Often when the process of building a model railroad is in full swing, any time for weathering and detailing the fleet effectively disappears. The result (or potential consequence) can be a beautifully detailed and scenicked railroad with shiny out of the box models. I, for one, am guilty of this, with most of my equipment, specifically freight cars, still in their factory-fresh, glossy coats. To combat this, I have committed to weather any new piece of equipment for the Cascade Sub before putting it on the railroad. To make this possible, I have made weathering a part of my daily routine, starting with RBOX 35255, an Athearn RTR boxcar.
In a recent post on the railroad's Facebook page I outlined my goal to model for at least 15 minutes a day. The idea of consistent effort is certainly not new in the hobby, although in the past month or so I have seen it mentioned by a plethora of modelers, myself included. And that is a very good thing! RBOX 35255 was the fruit of 15-30 minutes a day (and a longer session or two when time allowed), and went from shiny new boxcar to a model fit for any modern era layout in just over a month. Without this goal of consistent effort, this was a project that would have festered, been forgotten over the holidays and likely not touched again for weeks.
I started with studying prototype photos for similar RBOX boxcars. The 35000 series cars tend to fade to a very pale yellow and most have some level of rust pitting and scrapes along the sides of the car concentrated along the door track. I worked mainly with acrylics and began by giving the car a general color fade and grime coat to serve as a base for further weathering.
The majority of the detail weathering included rust spots and scrapes along the sides of the boxcar. Using a small, fine brush and burnt umber acrylic paint, I worked along each side of the car painting these areas of rust. Prototype photos are a must for this type of work and while the results are not photo-accurate, the level of realism is greatly enhanced by following real examples.
I then detailed each of the rust spots with some weathering powders applied with a fine brush. I used a wide, soft brush and downward strokes to remove any excess material and create a very subtle streaking effect.
Turning my attention to the roof, I began by applying a couple of general grime coats with burnt umber washes. Once these dried, I painted rust with burnt sienna along many of the ribs followed with a layer of burnt umber rust spots to simulate older, darker areas. The roof was completed with rust and dark brown colored weathering powders and a coat of Dullcote to seal everything.
The wheels and trucks were next. I painted the faces of the wheels with a Vallejo light brown and the trucks with burnt umber acrylic. I then used additional washes of browns, tans, and gray along with weathering powders to complete the trucks and wheels. They were sealed with Dullcote upon reassembly.
To complete the car and bring it into the modern era I hand painted graffiti along both sides of the car using prototype reference photos. A combination of older and newer tags helps to create the look of a car that has been around, and abused, for quite some time. Each tag was done with craft acrylics and weathered with a light tan wash and some powders.
After a final coat of Dullcote, the car is ready for service! This became one of my favorite projects as I looked forward to making some progress on it each evening. While the short, daily weathering sessions often did not feel very productive by themselves, I am still amazed by the progress achieved over a few weeks.
