Steam loco weathering

[ATSF_Ron]

I posted a couple pics here of the ONLY steam loco I've ever weathered.  This was airbrush only.  I have a few brass steamers I'd like to do.  I feel confident enough with an airbrush, but I've also experimented with Pan Pastels and had good results with freight cars.  My only concern would be using the pastels on a brass loco's wheels and rods.  I don't want to mess with the electrical conductivity in that area.  Has anyone tried pastels around the drivers with good (or bad) results?  Thanks in advance.







The first two pics are "normal" layout LED strip lighting.  The last one had some "help" from an LED flashlight from the side.  It's rather blueish on the tender, but I like the color variations that show up on the loco.  Funny how it looks good to my eye in the room but in pics the color variations seem to get lost.

[mike_lawyer]

Very nice job!  I have only weathered my locos with an airbrush, but I have always wanted to try using weathering powder.  Anyone use powders for steam loco weathering?

[jargonlet]

A few years back I kit bashed an HO Athearn light mikado into Nickel Plate Road 587. It got a tender swap to a Bachmann long tender which got a lot of modifications much like the rest of the loco. It was weathered only with pastels to give it a very light weathering. Here are a few photos.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

NGL: I think I like the look of those Mikes better than the Berks.

https://devarchive.nkphts.org/object/gabda-5700-587-delphos-o-1947

[ATSF_Ron]

Great weathering job on the NKP Mike!

[Mike Madonna]

Ron,

Here are a couple of first run IM AC "Cab Aheads" that I weathered....

[randgust]

I've both painted rods and hit them with Neolube.  Neolube can't possibly mess things up operationally as it's graphite in alcohol.  It rubs off, but easy to reapply and you don't have to be particularly neat, either.

Believe it or not, this is Badger dark Brunswick green with a wash of grimy black, some black weathering powder, and neolube on the rods.  If you look at the cab roof and tender deck you can see the level of grimy black wash.  If you look at the stack on top of the smokebox that's the most visible portion of the black weathering powder.  What I like about that is it's more effective on a dead flat finish than any paint.



link:  http://www.randgust.com/PRRL1025.JPG

Most of the photos of PRR steam in the 50's was a lot worse than this, but I'm going more for the pre-depression look.

[ATSF_Ron]

Randy, that's a great looking decapod!  Thanks for explaining what you did.  Sounds like I need to try out some Neolube.

Mike, I also have a couple Intermountain cab forwards to do.  Is that all airbrush weathering, or did you use other techniques as well?

[robert3985]

I've been doing a bit more than usual steam engine weathering over the last year or so for myself and some customers.  I've only done UP and SP engines, and it was interesting to see from my reference photos that they weather up differently, as well as each engine has its own physical characteristics and weathers up differently than its stable-mates.

Photo (1) - My first attempt from years ago...Key USRA Light MacArthur (Mikado) UP-ized with a big Sweeney stack and numberboards.  Done with my Paasche AB fine-art airbrush, Pollyscale Paints over the factory paint and some fiddling with IPA in places:


After taking a couple of years to superdetail a Key Big Boy and paint it, I decided that it needed "light" weathering...like it had just come out of a major servicing at the Ogden Engine Facility...

Photo (2) - Superdetailed Key Big Boy with "light" weathering, again using my airbrush & Pollyscale colors, however painting the smokebox the correct light/flat grey.  Glossy Scalecoat 2 for the black, flat weathering over that:


Although I liked these results quite a bit, upon looking at more reference photos, it became clear to me that most engines didn't just "dust-up" as evenly as I was painting mine, but got "streaked" because of rain, steam condensation and localized hard water lime deposits.

Also, although I was liking the lime deposits on the rear drivers, I didn't like the rods and valve gear...one was too black, the other was too clean...even for a freshly shopped engine.

My good friend Jared Sharp had painted up a plausible fantasy scheme on a Kato GS-4, and asked me to weather it up for him to give to a mutual friend of ours, so I hadn't weathered up an SP engine before, so I did some online searches and found some really excellent reference photos of GS-class engines and how they looked when dirty...

