World War II Project - STuG III Pin Wash - Vehicle #211

 Found some time to at least get started on the third STuG. This is really dragging out but things just keep cropping up and taking me away from the painting desk. As it stands the pin wash on this STuG is still not finished. All the initial lining work is done but the clean up is only about 1/3 done. So it continues to sit on the desk.

This is a reminder to myself to apply the wash neatly. Sloppy application requires more time to clean up and time is a precious commodity.

My brush selection for most of my weathering work. Lots of nylon and taklon and couple of poor (and double ended) kolinsky sables (those are from the Games & Gears Kickstarter, worst kolinsky brushes I have ever bought).

Today's wash of choice, Dark Wash from Ammo by Mig

An unsung hero my Badger paint mixer, which I can only use in wide mouth jars which is a shame.

Sloppy application of the wash leads to a lot of time spent cleaning it up. Be neat the first time!

World War II Project - P107 (f)/U304 (f) 21st Pz Div Halftracks - Tracks & Wheels

Halftracks are always such a joy when you get down to the suspension, getting to work on both tracks and wheels is so much fun. This is the last bit of work that the U304 (f)s are going to need and, of course, I'm still experimenting with the best way to weather both tracks and wheels to get them looking good.

I started with the tracks and basically followed the same set of steps I used on the S307(f)s. I was a little heavy handed on the tracks on these so I stepped everything back a little bit and I also purchased some pigment fixer that would make adding back in some grease and grime a little easier as it would fix the pigment permanently (and I do mean permanently) in place.

After the tracks I moved on to the wheels and tried out the oilbrushers to add the dust without resorting to pigments. I think these came out pretty good in the end. A little more practice and some better wheel castings and I think my wheels will start looking pretty good. I'm sure there will be some more halftracks in the future (not to mention jeeps) to practice on my wheel weathering technique.

Something to keep in mind you can mix pigments the same way you mix paint.

Pigments on the tracks

Tracks are a little shiny with the pigment fixer and while I waited for that to dry I started working on the wheels with the Oilbrusher (Buff).

The tracks from the other side after applying a combination of paint mixed with pigments on the tracks

A better look at the tracks with the paint/pigment combination. I think it needs more pigment and less paint but it looks okay.

Tracks on this side are done, wheel needs a little more work

Starting the wheels while the tracks dry

I see a couple of spots that could use a little work but overall these wheels looks pretty good.

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - The Gangs all Here - Weathering I

After the experiments with streaking I finally feel like I can start the weathering process. While a good portion of what I have finished would also be considered "weathering" for me weathering is the getting things muddy and dusty.

I started off with more streaking, in this case with a dust color (avoiding buff which was my first choice but I used that early in the process to fade the dunkelgelb). The technique is the same as the regular streaking just with a different color and this time I only used the make-up sponge as my brush. I did this streaking twice to intensify the effect yet tried not to go overboard.

I followed that up with a combination of pigments applied to the track bogies, drive and return wheels as well as the lower hull behind them (I'm not sure how much of the lower hull should really exist on the S307). I "fixed" the pigments, more or less, in place with white spirits. This allows me to adjust things a bit after the pigments have dried. I could have used a "fixer" that pretty much seals everything into place but good luck making any adjustments after that!

Of course I haven't done this in a while and as you can see, I may have gotten a tad over zealous with my application with the pigments. Fortunately pigments are easy to adjust with a brush or even with your finger if need be.

Reaper Miniatures - Shipping Container - Calling it Done

I managed to scrap together a little time over the weekend to work on the shipping container. At this point I'm just going to call it done. There are certainly other things that I could do to it, but I think I need to put it on the finished shelf at this point.

I tightened up some of the graffiti and added BONES to the other end spot. That proved to be a lot harder than I thought it would be since it stretched across the doors and latches. Not to mention that the Reaper Spring Green that I used doesn't have very good coverage and I was trying to use it over something a little on the dark side.

I did a quick going over everything with the pan pastels, to bring back a little rust, add some dirt and give some edges a little highlighting. 

