October 2017

First try at weathering some rolling stock

I started by painting and assembling some Peco wagon kits. After spraying the parts with Halford's grey primer I used colours from three Lifecolor sets - Rust and Dust, Rail Weathering and Weathered Wood - applying them with a brush. I put the first four assembled kits together with some other wagons to form this short train.



The second open wagon, the bogie bolster, the Rugby Cement van and the brake van were all ready-to-run models but received the weathering treatment.

The tarpaulins on two of the wagons were made by cutting pieces of tissue paper slightly larger than required and cementing them to the 'loads' already glued into the wagons. After trimming the paper was folded around the vehicles and further dabs of liquid cement were added to hold the tarpaulins in place. Painting with a couple of different greys completed the job.

Next I had a try at weathering some vans. These were bought as factory weathered but I did some extra work, especially on the bodies.

A train of coal wagons

The grey steel mineral wagons were weathered using Humbrol materials. I applied some Decalfix and brushed in a mix of Rust, Iron Oxide, Dark Earth and Smoke powders.



Later I switched back to the Lifecolor sets. All the wagons in the next photo were done with them, except of the light grey one.





Next I had a go at the two ex-PO wagons which seem to have taken up residence in the goods yard. To matt the bottom of the wagons I applied a thin layer of WS Scenic Glue and worked in some Humbrol Smoke powder. When that had dried I applied some more glue in places and added some Peco coal. I crushed some of the fine grade even finer for this job – Mr. King, the local coal merchant, doesn’t like to leave behind any larger lumps…

A train of vans

I started by applying neat Lifecolor weathered black, one section of the side at a time. I wiped off most of the paint using a paper kitchen towel using vertical strokes. I find the paper easier to use than cotton buds. I then worked in a little extra thinned paint here and there, again using vertical strokes. I also picked out one or two planks with Lifecolor frame dirt or one of the weathered wood colours.

I used their roof dirt colour on the roofs, with other colours blended in. The chassis are painted with weathered black and rust base colour, mixed on the model so that the colour varies slightly from area to area. Other rust colours were applied in small touches when the first application had dried.

Some photos taken in October 2017...

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