Commission: More wagon weathering…

It's good fun working on weathering commissions, these fit neatly around other work and give me the chance to step away from soldering irons and computer design, and enjoy the basic processes of bringing wagons to life...

As I recently shared in my video, there is no need for an airbrush when working on rolling stock, however, I do find they're a useful tool to blend finishes together. These three wagons and four containers were all given my custom wash of Matt 33 and Matt 98, wiped off vertically and left to dry - the decks of the Conflats were given a slightly darker wash to sit in the planking.

Several of the items then received some light chalk markings using a pencil crayon sharpened to point. This has proven to be quite successful, and really does lift the finish for minimal effort. 

The airbrush was used to blow over the sides and chassis, picking out around hinges in particular as well as toning down the white markings, whilst being careful not to obscure the chalk markings. In addition to my usual 'studio' shots, I had Pont-y-dulais all set up and lit, so thought I'd grab a few photos on the layout...

The two containers were weathered deliberately differently. In real life these seem to have been relatively clean in service, so the one on the right is probably a little over done, but as a contrast, works well.

The smaller containers provide a neat comparison...

...whilst the SR diagram plywood van shows the effects of a wash toned down with the airbrush and the effectiveness of these simple techniques using a limited but personal palette of colour. If you've got some items you'd like me to bring to life, get in touch for a personal proposal. In the meantime, more soon...