxcar.

First up is a pre faded Atlas rework of the old Walthers' ballast hopper. I did a couple additional fades with the paint outs masked, and have applied an initial set of rust washes. Will probably stop here and dirty up the inside.



Prototype inspiration for rust streaks on a MT BN boxcar. Not a match for the road number, but the streaks deserve replicating. Most are first coat of rusty wash, but one side I darkened them by adding dots from a Micron brown pen and dragging those up or down with a brush before the ink dried completely.







Next is the prototype match to the road number of Intermountain's last 50 foot plate F boxcar release. Sadly, the number of ribs and panels on the model are not a match for the real thing. However, almost every car in this paint scheme, in multiple styles, shows the same fading of the UP shield, where the paint ON the rib remains pristine, but the rest of the logo fades badly. I faded the whole car with several zinc white coats but will need to do more with direct white paint on the logo to hide the red enough. Hoping a couple more coats as a wash will even out the look.






The rust wash came out fairly good. I added a couple rust out dots that need streaking and more work, and I need a grime streak in a few places. Unfortunately, I haven't found any good overhead shots of what the roofs on this series do.

Thanks for looking.

[peteski]

While your weathering efforts on the locomotive looked only so-so to  me, these look really good Peter. 

[wazzou]

I think painting the sill on the UP car will help make it look more like the proto.  I can't tell if the model's ends are painted silver or not.
One thing I would suggest is to see if you can do your brush painted fades in such a way as to not build up so much paint, proud of the surface.
Keep up the good work.

[ednadolski]

LGTM so far, tho it is a bit hard to judge the fade from the photos, can you increase the lighting?  Depending on the look you want, those GWS logos can fade to nearly a whitish yellow.

The BN box perhaps could benefit from a bit more refinement on some of the rust streaks, as they seem to have a bit of a watermark edge in a few places.

Ed

[basementcalling]

LGTM so far, tho it is a bit hard to judge the fade from the photos, can you increase the lighting?  Depending on the look you want, those GWS logos can fade to nearly a whitish yellow.

The BN box perhaps could benefit from a bit more refinement on some of the rust streaks, as they seem to have a bit of a watermark edge in a few places.

Ed

I think painting the sill on the UP car will help make it look more like the proto.  I can't tell if the model's ends are painted silver or not.
One thing I would suggest is to see if you can do your brush painted fades in such a way as to not build up so much paint, proud of the surface.
Keep up the good work.

Thanks, Ed. I agree on the watermarks. I haven't gone back to Q-tip them yet, but that should remove those. Sadly, the lighting is something I am stuck with. I'll try to shoot some finished shots outside in natural light.

Wazzou, the sill is silver on the IM UP car, as are the ends. The ends tended to get very rusty and dirty from the wheel spray.

Peteski, I agreed about the engine so I went back and redid a good bit of the fade, especially the gray. Still some touch up to do around labels and the fuel tank is getting redone to better match the photos I have.

[wazzou]

Wazzou, the sill is silver on the IM UP car, as are the ends. The ends tended to get very rusty and dirty from the wheel spray.

Ah, now I see it. 
It looks like on the proto, the silver on the sills extends much higher to just beneath the bottom ladder rung.

[basementcalling]

Ah, now I see it. 
It looks like on the proto, the silver on the sills extends much higher to just beneath the bottom ladder rung.

I think the sill is also deeper on the prototype than the model, but you are right. IM's car isn't an exact match for this prototype.

[robwill84]

That UP boxcar reminds me of one I weathered several years ago in HO scale. My prototype had the lettering almost all washed away, leaving a ghostly UNION PACIFIC behind. I used some fine sandpaper wrapped around a toothpick to painstakingly remove almost all of it, you might try the same technique to remove just a little.