Hey all! I just finished up detailing a CNW GP38-2, and thought I'd share with all of you how I go about weathering my locos using just chalks. Yeah, just chalks, since like most of you, I'm kinda scared to blast my locos with paints. I do brush paint sometimes, but I've never used an airbrush on any of 'em. So this thread goes out to you scaredy cats who are a bit nervous to dirty up your expensive locos Chalks are very forgiving, cause if you don't like the job you did, they come right off. Dip the shell in some water, use an old toothbrush to scrub it a bit, and dry off. Back to a clean loco. So go grab one of those bright shiny things on your layout and lets go! The chalks I use are the run of the mill ones found at arts and crafts stores. The colors I use 90% of the time are black, brown, grey, white, and a rust color. And before I get too far ahead, here is the weathering candidate, fresh from the shop.
First we need to get the chalks ground up into a fine dust. Using an Xacto blade, I scrape the sticks away from me so the dust goes into small cup. I don't fill the cups up too full, just enough to get me through a weathering session or two. Now that we have the chalks ground up, we need some brushes. I use 3 sizes, super small (to get between the handrails) medium, and a larger soft one. The 2 smaller ones can be kinda stiff, but the big one needs to be nice and soft to give you an even layer. Yeah, the small one isn't really a brush anymore, more of a stub :tb-embarrassed:
It's always good to check prototype reference photos while doing your weathering. There are some really good websites out there, Railroad Picture Archives.NET and http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ being 2 good ones. The first thing I start with is the walkways. So take that small brush and grab some light colored chalk and go to town. I use the white or the grey, depending on the color of the loco I'm weathering. This time I'm using white. A reference photo is here: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=980033 Grab a little bit of chalk and slop it on the walkways, while dragging the brush back and forth along them. If you only want a little bit of fading, just use a little chalk. for this loco, I used alot. Don't forget to do all the walkways! And the steps also! Walkways are done.
You might notice in the previous photos that there is no fuel tank on the loco. I take it off so it's easier to hold the loco, since you don't want your oily fingers getting in the chalks! Next up is the long hood. You can start where ever you want, but I usually hit the sides of the loco next. We want to fade the paint some, so grab the big soft brush and start using both the white and grey to tone down the yellow. Dip the brush in the cup, swirl it around and hit the side of the loco, using an up and down motion After doing this across the whole side of the loco, you'll notice it's only getting the doors and not in the crevices between them. This is where that medium sized brush comes in at. Dip that one in the chalks and run it up and down to get the dust in the cracks. You might even need to use the small brush to get into some of those hard to reach areas. Also, take and mix up your colors. Use some brown. Use some black. Just dirty up the sides to where they look good (or where they look like your prototype photo you're working from) And don't stop with the sides, move on to the top also. I mostly use black on the top, since the exhaust makes it really nasty up there. Chalks are not the best for a real dirty top, paint works better, but black chalk is still better than nothing! Slap that stuff over everything, fans included! I'll also take and use some of the rust color on the roof, dabbing it here and there with the medium sized brush. Take and drag it down the sides also, it doesn't matter. If you don't like where the rust color went, cover it up with some black or fade it with the white/grey and start again. Here is the long hood pretty much done. I used all 5 colors on the side, and blended them in with the large soft brush. You can see how bright the front still is.
Next up is all those grills. Depending on the loco, there are just a few of them, or a whole bunch. Those things get dirty real fast, so we'll take some black and fill them all to the brim! Take your small or medium brush, fill it up with black chalk and cake it on all those grills. The less paint you can see, the better! LL/Walthers did a great job already by painting all the grills black. But I still used some chalks anyway. Now we'll head on to the nose. This is a bit more tricky to do, since you don't want to get chalk on the windows. So all the areas around them, use the small or medium brush. And don't forget to do the face of the cab and around the numberboards! The rest of the nose is just like before, large brush for a first coating, smaller ones to fill the cracks. The pilots are up next. The large brush is your friend here! I usually use a good coating of brown on them, then go back over it with some black and very sparingly, white. I also try to get the coupler a rust color, but like before, paints work better here. Don't forget the hand rails and steps on the side! Now all that's left is the cab sides. I wanted to fade the green quite a bit, so I really slapped on the white. Also use some brown around the bottom, or just above the trucks. This area gets pretty nasty also. Don't forget to hit the handrails and side sill too!! If some falls down on the trucks, well good! Cause they are up next...
