Effects Color Series - Railroad Weathering Game Color Acrylic Set

Rust and soot on a railroad vehicle

Railroad equipment ages differently from military equipment. A freight car has spent decades outdoors, loaded and empty by turns, and its sheet metal therefore carries layers of repairs, repaints and rust of various ages, from freshly orange to dark brown and settled. Steam operation added soot on the roof and coal dust, the diesel era greasy traces under the tank. Hardly anywhere else is it so plain to see that without grime a model looks like a toy.

What the set is for

The Effects Color Series serves to finish an already painted surface, not as a base coat. The shades are chosen so that they can follow on from one another, from the lightest patch of corrosion to the darkest deposit, and they are backed up by materials with a texture of their own. The binder is acrylic and thins with water, so a fresh layer can easily be evened out or taken off.

How to proceed

Start at the edges, the rivets and the places around repairs, where corrosion appears first. Apply the rust in several tones, as a single-color patch never looks convincing. Draw the vertical rain streaks from top to bottom and leave them unfinished, so that they do not read as drawn lines. Keep the soot near the roof, around the chimney and above the firebox. Finally dust the running gear and the lower part of the body with a lighter earthy tone that pulls the colors together into one shade of the setting.

A word about scale

Cars built in the small railroad scales take considerably less grime than it seems at first sight. A contrast that looks subtle on a large model turns into coarse patches on a small car. Keep to the rule that a smaller scale means weaker tones and smaller areas of treatment.