PC Gondola Weathering

I thought that this time I'd present a few looks at a (Rapido) gondola that I've recently weathered for Don Janes.

I'm sorry that I didn't take a picture of the shiny green gondola as it was new and just taken out of the box.

Although it doesn't really look like it in these photos, I brushed over the outside of the gondola with Burnt Umber water mixable artist oil paint. I dabbed that paint on the top horizontal chords of the car and also on each of the panels, and then used a very slightly damp flat brush to smear those dabs down the sides creating lots of dark areas. 

Now, sometimes, it's not really about the paint you put on the model when weathering.  Sometimes it's about the paint you take off, and that was the plan here.

I used damp cotton swabs (cheap ones) and pulled them straight down at each panel to remove some of the paint that I had just applied.  Doing this left some paint remaining in the corrugations and crevices of the panels.  After allowing that remaining paint to dry for a couple of days, I dry brushed a mix of grey and light brown powders over random areas to add some more grime. A pretty realistic effect overall.

The interior of the gondola was rusted using Modern Masters Metal Effects Rust following the instructions.  It takes about a day with that product for the full rust effect to really develop, but there's really no hurry and I think that it's worth the wait.

This gondola looks like it fits right into the scene at the Ferrous Processing & Trading recycling industry on my layout here.

Also, I've been invited to a weathering workshop presented by George Dutka on Saturday afternoon.  I've never been to one of those type of things before and am looking forward to it.  Attendees are asked to bring brushes, Pan Pastels if we have them, and a boxcar or covered hopper to weather.

I didn't really have a covered hopper to bring, but last Sunday at the train show in Woodstock I picked up this one to bring along.

I'll let you know how this works out.  Wish me luck with it.

Have a good week.

Backdrop Photo Do-Over

I've re-done the background building that I printed and posted about here four weeks ago.  The building is the Fisher Body Plant 21 in Detroit. After mounting my printouts on the backdrop and living with it for these past weeks, I decided that it appeared undersized, so I printed it over again. This time I divided the final image into 4 sections and printed them in "portrait" format on 8.5"x14" paper instead of "landscape" on 8.5"x11" paper so that the prints would be taller.

I set the two final images out on the floor for this comparison view...

The larger print is just under 32 inches wide.

So here is the first (smaller) print as it originally appeared on the backdrop:

And here's the newer, larger version as it looks now mounted on the backdrop:

See it there all the way in the background.  I think this looks much better than my first try did.  Still more areas to take care of scenery wise to improve the general appearance of this end of the layout.  I did get a bit ground foam put down, which can be seen in front of the silos.

Woodstock Model Train Show is this Sunday, October 20th

It's about 80 miles or so from here, but if I decide to go maybe I'll see you there.

Have a great week !

One Car Train

I ran JSSX engine 813 as an extremely short train of a single boxcar this week.  Here's 813 pulling a rather worn looking Mississippian Railway boxcar from the JSSX yard.

Maybe we can follow along for a ways

That's the JSSX office at the left.  That little pile of pallets is the same ones that I showed here last time just after I'd put them together on the workbench.  I quickly brush painted them with "Barn Wood" craft paint this week and then spread a single drop of black Panel Line over the four of them.

Here they come around the curve and about to go under the "new" overpass that I still haven't come up with a name for.

Here's a pretty good look at the MISS boxcar.  I weathered this one a few years ago, and it's one of my favourite efforts.  There's a glimpse of part of an auto parts train in the background on the GTW.

And here's a view of the one car train as it passes beneath the Gratiot Avenue overpass. This is about as far as I ran the train ran at the time.  Maybe more with it next time.

I read once a long time ago that an overpass helps make the train appear to be coming or going to or from someplace, and I think that's true.  I also find that they provide a really nice sort of natural "frame" for taking photographs.

And now for something completely different...Here's the link to an article from the local newspaper, the Sarnia Observer.  I'm sorry if the ads show up with the story.

https://www.theobserver.ca/news/local-news/u-s-drifter-jailed-deported-for-riding-a-freight-train-into-sarnia-a-second-time

Thanks very much for looking in here, and have a good week everybody and I hope you're able to do some model railroading.

Covering Ground

The new Blog Header photo for October is a view of BSTX leaser 5859 hauling a car or two into the JSSX yard.  The JSSX has leased (well, purchased actually) the engine from the Brian Smith Transportation Group.

Not a lot going on around the layout this week, but I did manage to get a little bit of ground cover done.  And I mean it was really just a little bit.  Here's a before and after look at that.

See the gaps at the bottom of the two sets of pillars in the view above.  And the gap between two pieces of Homasote.

A couple of different sizes and colours of ballast laid as ground cover fill in the gaps.

A closer view of the base area at one of the pillars.  The SD38 rolled into view just as I was getting ready to click the shutter of the camera.

I also found a couple of loose pieces of styrene strip, so I cut them into 4 foot lengths, and made a few pallets out of them.

Once I get these 4x4 pallets painted (should be soon, I hope) I'll certainly be able to find a place on the layout for them.

That's about it for now.  Have a good week.