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Weathering  A Steam Locomotive

Steam locomotives are by far the most complex to weather because of the many moving part and details that will need specific attention.. The first step is to disassemble the locomotive into the boiler, chassis, and the tender at a bare minimum. Remove parts such as lamps, light guides, windows, etc and store in a small box along with the screws and other small hardware. If you must have the wheel flanges turned down to a RP-25 profile then the drive rods and wheels have to be disassembled from the chassis and is the ideal time to really pay close attention to the chassis, wheels and drive rods. However this is not necessary to achieve good weathering

First we take a glimpse of some before and after photographs. Click on any of the photographs to view a larger image. Before you start always refer to a picture of the real thing and strive to be as close to it as possible. A good reference is a must.

Some of the elements that you will need to simulate are soot, water  based mineral stains, oils drips, rust, and road grime

I suggest preparing some solutions first. You will need two types of black washes, one that is alcohol based and the other that is solvent based. For the alcohol based use 1-2 tea spoons of India black ink with one pint of rubbing alcohol. Adjust the color as needed based on how dark or light you want the end result to be. For the solvent based use 1:8 or 10 solution of  grimy black with thinner. You need no more that 4-5 cc' of the solvent based solution.  The reason for the two types of this solution will become evident later in this article.

Remove all plastic windows if possible. If this is too cumbersome then mask it with scotch tape cut to size. Windows will also need treatment. Very rarely will you see spotless windows on locomotives. They are typically wiped clean with a rag or cloth and show grime and streaks around the edges. We will simulate this also but will discuss this later in this article.

Step 1: spray a dilute 1:4 Testors DullCote on the boiler and tender. This will dull the shine on the metal and plastic bodies and create a perfect surface to apply details and highlights. The DullCote may dry with a slight whitish or foggy appearance. Fret not as this will get rectified as we go along. If you wish to rectify this from the get go then add a drop of engine black to the DullCote solution. Make sure the paints and lacquers you mix are compatible. Solvent based paints or lacquers should not be mixed with acrylic based paints.

On the left you will see a locomotive body that has received a coat of DullCote and some detail. Note that the shine from the plastic body is gone. But along the rust and water drips you will see white residue. This is the effect of alcohol drying on DullCote. This is normally discussed as an annoyance in most weathering forums but we turn it to our advantage. See at the back of the boiler a black wash drip made by the solvent based solution does not impart the same white residue. Use the alcohol based wash where ever you find calcified mineral deposits on the real locomotive (water storage tanks, boiler valve or pipe leaks, etc. We will get to this part of the detailing later. After the DullCote put the boiler and tender aside to dry.

Step 2: We will now focus our attention on the chassis and wheels. Dip the chassis and wheels in the alcohol based black wash solution and set aside to dry naturally on some paper. For wheel weathering see the wheel turning & weathering article for details. It is perfectly alright to dip a fully assembled chassis but once dry immediately blow the gears and wheel contacts clear of any residue or debris with the compressor. I prefer pouring the black wask with a pipette without getting into areas or tight spaces that may require cleaning. The preferred method for assembled chassis is to spray wash. After this, thoroughly dry and lightly grease the gears. With a soft brush lightly coat the face of the buffers with DullCote. We will see why later.

Step 3: Lets bring our attention back to the boiler as it will be dry. With a very fine soft brush drip RustAll solution (alcohol based) and black wash (alcohol based) where ever needed. Make sure you drip only one drop at a time. Enlarge the image to the left and view how the dripped solution will find its way into the nooks and crannies and also flow along the rivets and puddle at the bottom. This is all very good as this is the natural pattern in real life also. You can also use just plain rubbing alcohol. Pay close attention to metal pipes especially at the joints, rivets etc. These area are the first to rust and simulating this with RustAll is a breeze. Pastel chalks or dry powders work equally well and are very easy to use. Also try and visualize any drip patterns and puddles that may be the cause of such leaks over time. Now there will be stark white scaling in and around this flow. Do not worry as this will be dulled later. The scaling also perfectly simulates calcified minerals from hard water seen on all real steam locomotives. When applying the rust do the same on the face of the cylinders and the all the exposed metal surfaces of the buffers. Cleanup all the brushes along the way and do not let any solution or paint dry on them. Also keep paper towels handy. Also pay close attention to some details in the engineers cabin. Typically you will see metal oil cans (copper or Aluminium), red handles, valves, dials etc. Try and high light these by dry brushing with appropriate colors. Dry brushing is a technique where you take a fine stiff bristled brush, dip lightly in appropriate paint and dab off excessive paint on a some paper towel. Try and remove as much paint as possible till the brush leaves a very faint trace of color on the paper. Now with a very light and loose hand highlight the parts by dabbing the brush gently on the protruding parts. Apply the rust drip to the firebox door.

