I can't participate in tonight's SNFF, so I thought I'd post these now... I've finally gotten to a project I have been looking forward to for a while...detailing and weathering several of my Atlas 2-bay covered hoppers. I 'finished' them this weekend, but notice from the photos several things I want to go back and change. Let me know your comments, I am curious if others have the same points that I noticed. I used chalks to simulate dirt and acrylic washes to resemble spilled concrete. I added Gold Medal Models roofwalks, after plugging and filling the holes in the roof. I notice some other details I should still improve... Maybe I should go over the hatches again and touch up the load spills, I am not certain sloppy work would get material on the hatch covers rather than the car roof. I really like these cars, the ATSF shipped loads of phosphates from Boron in the California desert, probably in cars like these. The spilled load effects were done with a broad, round-tipped brush used to stiple Polly-S onto the roof. Here's a detail shot...next round, I might try actually dropping grout powder over wet Dullcote to simulate spilled cement. Stay tuned... [ 08. August 2004, 21:18: Message edited by: Warbonnet-Fan ]
Verne, I can't get the other three images to show up. The RI 2-bay looks great, BTW. Well, there you go... they are there! The Boraxo hopper is really effective. [ 08. August 2004, 21:35: Message edited by: Gats ]
Verne, for the most part, these cars look really good. The only thing I'd do is to etch a line around each hatch with an Xacto knife, then use a 50/50 mix of India ink and Isopropyl alcohol ( 70% ). Then using a fine brush to apply the mix around the hatches to make them look as if they can be opened.
The car looks great. Please think about adding a bit of dark rust to center of treads on the ladder and the splatter pattern might extend here and there to the side of the car and the side of the ladder.
And PLEASE remember to weather to suit yourself and not others. Nobody, but nobody, other than in a layout in a magazine is going to see so much detail on the car as you have shown in the blowups.
Verne, who makes that running board? The detail is far beyond what I'd have expected blown up to that magnification. All three cars look really good, but wouldn't the Boraxo soap wash off when the car got into a rainstorm? That ought to be a mighty clean car!
Look great to me too Verne! The chalk looks really even and smooth. OK, I give....whats the problem you see?
Nice work! One thing I've been doing is going back and retrofitting all my PS/2's with GMM ladders also. It's pretty easy to trim off the old ones and glue new ones on, then touch up the paint and weathering. Makes a huge difference, but once you do one all your others look grossly out of scale! -Rich
Rich, This is an N scale covered hopper yes?If so thats a fine peice of work there,roof walks & ladders do make a HOOGE diff.
Thanks for your comments, guys... The etched roofwalks are from Gold Medal Models, which I first chemically blacken, and then overspray with dullcote to protect the finish. Rich, I agree they really make the molded roofwalks look lame by comparison! BTW, nice weathering on your car. Additional details I want to add include finer brakewheels, and I want to drill out the eyes of the cable attach points on the sides of the car to give them better relief. The ladders are really heavy looking, I wish someone would make a brass insert you could bend to replace them with a more scale appearance. The hatches are a problem, as they have a very definite molded-on look; Jim makes a great point here. Ideally, I would like to file them off and add separate parts; but having come this far, I will probably use a fine knife to score around the base of each hatch to emphasize the hatch edge. I will probably also touch up the hatches, as I doubt much load would be spilled on them. I plan to weather a string of Kato covered hoppers next, using grout power to simulate spilled concrete. Hope it works, I will post new photos of these cars as things develop. Thanks for all your comments!
Verne, great job! I, too, have a fetish for covered hoppers and I have several of the Atlas 2 bays. I like them a lot, just haven't been brave enough to weather 'em.
That's the problem with detailing, Rich...you improve a few things, and the improvements make other features that are not to scale stand out all the more. What GMM ladders, the ladder stock or are these from a car detailing kit? It looks like you might have replaced the trusses on the ends as well. The stock ones look so thick. The detail on the hatches leave something to be desired...were I not this far along on the weathering already, I would grind them off and make replacements to get a better look, and that all-important seam line between the hatch and the car roof. Good news, I have 10 Kato covered hoppers I will be working on next, which has removable hatches (they come off as part of the roofwalk). I will fill the holes, replace the roofwalk, and add the hatches after weathering the roof. Thanks for sharing your techniques...
Right, just the ladder stock and .012 wire for the trusses. I'm pretty sure I originally picked this up from an article in N-Scale about a year ago. After the first few, you can convert one pretty quickly - maybe a couple hours for the whole job including painting. Probably faster by taking measurements beforehand and having all your ladder stock cut and ready to go. Another good thing about the Atlas PS/2 is the stirups are actually pretty good - no need to replace. I have a couple of the Kato ones I went all out on detailing, but I've posted and reposted pics so much I figure I'll give everyone a break this time! -Rich
