Model Train Caboose - Weathering Project

[@rogerlewis6533]

Nice trains

[@SD_Marc]

That came out great. As many techniques as you used, it came of naturalistic and not heavy-handed. Well done.

[@JCsRiptrack]

Thanks Marc, the main thing for the caboose is that I tried to get as many reference photos to the original as I could. The real-time practice comes in handy for the inevitable freelance or protolance work. :)

[@DruSteel69]

Excellent work, John. Thank you for sharing your tips and tricks. :) Take care. - Drew

[@JCsRiptrack]

Thanks Drew. Hopefully there's a little something in there for everybody. This was a fun model to do.

[@DruSteel69]

😎👍🏼

[@TMandN]

Enjoy watching your series!

[@JCsRiptrack]

Thanks TMandN! Thanks for tuning in!

[@phillipwyman8963]

Well done John! very nice looking Caboose.

[@JCsRiptrack]

Thanks. The Rapido model is very nice, and it was a real pleasure to work on. :)

[@Bear39224]

Just a tip for doing a CN caboose. The crews took pride in their ride, they were washed and repainted often. So very little weathering is needed. A bit of realism can be added by adding curtains to the windows, if you can get inside.

[@JCsRiptrack]

This one, of course, was trying to replicate as it appears as a museum piece in Manitoba. There's a good example of a CN Caboose that was used at Truro Yard up until 2010-2012 that had amassed graffiti in its most recent years. I happen to have a model that is close to this one that may get that treatment.

[@johnarthur6302]

That caboose looks great! Thanks for showing it start to finish. Somehow I missed a few things in the other videos that I noticed here- with the pin wash technique and how much paint you are removing, as well as just how small the brush is that you use for applying that and the extra rust.

[@JCsRiptrack]

More in-depth videos really do provide a way to get into some techniques a bit better even then the videos where I was demonstrating with several models. While some of the footage is the same, I'm not moving through it as fast... and that's an important thing for me to pay attention to. Thanks for this.

[@orkstuff5635]

Thanks for the tips on mixing pigments with paint for textures, I've had pigments for years and never managed to achieve the effect I was after - I'll be giving this a go and hopefully at least achieve something :-)

[@JCsRiptrack]

Curiously enough, Orkstuff, that's a trick that I picked up from Forgeworld in Imperial Armour Model Masterclass.

[@orkstuff5635]

@@JCsRiptrack I've got volume one of that book, can't have read it thoroughly enough :-/

[@JCsRiptrack]

It's in the section with the Chaos Medusa. Phil mixes oil paints and pigments and flicks it on the model for rust spots. I decided to try it with some acrylics to see how it worked for doing subtle textured surfaces...

[@orkstuff5635]

@@JCsRiptrack THAT's where I've been going wrong then - I don't do subtle ;-D

[@JCsRiptrack]

Hey, Orks aren't subtle anyway. ;)

[@JoeG-firehousewhiskey]

wow, absolutely amazing

[@marka87]

Really interesting stuff on here. Can you explain why you use Future floor polish rather than a modelling type gloss coat?

[@JCsRiptrack]

I use whatever is best for the job. Future is somewhat of a holdover from some older practices, but it still an effective acrylic clear coat. It can also be mixed with Tamiya Flat Base to create Satin and Flat coats.It is very good to do oil work over, as mineral spirit thinners won't attack it. It also seals up oil work well without reacting. That being said, I've also used AK Interactive's Real Color line, Satin, Gloss, and Flat as well as Tamiya's stuff as well. I bought my bottle of Future more than 10 years ago and it still works... so there's that. :)

[@marka87]

Thanks for the explanation, your caboose looks brilliant, very inspiring piece of weathering

[@rgs455atw]

Great series, I get more out of your videos than videos I paid for. -- But here is a question. I model in the 1920s to 1940s where the freight cars were wood not metal (even through the model material is plastic). Do you have advice on how to weather a wooden boxcar (normally red) or a stock car 'cattle car' (normally black). The issue for a lot of the wooden cars is that they did not weather evenly, different boards on the stock car or boxcar weathered differently. A lot of the boards were damaged and replaced with new boards. Since they were wood, they did not display a lot of rust. Something that metal cars display a lot of. Any help would be appreciated. -- Bill.

[@JCsRiptrack]

Hi Bill, great question and one that I am wanting to address. My era is much more current (2005-2012ish), so yes my videos tend to skew in that direction. One of the reasons I set up the Patreon page is to provide a way for people to provide stuff that is outside of my era that would be of benefit to the wider model railroading community. I'd love to have the opportunity to weather a wood boxcar. That having been said, aged wood is a great subject. You're absolutely right on weathering boxcars, because individual boards could be replaced and repainted. With wood, the paint tends to wear away, and the wood tends to be more of a grey colour. Sponge Chipping techniques that use grey paint rather than rust or metal colours would be the first way to go. You could paint some fresh chips by using a thin paint brush using a very pale yellow colour here and there. Just make sure you pay attention to where metal parts that are on the model are. The repainted boards would work very similar to my patching methods, and since the models mostly display the edges of those boards, it does make it easier to pick those out. Does that help in the short term?

[@rgs455atw]

@@JCsRiptrack One method I have been using is watercolor pencils like Derwint. If you put some window cleaner like 409 in an airbrush jar and soak the pencil point for a few moments, the pencil will turn into a watercolor paint brush. Keeping the pencil sharp I can draw vertical lines on individual boards coloring them. I can use slightly different browns and reds to color individual boards. I then use a soft brush to blend. Here is an example used with other methods to soften the colors. www.flickr.com/photos/wmcbeverly/25060654100/in/album-72157665162720686/

[@rgs455atw]

Here is an experiment with a stock car. typing to simulate paint rubbed off to bare wood by cattle in the stock yards. www.flickr.com/photos/wmcbeverly/25238127082/in/album-72157665162720686/

[@JCsRiptrack]

Nicely done. I have watercolour pencils, and have used them for translucent skin effects on larger scale character models and monsters in fantasy work. AK Interactive has just announced weathering pencils, which I am itching to try once they come out.

[@JCsRiptrack]

The pipette that you see me using is how I measure my paint "parts" --it's not absolutely exact, but it gets the job done. So what is your experience in weathering cabooses?

[@rickschonfelder2977]

John, Can you tell me if Future floor polish is the same as now offered by Pledge?

[@JCsRiptrack]

+Rick Schonfelder the short answer is “yes”. It has been rebranded a few times, and also is under different names depending on where in the world you live. :)

[@TheSwitchList]

Hi John. Can you confirm something for me? The first two I am sure about and include just for completeness, it is the third one I have a question on. Gloss coat = straight Future Satin = 10:1 Future to Tamiya X21 Matte = 3:1 Future to Tamiya X21 (and this is what you would use as a 'Dullcoat', or is Matte different from Dullcoat in your mind?) Thanks, Rick

[@JCsRiptrack]

Those ratios are correct. I will thin each of those further with a bit of X20A thinner or 91% alcohol, but I usually eyeball it. The Matte/Flat with the 3:1 ratio is what I would use mostly instead of dullcoat. However, I still have dullcoat around. The main difference between the two is the Future/Flat Base mix is essentially an acrylic flat, where dullcoat is a lacquer-based flat. So there are some circumstances where the choice of an acrylic flat coat vs. a lacquer-based flat coat matters. If you're spraying over oil work, for example, acrylic clear coats are a better choice. Dullcote can slightly smear oil paints that aren't 100% dry. Acrylics won't. Does that help?