Making a difference

Method

I use a simple method using thinned paints and grinded chalks of Conte de Paris, various brushes and a bit of alcohol. The alcohol solves the binder of the chalk which makes that you can use it as paint. Together with dusting over of dry chalk dust this gives excellent control for weathering your wagons.
The start is by studying how real wagons weather, in this case Uapps grain wagons. On these wagons the vertical sides keep relative clean, but the lower part of the wagon and the heads can be very filty. The rounded top generally shows a streaked pattern as on real wagons the internal strengtheners are generally reflected on the outside and these ridges keep cleaner than the undulations in between. The photo below demonstrates this effect although I have other scans of french wagons where it is much stronger.
In first instance the entire top of the wagon is protected with paper tape such that the lower part can be more heavily painted. Colour was a mix of tan with yellow dissolved in a diluted brownish wash. This was applied with the airbrush with about the lightest setting and diluted with lots of thinner. Than the top did get a much thinner coating applied with the same tint. Then the fun starts with the brushes. The streaks are a form of drybrushing with a soft brush followed by streaking with a very hard brush to remove some of the paint again, followed by more streaks and washes with further brushes varying in size and colour applied. Some of the paint is dissolved again in alcohol, for instance to get the runs on the verticals below the angled ends where rain washes are visible. Darker colours are applied around the reinforcements at the solebar to reflect heavier weathering of these areas. All in all this is quite a bit of work and can easily take between 1 to 1½ hour per wagon. By varying the application you can differentiate identical wagons.

A scanned photo from my collection with an Amylum wagon, copyright AV, 10/5/91

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copyright: Henk Oversloot
date: 22 Mar 2021