Iconic Saskatchewan…

It’s 1989. to 9 year old me it felt like miles upon miles of not much at all. If you were lucky a set of steel ribbons pacing the road, if you were luckier some grain cars in a spur in a small town. This is Saskatchewan, land of grain, grain cars, small towns and elevators…

This is 2023. Somewhat older me finally decides to weather the iconic Saskatchewan liveried Walthers Mainline grain car. Whilst the other pair of the trio I imported from the US were weathered months ago this one was not. Unsure if that was sentimentality (it reminded me of my old Model Power one from childhood) or trepidation (fading the yellow especially) but that all changed this week. 

The lettering (slightly incorrect on the model, and certainly too golden) seems to have faded to a straw colour on the prototype but as there was no easy way of just fading this element I used Humbrol 28 misted  on with the airbrush to fade the whole car side - and this was left a good week to harden. My usual blend of Matt black (33) and Matt chocolate (98) were mixed to varying shades and washed under the roof walkways and along the top edge of the sides. A wide flat brush brought some of this down the side in vertical streaks. The wash was applied to the frame and ends. The same shades were used to add more paint under each walkway support, again brushed down vertically with a wide flat brush. Trucks were painted with much neater mix of the colours, the result looks great on Beaverbrook although I may add a further waft of Humbrol 28 to fade the upper body further.

Just pause and consider the top image again, how the vertical streaking somehow enhances the length of the car, and yet echoes the tall grasses of the prairies themselves. A long way from home on Beaverbrook and seeing service in feed traffic nevertheless a reminder of the Canada I remember.

Elsewhere on Beaverbrook… perhaps for another story another day. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, until next time, more soon…

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