TrainBoard.com is proud to announce a new contest

Yes..... I have had one for a couple of years. It is great but doesn't really give me the "on location train tracks" feel and lighting still has to be adjusted but it is a great improvement over most things

 

This is my entry for the weathering contest.

Here is the before shot. I started with a Micro-Trains 40ft plug door box car in Great northern Blue, MT P/N 74030. According to the car information on the box GN 6646 was one of a group 1953 era box cars that had been rebuilt and repainted in 1967 and at that time the roof walks were removed.

GN6646b by nscalestation posted Dec 10, 2015 at 10:34 PM

And this is the reference photo I worked from. Found it on rrphotoarchives.com and it was taken by Ron Hawkins in March 1977. I found this car to be interesting as it has had a door replaced or re-painted by BN but has not yet been renumbered and still carries the reporting mark GN 6667.

GN 6667 by nscalestation posted Dec 10, 2015 at 10:34 PM

I didn’t take any while I was working on this but here are the steps I followed.

• Fading – Using a pencil eraser dipped in Micro-sol, I rubbed the white lettering in circular motion to get the effect I wanted. This is a technique that I have used for removing numbers on cars and locomotives that I was renumbering. Next as the blue on the model seemed a bit intense compared to the prototype photo, I airbrushed the entire car body with a mixture white transparent acrylic paint tinned with windshield washer fluid. This method I learned about from this post on the N Scale Addiction Blog.

• Floquil paints – CN green was applied by brush to the door and two small raised panels on one side of the model. I didn’t have any BN green on hand and the CN green seems quite close when compared to a BN box car I have. To simulate the very dark areas on the roof and bottom portions of the sides I dry brushed with weathered black.

• Decals – Data panels were applied to match the locations in the reference photo.

• Dull Coat - The entire car body was given a coat.

• Powders – I used the Bradgon weathering powers in various colors. Black was used to soften and expand the areas that had received the black dry brushing.

• Dull Coat - The entire car body was finished with another coat to seal the powders.

• The underframe and outsides of the truck side frames were airbrushed with Floquil Oxide red. The wheels were replaced with Micro-Trains brown wheel sets.

Here are a couple of shots of the finished of the side of the car that had the green door. In the prototype photo there were some areas along the bottom that were very black. I choose to do this in a smaller area only.

GN6646L by nscalestation posted Dec 10, 2015 at 10:34 PM

GN6646k by nscalestation posted Dec 10, 2015 at 10:34 PM

And here is a shot of the side of the car that is not shown in the prototype photo.

GN6646g by nscalestation posted Dec 10, 2015 at 10:34 PM

This has been great fun, both working on my project and seeing the work of others.

 

Hey gang... this contest was prominently mentioned in the MTL's December "E-Line" Newsletter, which landed in my inbox this evening. Perhaps that will result in more entries, and more traffic here...

 

Brad just dropped a hammer with his GN box so its gonna be hard to top that unless someone has real good weathering skills!

-Mike

 

I am going to give it my best shot..... I am still confident that I can keep up here even with the excellent entries so far. It's the lurkers that scare me!! Lol

 

Very nicely done Rick..Those Bragdon Weathering Powders are fantastic.

Have fun with it......

Shades

 

Yes, the Bragdon Weathering powders are great. When I started to weather a few of my cars, that's what I started with before trying anything else. They are Northern Californians so they are at most of the shows in the area and being able to talk to Joel about his products and see the application and results first hand gave me some confidence to give it a try.

 

Brad:

I've been using Bragdon Weathering Powders for over 10 years now. I recommend the powders whenever I get a chance to.

Have fun with it....

Shades

 

Rick: "Unofficially" speaking... a Kadee car is still a Micro-Trains (MTL) car. You're fine. You're just using a car released before the 1990 split of the "old" Kadee into the "new" Kadee (HO and above) and Micro-Trains Line (N and Z).

And... nice work! Some really good cars thus far.

 

Rick,

The metal wheels are a nice touch, and show off well with the low angle photos. Not something I've gotten into yet but am considering. Which brand of metal wheels are you using ?

 

I am getting started on my submission....... When is the deadline to have it posted up?