While we have our washes and brushes at hand lets also highlight the parts of the tender that will require the same treatment. Drip run RustAll on the tender rivets, the water tank covers pay attention to the hinges and latches as these are typically the first to start rusting. The rust stains will run down and collect at the base of the tended where it meets the chassis. This is very prototypical. Click on any of the photographs to enlarge and see the detail. We will discuss the addition of real coal later in this article.

Step 4: While all this dries naturally let us clean up the brushes and focus on the chassis again. We are now ready to dry brush oily black on the  drive rods, cylinder, bare exposed metal parts etc to simulate grease and grime. The concept of dry brushing was explained in the previous step.  We are now ready to dry brush oily black over the rust to simulate grease and rust caused by steam condensation. Also dry brush grimy black on to the deck and roughly spot the buffers. Don't try to be too exact! Remember we coated the face of the buffer with dull cote in step 2?  The DullCote layer allows us to paint the metal buffer easily with RustAll (see step 3). Since alcohol based solutions will also produce a white residue on DullCote, this along with the rust will simulate perfectly the chipped paint and weather beaten and heavily used metal.  Well now look and the finished buffer in the above picture and the reasons will dawn on you. A very important point to note that the other reason for dry brushing is that we eliminate paint drips on moving parts and prevent fusing these parts with dried paint.

Step 5:  Lets bring our focus back to finishing the boiler and tender. Now with a 1:8 or 10 dilute grimy black in your airbrush, lightly spray the boiler and tender. Mask any details such as markings/numbering etc you want to protect. This coat will kill the stark white drip marks and blend it with the grime providing some shadows and make it look very real. It will also hide any flaws or brush marks you may have made. See the adjacent pictures of the boiler and tender. Once this coat is dry load 1:8 or 10 engine black in the airbrush and spray the smoke stack and the top of the boiler where ever you feel soot and grime will settle. See picture on left to see how a dilute grimy black spray effects the rust and water stains and also coats the boiler creating interesting shadows and accentuates grime from years of use. Also compare the tender picture above with the one in step 3.

We spoke briefly about windows earlier. Typically windows in the real world are never spotlessly clean. They are wiped with rags, cloth or anything else available. If you look closely at any prototype you will that the center portion is rather clean but the edges still have a haze with grime stuck to it. So in step 1 when you did the DullCote do the same ever so lightly on the clear windows. Let it dry and then with your finger nail scrape of the DullCote leaving traces of it on the edges. You will be surprised how real it looks with all the streaks of a dirty cloth and all. Click on  the picture on the right. Do not use any hard, sharp or pointed object to do this.

Step 6: Finally lets try and rectify the fake coal cast into the tender. Nothing like the real deal. There are plenty of finely pulverized to scale coal available in the market. Use a grade that is recommended for HO and one size smaller. One can drill fine holes into the fake coal to drain the water and glue from the following steps but if the drive mechanism for your locomotive is mounted in the tender I would strongly recommend against it. Pile on the fake coal. wet it with wet water (1:5 rubbing alcohol and water). Why wet water you ask? The alcohol in the water will break up the surface tension and allow the water and glue to coat the coal evenly. Now with an eye dropper or pipette drop diluted glue or matte medium soak the coal. Make sure the glue is water soluble and will dry clear.

Assemble all the components and she will now look like a real work horse with many miles to her credit.

Finally if you want to simulate oil drips along the cylinders etc. then I suggest doing this in two steps. Dilute oily black (1:8) and gently drip over cylinder parts (1 drop at a time) and let it flow down. Create a slightly broader patter as you come down then from where you started. Always use a soft round pointed brush. This will dry to a dull  finish. Then mix 1:2:5 of oily black, gloss coat lacquer, and thinner. For this example I used 3 drops of Poly Scale oily black paint, 6 drops of Poly Scale gloss lacquer and 12 drops of water. Then using a soft round pointed brush drip on cylinder caps and assist the drop to flow down. I also applied a little on the rods etc to simulate shine from the oil. You will have simulated old dry oil and some fresh flow on the cylinder. Click on the picture to the left for larger view.

Table 1: Paints for weathering steam locomotives

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