Finshed the weathering on one of my babys

[GN.2-6-8-0]

After the reconstruction of my Bachmann 2-6-6-2 finally finished the weathering I started last week...
sure happy to be rid of the out of the box look.  

[jonathan]

Great looking locomotive!  Thanks for sharing your efforts. 

That is one serious layout.  Did I count 14 tracks along that stretch?

Regards,

Jonathan

[uncbob]

Did a great job
Wish I could do mine but way to many engines and rolling stock
They look so much more real weathered

[rogertra]

Nice job.

[Doneldon]

OUTSTANDING!! (SHOUT it from the rooftops)

[john tricarico]

hi gn
this is really outstanding,, great work ,, keep it coming

[GN.2-6-8-0]

Below are before & after pictures my Frisco Russian by Bach'm and my 3800 class Santa Fe 2-10-2 by BLI. relief to get them done ,now starting the weathering on my EM-1 and finally my Y6B from BLI.

[Jerrys HO]

GN

WOW!
One day I hope to get around to weathering my loco's as it sure does make them look nice. You and jonathan's work inspire me to get started soon but I think I will practice on older stuff first. I still have not got the knack for it yet.

Jerry

[on30gn15]

Do indeed look like they have seen a few hours out on the road.

[Doneldon]

Steam engines weren't "weathered" until the very end of steam, when railroads were not maintaining them any more, and were squeezing the very last drop of service out of them that they could.

PF-

Largely, but not completely true. Branch lines and secondary railroads frequently ran their locomotives with LOTS of, shall we say, character. And even some of the biggies which were known for their quality maintenance had lokies which showed the miles. The Santa Fe, for example, ran through hundreds of miles of desert sun which quickly turned the shiny black steamers a dull grey, and Eastern ore and coal railroads could only do so much to keep their motive power looking spiffy. The one thing which can be said with near universality, however, is that the appearance of passenger locomotives was very, very sharp.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    -- D

[rogertra]

Steam engines weren't "weathered" until the very end of steam, when railroads were not maintaining them any more, and were squeezing the very last drop of service out of them that they could.

PF-

Largely, but not completely true. Branch lines and secondary railroads frequently ran their locomotives with LOTS of, shall we say, character. And even some of the biggies which were known for their quality maintenance had lokies which showed the miles.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     -- D

In general, I have to agree but only to the point that even passenger engines should show some "weathering", however light, as some parts were not cleaned.  Tops of tenders for example, a little road grime on the running gear and on the pilot etc., etc..  No locomotive, after a week or so in service, looked or even looks these days like it did when it came out of the backshop after an overhaul nor in fact like it comes out of the Bachmann box. 

[ryeguyisme]

Out of my collection of D&RGW photos which are in the hundreds, most of the steam they had, the consolidations, mikes, heavy duty mountains, 2-10-2's and articulateds, look rarely clean, most of these engines are covered in soot, once I figure out how to make custom decals I'm actually looking forward to weathering my engines rather heavily

[rogertra]

Another hint on weathering is NOT to follow slavishly those "How To" articles on weathering in the magazines.  Sure, maybe follow the article for your first weathering job but after that use the article and the techniques as a guide but look at photos of the real thing and copy that.

What we tend to see in magazine articles as well as model photos posted on the web are "formula" weathered engines.

Let's take steam engines.  The "formula" weathering job is: -

1) Overall slightly grey tone.

2) Water stains down the side of the tender next to the water hatch.

3) Water stains down the side of the boiler either side of the safety valves and possibly whistle.

3) "Bow wave" effect of light grey along the bottom of the tender.

4) Rusty brown stains on the running gear.

5) Soot effect along the top of the boiler.

6) Light grey stains on trucks.

However, if you take the time to look at steam loco photos, many, many of them don't look like the "formula" weathering as the articles in the magazines lead you to believe.

ALWAYS, without fail, let the prototype be your best guide, not some article in a magazine.  As I wrote above, use the magazine to learn the techniques.  Then, experiment on your own!  You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you can do and you'll end up with a fleet of weathered steam that look far more varied and realistic than a bunch of "formula" weather steam.

[GN.2-6-8-0]

I've had the privilege of working on a steam locomotive and I have to say that we kept everything ultra clean, especially running gear as much a possible, so that we could see if any problems were developing.

Most of the weathered model engines I've seen over the years don't look much like prototype weathering would have anyway, the airbrush is overused and every weathered element has the resulting soft edge.  There's a trend to paint model steam engines grey and airbrush every weathering detail which makes it look like ...... a model.  Real engines were black, all of the ones I've seen especially, and had a certain amount of hard edged streaking when weathering occurred, especially where mineral-laden water would run down surfaces.

And, being from the south, we had a tradition on some of the shortlines of highly polished and surgically clean steam engines with brass fittings and lots of extra highlighting paint on valves and extra striping, often gold leaf. That's my preferred appearance, although it seems to be a not widely known or popular one.

PF

Whatever floats your boat!

[GN.2-6-8-0]

And finally I finished my EM-1