Oil Canning effects for freight cars

[JoeD]

When we did the tooling for the 60' Autobox car I attempted to replicate the oil canning effect you see on large cars with inside bracing. The final effect was pretty cool but printing it was going to be a nightmare given the uneven surface.  We abandoned the project and did straight forward tooling but this is still a process I would like to do at some point in the future.   Anyway, I've been a big fan of a guy in G scale who goes by the screen name Burle who has perfected this effect using aluminum tape.  Grated the project is a lot bigger but the effect he gets is stunning.  I'll locate a link and post it later. 

I belong to all sorts of modeling groups on Facebook, figuring there's plenty of room for overlap of techniques.  Heck the "Verlinden Technique" as it was called was in wide use for aircraft and armor models back in the 80's but never fully adopted in model railroading.  Basically he brought stage faux painting to a miniature medium using oils for staining and washes, dry brushing and rust effects that really changed the face of military modeling.  I remember doing this to some upgraded Athearn boxcars and taking them to the Regional NMRA convention in the Bay Area and getting my hat handed to me for distressing a perfectly good paint job!   LOL.  Well times have changed and I think the state of weathering is well and good.  One thing you don't see a lot of is oil canning in our weathering jobs.  I've attached an article from a model aircraft forum that I think has some good ideas for us to consider.  I've done this a few times with our 40' drop bottom gondola and while tedious, I think one can really do a surface justice using these techniques.  Gone are the days of warming the plastic and gushing it around and creating a mess in the process.  Give it a look, I think there's stuff here we can use.  http://www.ratomodeling.com/articles/stressed_skin/ 

Joe

[Mark5]

This is really cool.  I've seen it done in N scale - rarely.

I've pondered this, and may try to replicate that feel down the line when I more time to fiddle.

Mark

[Lemosteam]

Fine N Scale did a fantastic job of this (eBay) picture:



Wonder what technique they used on the master or tooling...

[wazzou]

John, there wasn't any tooling in the conventional sense really as they are resin castings but it is true the master had to be modeled with that detail.

[Lemosteam]

John, there wasn't any tooling in the conventional sense really as they are resin castings but it is true the master had to be modeled with that detail.

OK I wasn't really sure, but the really did a great job IMHO.

[nkalanaga]

Fine N Scale did a beautiful job on those cars.  I have a pair, 40 and 50 ft double doors, in NP paint for my BN.  But  they also had the advantage of NOT trying to letter them.  Decals or dry transfers work fine on "warped" surfaces, but as Joe said, printing almost requires a flat or smoothly curved surface.

[peteski]

I'm puzzled by the difficulty in Tampo printing this type of a model.  The pad which transfers the ink is made from a soft rubber.  I'm often amazed with just how flexible it is as I see the ink neatly applied even over slightly different height panels, over molded-in grabs or even small ribs on the car's surface.  All those details I mentioned stand proud off the surface of the car much more than any oil-canning effect would.

BTW, is oil-canning really a good term to use in this instance?  To me oil canning is something that looks like imploded tank car.  What we are talking about it slight bumps (in either direction) or slight creases caused by stress of the metal panels.  But then again, I can't think of a  another good term to use for this type of distortion.

[wcfn100]

BTW, is oil-canning really a good term to use in this instance? 

The term was made up specifically for this instance and has been around longer than you have.  So yes, it's good.


Jason

[peteski]

The term was made up specifically for this instance and has been around longer than you have.  So yes, it's good.
Jason

It's good to learn from the experts - thanks!

[Missaberoad]

The issue I have with the FNS cars is that the effect was much more common on welded cars and didn't really show up as much on the riveted prototypes they chose.

As an example here's a Welded (mostly) NSC built boxcar

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/cp/cp293517g18.jpg

and here is a similar shot of a B&O wagon top.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1_Fk8EMYP14/UhF0DVIrYCI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/vychcUa_I00/s1600/bo381604.jpg


Even this nearly new shot shows very little evidence of the effect (mostly on the door).

http://www.american-rails.com/images/BOWAG381452.jpg

as another example here is a riveted side Pullman standard boxcar.

http://freight.railfan.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=ncsl19399&o=ncsl

v.s. a welded side PS1 one year later.

http://freight.railfan.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=cgw93251&o=cgw

Not at all meant to be a slight to Fine N scale, their kits were ages ahead of their time, and are still among the top...