I can't hardly stand to look at it any more you will find the finished product in all its glory after a few more step by step pictures.

Fixed some of the black edging that as missing

Pretty much left this side alone at this point

The beginning of the BONES graffiti

Going with a lighter edging, Reaper Spring Green (MSP)

Tried to fill in the white. After this was dried I applied a pin wash along the latches and hinges.

The pan pastels, which I apply with both the sponge brush (on the bottom) and a regular brush. Its just like applying pigments but definitely less messy.

Weathering - C&S #22

I needed something a little different to work on so I pulled my Bachmann 2-6-0 off the shelf to see what I could do with it. This is lettered for the Colorado & Southern and represents (more or less) engine #22. Now the timer period for Calamity actually precludes this engine existing but since its for game purposes rather than model railroading purposes I'm okay with that.

I really just wanted to experiment with this one a bit. While I like the weathering it seems to be to subtle to really show up well in the photos. It was also a pretty quick job so I didn't really take any WIP photos.

I found a shot I had taken of #22 sometime ago in pristine, out of the box, condition

Kind of mid stream. Basic black has been softened with grays, getting ready to add some dirt and a little rust

Finished, Fireman's side

Finished, Engineer's side

My Weathering Tools & Supplies

I had a question about what I use to do my weathering. While I was at my desk cleaning up prior to a painting session I snapped a few quick pictures of my primary tools.

From left to right, sponges, sponge handles, cheap brushes (mostly chip with a couple rounds) and Prismacolor pencils. The pencils are really handy when you need to just hit an edge, I have white, burnt sienna, raw sienna, burnt umber and raw umber.

Pan Pastels. I purchase mine from Stoney Creek Designs and Roger includes a wrapper to go around the outside with the color name and an approximation of the color inside. Quite handy when they are stacked up on a shelf.

All the information you need is underneath

This is a cake, so no messy loose powders. It also holds very well to the model.

The sponge tools for the Pan Pastels. Applying with the sponges is the easiest way. You can also erase them from the model with a regular pencil eraser

MiG pigments are seeing less use than before, but they still have their place in my weathering arsenal.

And here is one of the reasons why. Its very easy to mix the loose powder to get a different color tone. Hard to do this with the Pan Pastels.

Freight Cars for Calamity - Step by Step Weathering - Part 1

I decided that it might be worthwhile to really string together my weathering process into a single post. It will make it easier to reference for everyone that might be interested. For this particular step by step I'll be working with two "new" freight cars for the C&N RY that provides service to Calamity. The first is a boxcar (a goods car for my UK readers) which will be getting D&RGW dry transfers from Clover House. This is another in the series of what I would call fantasy transfers. They use company logos used in publications and advertising but didn't appear on the railroad's freight cars.  Its the same series that I used for the Colorado Central and DSP&P boxcars. The second is a high side gondola that will be getting my home made C&N decals.

I have skipped the first couple of steps which involve dis-assembly, airbrushing the bodies and weathering the trucks. Both of these cars received a coat of Tru-Scale TCP-139 MOPAC Boxcar Red. Probably not the right color for either line but in the end it looks good and will give a little sense of continuity and I can probably get away with it since I'm proto-freelancing anyway.

Step 1 - Time to dull down the bodies and give a little tooth to the next steps. Both bodies and the underframe were given a coat of Testors Dullcote.  The Tru-Scale paint gives a nice glossy finish that you could apply decals to directly but that glossy surface will make step 2 harder than it needs to be.

Here is our starting point. Airbrushed body with a Dullcote finish applied

Step 2 - The Fade. I have used this technique on my modern boxcars but at the time I was using titanium white oil paint and wiping it off, it was kind of a struggle. I read a new article in the Model Railroad Hobbyist (by the guy that originally used the oil paint I believe) that uses acrylic ivory instead so I'm going to give that a try and see how it goes. The idea here is to fade the basic paintwork to make it look like its been out in the elements rather than brand new. I would have liked to have tried this on the CC and DSP&P cars but I wasn't thinking about it at the time. This should give a nice variation in how my trains look on the table. I'm using Ceramcoat Ivory  (#02036) for this, aiming for a paint consistency that's not quite a wash. Here are some in progress shots of this.

