There is a kind of rust appearance, especially on otherwise still glossy black steam that is just beginning to accumulate around rivets and corners..The paint job is still hangin' in but just starting to get some rust..My HO mogul needed weathering badly..I have an old can on mahogany wood stain near by..I opened and stirred it..With same wood coffee stirrer I gave it a teensy try on the tender..I merely left the stain on stirrer and swiped it across some rivets..It quickly migrated around them and found its way downward and over to others..It's very thin, drippy stuff ..I let it dry and dang if it doesn't give the rivets and some sides and corners a very proto subtle early type of rust ! It drys flat ,too..Next I swiped it on (Atlas/Shino ) flex rail ties and ties really take on a redder haphazard patina here and there ..It seems OK for rail, too ..Here it needs a few quick coats as it tends to drip away from metal...But once I got it to remain it caused no problem with locos after a little clean off on head..Did the truck frames and then applied it to the loco very subtlely on cab corners and pipes/brake cylinders and such. Not sure yet but a spray of dulcote may be indicated ..2 weeks in and still happy with results...
Sorry, no digital camera..Just try it on something less serious like rivets, or hinges on a refer..Comes out not as orange as common rusts..You may not like it..I do so far..
The stain sounds like it may have been mixed with an orange shelac . This would account for some of the color but not all of it . Of couse the Mohagany it self may inpart an orange color especally if it quite old , keeping in mind the pigments used for the color are not ground as small as the pigments used in say Floquil paints and could possibley leave some sort of texture on the surface if not sanded smooth ... just a thought ...
