Subtle steam weathering

[tom mann]

Guys, turn to pages 34-35 in the Winter 2007 (most recent) Classic Trains for 4 pictures of Santa Fe steam that all have different characteristics:

1.  3703: dusty tender, dusty drivers and rods/gear.
2.  3708: shiny tender, dusty drivers, shiny rods/gear.
3.  1371: dusty tender, dusty driver, dusty rods, oily gear.
4.  3522: fairly clean/shiny boiler, slightly dusty tender, clean (shiny) rods/gear.

So depending when a photo was taken in the life of a steam loco (ie, Recent shopping/maintenance), the differences in weathering could result from:

2.  Recent oiling.
3.  Dirt accumulation during/after a long run.
4.  Heavy rains (washing off ash).
5.  Rust/scale deposits.

Other notes:

1.  The oily gear/rods would accumulate a lot of dirt and grime after a run, but they would be clean and oily before a run.
2.  Rain creates a streaking effect over the whole boiler and tender.
3.  Model Railroader usually features a lot of steam that has a ash blue look.  I don't like this - authentic or not.  I believe this this is due to relying on straight up grimy black as the base coat instead of a mix (mine mix is from Joe Brown: 60% grimy black and 40% engine black).

[John]

how about using automotive wax .. you can get it to shine, or be a little dull ..

[hegstad1]

Well, this is one of my attempts at steam weathering.   I have done many locomotives where I just start with grimy black as the base coat and I do like the results but for this one I tried to replicate what would happen in nature.  I painted this locomotive with Scalecoat black which has a glossy finish.  This engine represents its last years of serevice so it was more heavily weathered than one that was more recently shopped.  I still wanted a well maintained look.  I basically did serveral washes with acrylics in various shades and then drybrushed with light gray to bring out the highlights.  Some rust, oil, and water streaks are hand painted.  The heat of the smokebox and firebox tend to age those areas more quickly so I tried to represent that on this model.  I guess I'll add one more picture for comparison.  The second model is one done with grimy black as the base coat but the rest of the weathering is the same. 

Andrew Hegstad

[pbrooks]

Andrew-

Wow!  ;D
Awesome models...

On my first few steamers, I added highlights by drybrushing.
I stopped because I couldn't do a fine enough job in N-scale without looking heavy-handed and obvious.

Yours are perfect! You popped the detail without looking crude.

Now that I know it can be done well, I may take a stab at my next paint job.

Do you have any photos of these babies on finished scenery? I'd love to see more!

Thanks for sharing,

-Phil

[CVSNE]

Tom,

The age of the engine, where it is on its run (prior to being steam cleaned, most railroads washed down steamers after every run -- the notable exception being the PRR and UP whose engines got extremely dirty before they were washed) all play a role in how they weathered, as you pointed out.

You mentioned "shiny" tenders -- very often the tenders appeared cleaner than the rest of the engine because (1) the water overflowed when the tender was filled and (2) the temperature -- look at pictures of partially filled tenders taken on warm days and you can see the way the water condensed on the outside -- the tender would "sweat". I can post some photos later to show what I mean if that would help.

Marty