Don Coker shows us how it’s done and introduces us to “Gawjus Stumpy”.

OK, class, sit down at your desk and be quiet… uh, sorry, I got carried away there for a minute.

All photos accompanying this article © Richard Thomason

Well, you’re off to a good start. The main colors that I use for weathering, say, a green loco like Stumpy are Raw Umber, Burnt Siena, Burnt Umber, Black and White or Parchment. Oh, and the Green is Hooker’s Green. For the “highlights” of pure rust, I use Red Oxide. Basically the earth tone family is the route to go because your average train runs through your average landscape, therefore getting earth tones worn all over it.

First you have to wash the body, otherwise the acrylics will bead up. You have to keep in mind that when a loco weathers naturally, the paint oxidizes. All that means, as you know, is that it fades. Start with the green, mix in a touch of white or parchment and a little raw umber. Just apply it with a soft synthetic watercolor brush, maybe a number 4-6, so that you can get some paint on the surface.

The key to painting with acrylics, whether on canvas or a plastic loco, don’t go over what you just painted too much, because it will lift it up. As for your question on how much water to use, wet your brush and dip it in the paint, but always run it over a paper towel to get some of the water out before you apply it. If you paint in thin washes in a downward motion and let it dry between applications for a couple of minutes, it will work for you. But don’t go back into the paint before it dries because it’ll come off. The downward motion gives it a prototypical look because rain and other elements run down the surface.

So wash on the green mix all over and let dry for a few minutes. This should give you a washed out looking green. If not add a little more white to the mix and put on another layer or two until you get it as weathered as you please.

Now, after it dries really good, dip your brush in the water, no paint, and wet an area, say down at the base of a wall where water might collect, you don’t have to be real careful here. Now dip your brush in some raw umber and and touch it to the wet surface in a random way. This is where the term “painting wet into wet” comes from. This will give you a muddy-dingy look. While the surface is still damp/wet, squeeze out most of the water from your brush and get a some burnt umber or burnt sienna and flow in over that just a little, actually just touch the surface in a couple of spots. This will bleed into the existing wet paint if there’s enough water on the surface and will give you a surface rust look.

At this point, get some photo reference of a rusted car of loco, or whatever. The best way to do that would be to run down to your nearest train yard and shoot some photos of some rusty boxcars. The modern boxcars are great studies of the aging process of rust. That’s where I learned the technique. Study the way the rust attacks the paint, the way the paint fades into a light color. After that dries really good, get a smaller brush, maybe a #0 or #1 and squeeze out most or all of the water from the brush. This is the “dry brush” method made famous by our friend, Andy Wyeth. Load it with Burnt Umber and “draw” in a couple of scratches or just touch the end of the brush in a random dot/scratch non-pattern in the area where the washed out paint is.

After this dries, take a damp small brush and dip it into a mix of black and burnt umber. Draw in another finer line or random dot patterns to get a look of the worst rust area. This would be the point where the rust is about to go through the body.

If this is not enough, repeat the wash process, particulary the wet in wet method. Try to get a random feel, don’t worry about a perfect paint job, this is the real world, not out of the paint shop fresh. When all is dry, dust on some pastel earthtones if you want and spray the whole rig with Dulcote.

Well, are you still with me class? Oops, there I go again.

Try working on a sheet of styrene for awhile first to get practice in drawing scratches with your brush etc. Practice your washes with different color pallettes.

BTW, whether you want a red, green or black loco, if the color is dark, lighten it up. If the color is light, say a gray, darken it in the corners and cracks for grime and rust.