Weathering MEC Harvest Gold GP38

[CVSNE]

I need to weather a few of the Atlas Maine Central Harvest Gold GP38s.  I can handle most of the basic processes but I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on the best way to weather the thing so the "seam lines" - between the long hood doors and carbody etc are visible without looking like a "wash" was applied to the entire carbody. See the following for some idea what I'm talking about -
http://mainecentral.fotopic.net/p28377540.html

(Apologize in advance for the dreadful appearance of the site - it's not mine but has some nice photos)

Thanks for any all help/suggestions

Marty

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Marty, I usually use a plain black wash to get that effect.

It does tend to color the lands in addition to the grooves, but I think it might work:

[ryourstone]

For a light colored model like that, I would use a very small brush to paint the wash in as carefully as you can to just the area you want it - hinges, door handles, etc - then wipe down the excess with a second clean (and slightly larger) brush. The paint shouldn't be too thin, you want it to stay put. Artist type paints work best for this, model paints dry too fast. If you coat the whole thing with a wash, you might find it gets too dark overall. I think someone called this the "targeted wash" technique.

Make sure you do the complete opposite on the roof and walkways though. That would be a good place to thicken the wash with a lot of grey-brown (raw umber) chalk mixed into the paint. Put on heavy and wipe thin in a few places where the yellow shows through, like the angled part of the cab roof. When it dries do a second coat, then touch up with straight chalks so avoid a too-obvious wash look.

[CVSNE]

Ed and Rich,
Thanks for the tips. Now I have the perfect project for a few spare minutes each evening this week!

Rich, btw, would you Dullcote (or Polly Scale flat finish) the shell before adding the paint "washes"??

Marty

[coosvalley]

I have been weathering my MEC "yellowbirds" with chalks first, and then a couple of passes with thinned weathered black with a airbrush. Here are some examples:







 I bet you guys recognize the last one. The 562 represents an extremely weathered unit, based on a pic I have of her. Good luck!

[ryourstone]

Rich, btw, would you Dullcote (or Polly Scale flat finish) the shell before adding the paint "washes"??

You might be able to just dullcote the horizontal surfaces where the wash will completely coat for more tooth. Top of the blower duct too. I would mask off and spray the grills before doing anything and take off the truck sideframes and fuel tank and coat them with 1:2 Grimy Black:Rust. Then you're ready to start weathering

[Ian MacMillan]

572 is my favorite MEC loco. I have several shots of her running on the Mt Div on the Carroll Pipe extras.

Marty, for some really nice MEC shots in new and weathered talk to Ted Houghton. You can see some of his stuff on his site at http://www.wxtoad.com/index.asp?page=rrp/mec_gp38.htm

I have several prints of his photos in the train room.

[JDouglasFisher]

Having painted table top world war 2 miniatures, heres a suggestion..

Get some cheap gray acrylic paint and some rubbing alcohol.

on a palette mix a tiny bit of the gray with some water and some alcohol. You want tinted water, not runny paint.

Then,

with a very sharp tipped liner brush, take some of the gray tint water alcohol mix, (you don't want a drop showing at the tip, but just enough to see that the brush is holding some, you'll get the hang of it..) your going to touch the tip to the crevice of the doors, and allow capillary action to do the work for you.

You'll only be able to do one horizontal surface at a time, or it will run, but this should dry relatively quickly.

once the model is completed, hit it with a light dusting of weathing and dulcoat.

I know this is a tedious task, but the results are worth it..

If it was HO scale, I would suggest using the finest point Technical Pen you can buy. They are truly a pain to maintain at times, but the results in 1/100th scale tanks are awesome, so surely it would work in HO scale. I wouldn't suggest it in N though, the capillary method would be better in my opinion.

Joe.