With the trucks, I use mostly black and brown, but depending on the loco, I will use quite a bit of grey also. Put the black over the axle ends, since this are is greasy. Brown can go all over, and use some grey to lighten up some areas. The medium sized brush works great for getting in the cracks, and the large brush for a dusting of the whole truck. And don't be afraid to cake it on! Last is the fuel tank. For a basic covering, use the large brush and make your stokes go from the top down. Paint also works better here for simulating spills, but chalks will take the "shine" away real good. Once you are satisfied, try your best not to touch the sides of the tank, and put it back on the loco. But if you do get some fingerprint smudges on it, it's real easy to touch up once it's back on the loco. Trucks and nose Long hood and fuel tank Now, this brings up the question of how to handle the loco now that it's covered in chalk dust. For me, I usually pick it up with my fingers over the rear grills (or wings) or if the loco has dynamic brakes, then on each side of the db blister (trying not to touch the sides of the loco) In my case, I don't seal any of my locos with dullcoat, cause once I've weathered them, they go on the layout and are seldom handled again. If I do have to get in them for maintanance, then I pull the fuel tank off (yeah, it gets smudged) and then pull the shell off holding the frame under the fuel tank. It's real easy just to redo the fuel tank when you are done with maintanance! I can't comment on using dullcoat, since I've only used it once, and didn't like the results.
So that's pretty much it, you should have a nice dirty loco now! different camera setting and this is where we started at Now take that loco and go run it on your layout! =) Thanks for following along with me! -Mike
Nice...gotta give this a try real soon. My daughter and I were just looking at the Cody Grivno loco weathering article in the new MR so we are loaded up with info and ready to go. Jamie
Wow, it looks really, really good, but I was wondering how the caulk stays on without any adhesive or sealer? I was think of when you have to handle it.
I don't know or why it stays on, it just does. Here is a shot of a Bachmann Consolidation done mostly with chalk about two years ago. The train is has been constantly handled and rerailed by me quite a bit. One other little trick- to get finer particles than with an Exacto blade, one can use 400 grit sandpaper. It will take a little bit more time to get a "pile" of chalk, but it is much finer than with a knife.
I like to use chalks as well. I also have found that since there isn't much handling, dulcote isn't necessary for the chalks. Even on the stuff you handle often (like a club layout) you just touch up where needed with a brush. This is my preferred method of weathering about anything, including structures. It does make a big difference to make sure you remove any clumps of chalk around the details or it'll look sloppy. Take your time and if you don't like it, wipe it off and start over. Can't do that with paint!
Awesome. I weather this way too, and really like the outcome. Many cases I don't seal it either, because when the weathering wears off, just do it again... Simple, and cheap. With my chaulks from the craft store just as yours is, I use the X-Acto like you do, or sometimes when I am doing small jobs, I have a very stuff, short bristle brush I use to run on the chauk to powder it.. Good work, who needs expensive commercially bought "weathering kits", lol..
Great thread. I have a counterpoint thought: => So it seems that many here have experienced that over time (say over the course of couple years)... that the chalk weathering fades away => i.e. after a year or more (really noticeable after 2 years)... the previously heavily weathered loco now looks more like it was recently washed and is only dusty... That's been my experience as well. Seems the weathering chalk adhesive... doesn't stay put over the course of time (takes at least a year to notice). Which means that after spending a goodly amount of time dis-assembling the loco so that I can avoid getting the chalk in the wheels and motor mechanism (important I think).......... than a couple of years later, I need to go back and re-touch up the weathering..... which I would prefer not to do when one has a goodly amount of locos... Then, I notice that when I Dullcote.... the weathering chalks tend to vanish unless I really apply it heavily.... so those of you that do Dullcote... I assume you over-weather the loco prior to DullCote? Thx for sharing your thoughts. And yes, I *love* weathering with chalks too. Thx for the thread.
Mike great tutorial. I can never bring my self to weather a locomotive. I guess I'll have to give it a try now.
