Rapido Gondola Weathered

I recently finished this (Rapido) CN gondola weathering project for Don.

As I very often do, I forgot to take picture of the gondola before starting in on the weathering, so I'm sorry for that.  The good news though is that I this one turned out really well...

The gondola was a pretty bright and shiny brown to start with, so I first muted the colour down with burnt umber oil colours that I painted on with a flat brush.  Then, and this is kind of key to the process here, I removed some of that burnt umber with the brush dampened with plain water.  Let's have a look...The dark highlights along the rivet lines and beside the ribs is Tamiya Panel Line Black.  I simply applied that with the handy little brush that comes with the Panel Line bottle.

I just had to see how Don's gondola looked on the layout, so here's a few pictures from there.  

The gondola is posed on a spur leading to one of the layout industries

For the interior walls, which we can kind of see in this view, I brushed on burnt sienna and burnt umber artist acrylics, and then using a damp flat brush went over them with vertical strokes only. When that was all good and dry, I dabbed on Tamiya Panel Line Black in somewhat random places and amounts.

This view gives us a look at the opposite interior wall

 Here we see Don's gondola coupled to JSSX 815.  I think this car turned out great.

Switching gears now, here's a link to a helpful article for scratch building utility poles for our railroads.  The method is written by well known modeler Gary Ruming

Utility Poles in HO Scale

Gary describes in detail the materials and methods he uses.  And he's really detailed about everything.

Everyone have a great week !