I've recently really taken a liking to the GP 9 and even some GP7s but I'm mostly partial to those with dynamic brakes. Here's a few I recently purchased and weathered. The first one was an undecorated unit that I first painted and then weathered as a lease unit. The next two are in SP colors but I have since added a UP patch (not shown) since I model modern railroads and not anyone in particular.
Something like this is really quite easy. I know some people go through all kinds of washes and powders whereas the pic below shows what I used for this weathering application, a tube of Burnt Umber and a tube of black OIL Paint from Michaels ( don't forget to get a coupon to use with your purchase, they sometimes have 50% off)with an artists pretty much the size shown. The locomotive will also have to be faded a bit first so whatever method you use to do that, for me it's an airbrush. To basically get the rust effect or even the grime effect, put a small dab on whatever pallet you chose, even a piece of paper will do and dip the brush lightly over the drop of paint so as to get just a small amount on the brush. After that you need to swish the brush around on another piece of paper to remove the paint, sounds a bit crazy doesn't it? The thing is with oil paint you really don't remove every last bit of paint unless you dip it in solvent to remove the oil and for this reason you will still have enough to more or less dry brush the remaining oil onto the locomotive in an area that you might want to rust or grime up. You'll keep brushing until you get exactly what you want. What you'll be doing is probably what most would call Shading and with this effect you have control as to not overdoing it. Of course you'll want to try this on a piece that won't matter first before you do it on a much liked unit. Also at the very least you'll have to remove the handrails to get in areas that you need to. Since I airbrush first I need to strip my units down all the way. After a few times I think most will agree how easy this method is and how good it looks.
Thanks, that helps a lot. I haven't tried weathering a loco yet but have tried on some small buildings I've been 3D printing and that will help there also. I've been using acrylics on the buildings and you have 'OIL' in caps which leads me to believe that you might not be able to get the same effect with acrylics. Is that true? If so I guess I'll have to get the oils. Since I'm new to this and want to try your method out how do you use the airbrush to get the 'faded' look? Thanks, Sumner
As for fading with an airbrush, you should have a good one to use for that and I say that because you'll have to turn down the dial to almost nothing when fading, meaning the atomization will need to be real light , almost to the point of not seeing anything coming out. Some cheaper airbrushes might not be able to give you the desired effect . I use Badger Mo Pac Eagle Grey acrylic for my fading. I would suggest trying it out first on a dark colored surface before hitting your car or loco . I buy black poster and cut them into squares about 4X4 or so and do the testing on them first to get the right atomization and look first. I know there are other alternatives to fading without having to use an airbrush but I've been doing it that way since I started weathering and it works good for me. Hope this helps.
I ordered the oils. I'll be working on UP engines (armor yellow). Would you still recommend the Mo Pac Eagle Grey acrylic for fading? Do you thin it at all? Looks like it is water based. Thanks, Sumner
My 2 cent's worth I use water soluble oil paints. I know water & oil but they actually work decently. Nice work on the engines.
Yeah I use that color for all my fading. Now the thing with fading a light colored car or loco is that you have to be careful you don't over do the fade . The grey is so light when you spray it on that you won't be able to tell at first that it's fading and you end up painting instead of fading so go lightly and stop when you've applied just a little. You shouldn't need to thin it at all unless it comes out real thick from the bottle and yes it is water based but for thinning acrylics I use a solvent called Liquitex Airbrush Medium, it's made for acrylic paints. Fading with an airbrush can really be a challenge at times. If you're doing your work in a hot area like I do in the garage where in the summer here in Texas the heats unbearable, your airbrush because of the low setting you'll be using will start to dy up real soon so you'll have to stop and clean the needle. On weathering a light colored loco like the UP , the best weathering for it will be to darken it just a tad with Weathered Black, another Badger paint that I use after I do the fade. Again you will keep the same low setting on the airbrush as you did with the fade because you 'll be doing basically the same but be careful again not to over do it with the black either. The final detail that will bring out the weathering on a light colored unit will be to blacken the vents. I attached a UP loco to give you an idea how it should look, go easy on both the grey and the black and highlight the vents and you'll be through with the shell. Hit the trucks with some rust color and you're complete. I can't stress enough to go lightly on everything and remember to use your poster board squares for sample shooting and adjusting the needle output before doing the actual shading.
