My First Centerbeam Weathering Victim is Finished

I have collected a fair number of Red Caboose 73' centerbeam flatcars over the past several months, as part of my lumber load explosion.  The first weathering victim is a Burlington Northern version still sporting green paint which I had started several months ago.  Much like the 86' boxcars that I just recently completed, this BN centerbeam project was also gathering dust on my workbench.

Here it is, the first of many centerbeam weathering projects that I hope to complete.  This was a challenging piece of rollingstock due to the various surfaces that required a lot of time and attention to detail.  I started with a fade coat of my raw umber tint, and then spent a couple hours adding the rust with a small brush and oils.  A make-up sponge came in handy to smudge and blend the oil on the larger surfaces.  I added reflector stripes and a final coat of dullcoat to seal things off.

Here's the centerbeam with a partial load of Sierra Pacific lumber.  I made these bundles earlier this year to be used in a loading/unloading scene on a future layout or diorama perhaps.  I think they look quite nice.

CSX & NS Big Ugly's Completed

A couple other weathering projects that I had started awhile ago and just now completed are two 86' boxcars made by Trainworx.  These are both the 8 door version, in both CSX and NS.

I scaled back the weathering on these compared to the other 86 footers that I completed earlier.

The NS version got a fade coat using the raw umber tinted mix.  This toned down the white areas on the body, and gave it a slight yellowish look.  If you recall my attempts at weathering a Southern Pacific 86' boxcar, the brown and red factory paint requires some tinting with other colors to the white fade coat to achieve the appropriate color.

The CSX version received a fade coat using just the transparent white.  I then followed with burnt sienna and burnt umber oils on the body and roof.  I used a stripe pattern on the roof based on some prototype photos I have seen.  This adds some nice variety to the rust patterns on my entire fleet of boxes.

Here is a shot of all 3 big ugly's that I finished lately.

Canadian National Big Ugly - Ready for Service

It has been a very long time since I posted something worthwhile on the topic of weathering.  After a few months of distractions, I have been able to focus on some model railroading.  The past couple of evenings I completed a few weathering projects that were started months ago, and have been sitting on my workbench.  

Here is a Bluford Shops 86' boxcar in Canadian National colors.  I took the weathering a bit farther than I had originally intended, but I like the way it turned out.  Much better than the out-of-the-box baby blue paint.

Here are a couple photos that I posted a few months ago, after the fade coat, some graffiti decals, and the initial burnt umber oil on the sides of the car.

Here is a Grand Trunk version of an 86' box that I found in Ft. Worth, Texas earlier this year.  I wasn't necessarily using this particular photo as my guide for the N scale CNA, but it provided some prototype inspiration.  This is a 4 door model, and a different builder than the Bluford Shops version.

Nov/Dec N Scale Railroading - Marias Pass Part 7

Part 7 of my Marias Pass project just arrived in the Nov/Dec 2012 issue of N Scale Railroading.  I cover ballasting techniques and installing the river/water on the Flathead river.  It's been a year now since the Marias Pass project debuted in the Nov/Dec 2011 issue.  I don't know whether it should feel like just yesterday, or forever ago.  Regardless, I hope you are enjoying the series, and we are starting to get into the good stuff in my opinion.