Not Exactly the Home Run I Was Hoping For

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned a product made by Modern Masters called Rust Effects, which I had picked up at Hobby Lobby. A 3-step process, I gave it a try this week on a boxcar that I had on the workbench.

Here's the victim.  I had weathered this car before, but I never really cared for the results of the work that I had done on the roof.  I also thought I'd try to do a little more on the rest of the car, so I've faded the blue paint a bit, and added graffiti and a couple of small details to the car's appearance.

Here's the boxcar, after it's been re-weathered. I patterned the rust and graffiti locations after a photo of another National Steel Car GTW boxcar that I found on the internet.

I've faded the paint with pale blue craft sprayed through the airbrush. The rust on the door is done by hand, as well as the graffiti scribbles. The larger graffiti tags are SGS decals. I've added an old ACI tag and a few pieces of grey tape stuck beside the door. The paint on the tack boards has "peeled" and is showing the greyed wooden boards.  I have to replace a missing stirrup step, but what do you think of the green notice stapled to the tack board?  It's a tiny piece that I cut from a green price tag sticker.

This view shows the roof as it was until this week.  I just never really cared for the way it had turned out, so that made this car my choice for trying out the Rust Effects product.

Step one:

The instructions say to use 2 coats of the Rust Effects primer.  I just brushed it on right over top of the oil paint that I had used before.

Step 2:

This photo shows how things looked after 2 coats of the Oxidizing Iron paint, again as per the instructions.

Step 3

2 hours later, I was able to give the roof 2 sprays with the Rust Activator, and then was to wait 40 minutes or so as it dried.  I think that this looks "rusty" alright, but overall, it's way more yellow than I thought it would be.  I didn't really like it. I was looking for a darker colour, more toward a reddish-brown rust.  I left things this way overnight, thinking that maybe the activator needed more reaction time, and also with the idea that I would look at it with fresh eyes the next day.

The colour looked the same the next afternoon and I was a bit disappointed.  Then I decided to give the roof another spray with the rust activator, just to see what would happen.

After another shot of the activator chemical, the roof has gone from the yellow colour to a deeper orangeish-brown.  This is better, but not really what I was hoping for at all. Can't hit a home run every time. I don't know if I'll try this product again on another boxcar roof (well, maybe), but I think it might work out well on the interior of a gondola or two.