Not enough Dullcote on the roof and the paint beaded up. Not really and issue since I then wipe it down with a paper towel.

The roof after the first coat of ivory has been applied and wiped off. I need to be more consistent and always wipe in the same direction. A lot of this will end up hidden by the soot that will be applied to the roof later.

Car side ready to be wiped down

Smoothed out with the paper towel. Since the application was still heavy in a couple of spots I followed up with a brush loaded with water

I added more water to the paint to get this consistency.

I felt like it didn't leave enough paint behind so I did a second application

Looks better, but time to go back in with a brush of water.

You can see it beading up on the roof, that means I didn't get enough dullcote on that surface and its beading up because of the glossiness of the Tru-Scale paint. I followed up the application of the ivory by wiping it down with a paper towel. Its not a bad way to wipe it down and it gave a better effect than using paint brushes. As you  see the effect is vary uneven and I think it looks pretty good. Definitely one of those techniques that you will get better at you do more and more cars. 

The Ivory fade coat

The first wipe off with a paper towel. I felt like there was to much paint left behind so I followed this up with a wet brush to tone it down some more.

Since this is going to serve as our basecoat I gave it another layer of Dullcote to protect it from what is to come.

Step 3A - Which could also be step 2. At this point I'm applying the decals and dry transfers. I forgot just how bright the C&N Logo is and its really standing out at this point. If these had been black decals (yes, I know the D&RGW one has black) I would have definitely applied and sealed the decals and transfers first. I should probably do that anyway. Again I didn't think things through because the freight cars I had done before were all RTR so the everything was in place when I did the fade. This time I'll just have to hope that upcoming weathering steps will dirty everything up enough to blend them in. I'll start with the dry transfers for the boxcar first.

My main "burnishing" tools, a couple of my sculpting tools that have rounded spoon like ends

Here we go! I have already done two cars with these you would think I could get things right. I left the backing on when I started to rub the transfer down.

You can see how the D&RGW letters looked a little chipped because of my mistake. Actually this whole side is a little rougher than I would like. Weathering should hide most of this and damaged paint isn't unusual anyway. The logo is a three part affair. The base is black which you can see above

Lined up the white and rub it down over the black. No registration marks to work from, you do it by eye and you are further handicapped by trying to stare through the paper.

And one more layer of black in place. I managed to miss one of the black lines at the bottom

Repeating the process on the other side. Much better at this point.

And back to the logo

Lined up the white, looking good

But when I put on the second layer of black it pulled up some of the white at the bottom and along the upper edge of the inner circle. Was looking really good to this point. Overall the effect is good.

Sealed and ready for the next step.

Step 3B - Decals. You may or may not have read previous posts about making my own decals, this will be the first car to receive the new decals printed on white decal paper. The gondola provides some additional challenges because the letter has to be broken up to fit between the stakes. This time I get to use my decal set solutions instead of lighter fluid, they should snug down much tighter.

I get somewhat obsessive about research at times, not always, but sometimes. I spent a good portion of this week working on some revisions to the decals. I discovered a new source for pictures and I found some photos that I hadn't seen before. Realizing that what I had wasn't quite right I had to redo some of them. Still calling in some proto-freelancing leeway as these freight cars are a little short or my graphics were a little big so I made a couple of compromises. I changed the placement of the number and left of the RY. from the end of the name. Essentially all the flatcars and gondolas had all of the lettering on the frame rather than on the sides except for the drop bottom ore cars (which I think I found a source for). What it amounts to is that there is only one photo showing off the new decals.

So far I like this paper a lot better and it snugged down quite nicely on their own.

Once the decals had dried I gave both cars another light coat of Dullcote.

I'm going to break this into two pieces at this point so look for Part 2 later this week or early next week.


TCP-139 MOPAC Boxcar Red