Take a break: Alberta Heritage Fund hopper…

In May a trio of Walthers Mainline Canadian covered hoppers arrived, as a nod to childhood memories and to bring some extra colour to Beaverbrook…

These Walthers cars are more easily available in the UK than the Intermountain gold standard, however there are some errors, but to fill out a fleet they’re perfectly acceptable. For my layout I chose to upgrade their wheel sets to Code 88 (narrower tyres) from Kadee, add semi scale couplings and brake hoses, also all Kadee.

However their finish was still very box fresh, I’d promised myself I’d tackle them over a longer period of time rather than rush through them so, a few months on, it was a chance to tackle the first car… the Alberta cars were decorated with a script ‘take a break’ with a place name on many of them, however this car is plain blue. Too blue!

I began by mixing up a dirty wash for the under frame using my usual Humbrol enamels. I believe it was 245, 33 and 133 this time. I also applied this over the ends, and along the roof under the walkways.

Next I added more 133, and painted rust under each walkway bracket. A wide flat stubby brush dipped in white spirit and dried off was then dragged vertically downwards until the rust streaked down the car side, varying this as I went and studying photographs for inspiration. A little was also stippled on the roof walkways and hatches.  

The prototype blue had faded so I used Humbrol 28 camouflage applied by airbrush to tone down the finish before weathering. The airbrush was then used to soften the edges of the washes, and add further vertical staining, from photographs using a 27004 (2) 245 (1) 133 (1) mix. This is ‘finished for now’. I’ve run out of gunmetal 53 paint, so until I restock I can’t dry brush the step edges. What I’m pleased with is how over the course of a few busy evenings I’ve produced a realistic finish I can apply to the rest of the fleet using these techniques and photographic reference material. Until next time, more soon…