I don't know why, but clean locos of any kind offend my eye. Don't get me wrong, I fully appreciate the effort that loco crews must have put into maintaining their charges, and the traditions upheld in the heyday of steam - working the career path from cleaner to driver via fireman and various points in between - must have been hellish hard work. Yet they must have been instrumental in instilling a sense of pride in the loco; in keeping up its appearance particularly when in the public eye. Perhaps a spell in that sort of role, on some preserved line, would cure me? We shall probably never know. But to me, it's simply a case of: a grubby loco at least looks as though it's done some work!
Anyway, as a part-time philosopher once said: "We are where we are, guv - that'll be 8 quid." I decided that in the case of the Badman Pipe Factors private 15-inch gauge railway, function would indeed come before fashion. The rolling stock, exposed to several years of toil, harsh living and not a little neglect, would thereby come to look decidedly shabby, with much rust, dirt, oil and dust in evidence. In particular the company's 'Hornet' loco would bear the brunt of my fixation. But how to go about it? In a word: weathering.
Sadly I do have to at least start with a 'pristine' loco - that is, paint it like it was just outshopped (Oh, and say 'hello' to Arnold the driver, by the way):
Now be honest, did you actually
say 'Hello' then? You did? You need to get out more... incidentally, if you want to see the technique I used to paint him, click
here.
OK so now the fun can start. I try to imagine where the dirt, grime, dust, rust etc would accumulate, then build the effect up over a series of 'layers' until I'm happy with the result. I often think the trick with this stuff is knowing when to stop! Here are some of the techniques I use:
Washing - using a dilute paint solution to allow the chosen colour to 'flow' into low-spots on the model, collect in corners etc.
Dry-brushing - using absolutely the minimum amount of paint on the brush, then flicking the brush over high-spots on the model to make them 'stand out'.
Dry-sponging - as with dry-brushing, except using a piece of foam rubber or similar
Texturing - using a fine powder e.g. talcum powder to add texture to paint - particularly effective when applying 'rust' to a model.
Air-brushing - using an air-brush (or aerosol spray) to apply a fine layer of colour - useful for making things look 'dusty'.
After an initial dark wash, and some sneaky 'wasp-striping' on the buffer beam, we have this:
To me, nothing spells 'neglect' like a good rust-patch - or patches. To that end, I use a combination of a dark brown colour, with some talcum-powder to give a 'rough' texture - followed by a dry-brushing/dry-sponging (depending on the area to be covered) of a bright orange over the top. Err, like this:
By the way, in case anyone is tempted to think that I am setting myself up as some kind of expert on this subject - forget it. I am still very much a learner in this field. I have no doubt that there are many countless people round the world who are far better at weathering models. All I can say is that I am improving with time and practice, and that the ideas expressed here worked for me. I only hope that my publishing my ideas here encourages someone else - perhaps you, dear reader, if you have not already done so - to have a go.
