Rust Weathering

Here is a simple way of adding rust and rust stains to your models...

1. Take your model and remove bogies.

2. Spray the model with thinned down flat white acrylic paint. If you don't own an airbrush, this can be done with a paint brush. Just keep the strokes vertical. Hopefully when the hand painted coat has dried, there will be no paint brush streaks.

3. Give the model a coat of matt clear. This can be aerosol/rattle can or a product like Dullcote.

4. Next is to mix some brown acrylic with black acrylic to make a dirty colour. Apply this around the seams, rivets, along the very top of the side walls and the base where the walls meet the chassis. Even the undercarriage can be painted with this.

5. Apply another light coat of matt clear.

Next stage is adding rust and streaks. This is done using Burnt Umber artist's oil paint.

6. When this is thoroughly dried, add small dabs of burnt umber along the top of the wagon. The oil can also be applied along the rivets, seam joins and along the bottom of the side walls where rust stains would gather.

or do full panels like this...

7. Whilst still wet, use a cotton bud to remove excess paint. When doing this, use vertical strokes only as horizontal strokes will ruin the finish.

If you are doing a variety of wagons, change the applications of burnt umber to represent different weathering extremes.

The oil paint will require approximately 48 hours to cure, longer during the colder months of the year.

So, there you go. A simple method of adding rust stains to your rolling stock.

I'll follow up this thread with bogie weathering and adding a few extra weathering details to the above wagons using paints and powders.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Ok, back to where I left off...

Oh, first of all, thanks for all the kind replies.

Now, we will start with the bogies...

I used the same paint mix of black and brown that I airbrushed on the sides of the wagons to grime them up. This was applied with a paint brush. (no photo) Whilst you have the black/brown mix at had, paint the face and rear of the wheels too. If you get paint on the wheel tread, this can be cleaned off afterwards.

After this paint had dried, I mixed up some pastel powders, orange and brown. These two colours will do most of the weathering and the same colours will be used to add extra weathering details to the wagon bodies. The Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) is used as a base which will enable the powders to bind to the painted bogie frames.

Dip a No.2 paint brush into the IPA and just dampen the bristles. With the damp brush, pick up a small amount of orange powder and dab onto bogie springs. It does look quite bright, but it will soften as it dries. Do this to all bogies.

Tip # If you wish to have a new look axle on the bogie, give the wheels a wipe over of the orange powder. This will make the axle/wheel face stand out and a new look as the weathering isn't as hard or darkened.

Once this IPA/powder solution has dried, use a dry brush and dust over the whole bogie with the brown powder and a little orange. This will also help tone down the brightness of the orange powder applied to the springs. Give these dusted bogies a light spray with sealer (Dullcote or other). If you find that the colour has vanished, give the bogie another dusting whilst the clear coat is damp. You can even apply a lighter shade of powder as well like a light grey or a tan colour to represent track dust.

The photo below shows a completed bogie. (Click on image for larger pic).

Now to add extra detail to the wagon.

Using the same orange as on the bogies, pick up more IPA on the brush. This time really wet the bristles. Now pick up some of the orange powder and dab this randomly along the seams and around the hatches or where surface rust would appear. Let this slowly spread out. Allow this to dry. Give the model another light coat of clear sealer.

Wet the brush again as before and pick up some brown pastel or powders and go over the same areas, although not as heavy. You will find that the powders will blend slightly. Allow this to dry.

This technique can be used on the side of the wagons to soften the existing oil base colour from the previous application in part one. The next photo shows the wagon side with this technique. Remember to give the model a light coat of clear sealer.

The same blending of colours can be used to dirty the roof of the wagon, although using a little black pastel or powder and brown. Best to mix a little IPA with teh brown/black powder and apply with a very wet brush sparingly. Allow to dry then clear coat once again. This photo below is a result of this...

To add rust spots to the wagon sides, I dabbed the wagon in places with the orange pastel stick, leaving random marks. Use a clean paint brush and dampen it with IPA. Lightly dab the pastel with the brush and it will leave a heavy spot with fading edges. This can be seen in the above photo.

For more details such as spilled fertlizer of grain dust, load the roof of the wagon around the hatches etc with either light grey or white. Apply the powders quite heavy then a light clear coat over the top. If this fades, apply more powder to the damp clear coat. repeat this process until desired results are gained.

Here is a photo of four wagons which were weathered using these techniques.

Well, hopefully that explains this method of weathering. I'll answer any questions you may have.

Cheers, Gary.