Thomas this is great information, thanks. I'd love to see you do a video on this. I have saved this and the pictures in a document to print and use in the train room. I have some bare resin shells to paint and need to strip a couple non-UP and paint them UP. Would you recommend the Badger Modelflex paint for doing that and if so what primer? I had been looking and reading about other brands, both acrylic and oil and hadn't made a final choice and wasn't aware of Badger before this. I have what I hope is a good gun and if it isn't I'll buy another one. I haven't airbrushed before so that will be new but have done car painting with an HPLV gun so it won't be a completely new concept and you have given some great instructions. Only one way to learn so I'll expect some setbacks. Do you use white poster board to setup shooting the weather black? If so could I use it for the grey vs. the black? Sumner
Yeah I use both white and black poster board for my samples. As for the primer I'm sure Badger makes that also, I have never had the need for primer. As for the airbrush, here's the link for a really good deal if you find that yours isn't cutting it. This one comes with three different size needles which would be all you need for any type of painting. You can also get it with just one needle, the small size which is what you need for the weathering for a really good price also. When it come to airbrushes you get what you pay for and for the price of the three needle sale, that's really a good deal as Badger is a really good brand. I have that one and an Iwata which is pretty expensive. When you start weathering you might end up like me, loving it so much that I do more weathering than running trains LOL and for that reason a good airbrush is essential. Cleaning your airbrush completely afterwards is one thing you must always do too to keep it in pristine condition so make sure you know how to break it down. The badger one is the easiest to clean for sure. https://spraygunner.com/badger-sotar-2020-3in1-airbrush-set/ https://www.addtwt.shop/gravity-head-fine-large-sotar-badger-air-brush-with-feed-co-airbrush-2020-2f
Sitting on the 'deadline'..... Weathered with oil based chalk pastels and set with rattlecan clear matte. Total cost: About $16.00 ! .
Thanks for the links. I will study up on them. Right now if the one I have doesn't work I'm leaning towards an Iwata Eclipse HP-CS unless you see a problem with that. I'm kind of a 'tool' guy and don't mind spending money on them if I need too. Are you using the sotar 2020 for most of your work? Would it work well for the over-all paint jobs also besides the weathering? Thanks again, Sumner
Iwata is the best there is. I don't own one as I have a Paasche VL set. Of course, I found this out after I bought my set. But the Paasche does very well too. If you have decent equipment and the proper thinning of paint, it's up to the operator.
Actually I bounce around with both. The Iwata is much better but only by a slight margin so if you like getting good tools I'd go with the Iwata. But that being said for the Iwata I'd go with this one especially for weathering, you'll need a control wheel at the end of the airbrush to control the amount of spray since I mentioned it needs to be very light to almost nothing and the one you mentioned doesn't have that, you'll have to control by feel. This one is also a lot more expensive so with that in mind I'd recommend the Badger until you see if you like weathering that much to go high dollar, pretty much over $200. https://merriartist.com/products/h-...MIr9DJ4rXa6gIVjobACh0hsAAIEAQYASABEgKNGfD_BwE
I'm glad you pointed that out as I thought you could do that with about any air brush. I was aware that you had control with the trigger over both with a two stage air brush. I also figured that there was another control over how far the needle retracted with any air brush but I guess that isn't so. I'm use to having control over the fluid (spray) and the air with the guns I've used in car painting. I usually ran the air wide open and controlled it with the regulator at the gun but would use the fluid control so I could full trigger the gun. I see the HP-B has control over spray but not air and the HP-BH has control over both. The HP-B is only about $17 more than the Eclipse i was looking at and the HP-BH is about $44 more. Once I've spent $161 another $44 for me would not be a deal breaker for something that at 76 is going to last the rest of my life. Less than one of the used loco's I'd buy on Ebay. You've been a big help on this Thomas, thanks and if you have any more suggestions I'm open to them. Sumner
Looks like the Eclipse has a little wider range of where it works best. Is this a concern? I will only be dealing with N scale objects, nothing large. Re-reading the Sotar20/20 manual it looks like you can control the fluid as you pointed out earlier but I missed that. You are right in that this gun might be a good place for me to start. Sorry to have strayed from the original content of this thread but really respect your judgement here. After this back to weather and yours is as good as I've seen and my wife was also really impressed , Sumner
Yeah I would go ahead and get the Badger one with three different size needles for the reason you'll be equipped to do any kind of painting you like. The fine needle will be used for weathering since you'll get a smaller flow which is what you want for that and if you decide to paint something you'll have the larger needles for a larger flow. The only thing I don't like about either one is the cup is really small should you decide to paint something large but for weathering I really never had a problem as to how much I would need since you really don't need a lot for weathering in N Scale. Just remember the only way you can mess up in weathering is by going too much so keep it light and add a little more as you go along but just know when to stop. If you need any help I'm right here. I might not be here real often so in that case you can click on my name and go to my info and get my email and contact me that way, maybe we can set up a chat through cell phone texting. I don't know if you're on FaceBook but if you are here's my train Page I created for my trains if you want to check out more of my work. https://www.facebook.com/realisticnscaletrains
