Just received a copy of “Weathering” by Tom Man— It’s a subject that I find endlessly fascinating and fun to do, and have made an ongoing attempt to keep fast and simple in order to not hamper “runability”. The book shows methods of creating pretty extreme effects on newer steel cars, with an emphasis on rust, wear, and fading. The chapters are well organized, with sections devoted to materials, tools-- including a good section on airbrush work, which can be grossly overdone IMHO---- and a variety of techniques. The book is very handsomely designed, and the pix are excellent.
For my purposes, I would have liked to see more coverage of steam locos and wood effects on plastic-- neither topic gets much attention here. Diesel period folk who like 'em dirty and rusty will not notice those shortcomings. A bit thin at forty pages, but lots of info in that space. I got mine thru Amazon, and it took forever… you might go to www.featherrivertrains.com and see if it sells direct. Nineteen bucks plus mailing— toilet reading par excellence…
john

Since I only run steam-era engines and “wood-sided” cars I won’t be buying it because of the lack of attention to the “wood-sided” cars and “wood-sided” buildings.

I run only steam and wood cars as well–all weathered to some degree or another. Mostly another.

Now you know why I don’t save boxes. Who would want to buy a heavily weathered “collectable” car anyway?

People who are anal retentive about keeping cars in pristine “collectable”, NIB condition should not call themselves model railroaders. They should call themselves collectors. I have been to runs where some individuals run equipment for only a few minutes and then gingerly place it back in its original box with all the original packaging and paperwork. Why do they bother? Just to show other people they have the items? Just to brag? Why bother? I weather all my equipment quite a bit. It looks like it has been out on the high iron for a good long run. That’s the look I like. But I like a prototypical look. Other, I guess, like a more toy-like look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlsf93_lvIo

If so many folks love weathered cars, then why do they sell for about half what the pristine in box ones do?

Mik said:
If so many folks love weathered cars, then why do they sell for about half what the pristine in box ones do?

Probably because what and how I want to weather on a piece of rolling stock is not what another person wants. Just my thoughts. Why do new automobiles sell for more than ones that are a day old? A year old boat will many times sell for more than a new one because of the added extra equipment and the guarentee it is less likely to sink. ;-)

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
I was once a collector and ran pristine stock, but I seen/saw the light.
Now everything gets weathered.
I even leave rolling stock out on the layout. There’s about 10 cars somewhere out there under the snow.

Mik said:
If so many folks love weathered cars, then why do they sell for about half what the pristine in box ones do?

Weathered Accucraft and PNG's sell for a whole lot more than new on Ebay. It's that Red Box stuff no one wants weathered.

John Bouck said:
Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I was once a collector and ran pristine stock, but I seen/saw the light. Now everything gets weathered. I even leave rolling stock out on the layout. There's about 10 cars somewhere out there under the snow. :) :)

That's the best sort of weathering.

I was once complimented on a weathering job that I had done on a caboose. The inquisitor wanted to know how I had done such a “realistic” job of weathering that caboose.

“I left it out in the weather,” was the reply. :lol:

I leave most of my freight cars outside in the weather. Even my engines and coaches are sometimes out for several days.
A lot of my rolling stock has been repainted, but not “weathered”.
Ralph

Thanks for the review. Being in the steam/wood era also, I’ll give it a pass. But if you’re into the diesel/steel era, you may also want to check out this forum:

http://www.modeltrainsweathered.com/forum/index.php

It’s all HO scale, but some really cool techniques–again mostly for rusting and dusting modern stuff–but some nuggets in there for those of us with more refined tastes.

As for weathering in general, to my eyes, a model is not finished until it is weathered. It doesn’t have to be heavily weathered–a light coating of dust in the corners can be sufficient, but “shiny and new” and “steam railroading” were strange bedfellows, especially any time after the 1880s. And even then, crews spent hours wiping their locos down after a day’s work just to keep 'em looking good. A few hours out on the road, and soot, oil, and grease made their marks.

Later,

K

“weathering” covers a lot of things.
Rust, broken boards, soot, dust, oil, grease, just plain “old and used” looking.
A lot of filth happens when a locomotive, in wet and rainy weather, enters a tunnel and the smoke, and soot settles and sticks on the cars, instead of blowing around.

I recall one ‘expert’ H0 weatherer putting his stuff on e&&& at prices STARTING at $500 for a weathered box car - and people bought them, too.

tac
www.ovgrs.org
Supporter of the Cape Meares Lighthouse Restoration Fund

I could see why people would spend more on weathered cars rather then new. When I first started I admired those that could weather their own cars. I never thought I would be able to get that look on my own. Thanks to this site, trial and error and Krylon camo paints I learned to do it myself. You dont need those fancy airbrushes and powders. I hate my stuff new. Im not happy untill it looks like it has that used look. People pay others to build their railroads. What fun is that.

I just like to tag cars

(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f72/Shortybear/BluestoneSouthern4-bayCoveredHopper.jpg)

Well as far as weathered My Great Grand Father worked for the RR for all of his working life.
He use to tell me when I was a youngin how the rail road was so good when he worked there.
He said when the passenger trains were ready to start their run they didn’t leave until everything was clean. Inside out top to bottom.
He started out with a cleaning brush.
We look at old pictures in black and white. how can you tell its clean or not.
We see shadows and think it’s dirt. Now days they have little use for clean cars, but back in the golden era of the rail lines took pride in their company.
What I’m trying to say is don’t put todays practices on older trains.
We see older trains in the more modern times when the equipment is ready for the scrap yard it wont look like it did in it’s hay day.
The older era trains were a lot cleaner than the post war trains when all the company is concerned about is the bottom line.
It seems we lost our pride in what we do. Many time I heard the phrase it’s good enough. But don’t let the employer short us 5 cents on our pay.

I am aware that, particularly, engine crews, were very proud of their equipment and would do a complete cleaning and polishing whenever they got the chance. But, when the locomotives were running long hauls, they would get pretty funky between baths. Smoke and soot and steam water make a pretty ugly mess. Plus all the oil and grease and other stuff can make a loco look road weary quickly. that is the look I am after when I weather my equipment. Rolling stock got just as messed up on a run. Think about stock cars: They’re made of wood and are being constantly bashed by huge creatures that literally kicked the slats out of them, and they got bathed in the aforementioned oil, soot mixture and road grime. Even boxcars were subject to heavy weathering. Pacific Fruit Express used to keep their cars in wonderful condition. Between runs they would wash them down and repaint and re-letter as necessary to uphold the company image. But you still see well-weathered cars in period photos. Most smaller railroads and short lines didn’t have the personnel to keep their stuff looking nice. If a piece of equipment wasn’t on the rails, it wasn’t paying its way. Not time to primp and wash and paint very often.

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I’m still trying to get the right color for poop running down the outside of the cars, about cow rear high on the sides.

John Bouck said:
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I’m still trying to get the right color for poop running down the outside of the cars, about cow rear high on the sides.

Got a dog to provide a load to simulate the smell
Ralph

Quote:
... Got a dog to provide a load to simulate the smell

Not sure about the dog. Try a politician instead :D

Later,

K