Funnily enough, I'd be wondering how I'd weather it if I made one...philipy wrote: ↑Mon Jan 31, 2022 7:19 pm
I'm shortly going to have to bite the bullet and weather it, which fills me with trepidation. Weathering is a subject which I've never been any good at.
I've been reading through your posts about rusting and using iron powder. It all makes sense and I did get some powder quite a while ago when something you wrote inspired me, but I've never plucked up the courage to use it! The only thing I'm not clear about is how you actually apply the powder evenly to the wet paint? If I did it I'm sure I'd end up with big piles and bare patches, rather than an even distribution.
I don't think I'd go for iron filings, which I tend to use for larger patches of quite well-established rust, and this loco looks relatively well maintained, given its surroundings... I think I'd give the whole thing a wash of dilute dark grey first (with a drop of washing up liquid, if it's acrylic), wiping it down (in an up/down motion, replicating rainfall) to leave the grey in the crevices. That'll give you more "depth". Then I'd make myself a brown mixture and attack the lower parts of the loco the same way, representing grot thrown up from the ground. And then I'd mix a browny-orange and dry-brush that into the metalwork, again going for an up-down motion so that any streaks act like real streaks of rust - you can make your mixture progressively more orange as you go, so there are a few spots that look more recently rusted.
I've never tried it, but I've heard that rubbing pencil graphite into handrails/controls etc can simulate parts that are polished shiny by handling. With all of that, any brighter bits of pipework etc, lumps of coal and coal dust, plus the crew and their clothing, you'd have a fair variety of colour to alleviate the blackness...
If you do go for iron filings, make sure you've got nice fine ones - I just paint the area I want to rust (I use car spray for whole models, acrylic craft paints for smaller parts) and sprinkle it on pretty liberally, then tip off the excess when it's dry, seems to work OK. Copper sulphate solution gives a more orange finish than vinegar, which can stay disappointingly dark - shout if you want some copper sulphate, I've got more than I need. I'd test it first if I were you, you wouldn't want to spoil such a lovely model...
Good luck,
Andrew.