Photo (3) - Plausible fantasy paint scheme on a Kato GS-4 on my friend's layout.  This time, I used artist's oil paints mostly with some airbrushing from my stash of Pollyscale colors:


Lastly, after weathering a few more Big Boys and Challenger for customers, I decided to weather up a Key Big Boy, again using color photos to attempt to get the oil/grease leakage and reddish grease on the rods correct...

Photo (4) - Weathered Key Big Boy using artist's oil paints, Pollyscale colors and Tamiya Panel Line Accent Colors:


Photo (5) - Key Big Boy rods "greased" with Tamiya Brown Panel Liner and grease leak from behind access door on cylinder/valve assembly also Tamiya Panel Liner in Black:


Photo (6) - Key Big Boy smokebox done with multiple very light coats of artist's oil paints over the stock metallic "graphite", lightly applied Pactra Flat Black for smoke blackening up top, then streaked a bit with brush dipped in paint thinner.  Tamiya Panel Liner Black for picking out details on smokebox, and also for grease leaks on front engine cylinder/valve assembly:


I don't use weathering chalks or powders because in the past, I've found that their effect changes when I applied my sealing coat over my weathering with them. With artist's oil paints, I apply a flat finish selectively to cut the sheen, but for my Pollyscale weathering colors, they're flat and they adhere excellently, so I don't need to seal them,

Next up on my drawing table and at the paint booth is a BLI Light UP Mike for a customer...a nice model to weather up.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[PiperguyUMD]

I weathered my WM Potomac with pastels. The WM actually rubbed the entire boiler of their steam locomotives with graphite. I used powdered graphite rubbed into the boiler with a short bristle brush to replicate the effect. I think it worked well - it looks dirty but still has that reflective quality.

I haven’t dulcoated this one yet, so I’m sure I’ll have to do some touch up.

[ATSF_Ron]

Bob, great write-up on everything you did.  Your first pic is the effect I was trying to go for on my 2-8-0.  I need to go back and add more water scaling effects on mine.

[Mike Madonna]

Ron,

Here's a "before & after" of an Athearn HO MT-4 that I weathered for a good friend. I used color photos as a reference to represent a "look" in the 1953-54 time frame. Some have commented (on Social Media) that's it's "too dirty". Based upon what I saw in the SP color books, it's pretty darn close. Regarding the IM ACs, I started with a slight "fade coat". Then, added Doc O'briens weathering chalks, Pan Pastels, washes and even colored pencils.

Before:



After:

[ATSF_Ron]

Mike, the MT-4 looks great!  I have a couple that I need to do, as well as my ACs.  First I want to do some final airbrush touch ups on my Bachmann connie.  I'm looking to do more water scaling effects on it like Bob's first photo above.  The weather is cooperating, so I'll be able to get a good amount of airbrushing done out in the garage.

[ATSF_Ron]

Broke out the airbrush for some weathering touch ups on the connie.  I did a general lightening coat, then went back and hit the cylinders, whistle/dynamo area, and top/rear of the tender.  I might put on a bit of rust powder.  Going to live with it for a bit before I decide.  Next up, my SP SW1200 and GP9.  Long overdue for some SP grime.

[robert3985]

@ATSF_Ron - Ron, that looks better IMO, but...up top and around the top of the stack (and inside it) some ultra-flat black (I use Pactra Flat Black enamel paint) for black coal smoke deposits, would be prototypical.

If you're not comfortable in brushing on lime deposit streaks on your tender, I create streaks with my airbrush by cutting stencils out of 3X5 note cards...very sharp "V"s of varying lengths, and spray through them, holding them slightly off the surface I'm painting with my left hand so the edges of the streaks aren't "hard".  Just gotta remember to make them as vertical (not angled) as you can.

Also, the rear drivers were usually pretty white also from hot water drippage, as well as the next set of drivers...but not nearly as much.

As far as "rust" is concerned...UP steam engines were always well maintained and I've never seen a photo of one that's in-service with any rust on them.  Mud and grime, yes...but they were very meticulous about getting at any rust as soon as possible.

Here's an Emil Albrecht photo of an in-service UP 2-8-0 with the old-style square tender that, even though it's B&W gives you a very good reference for black soot, road grime and white lime deposits on both engine and tender...



Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore