Weathering

I'm with you on that one,Chrisgus!
Being a modeller,as opposed to a collector, I think everything should be weathered to some degree or another......

As a modern image modeller do you go as far as removing paint from the yellow ends to simulate the sand blasted look so many loco's have? So far I have only got one factory weathered, the hornby class 50 and a couple of lightly weathered locos which have been done prior to me acquiring them. I have seen some hideous attempts by people with matt brown paint and have just stripped a lima class 31 shell i bought as a job lot due to the damn thing looking like it had just been dug up by time team! However having just got my free gift from model rail in the form of a set of weathering paints and having recently pruchased an airbrush i might have a bash at it soon.

I suppose if you model a preserved line it would give you the opportunity to go beyond what would be considered every day weathering especially if modelling something which hasn't been run for a while such as some of the recent acquisitions from Wigan CRDC all faded and rusting and somewhat lacking in the glazing department! You could do the "just started for the first time in 15 years" scenario! Even some of the rolling stock languishing on preserved lines could probably be best described as decomposing at best possibly even the word rolling would be a bit contentious.

The sand blasted effect on the yellow ends of locos can be attempted by by
overpainting the factory applied yellow with a coat of gunmetal and rust mixed,allow to dry and recoat with yellow,before this dries completely wear away the yellow in those areas which become worn,work from photos of the loco wherever possible.Flaking yellow paint can be achieved by putting little patches of maskol onto the gunmetal rust mix before coating with yellow,in this case allow the yellow to dry before gently peeling off the maskol patches.You should be
left with patches of the base colour with raggedy edges and a flaking yellow edge.
Practise a lot on old bodies before you attempt a loco you value.
As to weathering ,even on a heavily weathered loco less is more! IE don,t smother it with thick coats of gunk and wipe off build up the effect with lots of delicate layers and stop when you are happy.I find that acrylic paints are good,also powders,and the occaisional dab of ladies make-up.( only when I go the pub that is!!!)

City of Nottingham (factory light weathering by Hornby)
Fowler 4F heavy weathering (by Making Tracks inc.change to late crest)
35008 Orient Line (converted,super detailed and medium weathering by Making Tracks)

My awful photography shows them as lighter than they are in real life, I personally like everything weathered,my only non weathered loco at the moment is MN Bibby Line which looks like a toy next to Orient Line !.

Has anybody ever heard of, or actually carried out non-permanent weathering

I mean instead of using paints, used things like dirty water, beige powder (like make-up)....things that can be easily removed to restore the loco to pristine.

I've never tried it, or heard of it, but I might experiment.

Your views

QUOTE (paul_d @ 24 Feb 2006, 19:50)Has anybody ever heard of, or actually carried out non-permanent weathering

I mean instead of using paints, used things like dirty water, beige powder (like make-up)....things that can be easily removed to restore the loco to pristine.

I've never tried it, or heard of it, but I might experiment.

Your views
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You could try using Carr's or similar weathering powders, unless varnished, these do mostly rub off in time.

For my tuppeny worth locos should be weathered - unless they had come out of the paintshop that day, and have not been steamed at all, ALL locos show signs of weathering! Besides - I am part of an exhibition layout team and supply stock and locos for the layout - Anyone with the money can buy a loco and run it on the layout, but wheres the skill in that? Its weathering and detail touches that make an item of ready to run rolling stock personal!

Would agree.
I have seen some frankly appalling home weathering efforts on rolling stock and locomotives,obviously peoples opinions differ but unless its professionally weathered or carried out by a modeller who can weather to a high standard I would agree it ruins the model.
However,if a model is professionally weathered and changed to another unavailable in RTR form member of the class you can see the value increase above standard,in some cases on ebay substantially so.I will try and take some better pictures of Bibby Line and Orient Line together so you can see the differences more clearly,personally I like a model railway to represent the protoype,I cannot stand seeing brightly shining coal trucks,freight locomotives and the such like which in my opinion does not look like a model railway,more toy-like.
Saying that,if we were all the same the world would be a pretty boring place

Of course,like anything,weathering is only worth doing if it's done properly,and unless you're a collector I think it definately is worth doing....

These are some excellent examples on the rmweb site:

http://www.118go.co.uk/rmweb/Jan06/Jan062framepage.htm

click on the 'banger blues'....